Need for more safety officers, statutes are not favorable

Different state rules specify availability of safety officers at 4-6 in organizations employing as high as 10000.

But, this is grossly inadequate. A safety officer has to just walk through without stopping to cover such huge number of employees working particularly in construction/mining industries. And, then, if he observes any unsafe act or condition, he has to make a stopover and discussion will make the time available less for remaining areas. Then, to perform other duties like report making, coordination with statutory bodies, interactive meetings to brief management, etc does not make him to do his job fully.

Atleast one safety officer is required for every 250 personnel working so that he can perform his duty effectively. One may argue that nobody stops to engage more than statutory requirement. But, only few organizations have such attitude to engage more safety officers.

End of financial year - some to do listing

As the end of March month is approaching, industrial establishments will be working at frantic pace to meet their annual financial year production targets. It is likely that here and there safety requirements are skipped thereby increasing the risk.

It is better to plan testing of equipment like cranes, hoists, other material handling equipment, pressure vessels, safety relief valves, calibration of instruments,  inspection and repairs of structures and buildings, painting of equipment/piping/structures, preventive maintenance of equipment, load centres, transformers, PDBs, DG sets; cleaning of drains, etc in the beginning of the financial year at which time stress levels are supposed to be low compared to the last quarter of a financial year. Even refresher courses can be planned and conducted wherein managers will relieve their staff to attend the programmes. 

This will facilitate ensuring readiness of men and machinery and other infrastructure for safe work without accidents, incidents.

Safety monitoring should be done more stringently during peak production periods which will indicate the safety culture of the organization in times of pressures all around.

Accident reduction - meetings before start of work with executiing agencies

Use of persons on contract or by outsourcing is widely favored by organizations in manufacturing. The reasons being saving on wage bills compared to regular employees (unless persons engaged are highly skilled / specialized where they are paid higher than regular employees).

Generally, the awareness on hazards and safety measures to be followed are better with regular employees as compared to outsourced personnel who are prone to accidents due to poor awareness.

It is always better to have meetings with interested contractors, their site supervisor and site safety supervisor to discuss about the scope of work under the work order, the hazards in the work area, hazards likely to arise during execution of work and safety procedures to be followed along with company's safety policy and requirements. This will help them to understand and to follow. It is better to include penal clauses also for violations by listing so that clarity will be there on both sides. 

This practice will help to understand the issues and quote accordingly for the work. It is observed from accident reports in news papers / journals that contractors do not understand or ignore the requirements and once accident takes place, they will run away from the scene / abscond or cut sorry face facing the enquiry.

It is always a good practice to explain safety requirements to prospective agencies before issue of work order.

Intolerance to safety is not tolerable.

In any workplace, if employees are ignorant of safety procedures, they can be identified easily and can be trained. But, if persons are arrogant to comply with safety requirements even after gaining the knowledge, then they are more dangerous and can endanger the lives of others also. 

 Such persons should be summarily dismissed from the jobs and shown the door. These types of persons will even spoil the work place safety culture and can set a bad example for learners.

Intolerance to safety is not tolerable.