Electrical Complacency Equates Near Miss Scenario » SafetySmart

Electrical Complacency Equates Near Miss Scenario » SafetySmart

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Near miss management from SafetySmart

The following link takes to SafetySmart article on '8 steps for effective near miss management'.

http://compliance.safetysmart.com/search-by-topic/recordkeeping-search-by-topic/8-steps-for-effective-near-miss-management?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Bongarde

Actions speak the truth

 People, particularly those in higher positions say, 'do what you speak and speak what you do'. But, we find many times in reality that only people speak and do not demonstrate. It is hypocrisy. 
Audience, particularly those who are not from the same organization, feel and think great about the speaker by listening to the tall claims. But, insiders will have pessimism about talk by such leaders.

When some lower level employee speaks, nobody cares. But, when same of even lower level employee of some other organization speaks, people will be attentive and give respect. This leads to heart burn among the employees of the organization to which this leader belongs.

Sometimes, when talks are given by employees of same organization in which the show is conducted, higher level people go out to do their business, but this is not the case with talks from employees of other organizations. This leads to wrong impression among employees as participants that boss does not care about the speaker (and his work) and thus they too need not bother in future. This is particularly harmful to the organization when the speaker is from safety department. Similarly, questioning (or ragging) safety department employees in front of others for whatever reason it is, leads to wrong projection of importance to safety and this will only spoil safety culture.

Accountability for safety

In an article in Safety Center on accountability for safety, Bob Lapidus, Safety Management Specialist gave following five steps.

1. Create written safety policies and procedures
2. Train employees on the safety policies and procedures
3. Provide all the necessary equipment to do the assigned work
4. Hold everyone accountable for compliance
5. Both supervisors and employees provide feedback as to how work is being done Corrective action is taken as necessary

Accountability means, in his words, praising when correct things done and correcting when things are done the improperly. It should not be like knee jerk reaction to punish people when something goes wrong.
While writing safety policy and safety procedures, I feel, it should be written by involving all concerned employees. If it is written by manager or consultant in his office without interaction and active participation of employees, the ownership for the document will not exist with the concerned shopfloor employees and it is likely that they may not like to read and follow.
 

Safety: Can You Have Too Much of a Good Thing? » SafetySmart

Safety: Can You Have Too Much of a Good Thing? » SafetySmart

The article is about the experience of Australian psychologist during his interaction with employees of a corporation. Some opined that too much safety (directives, guidelines, procedures, initiatives, etc) will lead to safety saturation and employees may try to take short cuts like those in traffic jams where motorists try to ignore signals out of frustration of feeling obstructed, that they are unable to make move, and so on.
How much is too much is a debatable point and requires efforts of all heads in important positions along and CEO of the organization, I feel, should be biased towards safety rules and regulations, while taking a final call for implementation of safety systems, so arrived.
Being a safety professional, I am unable to agree with the statement that too much safety (is there really such a thing) works against safety culture. But, I should be open to ideas and lack of knowledge or understanding  should not make me not to listen to ideas.

Domestic LPG cylinder leak - lights ON - explosion - deaths and injuries

In an incident of LPG leak from domestic gas cylinder five days ago, 8 persons died and 3 more are undergoing treatment.
In a housing complex, sensing gas leak in the opposite house, neighbors opened the house by getting the keys from the house owner and when switched ON the lights, the sparks caused gas explosion.

Gas detectors are the need of the hour and any gas leak detection should lead to display of warning sign of "DO NOT USE ELECTRIC SWITCHES-DO NOT USE MOBILES-SPARKS CAN CAUSE EXPLOSION" prominently so that even in panic condition one will not try to use electric switches.
Gas cylinder / piped gas distribution agencies can distribute do's and don'ts along with the cylinders by printing behind the bill or if somebody is paying online, these instructions should be displayed on the billing page and only after checking the boxes on each of the instructions, should lead to payment page. Further, distribution agencies and community centers may take up periodical training of residents and those who fail to attend the training programmes should be penalized by way of higher billing or in the worst case, cutting off of gas supply.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Entire-family-wiped-out-in-Vikarabad-gas-leak-blast/articleshow/19233935.cms

Wrongly labelled bottle - causes fatality (from SafetySmart)

Wrong Bottle Proves Deadly for Worker » SafetySmart

Two workers drink from a bottle labelled as beer, but actually it is a wind shield washer fluid containing methanol. One worker who consumed good amount died whereas the other survived.
Wrong labelling in this case caused death. In some incidents, reagent bottles after use are reused for storing chemicals. If the bottle after use is not emptied and washed thoroughly before reuse, pouring some other chemical may lead to runaway reactions / explosions, etc and can injure the workers. Proper labelling is a requirement under various legislations and compliance will only help us.

Pushing up the cable roll on the stairs - fall and breaking of glass doors down below

Unsafe material handling:

Picture This! Gravity 1, Workers 0 » SafetySmart

The link above takes us to a video wherein two persons unsuccessfully try to move a cable roll by rolling it up over stairs, leading to its roll down to the ground, shatter the glass panes of the entrance, speeding past to the street road. Though it is funny by watching the video, it is most dangerous act that could have endangered many lives in the building and on the road.

Unruly behavior of employees with safety officers

 I heard many times from my friends in safety department in various government and private organizations about the tough talk and occasional insulting behavior by those in the production line when discussions take place on safety issues. The hazards identified are ignored with a sarcastic remark that safety officers do not have any other job other than pointing out and the hazards pointed out are often not considered fit for action. They do not try to learn from incidents happened elsewhere saying that it is too theoretical and will not happen in their plant because of their confidence on their management skills.
We have ignore the unruly behavior of others as it is not in our control and we should not get disappointed and stop doing our job. We have to collect case studies of other organizations that resemble situations in our work place and keep circulating to all employees including top management for information.
We have to be bold and if required we have to take up to the notice of higher authorities when junior level people do not listen. Most of the time, people will sit straight when issues are put in writing with a copy marked to group heads and CEO or MD. I am sure this will help over a period of time in controlling unruly managers.

Long hours on computer - impact on health

 Following is the link on the above subject appeared in The Hindu news paper y'day. Sitting in front of computer (desktop/laptop/tablet/smart phone, etc) lead to different kinds of health problems like neck pain, back pain, wrist pain, finger pain, joints pain, shoulder pain, headache, tears from eyes, numbness in bottom limbs, etc.
Some tips on ergonomics issues are provided in the article  including taking breaks for every 30-60 minutes for five minutes, looking at distance for every 10 seconds, closing the eyes for 5 minutes for every hour work, etc.


http://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/boot-up-your-health/article4541693.ece