We are nothing after our death. Let us donate our body organs for the poor.

Be not afraid of anything. You will do marvelous work The moment you fear, you are nobody - Swamy Vivekananda

If you think safety is expensive, try an accident... - O.P.Kharbanda

Preventable accidents, if they are not prevented due to our negligence, it is nothing short of a murder - Dr. Sarvepalli Radha Krishna, 2nd President of India

Zero accidents through zero unsafe behaviors. Do not be complacent that there are no accidents. There may be near miss accidents (NMAs). With luck/chance, somebody escaped knowingly or unknown to the person. But, we can't be safe, if we depend upon the luck.

Safety culture is how the organization behaves when no one is watching.

We make No compromise with respect to Morality, Ethics, or Safety. If a design or work practice is perceived to be unsafe, we do not proceed until the issue is resolved. - Mission statement by S&B Engineers & Consultants Ltd. http://www.sbec.com/safety/

Human meat gets least priority - A doctor's comment on accidents

CSB video excerpts from Dr.Trevor Kletz, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQn5fL62KL8

Aug 11, 2013

Dangers of hydro fluoric acid HF

Recently, I had an interaction with some persons in a training programme. During the discussion, a person narrated his experience with HF handling three decades ago.

The person was asked to take a plastic bottle from one place to another. He held the bottle at the top and it crumbled and in the process, he had splashing of some contents on his thumb. Not knowing what it is, he washed and continued his work. Later, in the evening he had swelling and pain for which he consulted the doctor.

On enquiry, it came out that the bottle contained some HF.

After a week of exposure to HF, the injured could see the bone of the thumb and it took a long time for recovery.

Though, I could not make out the injury from the normal appearing thumb, but the pain underwent is visible, when he narrated the incident to the audience.

Search from internet shows incidents, wherein, innocent persons just washed off the spillage with some water and continued their work, but were found dead in the sleep.

As per standard practice, in case of any chemical splash, remove the clothing and wash the affected organs for atleast 15 minutes and consult the doctor. Even after 15 minutes wash, only about 95% of the chemical is removed and thus care is very much required. One should not ignore the advice by experts.

Jul 28, 2013

Industrial accidents - No value for human meat?

Today, I attended a one-day medical education programme. In one of the sessions, a speaker, while speaking about industrial injuries and care to be taken, lamented that we value animal meat whereas no importance/value is given to human meat. 
This statement is very much appropriate considering the fact that little care is taken to protect workers and this is the reason for occurrence of so many injuries every year in industrial establishments. Lucky are those who retire, without disfiguring their organs.

Jul 25, 2013

Road safety - impatience of heavy vehicle drivers

Today, I went out to take admission for my son. My wife was on the wheel. While returning, on a busy road, a state government bus driver kept honking and we could not give way, as the road ahead is not free. After a while, that driver overtook us from left side and drove to right past of our vehicle, threatening to crush our car. While overtaking, he waved his right hand furiously.
I could not understand, how one will get moving space when the road is full of traffic. All vehicle drivers need psychology classes, road accident data, reasons for road accidents and stress levels to all on the road. As per data, most of the road victims are due to hit by state buses.
Recently, a college girl died (see my previous post) when hit from behind by a state run bus. 

Jul 24, 2013

Road safety: Heavy rains - pot holes - accidents

A school girl died when she fell from pillion seat due to pot holes and was hit by the bus behind. The roads were damaged due to rains and municipal authorities say that they have to wait for dry weather for road repairs.
The quality of the road is very important and it should not be some temporary patch work. Otherwise, this will repeat with every rain.
Though some quality professionals do not agree that quality and safety are interlinked, the above incident shows that both are linked. No quality means no safety.
The contractors should be penalized for bad work and bank guarantees should be obtained for specific period.

Jul 11, 2013

Manholes: an open sore - The Hindu

Manholes: an open sore - The Hindu

Manholes like bore wells are death traps. Poor maintenance, removal of manhole (possibly clogged) cover by somebody to allow draining of water stagnated in front of their house/building, theft of manhole covers, not putting back after dechoking, etc are some of the reasons which lead to fall of persons when it is even dry or not known to persons when covered with water, particularly in rains.
Few years ago, a person was washed off through the coverless storm water drain and his body was found few kilometres away in open canal.

Jul 10, 2013

Radiological Safety Officer - training programme

 http://www.iarp.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/details_about_nucleonic_gauge_training_course.pdf

The above gives details of eligibility, course topics, application form, etc about training course on "Radiation Safety Aspects of Nucleonic Gauges" conducted in Mumbai. Qualifying the training course makes one eligible to work as Radiological Safety Officer (RSO) which is a statutory requirement for facilities dealing with radiation.

Jul 4, 2013

Control room safety - Hospital 'Alarm Fatigue' Killing Patients » SafetySmart

Hospital 'Alarm Fatigue' Killing Patients » SafetySmart

Control room safety issues:

How much is TOO MUCH? There is a limit for everything, but what is the limit is the main question and it may depend on person to person.
Lack of or overdose of information also do lead to dangerous practices in a workplace.
Few years ago, I saw a number of information bulletins in a factory which I visited as a part of my safety diploma course and I thought that nobody will see those bulletins as people will not find time unless 15-30 minutes is spent in that place. And shop floor supervisor will not allow his worker to stand and read for so much time.
Information should be crisp and to the point.
Similarly, number of indications and alarms in control room of a plant also should be judicious. If more number are to be provided, then there should be more number of persons in the control room, i.e limit the indications and alarms to be taken care by each person. May be 3-5 monitor screens (monitor size also matters!!!) per person to be viewed for action.
Else, one will not be attentive and is lost in the maze of so many parameters to be monitored, leading to a dangerous situation.

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