Sun burns on banana - Banana burns???

I went out with my family for some work and parked the car under direct sun as it was open ground and there is no shaded parking available. I carried some banana with me and left the remaining inside the car. After coming back 4 hours later, I found banana peels got burnt as above. For comparison, two bananas which I carried with me are shown adjacent. Only peels turned black and inside, fruit is good though some softening took place. Outside temperature was 40 degree Celsius. The window panes were kept about 0.5 inch down from the top instead of fully closing while leaving the car to allow escape of hot air. Still, the above incident took place. I do not know what will happen, if we sit for four hours in the car in those conditions. Atleast second degree burns!!! We have to give a thought about safety against sun exposure and sun stroke.

Banana peel that got burnt after exposure to sun at 40 deg C for about 4 hours

Investigators: Rail car, ammonia tank did not explode at West plant - WacoTrib.com: Fire

Investigators: Rail car, ammonia tank did not explode at West plant - WacoTrib.com: Fire

LINK

At the end of the article in the above link, it is stated that there is no water in the hydrant.

Playing in the mud is good for health

An article in a vernacular daily says that allowing children to play outside is good for them in all respects. Playing with others leads to developing bond. Mud smell keeps the mind pleasant. Playing outside helps them to understand nature. The brain activity increases as they make some pictures, dolls, etc with mud. Further, the mud contains good bacteria that increases body resistance to diseases. So, says the article as per the doctors in Mumbai.
Whereas video games make the children to be aloof, to stay indoors, eating all junk food while playing leading to obesity and other health problems.

Disastrous effects of sitting for long hours

 Sitting is the new smoking - a health alert in Times of India daily reads. As per research for 15 years studying the effects of sitting for long hours, it is found that sitting for more than four hours causes obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, multiple cancers, etc. It is advised to set an alarm to go around and have some exercise. Sitting makes metabolic system to sleep whereas small movements will help to keep metabolic system recharged.
My ex-boss (20 years ago), used to take water as soon as he comes to office and relieves pressure in half-hour to one hour. Before coming to seat, he will take a glass or two of water and resumes work. This makes him to get up again after sometime. I find this is very good method to avoid sitting for long, immersed in the work.
However, with my personal experience, I used to hold the pressure for sometime (even 3 hours) because of work pressure. I do not know the health effects, but definitely not good for the body.

Let us thank those who find our mistakes

We will be hurt and get irritated too when somebody points out our mistakes. This happens in our annual performance assessment report, audits, discussions (arguments?) with colleagues / partners / spouse / children / etc.

However, there is a saying, "It is easy to find mistakes in others, Difficult to find our own mistakes".

When we take it positively, look at it with a peace of mind, we feel we should thank those who find our mistakes because they have done our job.

As per another saying, " a problem found is as good as half of the work is done, we only have to find a solution". The problem is our inability to find the problem.

Recently, I watched a movie titled, "Hot Shots! Part Deux" in TV. A dialogue in the movie is, 'we all have permission to make mistakes. It is called learning".

A long time patient sometimes, is better than a doctor.

Learning from past accidents (mistakes) is what we should do. Like we can't have life long schooling, we can't be continuous learners, making same mistakes again and again. We have to learn from our mistakes and those of others who suffered.

Safety officers/inspectors during inspection / audit find the deficiencies and communicate to plant in-charges. Plant in-charges should thank these lot for finding the deficiencies and for helping them to work for a better workplace.

Electrical Complacency Equates Near Miss Scenario » SafetySmart

Electrical Complacency Equates Near Miss Scenario » SafetySmart

LINK

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.