Safety in pressure systems - Personal Protective Equipment list gets extended

Hazards are more in pressure systems with the possibility of explosion/bursting. Pneumatic pressure is more harmful compared to hydraulic pressure. But, both are dangerous. 

It is the common and minimum standard for any worker to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) like, safety shoes and a helmet while working, but, I heard that the use of a face shield also is a new addition made to protect the person from flying particles/objects/splash, etc

Now, as mentioned above, pressure systems can cause bursting/flying particles/splash, etc, and compulsory use of face shields will help the workplace personnel from exposure to hazards.

Use of PPE - need for checks before use

In an incident involving the fall of the person from height, investigation of the incident revealed damaged safety belt. Though the person used a safety belt, when he slipped and fell, the belt got broken near the hook. The belt got damaged from weld sparks. 

In another incident of fall of a person, the person did not buckle the belt properly. 

These examples stress the need for use of proper PPE, checking for its integrity before use, training the personnel for safe use, and supervision.

Ensuring use of PPE (personal protective equipment) by employees - whose responsibility?

Recently, in a conversation during an audit, I heard the following instructions to supervisors and employees about the use of PPE:

1. Tell the shopfloor incharge to check for wearing safety shoes by all as there are some visitors.
2. Tomorrow, audit team is coming. Tell everybody to wear safety shoes and goggles.
3. Arey baba, wear shoes. Otherwise, we will get non-conformity (NC) by the audit team.
4. If you don't wear safety shoe, unnecessarily, safety man will write letter.
5. etc

The above will only show (shoe) that we have to wear safety gear only to please somebody and that the manager will not get any remarks from visitors or audit / inspection team. Nobody thinks that PPE are required for our own safety. The way we wear our clothes without being told by anybody, why don't we tell that PPE are required to protect our body parts, but NOT to protect the skin of plant manager / supervisor.

This shows that though we shout from roof top that safety is our first priority, it is, in fact first from last. It is in a way, an abusive word. Or, hatred term. Some managers may even have hatredness by seeing the safety persons even from distance and may be cursing the fellow.

In such organisations, who can save the workmen. Even GOD can not save them, as they want to inflict injuries to their own workmen from whom they want to get better production. 

Here, even workmen should be blamed for not wearing PPE. Else, why one should tell or keep on telling wear this, wear that, and so on. Don't they know? Supervisors / managers / safety officers should only do monitoring job to correct the mistakes made unknowingly, not to tell everyday same thing to those who do not want to follow. Such persons should be removed from the work. Then only, others can be protected. Otherwise, youngsters who join the organization may pick up or learn the work to do in a wrong way. 

Here, the issue is not about wearing only safety shoe or helmet or something else. This way of working leads to wrong work practices and poor safety culture. 

And an expert defined safety culture as the way we work (or do things), even when nobody is watching.

Safety Management of Contractor Manpower

Outsourcing of various industrial activities is common all over the world. It is rare to find organizations which do not follow this. This is done to overcome shortage of manpower, non-availability of experts in specific field, obligation to reduce permanent staff, financial considerations, etc. The skill sets of persons and duration vary with the requirement. Personnel from suppliers of equipment, instruments, etc too work in the premises for erection, commissioning, maintenance, etc. Thus other than regular employees, organizations deal with contractor manpower for housekeeping, maintenance, plant operations, erection/ commissioning, construction, material handling, canteens, etc in addition to the visitors like vendors, consultants, etc. Also, we find visitors, project students, apprentices, trainees, etc who stay in the organization for some duration.

Ensuring safety of all these persons is as important as regular employees. An analysis of accidents reveals that contractor workers are involved in 30-35% of accidents. The major reason for these accidents is lack of awareness about the hazards, supervision, failure to ensure supply and use of requisite safety gear to the workers both by the contractor and department in-charge.

Most of the occasions, persons engaged by the contractors are not same i.e floating workers and is difficult to ensure availability of same person for specific nature of work. This requires training of newly joined persons almost on weekly basis, if not every day and contractors exhibit resistance to send these newly joined workers for training.

The time needed by security personnel to permit contractor workers inside factory premises generally varies from 30 to 60 minutes depending upon the security level. The time available for work will reduce further after taking into account of time for training. As the attrition of employees is more, the working hours will reduce and this leads to shortcuts to avoid safety training of newly joined contractor workers.

It is observed that the small contractors generally deploy 2-10 persons in most of the works and generally he will have more than one work at site in his hand and he or his supervisor keeps shuttling between various work areas in the plant leading to poor supervision.

With increasing work load and reduction of manpower, plant in-charges too find it difficult to monitor all outsourced activities. Verbal communication instead of written communication also leads to misunderstanding of the task and wrongdoings during the work execution. To avoid any consequences, generally, following clauses will be included in the tender while outsourcing the activities.

·     Continuous supervision by the contractor,

·     Hiring technically suitable persons for the job,

·     Valid medical fitness certificate from qualified doctor for the persons to be employed,

·     Obtaining suitable insurance cover for the persons to be employed,

·     Prohibition of child labor,

·     Ensuring issue and use of PPE,

·     Sole responsibility of the contractor for all accidents and consequences arising out of it,

·     Use of tested and certified tools,

·     Bringing his own tools and equipment required for the work, etc

But, this is not suffice to ensure safety of these workers as we see violation of most of the clauses at many sites. To cut costs, apart from major machinery/devices offered by plant as per work order, contractors do not bring other tools, lifting tackles, weld sets, ladders, etc of their own and instead use from within the plant. In case of any accident, it is likely that concerned plant in-charge will be blamed for allowing using department material.

For civil works, it is common to see use of fire hydrant water or garden water. Fire hydrant water is for emergency use and garden water is generally recycled and treated water.

We find retired employees too taking up contract jobs in the organization and due to their familiarity with the plant and the staff, their seniority and that their peers/juniors will be working in the plant, some of them move as if they are department staff and this leads complacency / extra authority in using department materials and at the same time, when any accident takes place, they can easily influence and shift the blame.

Apart from these violations, it is likely that contractor works for jobs outside the scope of the work order. Unfamiliarity of workplace in these situations leads to accidents endangering both contractor workers and department staff.

When an accident takes place, in case of major treatment, question arises about who will foot the bill, as generally, small time contractors do not have requisite financial capability to bear the cost. Though, tender clause puts responsibility on the contractor, organizations end up in paying the bills in such situations. Sometimes, the cost of treatment exceeds the value of the contract itself, in which case recovery becomes difficult. To avoid these costs, contractor may takeout his injured person outside the premises from treatment and one will not find the injured again in the workplace. The reply usually given by the contractor will be that the person recovered and is working at some other site or that he went to his native place.

Now-a-days, many of the organizations have been certified for ISO/OHSAS and this requires ensuring safety of the persons in the organizations to whom we outsource or procure to meet our needs. With transparency being the buzzword, one should be more attentive because any incident is projected out of proportion, however small it is.

To ensure safety of contractor personnel working within / their own premises, organizations should have proper procedure for tendering, evaluation and selection of contractors who have, (i) well laid out policy for recruitment of manpower, (ii) regular training of man power, (iii) deployment of safety supervisor and (iv) defined  responsibility and accountability of all persons engaged. 

Organizations should have a designated person in every department / section, who should coordinate and obtain from all contractors working in their plant about (i)  number of persons engaged for each of the work with names, addresses, contact numbers, availability medical fitness certificates (ii) number of new persons brought in that day (iii) qualifications / experience (iv) tools brought to the specific workplace with relevant test certificates (v) issue of PPE to all persons (vi) facilities of the organization/department proposed to be used (vii) details of start and end date of the work, (viii) details of subcontractors, if any, etc.

Based on the above data, head of section/department should assess the need and ensure job specific training, safety measures to be taken, issue of specific PPE for work in different areas, availability of requisite safety permit and supervision for ensuring safety and issuing warning letters in case of violations. In case of work on machinery, material handling equipment, etc., he should ensure their safe working condition before allowing the contractor personnel for work.

Safety in-charge should obtain weekly/monthly reports about various outsourced activities, manpower engaged, permits issued and closed, etc. He should interact with concerned plant in-charges about safety issues specific to the workplace, reporting of incidents/occurrences and their investigation for corrective and preventive measures.

Following measures will be helpful in ensuring safety of contractor persons at workplace.

1.        Identification of jobs to be outsourced with job hazard analysis, safety measures to be taken, assessment of training requirements, supervision.
2.               Insertion of appropriate clauses in the tender and work order for penalties against violation of stated safety provisions. Though penalty clause is available, it is questionable on how many occasions this is used as one can find a number of violations every day. At the same time, when contractor appeals for cost escalation, the proposal is evaluated without considering the penalty amount to be recovered for stated violations. If a person is deployed specifically for safety supervision and recording the violations and issue notices for recovery, it will act as a deterrent and ensure safety at workplace.   
3.                Ensuring different colored uniform for persons engaged in outsourced activities for easier identification and monitoring.
4.          Ensuring contractor supervisor for every work undertaken by him in the site.
5.                   Valid medical fitness certificate for the job for all persons engaged, irrespective of the nature and duration of the work.
6.                   Maintaining register for outsourced works with details of contractor, number of persons engaged, availability of PPE, supervision, violations, etc.
7.                Records of pep talk and training with respect to the work, safety and emergency procedures.
8.                   Preparation of checklist based on job hazard analysis and safety work permit conditions for use by contractor.
9.                   Ensuring adequate insurance cover for the persons.
10.                   Compulsory medical examination of injured persons of the contractor after treatment.
11.                Maintaining first aid box by the contractor at the workplace.
12.                    Ensuring availability of sufficient clean drinking water at the workplace.
13.                    Ensuring change rooms for contractor workers with provisions for bathing.
14.                   Ensuring use of separate dress for persons engaged and their washing.
15.                   Display of warning signs, caution boards.
16.                  Checking of all permitted equipment, tools, etc by department persons before start of work every day for safe use by the contractor and maintaining the record with observations.
17.                   Display of safe operating instructions, safe operating procedures, do’s and don’ts in languages understood by the persons engaged for the work.
18.                   Prohibition of unauthorized use of facilities like water, electricity, forklifts, cranes, lifting tackles, weld sets, etc not covered in the work order.
19.                    Prohibition of use of fire hydrant water and garden water for any purpose other than intended.
20.                    Ensuring availability of proper access, use of tubular scaffolding, safety shoe, helmet, safety belt, anchoring provision, etc for civil works.

            In some organizations, all tender/work order proposals will be referred to safety department to study for assessing the safety measures taken by the proposer and advise necessary clauses for incorporation before release of tender / issue of work order. The main grouse of the contractors is that additional costs are imposed on them in the name of safety and this is due to improper documentation / clarity in the requirements stated in the tender document. To avoid this, plants are encouraged to send their draft proposals for tender for review and suggestion to insert appropriate safety clauses in the document before its release for enquiry. This results in proper cost estimates by contractors before quoting and enables provision and compliance for safety.  

Following are some of the general practices to be ensured/followed to reduce injuries/improve safety performance.

1. Plants should continuously put efforts to reduce outsourcing of activities by automation or other methods.
2. Plant in-charges shall ensure that only those outsourced activities as specified in the scope are executed with all safety provisions.
3. Work order should be cancelled for any work taken up beyond the scope of the work order.
4. Supervision by both department and contractor has to be ensured.
5.  Plant in-charge should be held responsible for initial and monthly training of the manpower engaged for outsourced activities.
6. Plant in-charge should ensure use of PPE like safety shoes, gloves, helmets, goggles, face shield, aprons, etc as required for the work, by the man power engaged in the outsourced activities, even if it is in the scope of the contractor.
7. For outsourced work, supervision from atleast shift in-charge should be ensured..
8. No outsourced work is permitted in night shifts.
9. No woman should be allowed to work on or near machinery in motion as per Factories Act.
10. Skills and qualifications for various categories of persons engaged during outsourcing should be specified.
11. Safety work permit should be taken before start of work by submitting, (i) job hazard analysis, (ii) valid medical fitness certificate, (iii) name/designation of the department person responsible for supervision and also for ensuring use of PPE. 

With the above, I am sure that safety of the contractor persons can be ensured.

Protect Yourself From Respiratory Hazards » SafetySmart

Good article from Safety Smart on the subject.
Protect Yourself From Respiratory Hazards » SafetySmart

Many times, persons actually doing the job also ignore the advice and try to do the job saying that it is a 2 minute job. And, they would never see the light again. Before carrying out any job, particularly in closed spaces, one should measure the concentration of all possible pollutants and also oxygen in the work atmosphere, particularly at the actual place of the work. Pollutants should be exhausted by proper ventilation so that oxygen levels are within permissible range. If it is suitable, one should enter the space by following all precautions. Else, they will become victims of dangerous work place. Though, people say 19.5% of oxygen is sufficient to enter a confined space, but still it is below 21% level in atmosphere. We should find out which are the pollutants in the work place that caused reduction in oxygen level to 19.5%. We know that carbon monoxide at 5000 ppm (0.5%) is fatal.
It is better to ensure oxygen levels nearer to atmospheric levels of 21%, else one should use self contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) so that one can work safely.
Apart from confined space jobs, respiratory protection is also required in jobs where fumes, mists, dust, etc are likely to be generated / present in the work place. Engineering measures should be taken and then as a last line of protection, one can go for personal protective equipment, in this case, use of respiratory protection.
LINK

Responsibility for failure to use PPE

In an article, the court dismissed the claim for the death of an employee as it is found that the employer did everything it can do to impart knowledge, train, issue PPE, conduct weekly meetings and toolbox meetings and so on.
Still, I feel effective supervision and not engaging the person when the employee refuses to wear PPE could have prevented such incident. Otherwise, why to engage supervisors. Apart from supervisors for safe production activities, site specific monitoring of safety supervision by designated persons will ensure accident prevention.

Electrocution in chicken shop

As per the news in Deccan Chronicle on 08.11.2011, a chicken shop owner died of electrocution while trying to retrieve dressed chicken from a chicken dressing machine. This may be due to poor wiring, improper or no earthing, lack of ELCB for the machine, no rubber mat in front of the machine, not using proper PPE.
The incident reminds that safety is required everywhere, not restricted to factories alone.

Failure to use PPE - associated hazards

I read an article about failure to use personal protective equipment (PPE) by workers for various reasons and the hazards associated with it. From the survey, it is found that one of the reasons for not using PPE is that it is not attractive. It appears some of the workers value their appearance more than their life. It is common to see motorists not wearing PPE; glass/sheet/stone/wood cutters not wearing goggles;  welders using a small piece of tint glass instead of face shield; many construction workers not wearing safety shoe, helmet; workers doing concrete mixing not wearing any gum boots, etc. At some construction sites, the helmet worn by the user will be of substandard quality which can pierce/break his head, if something falls from top. Even by appearance, these helmets look fragile(?), but it will have all stamps of compliance to applicable standards.
Though, PPE is the last resort of protection, neither other measures will be in place not PPE will be used, thereby endangering the invaluable lives of workers.

A study on PPE use (not using) by workers - reasons - recommendations

There is good article on why workers do not use PPE and risk themselves to accidents. The article also elaborates on view of the safety professionals about reasons and recommendations for making the workers to use PPE.

What is the level of safety followed in advanced countries and others?

It is common to read / hear about the accidents all over the world. However, what is surprising me is that the number of accidents, type of accidents, deaths / injuries due to accidents are occuring in advanced countries as well as in developing countries.

Though governments of developing countries claim about poverty, illiteracy, lack of resources to implement safety, need for development as the reasons for inability to control accidents, I am unable to find the reasons for the accidents in advanced countries. In these countries, as I understand, greater transparency exists, unions are strong and are powerful that question the managements about poor conditions w.r.t safety, huge amounts are spent for ensuring safe conditions, providing PPE, doing audits, etc. Prosecutions are also carried out on erring companies and punishments/penalties are imposted. Still many accidents take place in advanced countries like those in the other world. Most of the accidents appear to be preventable. I am not really getting any reason for this phenomena.

Whether this indicates that the attitude to safety is same whether the country is advanced or not. The motive is to gain short term benefies i.e profits. Accidents are taken as part of the job and the victims are compensated. Only the amount of compensation varies from country to country. Paying compensation appears to be a better business model compared to spending money on accident prevention.

Poisonous fumes from incinerator near Indore - six lost vision?

Y’day a scrolling news item in TV channels and news reports today mentioned about six labourers losing part of their vision because of toxic fumes from an incineration plant in Pithampur, while cleaning solid waste. It is stated that all labourers suffered symptoms of insecticide poisoning (organo phosphorous) like blurred vision, vomiting. Before taking up any chemical handling work, engineers and supervisors should refer to Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) of the chemicals to be handled. It will give information on nature of hazards, handling methods, personal protective equipment (PPE) to be used, etc. It is mentioned that workers did not use any PPE, though the company that engaged the persons is a reputed one.


If the companies do not follow safe procedures and do not ensure supervision, public will lose faith in the industry and whatever they do later will be of no use.

Further, such accidents will show that more inspectors are required to inspect more frequently the premises of the organizations, audit their systems and the findings have to be put in public domain. It may be remembered that though the auditors from head quarters of UCC reported serious nature of hazards in the Bhopal unit, as the report was not known to many, the inaction could not be questioned in time and only after the worst chemical disaster, all concerned started questioning.

Therefore, it should be made mandatory about making availability of audit findings (by regulators as well as certifying agencies) also public like the provisions of Factories Act 1948 under Chapter IV-A and should attract penal provisions like those for violations of Sec 41-B,C,H

Tale of two factories

Sometime back, I visited two factories on the same day. The visit provoked me to narrate my experience immediately. However, I thought that I can observe similar setups and write. But, I did not get opportunity.

The first factory, I visited in the morning, gave a feel of good safety culture right from the entry point of the road leading to the factory. The factory is about ½ km away from this point. Still, one sees good roads, good house keeping with no scrap / waste on either side of the road, no vehicle parking on roads. When we reached the security, I was surprised to see everybody, including the contract workers entering the factory area with shoes. Visitors arrival was informed by the security officials to the concerned in the factory about the visitor(s), were checked on receipt of directions and were guided into the factory. We, a team of about 50 persons, were received by an official and were taken to a lecture hall. The factory is in the business of making some electrical equipment and accessories. It employs about 300-400 regular employees and similar number of contractor workers. The factory layout was explained to us and briefed about the activities of the factory. Then, we were divided into two teams, guided by separate officials for a visit.

I found every where, the aisles are marked and not a single bit of scrap can be found in this area. The sections are marked, bins are available for storing raw material, product and scrap. Everybody on the job appears like a soldier concentrating on the job. Everybody donned helmet and shoe with factory uniform. Instructions are displayed near the workplace. We spent more than two hours in the shop floor before reaching the dining hall for lunch. Only, when I was about to enter the dining hall, I saw a female gardener without shoe. But, this is the only persons and other gardeners (male and female) are in their attire with shoes.

Even, the dining hall is very neat, tables are clean and the items at the counter are in clean containers. I did not go into the kitchen. However, the way factory is maintained overall in such a good condition, I am sure, kitchen also would have been in good condition.

After lunch, we thanked our hosts and proceeded to the next factory in the schedule. Here also the roads are good and I did not see any scrap or waste on the roads outside as well as inside. But, we have to wait at the security for more than 45 minutes before our host could be contacted and then head count was taken before allowed inside. Again, we have guide. Security gave us directions to go to a particular building. By enquiry enroute, we reached the building. There, one of our team member went inside to locate the person and then as in the morning visit, we were divided into teams and were taken around. The factory is involved in the manufacture of machinery and employs about 1000 regular employees and about 400 contractor workers.

Inside the factory (different sections in different buildings), the use of PPE is not witnessed much. Even the supervisors and officers who have to advise their technicians were found without shoes and were seen walking in chappals. Then, materials were dumped everywhere and house keeping is very poor. Cobwebs are found even at arm reaching heights. There is no seriousness in the employees on the shopfloor. A casual attitude is visible. Though, I did not enquire about accident statistics either in the morning visit or afternoon visit, I am sure that this second factory may not be having good record with respect to safety, though their products are of good quality.

At the end of day, when I was on my way back to residence, I thought what could have been the reason for different culture in these two factories, with regards to house keeping, use of personal protective equipment, display of safety procedures and precautions, attitude of employees (security, shopfloor and managerial) and finally canteen.

In the first factory of our visit, there is no job security, though on my enquiry, I found many are working for years in the same factory as it is the case with the second factory. Management is committed to ensuring safe working conditions both by work and action. Even while selecting the contract workers, conditions are stipulated and are enforced. I noted that even in place where lubricant and hydraulic oils are handled, there is no spillage on the shopfloor and they are contained / restricted to within the work area by providing bund / trays. In many factories, which I visited when I did my safety diploma, oil spillage could be found every where sometimes spreading few yards from the source. Without management commitment, in terms of policy, resources and review, this type of culture is not at all possible. Even persons working in the shopfloor must have realized that they can’t bypass safety procedures as they can be terminated. Subsequently, over a period of time, they must have realized the benefits of good safety culture and thus continued in the factory. It is a known fact that casual attitude develops when person is experienced an tries to bypass safety procedures to increase productivity and get some benefits. Again here, the monitoring by supervisors to ensure that this is not the case shows that productivity targets are realistic with the safe production. Though bypassing safety procedures will result in higher productivity in the short term, but in the long tern, it will lead to fall in productivity and result in accidents, compensation claims, decrease in morale, loss of ownership by employees, visits by regulatory agencies, etc.

In the second factory, once a person is appointed, his job is secure till retirement unless otherwise he commits a major blunder. Thus, employees are not bothered about instructions of their superiors. Though, there is no dearth of resources for providing PPE and safety implementation, there is lack of zeal in employees to implement and follow. May be superiors are threatened, if asked to follow safety at the shopfloor. It is totally in contrast with the first factory. It appears that management hands are tied when they can’t control their employees and have to work with so many restrictions.