A safety officer’s main role in the organization to help in hazard identification and thus he will have a hawk’s eye for hazards. The conditions which are normal for the plant personnel will be hazards in the eyes of safety man and thus when he tells shop floor persons about hazard and need for elimination, the safety man will be seen as a negative minded person. He may be scolded, chided and will be at receiving end depending upon the safety culture of the organization. If the safety officer is having thick skin, then he will not bother and will continue his work. If not, after sometime he may stop cautioning about hazards. If some unusual incident occurs, then again same safety person will be blamed for not identifying the hazard and intimating the concerned. He will be come pessimistic and all his goals / objective in the beginning of a career in safety will lead to total frustration and he will be at cross roads to do what. He will be stressful and it is not possible for any person to be optimistic for ever. Though pessimistic attitude is good for a safety man in hazard identification, when this reach his mind and carried to home, it may spoil his home life also. Over a period of time, he will be at peace neither at work place nor at home and will be blamed all around.
Therefore, it is important for safety professional to stay positive and exercise like walking will help him to stay fit, physically and mentally. Listening to music, attending cultural programmes and book reading are some of the activities which can help the person to lead a peaceful life. Similarly, visiting new places, monumental or religious or others, will fresh up the life.
If it is not possible to continue in the safety department, he can think of change of job. However, I know some persons who left their organizations in frustration continue to be frustrated and are frequent job changers.
There are many programmes available to take care of different professionals, but professionals who help the organizations to identify hazards are helped in identifying their hazards. These safety professionals have to take care of themselves and safe guard their health and life beyond office.
Once the person overcomes his stressful life because of his profession, still keeping his pessimistic approach, he can be helpful to the organization in hazard identification. A safety officer in an organization will have the moral responsibility of ensuring a safe work place and also see that management will not take wrong decisions because of his work methods. He has to envisage what can go wrong and provide feed back to the management in the form of reports regularly. He has to convey hazards along with the statutory requirments under which these are seen as violations and for thick skinned persons, safety officer should not hesitate in telling about the penalties / punishments one deserves for the violations. Though, punishments or penalties are seen as last resort and people say they are not helpful in straightening the organization, as we see the occurrence of incidents in well advanced countries and the penalties imposed by the regulators in these countries, there is no other solution.
In fact, organizations should develop their own penalty structure in terms of cash fine or reduced pay or suspension of the employee from work and termination as last resort. Then, everybody will have the fear of following safety priniciples which the management wants to follow. Of course, nothing can be done, if the management it self pays only lip service to safety.
Feb 12, 2010
Tale of two factories
Sometime back, I visited two factories on the same day. The visit provoked me to narrate my experience immediately. However, I thought that I can observe similar setups and write. But, I did not get opportunity.
The first factory, I visited in the morning, gave a feel of good safety culture right from the entry point of the road leading to the factory. The factory is about ½ km away from this point. Still, one sees good roads, good house keeping with no scrap / waste on either side of the road, no vehicle parking on roads. When we reached the security, I was surprised to see everybody, including the contract workers entering the factory area with shoes. Visitors arrival was informed by the security officials to the concerned in the factory about the visitor(s), were checked on receipt of directions and were guided into the factory. We, a team of about 50 persons, were received by an official and were taken to a lecture hall. The factory is in the business of making some electrical equipment and accessories. It employs about 300-400 regular employees and similar number of contractor workers. The factory layout was explained to us and briefed about the activities of the factory. Then, we were divided into two teams, guided by separate officials for a visit.
I found every where, the aisles are marked and not a single bit of scrap can be found in this area. The sections are marked, bins are available for storing raw material, product and scrap. Everybody on the job appears like a soldier concentrating on the job. Everybody donned helmet and shoe with factory uniform. Instructions are displayed near the workplace. We spent more than two hours in the shop floor before reaching the dining hall for lunch. Only, when I was about to enter the dining hall, I saw a female gardener without shoe. But, this is the only persons and other gardeners (male and female) are in their attire with shoes.
Even, the dining hall is very neat, tables are clean and the items at the counter are in clean containers. I did not go into the kitchen. However, the way factory is maintained overall in such a good condition, I am sure, kitchen also would have been in good condition.
After lunch, we thanked our hosts and proceeded to the next factory in the schedule. Here also the roads are good and I did not see any scrap or waste on the roads outside as well as inside. But, we have to wait at the security for more than 45 minutes before our host could be contacted and then head count was taken before allowed inside. Again, we have guide. Security gave us directions to go to a particular building. By enquiry enroute, we reached the building. There, one of our team member went inside to locate the person and then as in the morning visit, we were divided into teams and were taken around. The factory is involved in the manufacture of machinery and employs about 1000 regular employees and about 400 contractor workers.
Inside the factory (different sections in different buildings), the use of PPE is not witnessed much. Even the supervisors and officers who have to advise their technicians were found without shoes and were seen walking in chappals. Then, materials were dumped everywhere and house keeping is very poor. Cobwebs are found even at arm reaching heights. There is no seriousness in the employees on the shopfloor. A casual attitude is visible. Though, I did not enquire about accident statistics either in the morning visit or afternoon visit, I am sure that this second factory may not be having good record with respect to safety, though their products are of good quality.
At the end of day, when I was on my way back to residence, I thought what could have been the reason for different culture in these two factories, with regards to house keeping, use of personal protective equipment, display of safety procedures and precautions, attitude of employees (security, shopfloor and managerial) and finally canteen.
In the first factory of our visit, there is no job security, though on my enquiry, I found many are working for years in the same factory as it is the case with the second factory. Management is committed to ensuring safe working conditions both by work and action. Even while selecting the contract workers, conditions are stipulated and are enforced. I noted that even in place where lubricant and hydraulic oils are handled, there is no spillage on the shopfloor and they are contained / restricted to within the work area by providing bund / trays. In many factories, which I visited when I did my safety diploma, oil spillage could be found every where sometimes spreading few yards from the source. Without management commitment, in terms of policy, resources and review, this type of culture is not at all possible. Even persons working in the shopfloor must have realized that they can’t bypass safety procedures as they can be terminated. Subsequently, over a period of time, they must have realized the benefits of good safety culture and thus continued in the factory. It is a known fact that casual attitude develops when person is experienced an tries to bypass safety procedures to increase productivity and get some benefits. Again here, the monitoring by supervisors to ensure that this is not the case shows that productivity targets are realistic with the safe production. Though bypassing safety procedures will result in higher productivity in the short term, but in the long tern, it will lead to fall in productivity and result in accidents, compensation claims, decrease in morale, loss of ownership by employees, visits by regulatory agencies, etc.
In the second factory, once a person is appointed, his job is secure till retirement unless otherwise he commits a major blunder. Thus, employees are not bothered about instructions of their superiors. Though, there is no dearth of resources for providing PPE and safety implementation, there is lack of zeal in employees to implement and follow. May be superiors are threatened, if asked to follow safety at the shopfloor. It is totally in contrast with the first factory. It appears that management hands are tied when they can’t control their employees and have to work with so many restrictions.
The first factory, I visited in the morning, gave a feel of good safety culture right from the entry point of the road leading to the factory. The factory is about ½ km away from this point. Still, one sees good roads, good house keeping with no scrap / waste on either side of the road, no vehicle parking on roads. When we reached the security, I was surprised to see everybody, including the contract workers entering the factory area with shoes. Visitors arrival was informed by the security officials to the concerned in the factory about the visitor(s), were checked on receipt of directions and were guided into the factory. We, a team of about 50 persons, were received by an official and were taken to a lecture hall. The factory is in the business of making some electrical equipment and accessories. It employs about 300-400 regular employees and similar number of contractor workers. The factory layout was explained to us and briefed about the activities of the factory. Then, we were divided into two teams, guided by separate officials for a visit.
I found every where, the aisles are marked and not a single bit of scrap can be found in this area. The sections are marked, bins are available for storing raw material, product and scrap. Everybody on the job appears like a soldier concentrating on the job. Everybody donned helmet and shoe with factory uniform. Instructions are displayed near the workplace. We spent more than two hours in the shop floor before reaching the dining hall for lunch. Only, when I was about to enter the dining hall, I saw a female gardener without shoe. But, this is the only persons and other gardeners (male and female) are in their attire with shoes.
Even, the dining hall is very neat, tables are clean and the items at the counter are in clean containers. I did not go into the kitchen. However, the way factory is maintained overall in such a good condition, I am sure, kitchen also would have been in good condition.
After lunch, we thanked our hosts and proceeded to the next factory in the schedule. Here also the roads are good and I did not see any scrap or waste on the roads outside as well as inside. But, we have to wait at the security for more than 45 minutes before our host could be contacted and then head count was taken before allowed inside. Again, we have guide. Security gave us directions to go to a particular building. By enquiry enroute, we reached the building. There, one of our team member went inside to locate the person and then as in the morning visit, we were divided into teams and were taken around. The factory is involved in the manufacture of machinery and employs about 1000 regular employees and about 400 contractor workers.
Inside the factory (different sections in different buildings), the use of PPE is not witnessed much. Even the supervisors and officers who have to advise their technicians were found without shoes and were seen walking in chappals. Then, materials were dumped everywhere and house keeping is very poor. Cobwebs are found even at arm reaching heights. There is no seriousness in the employees on the shopfloor. A casual attitude is visible. Though, I did not enquire about accident statistics either in the morning visit or afternoon visit, I am sure that this second factory may not be having good record with respect to safety, though their products are of good quality.
At the end of day, when I was on my way back to residence, I thought what could have been the reason for different culture in these two factories, with regards to house keeping, use of personal protective equipment, display of safety procedures and precautions, attitude of employees (security, shopfloor and managerial) and finally canteen.
In the first factory of our visit, there is no job security, though on my enquiry, I found many are working for years in the same factory as it is the case with the second factory. Management is committed to ensuring safe working conditions both by work and action. Even while selecting the contract workers, conditions are stipulated and are enforced. I noted that even in place where lubricant and hydraulic oils are handled, there is no spillage on the shopfloor and they are contained / restricted to within the work area by providing bund / trays. In many factories, which I visited when I did my safety diploma, oil spillage could be found every where sometimes spreading few yards from the source. Without management commitment, in terms of policy, resources and review, this type of culture is not at all possible. Even persons working in the shopfloor must have realized that they can’t bypass safety procedures as they can be terminated. Subsequently, over a period of time, they must have realized the benefits of good safety culture and thus continued in the factory. It is a known fact that casual attitude develops when person is experienced an tries to bypass safety procedures to increase productivity and get some benefits. Again here, the monitoring by supervisors to ensure that this is not the case shows that productivity targets are realistic with the safe production. Though bypassing safety procedures will result in higher productivity in the short term, but in the long tern, it will lead to fall in productivity and result in accidents, compensation claims, decrease in morale, loss of ownership by employees, visits by regulatory agencies, etc.
In the second factory, once a person is appointed, his job is secure till retirement unless otherwise he commits a major blunder. Thus, employees are not bothered about instructions of their superiors. Though, there is no dearth of resources for providing PPE and safety implementation, there is lack of zeal in employees to implement and follow. May be superiors are threatened, if asked to follow safety at the shopfloor. It is totally in contrast with the first factory. It appears that management hands are tied when they can’t control their employees and have to work with so many restrictions.
Jan 18, 2010
Accident prevention is cheaper than the accident
Yesterday evening, a 2-year old boy fell in an unused open borewell in a village in Andhra Pradesh. Today evening he died, though efforts were made to save the child.
It is not uncommon to hear such news now and then. There are many unreported incidents as well. Some lucky ones were rescued safely and many unlucky children could not. It is outrageous that when a borewell is dug, till other piping work is completed, the well is to be capped and all it costs for a perfect capping is only about Rs 500. People spend thousands of rupees for sinking a borewell but think that it costs them to securely close. Now, see the cost of resources put into saving the child fell in the borewell.
- EMRI service 108 personnel spent more than 24 hrs in rescue efforts
- District collector and SP also spent considerable time
- Earth removers were engaged on the job (it costs about Rs 500-1000 per hour when you rent it and for 24 hrs, more than Rs 20000/- is spent and this amount alone can be used for capping 40 wells. If you add cost of personnel and medical emergency care engaged in the work, the rescue efforts amount to another Rs 20,000/-)
It is good that TV9 channel started a campaign to inform them about all open wells so that message can be driven into concerned officials for capping the wells and save other children.
In the field of industrial safety, it is known that cost of accident prevention is only 1/4 of direct cost of the accident. Infact, the savings accrued from accident prevention, over a period of time, will far exceed the money spent on accident prevention and thus experts say that SAFETY IS CHEAP AND COSTS NOTHING compared to the expenditure one has to incur once an accident occurs.
The persons responsible for leaving the borewells in open condition should be held responsible and should be made to pay for their lapse so that all others will realize and try to be vigilant in their actions.
Publicity and awareness campaigns like the one started by TV9 should be on continuous basis and voluntary and should not be like knee-jerk reaction.
It is not uncommon to hear such news now and then. There are many unreported incidents as well. Some lucky ones were rescued safely and many unlucky children could not. It is outrageous that when a borewell is dug, till other piping work is completed, the well is to be capped and all it costs for a perfect capping is only about Rs 500. People spend thousands of rupees for sinking a borewell but think that it costs them to securely close. Now, see the cost of resources put into saving the child fell in the borewell.
- EMRI service 108 personnel spent more than 24 hrs in rescue efforts
- District collector and SP also spent considerable time
- Earth removers were engaged on the job (it costs about Rs 500-1000 per hour when you rent it and for 24 hrs, more than Rs 20000/- is spent and this amount alone can be used for capping 40 wells. If you add cost of personnel and medical emergency care engaged in the work, the rescue efforts amount to another Rs 20,000/-)
It is good that TV9 channel started a campaign to inform them about all open wells so that message can be driven into concerned officials for capping the wells and save other children.
In the field of industrial safety, it is known that cost of accident prevention is only 1/4 of direct cost of the accident. Infact, the savings accrued from accident prevention, over a period of time, will far exceed the money spent on accident prevention and thus experts say that SAFETY IS CHEAP AND COSTS NOTHING compared to the expenditure one has to incur once an accident occurs.
The persons responsible for leaving the borewells in open condition should be held responsible and should be made to pay for their lapse so that all others will realize and try to be vigilant in their actions.
Publicity and awareness campaigns like the one started by TV9 should be on continuous basis and voluntary and should not be like knee-jerk reaction.
Oct 29, 2009
Safety Legislations – History and Provisions
“Preventable accidents, if they are not prevented due to our negligence, it is nothing short of a murder” - Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, 1st Vice President and 2nd President of India.
Any factory that employs more than 10 persons and uses power for its operations is governed by Factories Act, 1948 and the Rules made there under. In addition, a factory has also to comply with other legislations for different activities in its premises. Many of us do not know about these legislations though with common sense we comply with some of the requirements of these legislations. Many managers, shop floor in-charges and even technicians feel that their productivity is hampered by legislations without which they would have produced much more.
However, it must be realized that laws are not formulated overnight. These are formulated based upon the experience of earlier accidents and its consequences, concern of all stake holders, concerted efforts by various persons, organizations some times even extending to decades. The legislations are compilation of lessons learnt from various past accidents in the world, not necessarily from the same country and thus a source of rich knowledge. By enactment in the parliament, compliance of provisions of legislations was made mandatory. I was told during my study of safety course by one faculty that "We have to learn the law in its letter and spirit to understand and apply to the work environment. Letter can be found in books for reading and spirit can be found from history".
Factory legislations in India are formulated by our pre-independence rulers i.e. Britishers and thus history is linked to development of legislations in the land our erstwhile rulers. The factories in UK during 18th century employed a number of people without basic amenities like water, clean air, ventilation, washing facility, illumination, toilets, etc and were forced to work in most dangerous conditions. Persons were forced to work for 12-16 hours without rest and even children were also employed in these conditions. At that time, most of the factories were cotton mills and many got injured, incapacitated, died due to lack of proper machine guards. With the advent of steam engine, the situation became worse. There were many steam leaks, burn injuries, boiler explosions, etc. Owners of these factories have no accountability for the loss of life and persons were removed if they got injured and not capable of doing the work. These incapacitated persons were not compensated and their lives were miserable. These conditions along with movement by workers and organizations lead to the enactment of first act in 1802 in UK and followed with many amendments by including many provisions for the betterment of working conditions. Factory inspectorates were also formed to monitor compliance with these legislations and were authorized to take necessary action.
Though similar pathetic conditions existed in Indian factories, it is not until 1881 that the Factories Act was passed in India and further in 1891, 1911, 1934 by including restricted hours of work for men and women, age of children to be employed, rest periods, hours of overtime in a week, employment of full time factory inspectors, paid holidays, etc. The Factories Act (FA) 1948 provides the minimum requirements with regards to i) obtaining licence for setting up of the factory, operating licence, need for authorization of changes in process; ii) health – cleanliness, disposal of wastes and effluents, ventilation, lighting, drinking water, toilets; iii) safety – machine guarding, maintenance and testing of hoists and lifts, pressure vessels, proper means of access, manual handling, work permit system, fire protection and fighting measures, guarding of openings, personal protective equipment, safety of buildings and machinery and iv) welfare – provision for washing, sitting, first aid, rest rooms, lunch rooms, canteen, etc. The amended FA, 1976 included safety of contract labour in the definition of workers and vested more powers with the factory inspectors.
The Bhopal accident in 1984 shook the entire world to relook into suitability of legislations in their land and provide for stringent requirements for compliance by industrial establishments.
Major amendments were made to the Indian Factories Act in 1987 by assigning the responsibilities for the occupier (Section 7-A), for the manufacturer (Sec 7-B), special provisions for hazardous processes (Chapter IV-A), onus of proving limits practicable (Sec 104-A) along with other provisions like safety policy, safe operating procedures, supervision, disclosure of information, medical examination, house keeping, training, emergency preparedness, accident reporting within the period and investigation, conduct of safety meetings, maintenance of permissible limits of chemicals, etc.
Similarly, penalties were made more stringent to force the establishments and its employees at all levels to ensure safe working conditions. The punishments for violation of each and any of the safety provisions of Factories Act and its Rules extended upto 2 years / fine and for special provisions (Chapter IV-A), upto 10 years. Even obstruction of factory inspector or failure to maintain / show registers or documents invites penalty upto 6 months and or fine.
Apart from the Factories Act, there are other legislations for handling of boilers, gas cylinders, chemicals, emissions / discharges, radioactive materials, electricity, disposal of effluents and wastes, noise, contract labour, etc. Penalties are also specified for violation of provisions under these legislations as well as under Indian Penal Code
Some of the best companies / manufacturing facilities issue safety regulations beyond what is required by Factories Act and others from time to time for various activities, sometimes even such a thing is not thought off by the government.
It must be noted that each and every activity in the work premises is governed by one regulation or other and employees at all levels are responsible for ensuring safety at the work place. Ignorance of law is not an excuse and law of the land is applicable.
We have to prevent accidents at the work place not only because of legislations but also because of also on humanitarian grounds and also the enormous economic impact of such accidents on the persons, organization and the country. It is our moral responsibility to prevent accidents so that at the end of the day, all of us reach our homes safely and take care of our beloved family members and smiles in their faces.
Any factory that employs more than 10 persons and uses power for its operations is governed by Factories Act, 1948 and the Rules made there under. In addition, a factory has also to comply with other legislations for different activities in its premises. Many of us do not know about these legislations though with common sense we comply with some of the requirements of these legislations. Many managers, shop floor in-charges and even technicians feel that their productivity is hampered by legislations without which they would have produced much more.
However, it must be realized that laws are not formulated overnight. These are formulated based upon the experience of earlier accidents and its consequences, concern of all stake holders, concerted efforts by various persons, organizations some times even extending to decades. The legislations are compilation of lessons learnt from various past accidents in the world, not necessarily from the same country and thus a source of rich knowledge. By enactment in the parliament, compliance of provisions of legislations was made mandatory. I was told during my study of safety course by one faculty that "We have to learn the law in its letter and spirit to understand and apply to the work environment. Letter can be found in books for reading and spirit can be found from history".
Factory legislations in India are formulated by our pre-independence rulers i.e. Britishers and thus history is linked to development of legislations in the land our erstwhile rulers. The factories in UK during 18th century employed a number of people without basic amenities like water, clean air, ventilation, washing facility, illumination, toilets, etc and were forced to work in most dangerous conditions. Persons were forced to work for 12-16 hours without rest and even children were also employed in these conditions. At that time, most of the factories were cotton mills and many got injured, incapacitated, died due to lack of proper machine guards. With the advent of steam engine, the situation became worse. There were many steam leaks, burn injuries, boiler explosions, etc. Owners of these factories have no accountability for the loss of life and persons were removed if they got injured and not capable of doing the work. These incapacitated persons were not compensated and their lives were miserable. These conditions along with movement by workers and organizations lead to the enactment of first act in 1802 in UK and followed with many amendments by including many provisions for the betterment of working conditions. Factory inspectorates were also formed to monitor compliance with these legislations and were authorized to take necessary action.
Though similar pathetic conditions existed in Indian factories, it is not until 1881 that the Factories Act was passed in India and further in 1891, 1911, 1934 by including restricted hours of work for men and women, age of children to be employed, rest periods, hours of overtime in a week, employment of full time factory inspectors, paid holidays, etc. The Factories Act (FA) 1948 provides the minimum requirements with regards to i) obtaining licence for setting up of the factory, operating licence, need for authorization of changes in process; ii) health – cleanliness, disposal of wastes and effluents, ventilation, lighting, drinking water, toilets; iii) safety – machine guarding, maintenance and testing of hoists and lifts, pressure vessels, proper means of access, manual handling, work permit system, fire protection and fighting measures, guarding of openings, personal protective equipment, safety of buildings and machinery and iv) welfare – provision for washing, sitting, first aid, rest rooms, lunch rooms, canteen, etc. The amended FA, 1976 included safety of contract labour in the definition of workers and vested more powers with the factory inspectors.
The Bhopal accident in 1984 shook the entire world to relook into suitability of legislations in their land and provide for stringent requirements for compliance by industrial establishments.
Major amendments were made to the Indian Factories Act in 1987 by assigning the responsibilities for the occupier (Section 7-A), for the manufacturer (Sec 7-B), special provisions for hazardous processes (Chapter IV-A), onus of proving limits practicable (Sec 104-A) along with other provisions like safety policy, safe operating procedures, supervision, disclosure of information, medical examination, house keeping, training, emergency preparedness, accident reporting within the period and investigation, conduct of safety meetings, maintenance of permissible limits of chemicals, etc.
Similarly, penalties were made more stringent to force the establishments and its employees at all levels to ensure safe working conditions. The punishments for violation of each and any of the safety provisions of Factories Act and its Rules extended upto 2 years / fine and for special provisions (Chapter IV-A), upto 10 years. Even obstruction of factory inspector or failure to maintain / show registers or documents invites penalty upto 6 months and or fine.
Apart from the Factories Act, there are other legislations for handling of boilers, gas cylinders, chemicals, emissions / discharges, radioactive materials, electricity, disposal of effluents and wastes, noise, contract labour, etc. Penalties are also specified for violation of provisions under these legislations as well as under Indian Penal Code
Some of the best companies / manufacturing facilities issue safety regulations beyond what is required by Factories Act and others from time to time for various activities, sometimes even such a thing is not thought off by the government.
It must be noted that each and every activity in the work premises is governed by one regulation or other and employees at all levels are responsible for ensuring safety at the work place. Ignorance of law is not an excuse and law of the land is applicable.
We have to prevent accidents at the work place not only because of legislations but also because of also on humanitarian grounds and also the enormous economic impact of such accidents on the persons, organization and the country. It is our moral responsibility to prevent accidents so that at the end of the day, all of us reach our homes safely and take care of our beloved family members and smiles in their faces.
Oct 10, 2009
Accident Investigations - Recommendations - Implementation
In any factory, after any major accident takes place leading to loss of life or huge property damage, a committee is constituted to investigate to find the root cause and secondary causes. The committee investigates and makes some recommendations. It is observed in many investigations, a number of recommendations are of general in nature, like,
i) applicable statutory requirements to be followed
ii) house keeping to be improved
iii)training to be provided
iv) supervision to be ensured
v) safety studies to be carried, etc
The management faces the problem of finding what is to be done with these types of recommendations and they are blank about how to avoid recurrence of such accidents / incidents. It appears as though a separate committee is to be constituted for each of the recommendations to understand what it means and what should be done.
Instead, if the accident investigation committee that comprises persons from production, safety, maintenance, etc is able to make recommendations specific to the factors that are responsible for the cause of accident, then the direction for management will be straight forward. For example, say that earthing and bonding is not done for all piping as per so and so legislation (Petroleum Rules). Then, this should be stated and identify the procedure and persons to be responsible for doing and checking. Similarly, a checklist can be made what should be seen for the supervisor every day for the job so that instead of simply standing to supervise the job, he will be clear of what is expected of him to ensure that the job is carried out safely. Along with these, punishments like suspension of the increment / cut in pay also should be mentioned for each of the jobs so that when a person carries the work without following the written instructions, he will face these consequences. Once every thing is put in writing right from the nature of the job, methodology, checks and punsihment, then the system is established and will become independent of the individuals. There should be no mercy for failures of the persons responsible to do the given job. Only when leniency is shown, then the parasites will grow and favouritism starts.
After the implementation of recommendations, if again a similar accidents occurs, then the committee should introspect itself about its efficiency and what went wrong. Whether all recommendations are implemented to the satisfaction / stated intention of the committee or whether full information was obtained earlier or the investigation was only a face wash and the committee should be fixed for its failure to see all facts and handed out proper punishment. After implementation of recommendations, whether all concerned employees were informed about these and whether these were trained for resumption of work is also to be seen. There can be production pressures, but if work is resumed without corrective and preventive actions, then there is no meaning in investigation. Definitely such establishements should prepare to close their shops soon.
Safety becomes an obstacle or costly affair, when proper thought is not given for it during design stage itself and then not followed. If any person says that he does not care for safety as he pays the persons through salaries, then he is a criminal and whether he will accept such a thing if his own kith and kin work in such environment should be seen. If the answer is negative, then he should not ask for output without correcting the system.
i) applicable statutory requirements to be followed
ii) house keeping to be improved
iii)training to be provided
iv) supervision to be ensured
v) safety studies to be carried, etc
The management faces the problem of finding what is to be done with these types of recommendations and they are blank about how to avoid recurrence of such accidents / incidents. It appears as though a separate committee is to be constituted for each of the recommendations to understand what it means and what should be done.
Instead, if the accident investigation committee that comprises persons from production, safety, maintenance, etc is able to make recommendations specific to the factors that are responsible for the cause of accident, then the direction for management will be straight forward. For example, say that earthing and bonding is not done for all piping as per so and so legislation (Petroleum Rules). Then, this should be stated and identify the procedure and persons to be responsible for doing and checking. Similarly, a checklist can be made what should be seen for the supervisor every day for the job so that instead of simply standing to supervise the job, he will be clear of what is expected of him to ensure that the job is carried out safely. Along with these, punishments like suspension of the increment / cut in pay also should be mentioned for each of the jobs so that when a person carries the work without following the written instructions, he will face these consequences. Once every thing is put in writing right from the nature of the job, methodology, checks and punsihment, then the system is established and will become independent of the individuals. There should be no mercy for failures of the persons responsible to do the given job. Only when leniency is shown, then the parasites will grow and favouritism starts.
After the implementation of recommendations, if again a similar accidents occurs, then the committee should introspect itself about its efficiency and what went wrong. Whether all recommendations are implemented to the satisfaction / stated intention of the committee or whether full information was obtained earlier or the investigation was only a face wash and the committee should be fixed for its failure to see all facts and handed out proper punishment. After implementation of recommendations, whether all concerned employees were informed about these and whether these were trained for resumption of work is also to be seen. There can be production pressures, but if work is resumed without corrective and preventive actions, then there is no meaning in investigation. Definitely such establishements should prepare to close their shops soon.
Safety becomes an obstacle or costly affair, when proper thought is not given for it during design stage itself and then not followed. If any person says that he does not care for safety as he pays the persons through salaries, then he is a criminal and whether he will accept such a thing if his own kith and kin work in such environment should be seen. If the answer is negative, then he should not ask for output without correcting the system.
Sep 19, 2009
Importance of Learning - II
Most discoveries are made regularly every fifteen years – George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), in his play, The Doctor’s Dilemma, (1906)
When organizations put all their efforts, over a period of time,the number disabling accidents will come to single digit, but stagnate and not much progress is made beyond this (w.r.t. safety).
Some of the departments working for a long time without accidents may start having accidents again after some time. Like fortunes, safety record also undergoes different cyclical periods.
Man is an animal without education. We are educated animals. We make mistakes again and again, may not be at the same place / operation / plant or by same person; but similar mistakes are made, may be by different persons. Most of the mistakes are made not because of lack of knowledge or skill. Rather, it is because of an overdose of it.
When we join in the department or new to work, we have formal education but not the specific knowledge and skill about the job to be done. At this time, we are likely to get involved in accidents because of lack of knowledge and skill. After some time, we acquire both knowledge as well as skill and will be attentive. Once, we are used it, over a period of time, we try to find short cuts.
SHORT CUTS IN SAFETY CAN SHORT CIRCUIT OUR SAFETY AS WELL AS OF OTHERS
Once this mentality / attitude sets in, we are prone to accidents. Most of the accidents occur to persons who are either new or well experienced.
When an accident occurs, every body becomes emotional, may be, even take oath not to repeat such mistake(s). BUT soon, we forget or we assume that it will not happen to us and go back to our old ways of doing it. This is called NIMBY syndrome i.e Not In My Back Yard Syndrome. (A term used by Trevor A. Kletz - as I understood).
We have to UNLEARN the WRONG LEARNINGS and LEARN the safe ways of doing the job.
ORGANIZATIONS HAVE NO MEMORY. ONLY PEOPLE HAVE MEMORIES AND THEY MOVE ON – Trevor A Kletz, an internationally acclaimed safety professional, in his book, Lessons from Disaster.
Organization fail to learn the lessons from accidents. Even if the lessons are drawn, then remembering and following them subsequently is a question. How long they remember is another question. Lessons are forgotten, when persons attitude changes or persons are shifted / retired without passing the lessons to youngsters.
God gives us enough opportunities (near misses). The issue is that we should be ready to grab it (analyze the near misses for root causes and remedy the system). Else, the opportunity is lost (leading to accident).
Definitely, time will heal the wounds (of accidents and its pain), BUT we should not loose our sight of lessons from it. We should have an eye to observe the near misses that occur before an accident. Nothing will happen all of a sudden without warning.
Near misses and accidents, either in our plant or others, are the best sources of learning and correcting. If we are not bothered, or afraid to discuss these near misses, then some thing bigger awaits us and we have to pay for it. No body will be penalized or punished for noticing and discussing the near misses. Most of the employees have fears to face the queries raised during root cause analysis / discussions and therefore may not report it. By doing this, we are making self goal not bothering about long term benefits.
Seminars / workshops on case studies are a way of learning, particularly, when we hear from the persons who are actually involved in it.
It is well recognized that training helps to create awareness among the employees and thus reduce the accidents. Though, we can not attribute seminars as the only reason, however, safety statistics over a long period (including before and after training) lead to a downward trend in accidents and severity (man-days lost).
The benefit of such programmes can be seen only when the message (lesson) is carried and spread to all those who did not participate in these programmes.
When organizations put all their efforts, over a period of time,the number disabling accidents will come to single digit, but stagnate and not much progress is made beyond this (w.r.t. safety).
Some of the departments working for a long time without accidents may start having accidents again after some time. Like fortunes, safety record also undergoes different cyclical periods.
Man is an animal without education. We are educated animals. We make mistakes again and again, may not be at the same place / operation / plant or by same person; but similar mistakes are made, may be by different persons. Most of the mistakes are made not because of lack of knowledge or skill. Rather, it is because of an overdose of it.
When we join in the department or new to work, we have formal education but not the specific knowledge and skill about the job to be done. At this time, we are likely to get involved in accidents because of lack of knowledge and skill. After some time, we acquire both knowledge as well as skill and will be attentive. Once, we are used it, over a period of time, we try to find short cuts.
SHORT CUTS IN SAFETY CAN SHORT CIRCUIT OUR SAFETY AS WELL AS OF OTHERS
Once this mentality / attitude sets in, we are prone to accidents. Most of the accidents occur to persons who are either new or well experienced.
When an accident occurs, every body becomes emotional, may be, even take oath not to repeat such mistake(s). BUT soon, we forget or we assume that it will not happen to us and go back to our old ways of doing it. This is called NIMBY syndrome i.e Not In My Back Yard Syndrome. (A term used by Trevor A. Kletz - as I understood).
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," (sometimes called Santayana's Law of Repetitive Consequences) – George Santayana (1863 – 1952), a philosopher
We have to UNLEARN the WRONG LEARNINGS and LEARN the safe ways of doing the job.
ORGANIZATIONS HAVE NO MEMORY. ONLY PEOPLE HAVE MEMORIES AND THEY MOVE ON – Trevor A Kletz, an internationally acclaimed safety professional, in his book, Lessons from Disaster.
Organization fail to learn the lessons from accidents. Even if the lessons are drawn, then remembering and following them subsequently is a question. How long they remember is another question. Lessons are forgotten, when persons attitude changes or persons are shifted / retired without passing the lessons to youngsters.
God gives us enough opportunities (near misses). The issue is that we should be ready to grab it (analyze the near misses for root causes and remedy the system). Else, the opportunity is lost (leading to accident).
Definitely, time will heal the wounds (of accidents and its pain), BUT we should not loose our sight of lessons from it. We should have an eye to observe the near misses that occur before an accident. Nothing will happen all of a sudden without warning.
Near misses and accidents, either in our plant or others, are the best sources of learning and correcting. If we are not bothered, or afraid to discuss these near misses, then some thing bigger awaits us and we have to pay for it. No body will be penalized or punished for noticing and discussing the near misses. Most of the employees have fears to face the queries raised during root cause analysis / discussions and therefore may not report it. By doing this, we are making self goal not bothering about long term benefits.
Seminars / workshops on case studies are a way of learning, particularly, when we hear from the persons who are actually involved in it.
It is well recognized that training helps to create awareness among the employees and thus reduce the accidents. Though, we can not attribute seminars as the only reason, however, safety statistics over a long period (including before and after training) lead to a downward trend in accidents and severity (man-days lost).
The benefit of such programmes can be seen only when the message (lesson) is carried and spread to all those who did not participate in these programmes.
Sep 16, 2009
Importance of careful reading
It is important for anybody to read any document that comes to his attention. Glancing the document or reading here and there and then coming to a decision or conclusion is not correct. If a person is intelligent, he can even understand the intention behind the writing also and will understand properly before taking a hasty decision.
However, most of the persons do not bother to read and instead will mark to their subordinates for briefing them. Then, it all depends on these assistants. If these persons are not intelligent / do not have experience / not in stable mind / have grudge against colleagues or superiors or the organization as whole, then it is not difficult to understand which way they guide their superiors.
Acts, Rules, Standards, Codes, Guidelines, etc made for safety, environment, etc are to be understood clearly. If we read only titles and drawn different meanings, then we can't escape from the arms of the law and oneday we may end up in custody, in a worst situation.
However, may persons even do not bother about punishments met by others because of their faults and assume that they are very intelligent and knowledgeable persons and others are fools. Or, they think that they got God Fathers to protect them and therefore do the things totally not acceptable to law.
When we fail to read between lines, we are trapped by those lines. Nothing can be taken for granted in this world. Today's famous persons may become tomorrow's most hated fellows by the society.
Make a wrong step, all your past good deeds are forgotten and you will be displayed everywhere. Particularly so, in this world of so many news channels, which employ all available means to find and discuss threadbare about the issues.
When we issue safety work permits with suggestions, procedures to be followed, registers to be maintained, etc, I doubt very much how many of the executing agencies really go through these lines. They file it as soon as it is received and does the work in the manner which they are doing for so many years, even if the nature of work is different. They think, they invented standard procedure that meets all situations.
Similarly, conduct any training programmes, the contents will be same, irrespective of the target group. Variations in delivery may come only when the audience are interested in asking questions and then our instructor got sufficient knowledge and experience in that field. Else, the standard replies like, "I will come back to you later, or, you find and tell me, or an intelligence question - any of you can answer - think it over and tell me tomorrow, etc" will come. This kills the interest of the audience and they may become rigid to training programmes.
So, it requires a careful reading for any person to succeed in his field. There is a old proverb, TALK LESS - LISTEN MORE.
On similar lines, we can say, READ THOROUGHLY - TAKE DECISION.
However, most of the persons do not bother to read and instead will mark to their subordinates for briefing them. Then, it all depends on these assistants. If these persons are not intelligent / do not have experience / not in stable mind / have grudge against colleagues or superiors or the organization as whole, then it is not difficult to understand which way they guide their superiors.
Acts, Rules, Standards, Codes, Guidelines, etc made for safety, environment, etc are to be understood clearly. If we read only titles and drawn different meanings, then we can't escape from the arms of the law and oneday we may end up in custody, in a worst situation.
However, may persons even do not bother about punishments met by others because of their faults and assume that they are very intelligent and knowledgeable persons and others are fools. Or, they think that they got God Fathers to protect them and therefore do the things totally not acceptable to law.
When we fail to read between lines, we are trapped by those lines. Nothing can be taken for granted in this world. Today's famous persons may become tomorrow's most hated fellows by the society.
Make a wrong step, all your past good deeds are forgotten and you will be displayed everywhere. Particularly so, in this world of so many news channels, which employ all available means to find and discuss threadbare about the issues.
When we issue safety work permits with suggestions, procedures to be followed, registers to be maintained, etc, I doubt very much how many of the executing agencies really go through these lines. They file it as soon as it is received and does the work in the manner which they are doing for so many years, even if the nature of work is different. They think, they invented standard procedure that meets all situations.
Similarly, conduct any training programmes, the contents will be same, irrespective of the target group. Variations in delivery may come only when the audience are interested in asking questions and then our instructor got sufficient knowledge and experience in that field. Else, the standard replies like, "I will come back to you later, or, you find and tell me, or an intelligence question - any of you can answer - think it over and tell me tomorrow, etc" will come. This kills the interest of the audience and they may become rigid to training programmes.
So, it requires a careful reading for any person to succeed in his field. There is a old proverb, TALK LESS - LISTEN MORE.
On similar lines, we can say, READ THOROUGHLY - TAKE DECISION.
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