Importance of Learning

Accidents and near misses are the result of mistakes committed by some one.

On human errors, there is a quotation by the great safety professional, Mr Trevor A. Kletz (retired from ICI, UK and now is about 90 years old),

“Mistakes occur because someone does not know what to do. To prevent them we need better training or instruction or changes to the plant design or work method so that the task is easier”.

It can be due to shop floor person, supervisor, officer during operation, issue of instructions or during design. A mistake can be a part of the system right from the beginning or it could have been committed subsequently.

We all make mistakes. However we can become wise and knowledgeable only when we learn from these mistakes.

Experience makes a man wise. However, experience is not desirable in all aspects.

Again in the words of Mr Kletz in his book, “Still Going Wrong”,

“A high price was paid for safety information mentioned in various sources (like books, films and internet). People were killed or injured and billions of dollars worth of equipment was damaged. Someone has paid the TUTION FEES. There is no need for you to pay them again”.

It only takes one apple to spoil the whole barrel as the old saying goes, and this is time when a group of humans gather together. If one friend or family member is not happy, then their unhappiness can spread to infect the others in the group.

Same can be applied to safety. If a person is unaware / not bothered about safety, he will endanger others also.

If we see the accidents that occurred in any particular industry from its inception or even for that matter for the last few years, can we say that all those accidents that occurred were of first time in nature? It is unlikely and I am sure nobody agrees with this statement. Most of the accidents are of repetitive nature, if not exactly, slightly in a different manner. If we go through the accident and near miss records, we can find similarity in the type of accidents. May be it is not in the same plant but in some other plant under the management of same organization.

Dissemination of information is vital so that all of us can study the accidents and near misses and can see whether IS IT POSSIBLE IN MY PLANT FOR OCCURRENCE OF SUCH AN ACCIDENT. It is important in safety committee meetings held every month that the discussions should be on accidents and near misses occurred in the plant or other plants. Instead, the observation is that mostly discussion goes on pending safety related deficiencies (SRDs) which were already brought to the notice of the plant management by the safety officer and by allocating necessary resources (responsible person, man power, finance, etc), these SRDs can be corrected. Information on accidents, near misses, unusual occurrences etc is normally compiled at corporate level and are sent to all units under the organization after review. This is one valuable source of information on accidents. Similarly, we read such incidents in the newspapers that there is some fire, explosion, electrocution, fall of person, etc with some details. Therefore media is another source. Similarly those who had access for other sources like books (library) or internet can get valuable information.

Seminars can be conducted for employees in which those who were actually involved in accidents directly or witnessed can explain their experience in accidents with the noble cause of saving their colleagues from such accidents. Discussion of these in such seminars, plant meetings, etc creates an awareness about safety and can ignite our minds to take necessary corrective measures so that we can maintain a safe work place.