Hi-Tec - by how much?

Some product advertisements mention about manufacturing through computer based technology. Some bill boards for spectacle shops mention about computerized checkups and tests.Some new plants are known as hi-tech facilities.
In all these, what we understand is that they use some software or some techniques that run on computers. However, unless rigorous checks are not made to the software before its use, hi-tec can lead to complex problems, which we can't understand. For this, the programmer should understand fully the requirement, which should be specified by the engaging agency in clear terms. If there is no clarity in specifications and the understanding of the same by programmer is not checked, glitches may come later, which may develop in to unimaginable proportions.
What we start with hi-tec, also can become low-tec after sometime, when changes are made but not tested fully.
Management of change, i.e checking the modifications in an existing procedure for achieving the desired output, if not done properly can manage us later.
Some plant facilities started on PLC based operations initially will be suspended and reverted to manual mode because of the glitches. This is because of lack of clarity in what we want, what we conveyed to the developers/suppliers, and what we got. Hardware problems also can lead to similar situation. Sometimes, because of the complex operations involved in operating PLC based plants and poor training, managers revert to manual operations.
If we are overconfident that nothing will happen because a plant is hi-tec and leave the caution to the air, then also we may find surprises.
Hi-tec will be safe only when we address above issues.

Safety during excavation

Following link from SafetySmart provides tips about safety during excavation.

http://www.safetysmart.com/safetysmart/resources/view.aspx?id=428&articleId=957&utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Bongarde#.UEdzpbLibRs

There are many more precautions to be taken about safe distances to be maintained for keeping the excavated soil, provision of ladders for use in emergency, display of cautionary signs, etc.

Contract workers - no concern for their safety?

Safety of contract workers is given less importance compared to regular employees. In industrial areas, we can find this difference glaringly. Even the contractor who provides manpower also is not concerned though he may be charging the organization for use of safety appliances by his personnel. These daily wage earners are treated like no entity and the contractors who earn money by using these people are nothing short of leeches. Factory managements and factory inspectors should penalize heavily such contractors so that they feel it is better to provide safety appliances rather than paying the penalty. Ordering the closure of factory also will do good as managements can ensure safety for contract workers also by whatever means it is appropriate. Sometime back I listened to a talk wherein the speaker said that the contractor will be penalized Rs. 5,000/- for every violation and this money is credited into safety awareness fund. After three violations, the contractor will be blacklisted. I feel such measures will help in creating awareness by force among all and ensure safety for all.

Do business unless proven harmful?

Recently, there was a proposal for foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail sector and for various reasons, it did not happen.
Some opined in support of this proposal that, one should not be prevented without a good reason in setting up a business unless it is proven that it causes more harm than good for economy.
This not an acceptable opinion. Though competition is good for the economy, brings the best out, worldwide, there are various forms of protection provided to local businesses and direct/indirect subsidies to help them. May be in some countries, FDI in retail proved beneficial to the farmers and direct producers by eliminating the intermediaries. But, it varies from region to region.
If FDI in retail is allowed and caused harm to the economy, can we remove FDI and reverse it. At that time, same people may opine that it is a retrograde step and reversal of reforms. By the time we realized the harm, many retail shops and small players would have closed due to losses leading to creation of monopoly or formation of syndicates.
Generally, to gain market share, new entrants offer their services at much lesser prices, sometimes even below the cost of the product. At the same time, the cost of the same product offered by the same company in some other city may be higher. When small business houses unable to bear the onslaught of big houses close the shop, these big companies increase the prices of their products and people will be left with little or no choise but to pay the price.
What happened in telecom, airline and other sectors is known to everybody. Though, public got benefited due to tariff wars between the companies in the industry, the industry as a whole is bleeding and the lenders are terming the loans and investment in these companies as non-performing asset. In an extreme situation, those who took loan will file bankruptcy. Again, recently few companies in telecom sector increased their tariff to reduce losses. But, finally, it is the the common man, who has to bear the loss in the form of lost investment for their betterment. There is no difference between such companies and conmen. One cheats in the name of business and the other cheats the individuals directly.

As safety professionals, all of us are against any activity till the hazards are identified and eliminated/ controlled. If we wait for harm to happen, I am sure there will be many Bhopal like accidents in any business. Though the harmful effects of Bhopal accident is limited to town, Chernobyl accident is limited to few villages, atomic bomb explosion is limited to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, playing with economy can lead to kneeling down of entire nation.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/What-s-FDI-in-retail/Article1-775543.aspx
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-11-29/india/30453728_1_retail-sector-small-retailers-global-retail-giants
http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-fdi-in-retail-kiranas-unfazed-ask-what-the-fuss-is-all-about/20111206.htm

Assess a person's attitude the way he uses water

In our childhood, we were told about a story which concludes that the person using more water is spend thrift and thus faces problem every time. The story is briefly as below.

There were two women in a neighbourhood. One woman borrow some money from the other but fails to return after sometime and replies that she never borrowed. The lender complains to the village head. He calls both women and asks them to stamp with their feet, the mud with some water in front of his house. After sometime, he asks both of them to wash their feet and come inside. The lender washes her feet thoroughly with little quantity of water whereas the borrower uses lot of water and walks inside with some mud left on her feet and makes the floor dirty. The village head rules that the woman actually borrowed money from the other woman, she does not have any control over her expenditure and to avoid repayment she lied to the other woman. He asks her to pay the money borrowed with penal interest.

It appears true as I observed my own water use pattern. When use water judiciously, I also spend money wisely and at times when I use water without concern, my attitude towards spending money also in those lines.
This type of understanding may be true for human behaviour in all respects including safety. However, it requires some study by framing suitable questionnaire and also talking to people who are involved in accidents, rash driving, less respect for safety, not concerned to follow safety procedures, so on.
It's only my thought and I will come out with results, if the assumption is supported with some evidence.

Post Fukushima, Indian nuclear power plants step up safety measures

Post Fukushima, to face such situations, new safety measures were implemented in Indian nuclear power plants (INPPs) for alternate cooling water supply and power backups (diesel generators and batteries). A study shows that INPPs can withstand massive seismic shocks and their low vulnerability to tsunamis.

Indian+N-plants+step+up+safety+measures

LINK

About Leadership - excerpts from the book by Robin Sharma

Excerpts from, “The Leader Who had NO TITLE” by Robin Sharma, which I liked the most. I read this book sometime back and made the notes which I reproduced below. After reading, I felt that by following the tips, we can improve our personal life and have peace of mind with satisfaction. This is true for improving safety also at work place which will give satisfaction of saving lives, avoiding property damage and protecting the environment.

The website link is here: http://www.robinsharma.com/

1. Learning is the daughter of repetition. Repetition is a powerful teaching tactic. Through repetition, a new idea can quickly become integrated as a new belief.
2. Success is easy for anyone, if they do right things consistently. And these little things and behavior buildup over time lead to reaching the impossible, which appeared in the beginning. Seeds do not give fruits overnight. They have to be planted, watered, weeded and fertilized before we get fruits.
3. Small insignificant daily acts of excellence buildup success. Neglect of small daily acts over a period of time lead to no point of return and failure.
4. Success is achieved only when we practice and experience. Listening or speaking alone will not help. When we practice the idea that we listened, it becomes a truth and we experience it. Unless the idea gets into us and we practice, listening/reading fails to crate lasting results.
5. There is nothing impossible in this world. Only it is a matter of time, after we put our sincere efforts.

Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill in India

Government of India introduced a Bill on Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority (NSRA) Act 2011 (link provided at the end of this article) in the monsoon session of the parliament (Lok Sabha) on Wednesday 7th September 2011. As per the report in livemint,  report in The Hindu, article in Power Engineering, the Bill provides for creation of a

1. Council of Nuclear Safety (CNS) with Prime Minister as Chair Person and other members including Atomic Energy Commission Chairman as ex-officio for nuclear/radiation safety policy review; 
2. an authority (NSRA) with offices at different places having a a chairperson, two whole-time members and up to four part-time members.The chairperson, reporting to parliament, would have to have at least 25 years' experience in nuclear science and technology, environmental science, engineering or related fields. The members would need to have at least 20 years' experience in these fields.; Chair Person and Members can serve for a maximum two terms with each at three years and upto a maximum age of 70 years; Member upto 65 years. The Chair Person is also Chief Executive Officer of NSRA with financial and administrative powers.
3. search committees for selection of Chair Person and Members of NSRA
4. an appellate authority with a Supreme Court judge or a High Court Chief Justice as Chair Person and two scientist who are experts in the field as its Members.

Atomic Energy Regulatory Boad (AERB) will be dissolved after establishment of the authority as per Section 18 of the proposed Act and Chairman & its members will be transferred to function as Chair Person and members of NSRA till search committees find persons for these posts. AERB Employees also will be transferred to NSRA and within three years they can decide to be part of NSRA or as any central government employee.
As per Section 19, the jurisdiction of the Authority shall extend to all areas to which this Act is applicable and activities relating to production, development or use of atomic energy and radiation in all its applications, or transport (within India or outside India), transfer by sale or otherwise, import, export or storage or disposal of nuclear and radioactive material.

The NSRA would decide on issues through a majority vote of the members, and if there is a tie, the chairperson or the senior-most member present shall have a second or casting vote, the bill has proposed. The CNS will be empowered to create the appellate for grievance addressal.

NSRA is the sole authority for administering Factories Act 1948 as per Section 23 of NSRA Act 2011. The authority can delegate its powers to any one including state government as per Section 24, except making regulations. Section 25 gives powers to central government to exempt facilities of national interest.

Section 40 states penalties of upto 5 years imprisonment and or fine for violations. Top to bottom, anybody responsible can be punished (Section 41). Section 44 says, Civil courts do not have jurisdiction on matters which NSRA or other regulatory bodies empowered under this Act.

Creation of this council got necessiated in the aftermath of Fukushima accident, the government's resolve to increase share of nuclear power, allow private operators for nuclear power generation and ensure safety.
After approval of the Bill, the NSRA has to notify any accident of significant risk within 15 days and should give wide publicity as per Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act,2010. It appears that the Bill is aimed at ensuring safety to employees, public and environment mainly during power generation keeping in mind of accidents occurred earlier like Chernobyl and Fukushima. As government intends to allow private operators in nuclear power generation, to avoid bypassing or short cuts on safety procedures, it proposes stringent provisions for safe generation of nuclear power. The penal provisions include jail term upto five years and also fines.

Council of Nuclear Safety:  Consist of the Prime Minister, the Union ministers of environment, external affairs, health, home affairs, science and technology, the cabinet secretary, the chairperson of the atomic energy commission, and eminent experts to be nominated by the central government.





THE NUCLEAR SAFETY REGULATORY AUTHORITY BILL, 2011

Related news items:

http://www.google.co.in/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1R2ADFA_enIN437&q=nuclear+safety+regulatory+authority+bill+2011
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/nuclear-safety-bill-tabled-in-lok-sabha/articleshow/9901420.cms
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/189375/revamped-n-safety-mechanism-cards.html
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ws070911Nuclear.asp
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/economy/article2432732.ece

BBS-Reaction and Response

I read a post in http://www.lifeplan.co.nr/ dated 07.03.2011 on reaction vs response. It made be to realize about our behavior to different situations, let it be office or road or home. This can be used in safety training programmes also while talking about behavior based safety.

Leniency to violators by authorities

Every day, we see reports of many accidents, incidents, violations by factories. There will be hue and cry for lenient attitude / laxity on the part of the regulating authorities. There will be injuries/fatalities/release of fumes, gases from plant to public domain/dumping of chemicals in the night in public areas/failure of containment from tankers, etc. Immediately, regulators are found fault for not keeping eye on violators. Regulators also visit the affected areas, factories and say that there is no licence for operation or matter is under investigation or notices are slapped, etc. The issue will be left. Media also will leave it as the importance is lost after the item is aired in all channels.
This is not happening in our country alone. When we see reports appearing in several websites of different countries, we come to know that this is worldwide phenomenon. Even, in countries where regulators are tough nuts, stiff penalties are imposed, still accidents/incidents/violations continue to occur and reasons seem to be silly. Though, many do not agree now-a-days that 'safety is nothing but common sense', still that common sense alone can prevent many accidents.
We are all greed and want to save few bucks by following short cuts. Finally, after sometime, everybody would have experienced a huge loss because of one accident and the loss far exceeds all savings accrued so far from short cut methods. Still, the lessons are confined to the affected individual alone and again the same individual will bypass safety after sometime, because our memory is short.
In such a situation, what a regulator can do is the big question, when we do not have self discipline. Then, we have to face the consequences and suffer.

Wrist band tool to identify persons in danger and help in Safe Evacuation

A demo found in youtube on above subject is available here.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdTIYvKhhoc

Why accidents continue to occur?

We read regularly in news papers that accidents continue to occur though here and there the concerned are charge sheeted. Most of the time, the families of the victims are compensated by the managements and the issue is resolved to the satisfaction of both parties. Many times, accidents are reported. It is likely that there are many accidents which are not reported and settled without notice. Though this may satisfy the aggrieved, it will not stop recurrence of accidents, if not in the same organization, as no lessons are drawn. The only lesson drawn is that it is economical to pay rather than ensure safety at workplace. This is a common sense. Why one will spend more when there are ways to reduce costs.

There will be reports for sometime in newspapers and then everybody will forget. This is true everywhere in the world. In some countries, as experts say, regulators are task masters and award huge penalties. However, the fact that accidents continue to occur in these countries shows that there is something wrong in implementation of accident prevention programme.

When there is some financial scam, more are affected and there are many stake holders in voicing there concern and try to punish the responsible. However, this is not visible in case of industrial accidents. I do not know, in how many cases, regulators stopped operations permanently after an accident. There may be suspension of operations for a while, but not as a whole. Managements can absorb losses due to suspension of operations for a while. Some can even clevery carryout maintenance works during this period which may be due after sometime and thus save time from annual shutdown.

A serious message is to be sent to managements with severe actions that can make them to realize about the importance of safety given by governments and that they may lose even their personal wealth if any accident occurs.

Otherwise, it is better for the regulators to stop issuing press notes about poor conditions in factores and be contended with the existing conditions.

Safety management OR managed safety

It is usual for us to hear and read about the commitment expressed by CEOs, CMDs, ... at various functions. They say, SAFETY FIRST, QUALITY SECOND AND PRODUCTION NEXT. After the function is over, these same people will be enquiring about the production statistics for that day without bothering to enquire about safety status. Managers will be fired, if they report drop in production or come with their problems. Such managers may be threatened to find another job or transferred to less important posts and will be given earful in the presence of others, sometimes in front of juniors also. The CEO / CMD wants to prove that he is the boss. If this is the situation, what the managers have to do. They will pressurize their subordinates without much thought about safety. Because, bypassing safety systems will show immediate results i.e increase in output, though in the long run it can result in more accidents and may even lead to breakdown. But, people do not think such breakdowns are because of failure to follow safety. They think it as an event which they attend to rectify and go on. If any accident occurs, then it may not be reported, not investigated and will be covered as a minor accident. Thus the management actually will be practicing the principle of PRODUCTION FIRST, QUALITY NEXT, SAFETY LAST.
If someone is concerned about the accident, if this someone is a union person or safety officer, then the accident will be investigated and some measures may be implemented. Otherwise, it is lost with no record.

Generally, only those accidents where injured have to be taken to hospital for surgery or saving life, will be reported. All other accidents will be recorded as minor accidents. In such organizations, naturally, safety record will be the BEST and the CEO can boast to the world that he leads by example, that he spends so much money on safety systems, training, etc, etc. And one morning, there will be the news of a major accident, shuts down all operations and investigation begins into its activities by the regulator.

Though the regulators scream about lack of safety procedures and systems, nobody is bothered, even the public. Because, they have stake in the company in the form of investment, jobs, contracts, auxiliary business, etc.

We are living like fools where we do not want to see the facts and when something happens, we are happy to discuss threadbare till the topic is HOT or interesting till something new happens. Even media also does the same.

Safety mantra - If you can't do it safely, don't do it

I liked an article that was published in British Safety Council magazine (http://www.britsafe.org/). In it the Chief Executive of First Group Plc states their approach to accident prevention as below:

If you can'g do it safely, don't do it.

To improve the safety record, their new approach is "First to Zero" to eliminate all unsafe conditions. The target is not at accident numbers but to focus on persons representing these safety numbers. They do not want anyone to get injured and thus aim for eliminating all unsafe conditions. Really, we have to salute the managers and staff for aiming to such a high standards and working towards it.

Stress on Safety Professionals?

Many safety professionals face the problem of getting attention from their colleagues and management. People are not receptive to suggestions. Suggestions are treated as fancy ideas which are not workable. Or, not economically feasible. Safety professionals are blamed that they do not have project experience. As soon as a safety officer visits a workspot, people think that he has come to stop a work. Complain that they are tensed by seeing him, or make sarcastic comments, or disappear from the place to avoid him, etc. In meetings also instead of listening to safety man, they keep talking with others and when safety presentation is over, all feel relieved that a ritual is completed and is recorded. To show that they are committed to safety, people pay lip service by saying 'safety first, production next'.

Leaving apart production people, what about the stress in safety man. He finds many hazards, unsafe acts, wrong practices, etc. When he tells plant people, he will get no response or he will be entertained with arguments. Being a safety professional and is responsible, he can't keep quiet. He has to engage plant people in convincing them about elimination of hazards identified. Over a period of time, continuation of such practices by plant people can stress safety person and he may become cynic. It can also affect his health and family life as he carries work place thoughts and tensions to home. Everything at home also appears in disarray and he will enter into discussions first, arguments later and finally he may end up a big loser.

Experts say that safety professionals should not get disheartened for poor response from production people, but I don't think this is possible for ever for any person. Even those preaching professionals would have lost temper at various occasions.

Sometime back when I attended a 3-day training programme, one faculty arranged a discussion (actually a drama / skit) among the partcipants dividing them into production and safety groups. I happened to be in production group and few production people happened to be in safety group. During the skit, When I questioned the group playing as safety department, as they used to question me in my plant visits, they were searching for words as were taken aback by my ferociousness as a production man. I think they understood during the skit what I want to convey to them that they actually make such mindless arguments on the shopfloor with the safety man.
I also enjoyed the skit in repeating the questions whatever they said earlier to me. What I want to convey is that by stepping into others shoes, we can understand the problem and intentions. We can ask production man what he will do if he is in safety department and sees such unsafe condtions. Then, he too may think some alternative. This may ease the stress on both production and safety persons. However, this is possible if there are people who are technically sound and are patient to listen. We can't talk to bullying personalities and is futile in conversing with them. Only written communication with copies to their superiors will have some impact in removing hazards at work place.

Who is responsible for safety?

After the last week verdict on Bhopal tragedy for fixing the responsibility, so many people in responsible positions commented about the verdict. The Factories Act 1948 amended after this 1984 accident fixes the responsibility for ensuring safety at the work place on the occupier as well as the manager. It also says (Sec 101) that if the occupier is able to prove that he has given full responsiblity and resources to others down below and that the accident occurred because of deeds of his subordinates without his knowledge, then the said person can be held responsible.

Someone commented that a car owner can't be held responsible, if his driver makes an accident. It is forgotten that the driver was put into job by the owner of the car and nobody else (unless car was stolen and is not reported in the police station).

If managements employ less qualified or unsuitable persons for the job, then there is every possibility that accidents / incidents can take place. In risk assessment, human error is also a factor. In fact, experts say that systems should be designed and put in place such that even a fool can not meddle and lead to accidents.

In the case of Bhopal accident, it is mentioned that the some of the workers, superviors and managers were brought from Battery Division and do not have proper training / exposure to run the plant. Even the audit report of Union Carbide warned about imminent dangers, a few years before the accident. Few accidents occurred earlier also support that a major accident will not occur all of a sudden, but will be preceded by few near misses and minor accidents.

As the plant was not in operation for few months before the accident, poorly trained managers and supervisors decided to switch off the refrigeration system thinking that when plant is not running, nothing will happen (because of lack of knowledge on hazards). Persons were not informed about the hazards, neither they had interest to learn on their own, about what can happen in their day-to-day activities. All of us will be careful to caution our children about their safety when they go to school or college. But we do not follow the same at our work place.

Apart from deactivating refrigeration system, the srubbing unit and flare tower were not kept in working condition. To prove Murphy law, every safety system went wrong simulataneously (neither functional nor available at the time of accident). The water sprinkler, a last resort, had limitations of spraying water upto a height of only 15 m where as the gas eascaped from the flare tower at a height more than this.

There are provisions and punishments for causing deaths due to negligence, callous attitude and accused should be awarded compunded punishments. If the wrong doers are not punished severely, this will send a wrong message to all greedy corporates that nothing will happen to them and they can find some scapegoats at lower levels for the minor punishments.  In the famous novel God Father by Mario Puzo, it is mentioned that underworld people keep some persons with opposing gangs as a surity for the persons from these gangs attending meetings so that they can participate the meetings and leave the place safely. Scapegoats will be found like in the underworld system.

The entire property of the owners of the factory causing such large scale deaths should be confiscated and it is better for governments to work toward making international laws to confiscate properties of the owners in other countries also.






LINK

Don't Relax after peak production in March - examine all your systems for safety

Normally, the month of March is peak production period for meeting the targets of production for manufacturers, financial expenditure for those who ordered various machinery, etc so that they will not receive any flak from Board Directors or Finance Department.

The month of April will be somewhat a lean period, having met the targets and waiting for good news of bonus / pay increase, etc. However, it is good if all establishments plan their annual shutdowns for maintenance in April, test their equipment / vessels / material handling equipment / earthpits, etc as per statutory requirements in this month so that there will not be any question of non-availability of particular system for testing. Production department will be reluctant to release the system for examination in the second half of the year. Thus, April-May is the best period for statutory examinations and annual mainatenance.

Safety Practioner: A Pessimist? or A Visionary!!

A safety officer’s main role in the organization to help in hazard identification and thus he will have a hawk’s eye for hazards. The conditions which are normal for the plant personnel will be hazards in the eyes of safety man and thus when he tells shop floor persons about hazard and need for elimination, the safety man will be seen as a negative minded person. He may be scolded, chided and will be at receiving end depending upon the safety culture of the organization. If the safety officer is having thick skin, then he will not bother and will continue his work. If not, after sometime he may stop cautioning about hazards. If some unusual incident occurs, then again same safety person will be blamed for not identifying the hazard and intimating the concerned. He will be come pessimistic and all his goals / objective in the beginning of a career in safety will lead to total frustration and he will be at cross roads to do what. He will be stressful and it is not possible for any person to be optimistic for ever. Though pessimistic attitude is good for a safety man in hazard identification, when this reach his mind and carried to home, it may spoil his home life also. Over a period of time, he will be at peace neither at work place nor at home and will be blamed all around.

Therefore, it is important for safety professional to stay positive and exercise like walking will help him to stay fit, physically and mentally. Listening to music, attending cultural programmes and book reading are some of the activities which can help the person to lead a peaceful life. Similarly, visiting new places, monumental or religious or others, will fresh up the life.

If it is not possible to continue in the safety department, he can think of change of job. However, I know some persons who left their organizations in frustration continue to be frustrated and are frequent job changers.

There are many programmes available to take care of different professionals, but professionals who help the organizations to identify hazards are helped in identifying their hazards. These safety professionals have to take care of themselves and safe guard their health and life beyond office.

Once the person overcomes his stressful life because of his profession, still keeping his pessimistic approach, he can be helpful to the organization in hazard identification. A safety officer in an organization will have the moral responsibility of ensuring a safe work place and also see that management will not take wrong decisions because of his work methods. He has to envisage what can go wrong and provide feed back to the management in the form of reports regularly. He has to convey hazards along with the statutory requirments under which these are seen as violations and for thick skinned persons, safety officer should not hesitate in telling about the penalties / punishments one deserves for the violations. Though, punishments or penalties are seen as last resort and people say they are not helpful in straightening the organization, as we see the occurrence of incidents in well advanced countries and the penalties imposed by the regulators in these countries, there is no other solution.

In fact, organizations should develop their own penalty structure in terms of cash fine or reduced pay or suspension of the employee from work and termination as last resort. Then, everybody will have the fear of following safety priniciples which the management wants to follow. Of course, nothing can be done, if the management it self pays only lip service to safety.

Accident prevention is cheaper than the accident

Yesterday evening, a 2-year old boy fell in an unused open borewell in a village in Andhra Pradesh. Today evening he died, though efforts were made to save the child.

It is not uncommon to hear such news now and then. There are many unreported incidents as well. Some lucky ones were rescued safely and many unlucky children could not. It is outrageous that when a borewell is dug, till other piping work is completed, the well is to be capped and all it costs for a perfect capping is only about Rs 500. People spend thousands of rupees for sinking a borewell but think that it costs them to securely close. Now, see the cost of resources put into saving the child fell in the borewell.
- EMRI service 108 personnel spent more than 24 hrs in rescue efforts
- District collector and SP also spent considerable time
- Earth removers were engaged on the job (it costs about Rs 500-1000 per hour when you rent it and for 24 hrs, more than Rs 20000/- is spent and this amount alone can be used for capping 40 wells. If you add cost of personnel and medical emergency care engaged in the work, the rescue efforts amount to another Rs 20,000/-)

It is good that TV9 channel started a campaign to inform them about all open wells so that message can be driven into concerned officials for capping the wells and save other children.

In the field of industrial safety, it is known that cost of accident prevention is only 1/4 of direct cost of the accident. Infact, the savings accrued from accident prevention, over a period of time, will far exceed the money spent on accident prevention and thus experts say that SAFETY IS CHEAP AND COSTS NOTHING compared to the expenditure one has to incur once an accident occurs.

The persons responsible for leaving the borewells in open condition should be held responsible and should be made to pay for their lapse so that all others will realize and try to be vigilant in their actions.

Publicity and awareness campaigns like the one started by TV9 should be on continuous basis and voluntary and should not be like knee-jerk reaction.

Importance of Learning - II

Most discoveries are made regularly every fifteen years – George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), in his play, The Doctor’s Dilemma, (1906)

When organizations put all their efforts, over a period of time,the number disabling accidents will come to single digit, but stagnate and not much progress is made beyond this (w.r.t. safety).

Some of the departments working for a long time without accidents may start having accidents again after some time. Like fortunes, safety record also undergoes different cyclical periods.

Man is an animal without education. We are educated animals. We make mistakes again and again, may not be at the same place / operation / plant or by same person; but similar mistakes are made, may be by different persons. Most of the mistakes are made not because of lack of knowledge or skill. Rather, it is because of an overdose of it.

When we join in the department or new to work, we have formal education but not the specific knowledge and skill about the job to be done. At this time, we are likely to get involved in accidents because of lack of knowledge and skill. After some time, we acquire both knowledge as well as skill and will be attentive. Once, we are used it, over a period of time, we try to find short cuts.

SHORT CUTS IN SAFETY CAN SHORT CIRCUIT OUR SAFETY AS WELL AS OF OTHERS

Once this mentality / attitude sets in, we are prone to accidents. Most of the accidents occur to persons who are either new or well experienced.

When an accident occurs, every body becomes emotional, may be, even take oath not to repeat such mistake(s). BUT soon, we forget or we assume that it will not happen to us and go back to our old ways of doing it. This is called NIMBY syndrome i.e Not In My Back Yard Syndrome. (A term used by Trevor A. Kletz - as I understood).

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," (sometimes called Santayana's Law of Repetitive Consequences) – George Santayana (1863 – 1952), a philosopher

We have to UNLEARN the WRONG LEARNINGS and LEARN the safe ways of doing the job.

ORGANIZATIONS HAVE NO MEMORY. ONLY PEOPLE HAVE MEMORIES AND THEY MOVE ON – Trevor A Kletz, an internationally acclaimed safety professional, in his book, Lessons from Disaster.

Organization fail to learn the lessons from accidents. Even if the lessons are drawn, then remembering and following them subsequently is a question. How long they remember is another question. Lessons are forgotten, when persons attitude changes or persons are shifted / retired without passing the lessons to youngsters.

God gives us enough opportunities (near misses). The issue is that we should be ready to grab it (analyze the near misses for root causes and remedy the system). Else, the opportunity is lost (leading to accident).

Definitely, time will heal the wounds (of accidents and its pain), BUT we should not loose our sight of lessons from it. We should have an eye to observe the near misses that occur before an accident. Nothing will happen all of a sudden without warning.

Near misses and accidents, either in our plant or others, are the best sources of learning and correcting. If we are not bothered, or afraid to discuss these near misses, then some thing bigger awaits us and we have to pay for it. No body will be penalized or punished for noticing and discussing the near misses. Most of the employees have fears to face the queries raised during root cause analysis / discussions and therefore may not report it. By doing this, we are making self goal not bothering about long term benefits.

Seminars / workshops on case studies are a way of learning, particularly, when we hear from the persons who are actually involved in it.

It is well recognized that training helps to create awareness among the employees and thus reduce the accidents. Though, we can not attribute seminars as the only reason, however, safety statistics over a long period (including before and after training) lead to a downward trend in accidents and severity (man-days lost).

The benefit of such programmes can be seen only when the message (lesson) is carried and spread to all those who did not participate in these programmes.