Loss Causes: Placing Unreasonable Pressures or Demands on Employees

The following article appeared in Safety Center Inside Safety Newsletter Vol 12, Issue 9 October 2012:

Loss Causes: Placing Unreasonable Pressures or Demands on Employees   

By Bob Lapidus, CSP, CSMS 

In previous Points to Ponder articles, reasons for making wrong and potentially unsafe decisions were discussed to include:

1. Improperly evaluating a problem
2. Not creating expectations, policies, procedures or rules
3. Creating improper expectations, policies, procedures or rules
4. Not giving employees authority to take preventive action

We make thousands of decisions in any given day.  We know that not all our decisions are correct.  That's the way it is.

Nevertheless, when it comes to safety, being right is the only way to go.

Being wrong can lead to injury, accident or other catastrophic consequences.

In addition to the previously discussed reasons for making wrong and unsafe decisions, sometimes we do so because of unreasonable pressures or demands.  Those pressures or demands can be so powerful that we take unacceptable risks to get the job done as quickly as possible, disregarding what we know to be the safe and correct way of working.

Such pressures or demands may come from those people to whom we report.  Pressure has been put on them to get the job done regardless of what it takes.  That means short cuts must be taken to gain speed rather than to maintain caution to prevent employee injuries and property and equipment damage.

Such pressures may come from our peers.  Someone has a game or a concert to go to after work and needs to get the job done faster than the safe rate of speed.

Such pressures may come from ourselves.  Something urgent in our own lives is pressing upon us to get the job done quickly so we can get to whatever else is putting demands on us.

No matter from where the pressure emanates, pressure pushes us to work at an unsafe pace and/or in a way that stops us from working safely, using the correct equipment, following the established safety procedures or even working through an unsafe situation that needs corrective action to be taken now rather than waiting until an accident happens.

Have you ever heard an organization proclaim Safety First? 

Such a proclamation sounds good, but often does not play out in real life.  Safety First occurs when nothing else is present to take its place.  When something is present to take its pace, like getting the job done faster due to pressures and demands, then safety is no longer priority #1.  It is priority nothing. 

Safety needs to be part of the mission of the organization, part of its values, rather than given a superficial priority that only exists when everything is perfectly right.  Safety is not just for the ideal situation.  Not even unreasonable pressures or demands should permit anyone to do the work in an unsafe manner.  Working safely is all the time.

Make Correct Safety Performance Matter on 
a Moment to Moment Basis!

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The ideas for Points to Ponder articles come from Safety Center's 12-day Safety Management Specialist Certificate (CSMS) program, and from Safety Center's short course entitled Safety Management for Employees Who Supervise.  Check out these course descriptions-- Professional Safety Management or contact Quen Cach in the Northern California office at 800-825-7262 or Gayleen Grigoreas in the Southern California office at 909-625-9650.

Working in rooms without sun exposure leads to vitamin D deficiency

Today's news item in Times of India 'Workaholic' city faces Vitamin D deficiency brought out important health issues to those who do not see Sun. This leads to vitamin D deficiency and can cause in lower back ache, leg pain, cramps, fatigue and weakness.The incidence rate is high among IT and medical fraternity. But, now-a-days, there are many jobs which are indoor nature. Except those in marketing who are on the roads, all others are unlikely to get exposure to sun. Many have to leave from their home in the early hours for work and return only after sunset. And, with good income and loan availability, people use cars for their travel. It is reported that sun screens, air pollution and even dark skin prevents absorption of UV rays for synthesis of vitamin D
It is mentioned that vitamin D deficiency might increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. At least 50% of patients with diabetes, thyroid and bone disorders suffer from vitamin D deficiency. Doctors suggest making it mandatory to fortify milk with vitamin D, like iodized salt.
Doctors prescribing 30-minute sun exposure  daily between 11 AM to 3 PM to overcome this problem.

Slow is faster and fast is exhausting - The Slow Movement

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/people/Slow-down/articleshow/16513338.cms

Today (23.09.2012) an article appeared in Times of India's supplement on Life on "The Slow Movement".
All of us are stressed to meet the targets and in the process, though we reach our targets, we are missing the satisfaction or peace of mind at the end. One goal is reached and we set some more goals. We do not stop to enjoy the success and what for we are doing this.
In the article, a para with sub-heading "Slow is the new fast" mentions the saying of Christine Louise Hohlbaum, author of Power of Slow, as "Slow is actually faster whilst fast is merely exhausting! When you slow down long enough to actually think, you make smarter decisions, that leads to better outcomes and thereby saves you time in the long run. You learn the art of managing expectations." As Gandhi once said, "There's more to life than increasing its speed."
The above reminds me of the statement of O.P.Kharbanda on safety as, "Safety is not costly. In fact it is free." We develop myths which in reality are wrong.
'The Slow Movement' is to take a few steps back from the hurdle race, and enjoy every moment of our life. This movement advocates a cultural shift toward slowing down life's pace, and enjoy living, rather than rushing through life, as Gandhi said.
Author, journalist Carl Honore who wrote the best-selling book, In Praise of Slow, describes it as "a cultural revolution against the notion that faster is always better. The Slow Philosophy is not about doing everything at a snail's pace. It's about seeking to do everything at the right speed. Savoring the hours and minutes rather than just counting them. Doing everything as well as possible, instead of as fast as possible. It's about quality over quantity in everything from work to food to parenting."
When we do things at a faster pace, we are likely to make mistakes. We do things faster and this we couple with multi-tasking i.e for example, while we talk to client, we also think about what to talk with next client or what to do for the child at home, etc. Naturally, we don't do justice to our job. Doing one job at a time with all concentration and understanding will make us happy. It is of no use in accepting all jobs and becoming a failure at the end.

My experience in online purchase

I purchased some electronic items and books online on a few occasions in the last 4-5 years. Till date my experience was good. However, recently I booked a tablet at a website as it was the lowest price compared to other sites. Some reviews in the site showed satisfied customers. However, I did not get the item in the committed 21 days period. 

Meanwhile, I came to know about several complaints on this online shopping site in several complaint forums. I contacted the customer care and they promptly registered and sent a mail and then I got a mail from business executive saying that the product is much in demand and they need another 7-8 business days for delivery. I contacted once again after a week and this time my mail to a contact mail ID resulted in automated reply to file complaint through their website, in which I did not register while ordering the tablet. After some attempts with customer care, finally I got the item. 

The above experience taught me a lesson to search for complaints on the site which we want to use in internet, so that we can take an informed decision.

There is a website www.akosha.com in which one can file their complaint against the companies. Depending upon the work, they do for free or charge some amount. The representatives will try to resolve the issue and if not possible at the end, they help the aggrieved to file complaint in local consumer forum.

Ergonomic hazards for dentists

Sometime back, I visited a dentist for tooth extraction and root canal treatment (RCT). Recently, my spouse too had dental care for which I accompanied her. I found that dentists have to stand for 30-45 minutes for 3-4 teeth extraction and if it is tough tooth, more time is required. Further, due to limitations like access, illumination and view, dentists struggle to hold the tooth and extract or give RCT. The patient will be bearing the pain. But, at the same time dentist too suffers as he has to take various postures to do his work. It is my opinion that dentists will suffer back, neck, wrist and palm related problems over a period of time, if they do not limit their work hours and do not take gaps between their consultations/dental work. However, dentists appear to be very busy with their appointment diary full. Some yoga or similar exercises also will help in maintaining a good health to dentists.

Some of the hazards to dentists and patients during their work are,

• touching different patients sometimes with bare hands
• splashing of water droplets on them
• poor ventilation
• need to answer calls from mobiles with fingers that have touched already the patient, leading to spread of bacteria
• use of common items like vaseline, cotton, bottles, etc which will be used for other patients also

Liposuction - precautions to be taken

It is reported in a local daily that a person died due to infection spread in the body after injury to intestines during liposuction in which about 12 kg fat was removed instead of below 6 kg. 

Generally, liposuction process is used for removal of fat at one place and if body mass index, BMI is more than 32.5. Otherwise, one has to go for bariatric surgery. 90% of persons gain their weight in two years after the liposuction.

The risks in liposuction can be read here.http://ehealthmd.com/content/liposuction-what-are-risks

Information about bariatric surgery can be found here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bariatric_surgery

What Confuses Everybody About Universal Wastes? Lamps

What Confuses Everybody About Universal Wastes? Lamps

Questions exist in minds of persons about how to handle mercury/fluorescent lamps as they contain some amount of mercury, which is highly toxic and is hazardous. Instructions are not available from the manufacturers to address the issue. Can we dump it as municipal waste or treat it as hazardous waste is a question needs to be answered. In view of lack of guidelines, managements often question the cost of treating and land filling these lamps as hazardous waste. The above link gives some guidelines in this regard. It is stated that as per Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP), if the mercury concentration is less than 0.2 mg/lit, it can be treated as municipal waste. As per EPA observation, most of the mercury lamps fail the test.

Popcorn lung affected person awarded US $7.2 million

A person was awarded US $ 7.2 million having been affected with popcorn lung problem i.e  a form of obstructive lung disease that makes it difficult for air to flow out of the lungs and is irreversible, due to the inhalation of artificial butter flavor chemical (diacetyl) in the microwave popcorn, which he ate daily.  It is reported that he ate two bags daily for 10 years. He claimed that there are no warning labels on the popcorn bags about the dangers. Though the manufacturing company and super market that sold popcorn argued that the person got the problem from chemicals he used for years in his profession as a carpet cleaner, jurors agreed to the compensation claims made by the affected person.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57516710-10391704/colorado-man-wayne-watson-wins-$7-million-in-popcorn-lung-lawsuit/ 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Colorado-man-wins-7-2m-in-damages-for-popcorn-lung/articleshow/16483617.cms

It is reported that major manufacturers of popcorn stopped using diacetyl and are using 2,3-pentanedione which is also found to be a respiratory hazard. 

http://www.livescience.com/23360-microwave-popcorn-lung.html

The symptoms of popcorn lung disease include, scarring and hardening of lung tissue, dry cought, shortness of breath, night sweats, fever, skin peeling. 

Information on flavor related lung disease can be found from NIOSH website here. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/flavorings/

Statement from former Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission, India - Nuclear power is safe

Please read the link http://in.news.yahoo.com/nuclear-power-safe-air-travel-kakodkar-093819120.html. Different people see differently of various options for electric power generation. People oppose setting up of mines, power generation plants, let it be hydel, coal, gas, nuclear based plants. They say it is better to go for solar/wind/geothermal/tidal power. But, any small increase increase in the unit price will draw huge protests. But, at the same time, everybody wants cheap electricity for their homes and to energize their power operated equipment. Nobody wants to use simple methods which our parents and their parents used and also no attempt is made to reduce wastage of power.
Imagine what will happen to human beings after 50-100 years when all fossil fuels are exhausted. What amount of hazardous waste will be generated in the form of batteries that are required for storing the power generated from solar/wind based plants.
When people are requested to stop power for one hour to observe 'earth hour', hardly anybody switches off power, because we can't live without power even for one hour. If power plants trip or shutdown and power disruption occurs, hundreds will call offices of local power distribution companies immediately to know about power restoration. This is the state of affairs.
A balanced view has to be taken and go for options in which benefits far outweigh the risks. Talking from air conditioned rooms without considering the sufferings of common man will not help. Today, contribution from nuclear  power may be less, but when all other resources are exhausted and then going for nuclear or any other source is definitely not a viable option. The way we manage our limited income and try to build retirement corpus, we have to manage by using power from all sources and also get ready for future.

Reasons for injuries

Four states of mind are responsible for 90% of injuries at home and work place.  The four states are rushing, frustration, fatigue and complacency. The errors they lead to are failure to keep eyes on task, failure to keep mind on task, moving into or being in the line of fire and somehow losing balance, traction or grip.

Read the full article here.