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

From Yahoo - Stress contributors

An article in yahoo states about factors that cause stress in human beings.
http://in.lifestyle.yahoo.com/10-habits-contribute-stress-071639766.html

Amont them are lack of sleep, irregular meals, long hours of work, family/work place problems, no exercise, not giving time to self, etc.

In the name of getting in the eyes of bosses, some spend long hours at work place, sometimes even when there is no work. This reduces the time available to family members, affects the health in sitting idle for long hours without exercise, may be leading to commuting back to house in busy hours, no relaxation (spending time at office is definitely as good as spending the same at home), missing friends/relatives, etc. Similarly not having time for self like for leisure reading, entertainment, spending time in happy surroundings, etc will lead to stress buildup. Piling up of personal jobs due to more office work also increase the stress levels.
Spending time on internet without purpose also causes stress and after spending for few hours, we might have felt that we wasted our time without any gain. Further, sitting for long hours for surfing will also cause health problems due to sitting in same posture.
As recommended by experts, observing no phone / no internet / etc will bring some peace of mind. We should also take our leaves to be away from routine office works so that we can concentrate better rather than working continuously without even consuming our eligible leaves. This will also help the organization for which we are working. May be some shortsighted bosses think that the person on leave is not committed, but we have to take care of our health also.

Cheaper ammonia detectors from IGCAR scientists

Here is the link on the above subject. Cheaper ammonia detectors are developed by scientists from IGCAR, Kalpakkam. The news item appeared in The Hindu on 21.03.2013.
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/cheaper-way-to-detect-ammonia/article4530105.ece

It works in the range 0-525 ppm.

Safety goes off the rails - The Hindu

Safety goes off the rails - The Hindu

The above link is about safety issues related to Indian Rail system. There were 4999 rail and weld fractures during April 2012-January 2013 over 64000 km rail network. Alert gang men identified these problems and thus could prevent rail accidents. Government requires 1.4 lakh rupees over next five years and expressed its inability provide this money to address safety issues. There are about 90000 vacancies related checking of safety issues which the railway minister promises to fill up.

There will be huge cry whenever fares are increased. However, one should realize that there will be compromise mostly with safety when we try to cut costs. Those who raise voice when fares are increased also should not raise voice when their wages are not raised or allowances are not raised. Where from anybody gets money to meet the costs without raising the income. Corruption should be fought and one should ensure and be vigilant that we do not get cheap quality product or service for the money spent.

But, we should understand and help the authorities also when charges are increased and cooperate so that our own safety during travel can be taken care.

Else, the bleeding companies (in road, rail, air, sea transport related) will only risk our lives.

Ego - obstacle to safe practices

Generally, safety professionals have advisory role. Any advise from company's safety professional(s) may be taken with good heart, reluctantly accepted because of pressure from top management or will be rejected vehemently. Sometimes, safety professionals will be questioned about their knowledge/experience/capability in matters of production activities and production managers try to draw a line saying that they are more capable of taking care of their work and also of safety in their work place and that they do not need any advise from safety professionals.
However, when some incident happens, safety professional of the company will become the first target of these production managers, saying that they were not sufficiently warned about the hazard, that the safety professional slept without doing his job, and so on. This will be the case even if there were some incidents in the work place.
Surprisingly, sometimes, even regulators too question safety professionals of the company instead of engaging the production managers for safety related lapses in the work place.
The ego in the minds of production managers (and down below) is an obstacle to listen to the voice of safety professional and this endangers safety of employees in the work place. They do not accept the fact that there is something (mindset to see the dangers and to learn lessons from events) missing on their part leading to occurrence of nearmisses, incidents and accidents. Any occurrence is taken as onetime affair and is not acknowledged for system deficiencies. Even efforts will be made to cover up the issues or not to bring to the notice of safety professional for investigation and thus do not want to learn lessons.
The case studies, lessons from occurrence that are freely available in the internet are taken as too theoretical or that these are not applicable to their work place. Nobody can help such managers and those working under them will only become easy prey to the hidden dangers.

Vitamin D deficiency - exposure to sun helps

In a report published in the news paper, it is stated that vitamin D deficiency can cause weak bones, obesity, chronic pains and depression. Exposure to sun helps in increase of vitamin D levels in the body which helps in quick recovery in case of fractures, and so on. Lack of vitamin D manifests itself through acute pain in the feet, shoulders, neck and joints in some individuals, as per the report. Also there is possibility of low immunity levels, diabetes, etc.
One can have sufficient vitamin D simply by exposure to sun without paying extra money.It is reported that fair skin people need about 20 min/day exposure to sun 3-4 times a week, whereas for dark skin people, it is 30-40 min exposure a day for 3-4 times a week. The ultraviolet-B radiation from sun which is intense during mid day helps to make this vitamin. One should keep moving while having sun exposure and stationary people will receive sun burns.
From the above, for working people who have to put long hours (forced/voluntary) by going to office early and coming out in the late evenings; spending the day in cubicles; not venturing out, etc are more prone to side effects of this vitamin D deficiency. Thus, though we may be in the good books of the boss for  EXTRA hard work by spending more hours in the work place, after few years when we become sick due to vitamin D deficiency, we will be sick and also fall  from the grace (of the boss).

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/diet-and-nutrition/soak-up-some-sun/article4455404.ece