A demo found in youtube on above subject is available here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdTIYvKhhoc
Aug 22, 2010
Stress and accidents
Reason for many of the accidents appears very simple and silly at times. Many of the accidents did not occur because of some complex reactions or failure of safety systems. But, why do people get involved in such silly accidents. I think, lack of peace of mind is the reason. When we are not at peace, we cannot concentrate on our activity. Lack of peace can be due to
Accident means an event that unplanned, unexpected, unintentional,...
Though, nobody intends to get in to accident, lack of hazard identification, failure to take preventive measures and not reviewing the safety processes are the reasons for accidents. However simple the hazard appears, we should not be casual. It should be attended immediately. There is no use of repenting after the accident.
Similarly, one should not be relaxed when there are no accidents. May be they are not reported. May be there are many unreported nearmisses. May be the attitude of the manager is not to see minor accidents as accidents.
It is common for top management to boast of good safety record and take credit for it. But, a trulyaccident-free workplace is a reality because of sustained efforts all employees over a period of time. It will not happen overnight or in a week or in a month or in a year.
Some people attach value to human life and workout how much money can be spent on safety programme. My life may be worth $ 1.0 million to you. But, my family does not see like that. For them, it is invaluable. Nobody can remove the tears in the eyes of family members, when somebody dies. Nobody got right to decide the value of human life.
I read in the internet that some organizations care for their employees by attending to their personal problems, employ professionals to teach yoga, meditation and allocate time within working hours so that their employees can have healthy and peaceful life.
What for we earn money, if we do not have stress-free life. Though, some people say, certain stress is required for the growth of the individual, I think this is purely business oriented. The increase in suicide rate everywhere in the world shows that so called acceptable stress is NOT acceptable to the individual. As there is no other means to earn income, persons accept the additional demands and stress themselves. Ultimately, weak hearted will take their lives. Persons responsible for causing stress should think twice by entering into others shoes and then decide about the work.
- arguments with relations / servants / milkman / paper boy/ gas station employ
- children education
- well being of blood relations
- arguments with colleagues
- business loss
- greed
- simple problems like vehicle breakdown, plumbing problem at home, ...
- financial needs
- thinking about meeting, examination, bank loan, ...
- etc
Accident means an event that unplanned, unexpected, unintentional,...
Though, nobody intends to get in to accident, lack of hazard identification, failure to take preventive measures and not reviewing the safety processes are the reasons for accidents. However simple the hazard appears, we should not be casual. It should be attended immediately. There is no use of repenting after the accident.
Similarly, one should not be relaxed when there are no accidents. May be they are not reported. May be there are many unreported nearmisses. May be the attitude of the manager is not to see minor accidents as accidents.
It is common for top management to boast of good safety record and take credit for it. But, a trulyaccident-free workplace is a reality because of sustained efforts all employees over a period of time. It will not happen overnight or in a week or in a month or in a year.
Some people attach value to human life and workout how much money can be spent on safety programme. My life may be worth $ 1.0 million to you. But, my family does not see like that. For them, it is invaluable. Nobody can remove the tears in the eyes of family members, when somebody dies. Nobody got right to decide the value of human life.
I read in the internet that some organizations care for their employees by attending to their personal problems, employ professionals to teach yoga, meditation and allocate time within working hours so that their employees can have healthy and peaceful life.
What for we earn money, if we do not have stress-free life. Though, some people say, certain stress is required for the growth of the individual, I think this is purely business oriented. The increase in suicide rate everywhere in the world shows that so called acceptable stress is NOT acceptable to the individual. As there is no other means to earn income, persons accept the additional demands and stress themselves. Ultimately, weak hearted will take their lives. Persons responsible for causing stress should think twice by entering into others shoes and then decide about the work.
Same rains, but areas are flooded
Of late, there are heavy rains in different parts of our state. Though the rains appear to be same like in earlier years, what is disturbing is the fact that more and more areas in cities are getting flooded. Knee deep water on the roads is seen in TV visuals. Even people are washed off due to flash floods on the roads in the cities. Adding to this misery, open manholes / potholes on the road are endangering the lives of commuters on the road. Few have fallen into open manholes, washed off and died.
This is not seen in earlier years. Only in the last 3-4 years, such incidents are happening. Encroachment of stormwater drains (natural and artificial), laying of roads without leaving open soil for seepage of water, not cleaning the drains before rainy season, etc are some of the reasons for floods on the roads.
Huge apartment complexes are coming in the cities thereby restricting the free flow of rain water. Drainage canals/channels are occupied with hutments leaving little space for the water to flow. When roads are relaid, I read few years ago, that the surface of the existing road should be removed and new road should be laid so that the water on the road can easily seep in to the ground. Though I do not know the principle, may be relaying over and over on the same road may reduce the porosity of the road and thus water will not seep.
Further, of late, instead of bitumen roads, concrete roads are being laid for long life, with good intention. However, concrete roads are not allowing the water to sink into the soil. And concrete roads laid edge to edge in the streets without allowance for rain water to flow in the edges on the soil. Business establishments, residential buildings are also constructed with concrete surface upto the roads. Gardens are not maintained in the housing complexes. Parks are disappearing and thus no open areas are left. Trees are cut and the area is used for constructing some more rooms to get income. All this is leading to total concrete carpeting of cities and towns with narrowed storm water drains.
I feel the above are reasons for flooding of roads even with normal rains. The capacity of the underground stormwater drains got reduced because of choking / use of stormwater drain for normal sewage drain. With ever increasing population, these drains are becoming insufficient. When it rains, persons staying near the roads are removing manhole covers thinking that flood water will go into the drains through open manholes. But due to insufficient capacity, drains are full and water stays on the road. Commuters on the road, not knowing about open drains, are falling into these drains and precious lives are lost.
What can be done?
This is not seen in earlier years. Only in the last 3-4 years, such incidents are happening. Encroachment of stormwater drains (natural and artificial), laying of roads without leaving open soil for seepage of water, not cleaning the drains before rainy season, etc are some of the reasons for floods on the roads.
Huge apartment complexes are coming in the cities thereby restricting the free flow of rain water. Drainage canals/channels are occupied with hutments leaving little space for the water to flow. When roads are relaid, I read few years ago, that the surface of the existing road should be removed and new road should be laid so that the water on the road can easily seep in to the ground. Though I do not know the principle, may be relaying over and over on the same road may reduce the porosity of the road and thus water will not seep.
Further, of late, instead of bitumen roads, concrete roads are being laid for long life, with good intention. However, concrete roads are not allowing the water to sink into the soil. And concrete roads laid edge to edge in the streets without allowance for rain water to flow in the edges on the soil. Business establishments, residential buildings are also constructed with concrete surface upto the roads. Gardens are not maintained in the housing complexes. Parks are disappearing and thus no open areas are left. Trees are cut and the area is used for constructing some more rooms to get income. All this is leading to total concrete carpeting of cities and towns with narrowed storm water drains.
I feel the above are reasons for flooding of roads even with normal rains. The capacity of the underground stormwater drains got reduced because of choking / use of stormwater drain for normal sewage drain. With ever increasing population, these drains are becoming insufficient. When it rains, persons staying near the roads are removing manhole covers thinking that flood water will go into the drains through open manholes. But due to insufficient capacity, drains are full and water stays on the road. Commuters on the road, not knowing about open drains, are falling into these drains and precious lives are lost.
What can be done?
- Floor space index (FSI) should be brought down
- The capacity of drainage system should be in line with the population and industries
- A parameter like open garden area with open (earth) area should be made conditional for all buildings while giving permission
- Either side of the roads should be left open without laying bitumen/concrete
- Summer months should be declared as months of dechoking of drains
- All establishments which do not have parking space and making their customers to park in the roads should be asked to create parking space or to shift to some other location where they can have their own parking so that roads are not encroached
- It is common to see at the entrance of many apartment complexes mentioning that VISITORS VEHICLES ARE NOT ALLOWED INSIDE. Such practice should not be allowed. All residential buildings also should have sufficient parking space within their complex for visitors. Otherwise, they can have multilevel parking instead of grumbling that they do not have sufficient space.
- Though it is not possible in already developed areas, sufficient water catchment areas / lakes should be part of city plan where expansion is taking place so that water can be held instead of allowing to flow like flood and this will also help to meet water needs of the city. Every city should be a LAKE CITY so that floods can be restricted and water need are met.
Aug 18, 2010
Safety Poem - I Could Have Saved A Life That Day
There are very few poems / songs available with safety theme. Here you can find one. An emotional one that reminds safety professionals not to be scared / afraid / hesitant to caution and advise when we see some unsafe act or unsafe condition.
Aug 17, 2010
Noise - Hearing protection programme
There is an article on ill effects of noise and about hearing protection measures. But, today I learnt that though all of us know to reduce the noise levels to below 85 dBA, it is also not advisable to reduce it below to 70 dBA as it can cause hearing problems to operators regarding instructions, warning alarms, etc.
There is also a calculator in the above link to calculate the effectiveness of hearing protection based on the results of noise survey in your shopfloor.
Though Factories Act says 90 dBA is the noise limit for 8 hour exposure, it is a good practice to subject all employees to audiometry test, if they are exposed to 85 dBA even once in a year. Though supervisors will be reluctant to send the employees to audiometry tests to avoid production loss, considering the ill effects of noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) and in extreme case may lead to loss of life if the employee is unable to hear warning alarms.
There is also a calculator in the above link to calculate the effectiveness of hearing protection based on the results of noise survey in your shopfloor.
Though Factories Act says 90 dBA is the noise limit for 8 hour exposure, it is a good practice to subject all employees to audiometry test, if they are exposed to 85 dBA even once in a year. Though supervisors will be reluctant to send the employees to audiometry tests to avoid production loss, considering the ill effects of noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) and in extreme case may lead to loss of life if the employee is unable to hear warning alarms.
How to make safety training effective?
Today, I read to articles on makeing safety training effective. One is on presentation skills by the trainer to grab the attention of participants (Safety Daily Advisor). The other is use of safety videos. The original link is published separately in this blog.
Attention: It says that attention of the participants is short and therefore the trainer has to be careful in planning his presentations by giving introduction, a video, narration, quiz for evaluation, etc with interaction in between. This is like a typical James Bond movie which I am attracted to because of an action stunt in the beginning, titles with music, then movie.
Videos: Videos are quite effective in understanding any subject. There is a proverb that a picture speaks 100 words. We remember scenes of a movie for a long rather than the dialogues in it unless otherwise it is a punch dialogue. In the article I read, the author mentions that it is difficult to gather employees at one place to train them. Further, what I feel that general training to meet different trades of employees present in a training session will not be effective and we can't be specific to a particular trade of employees when other trades are present. To overcome this, the author rightly said that making availability of safety videos on-demand will be quite effective. If the videos are made available through intranet with monitors provided at workers' change rooms/cabins (rest places) where they take rest for sometime after lunch / tea break, those interested can see the videos of their interest. This viewing can also be done where there is no work and workers got a free time.
I got benfited a lot and my understanding of chemical safety improved when I watched CSB videos. For more details, whenever required, I went through the investigation reports of CSB. In my training sessions for fresh batches, I start with a brief introduction, followed by some principles and then show a video. There is a huge demand from participants for more videos. I give them the website addresses instead of videos as I feel that if we provide videos as such, then the CD/DVD will be lying in the cupboard without using it ever. If they themselves go to the website and watch / download videos, then, I am sure they will go through in length and make them to surf the net for more and more such videos and information.
Recently, in a training session for experienced employees, when I showed a video on impact of a gas cylinder when it valve is broken, many employees, some them on the verge of superannuation told me that for first time they understood why gas cylinder valves should be protected and why gas cylinders should be chained. Even in feedback forms, they mentioned the same. Mind you, I went for the training session to fill a gap of 15 minutes as the lunch was not ready.
Attention: It says that attention of the participants is short and therefore the trainer has to be careful in planning his presentations by giving introduction, a video, narration, quiz for evaluation, etc with interaction in between. This is like a typical James Bond movie which I am attracted to because of an action stunt in the beginning, titles with music, then movie.
Videos: Videos are quite effective in understanding any subject. There is a proverb that a picture speaks 100 words. We remember scenes of a movie for a long rather than the dialogues in it unless otherwise it is a punch dialogue. In the article I read, the author mentions that it is difficult to gather employees at one place to train them. Further, what I feel that general training to meet different trades of employees present in a training session will not be effective and we can't be specific to a particular trade of employees when other trades are present. To overcome this, the author rightly said that making availability of safety videos on-demand will be quite effective. If the videos are made available through intranet with monitors provided at workers' change rooms/cabins (rest places) where they take rest for sometime after lunch / tea break, those interested can see the videos of their interest. This viewing can also be done where there is no work and workers got a free time.
I got benfited a lot and my understanding of chemical safety improved when I watched CSB videos. For more details, whenever required, I went through the investigation reports of CSB. In my training sessions for fresh batches, I start with a brief introduction, followed by some principles and then show a video. There is a huge demand from participants for more videos. I give them the website addresses instead of videos as I feel that if we provide videos as such, then the CD/DVD will be lying in the cupboard without using it ever. If they themselves go to the website and watch / download videos, then, I am sure they will go through in length and make them to surf the net for more and more such videos and information.
Recently, in a training session for experienced employees, when I showed a video on impact of a gas cylinder when it valve is broken, many employees, some them on the verge of superannuation told me that for first time they understood why gas cylinder valves should be protected and why gas cylinders should be chained. Even in feedback forms, they mentioned the same. Mind you, I went for the training session to fill a gap of 15 minutes as the lunch was not ready.
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.
Aug 12, 2010
Use of robots in automated processes - What are the safety implications?
Automation of processes is preferred by most of the organizations as it reduces human interface and improves productivity. In manufacturing / engineering industry, auto sector, etc most of the material handling jobs are automated and robots are engaged for complex jobs. This reduces lifting of weights of human beings, avoids stress / strain caused due to repetitive jobs and thus reduces health care costs.
However, it is important to understand the programming that went into sequencing of operations to be done in automated jobs and its implications particularly when the jobs are partly automated, partly manual. The job may look simple when routine sequence of operations are carried out. However, if any interruptions / change of sequence is there or breakdown occurs or power failure takes place, we need to know its impact on operations. May be we did not thought of restricting the functioning of robots or like it happens in computers when power failure occurs, there may be hanging of the computer programme. Whether such a situation creates any hazard to shopfloor operators in the vicinity is to be assessed.
Or, what are the hazards when maintenance is to be done when these automated systems are in energized condition. Whether safe positioning is incorporated when emergency stop switch is operated is to be known. Else, when someone looks into the problem during a breakdown, any of his repair job may cause the robot arm to move and hit the maintenance engineer.
Before programming the logics, a detailed WHAT IF analysis is to be done by involving concerned including design engineer, operation engineer, instrument engineer, maintenance engineer, safety engineer, etc to assess all possible hazards for all regular operations / breakdown jobs / maintenance, etc.
Still, there may be surprises depending upon the extent of questioning, imagination, thinking is put during hazard evaluation.
However, it is important to understand the programming that went into sequencing of operations to be done in automated jobs and its implications particularly when the jobs are partly automated, partly manual. The job may look simple when routine sequence of operations are carried out. However, if any interruptions / change of sequence is there or breakdown occurs or power failure takes place, we need to know its impact on operations. May be we did not thought of restricting the functioning of robots or like it happens in computers when power failure occurs, there may be hanging of the computer programme. Whether such a situation creates any hazard to shopfloor operators in the vicinity is to be assessed.
Or, what are the hazards when maintenance is to be done when these automated systems are in energized condition. Whether safe positioning is incorporated when emergency stop switch is operated is to be known. Else, when someone looks into the problem during a breakdown, any of his repair job may cause the robot arm to move and hit the maintenance engineer.
Before programming the logics, a detailed WHAT IF analysis is to be done by involving concerned including design engineer, operation engineer, instrument engineer, maintenance engineer, safety engineer, etc to assess all possible hazards for all regular operations / breakdown jobs / maintenance, etc.
Still, there may be surprises depending upon the extent of questioning, imagination, thinking is put during hazard evaluation.
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Featured Post
Reduced my weight from 96 to 76 kg and tummy from 38-40 to 34-35 inches in about 9 months
I am working in the safety department of a government organization. As a part of the job, I used to go around and interact with person...
