DuPont Reaches $1.28 Million Settlement Over Toxic Gas Leaks -- Update - NASDAQ.com

DuPont Reaches $1.28 Million Settlement Over Toxic Gas Leaks -- Update - NASDAQ.com



Fines should be such that violations are not taken casually. Punishments are better than fines. This is applicable in all countries. Violators should not find benefit / profit in violation.

Everybody says safety first. But, do not explain the reasons for injuries/deaths and where they erred, unintentionally.

Success or failure - it is a team's achievement - with a rider!

Recently Indian cricket team lost the series to England. Those who praised the first win were the same to blame the losses also. However, success or failure depends directly on the collective performance of the team. And, the responsibility also rests with the team selection committee.

If the team members are hand picked without choice or concurrence of the team leader (Captain), then the committee is responsible for the outcome. The role of the captain is limited to running the show, as he can. If the captain is not capable, then a good team also can not perform.

This is also true for OHS management. You appoint some staff who are worthless and expect the result, it is only a daydream. For name sake, there will be X number of staff, but real performers may be scarce among the X.

Dust explosion kills more than 65 persons

In an incident of aluminum dust explosion, likely to have been caused by a flame lit, several persons died, many were injured with more than 80% burns. From the photograph, the roof of the building appears to have been damaged. The explosion sound could be heard at 2 km distance.

Ammonia reactor blast - 10 persons injured

As per news reports, a brine unit chiller with ammonia exploded on Saturday i.e 28.06.2014, leading to ammonia leak, injuring 10 persons with burns. As per some other reports, 11 persons got injured in the incident. Persons suffered suffocation, breathlessness and giddiness.
To clear the choking of brine in the chilling unit, steam was admitted which led to expansion of ammonia (anhydrous?) and pressure rise that causing explosion.
As per reports in some other news papers, use of steam instead of hot water led pressure rise. Hot water use limits the temperature compared to steam and may be this is one of the reasons for the incident.
Reports indicating fire extinguished rise questions of whether it is ammonia fire or any other fire.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/andhra_pradesh/11-Hurt-in-Pharma-Unit-Blast-3-Critical/2014/06/29/article2306006.ece

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/10-injured-in-blast-at-drug-unit/article6158709.ece

Safety department in the plant – boon or bane?

Governments made it mandatory to have a dedicated safety department in every plant/facility conforming to certain minimum conditions considered as hazardous. Generally, the role of the safety officer specified in the applicable legislations is to advice and assist the plant officials to carryout –

hazard identification, job hazard studies, accident investigation, procurement of safety devices, conduct of safety promotional campaigns, safety competitions, etc.

Further, it should also conduct monitoring inspections to evaluate safety performance, investigate select accidents/near misses, maintain records, etc.

However, when we hear/read from media about occurrence of accidents everyday at some plant or the other, it appears that the safety departments in these facilities are not effective by themselves or concerned plant managements are not heeding to their advice.

Having a separate safety department in every facility along with other departments like production, maintenance, quality, HR, administration, security, etc may be giving the impression to the other departments that safety in the work area is not their job(work/headache). And these departments may also be of the view that it is the safety department which should identify the hazardous conditions and ALSO to rectify them WITHOUT bothering them (i.e production, etc).

Such views are against the role specified by the legislations and clearly the importance of safety department is lost when such views are also supported by the top management. Clearly, safety department cannot go hand in glove situation with other departments, they confrontation is not the solution. Safety department should act tough with erring departments. If the role of safety department is limited by not listening to their advice, then the safety in the concerned facility is doomed and accidents will be just waiting to happen.

One should realize that safety is a line function i.e everybody in the organization should make it happen and not that of staff function i.e it is not the duty of safety department staff alone. If any plant management thinks it is staff function, then safety will not improve in that plant and the expenditure on safety department staff (salaries) is waste. May be they can only show to visitors that they are complying with legislations, they are spending so much, etc and make them scapegoats in case of any accident. This is true, as of late, filing cases on safety department officials along with other department officials is on the rise. It is easy to tell that the safety officer did not caution them about the hazards though clearly, it is the responsibility of the work area in-charge. 

The occurrence of accidents at work places that come to our notice through media, and the possible reasons as above sometimes lead to the conclusion that it is better to abolish the safety department by legislation and to make concerned plant management responsible for ensuring safety. Nobody should be designated as safety officer or person responsible for safety, even within each department as the results will be same.

The responsibilities of every department in-charge should include safety also, apart from other responsibilities. The issues to be discussed   in every review meeting should include all issues like, production, quality, safety, maintenance, developmental activities, projects, etc (need not be in that order, but all issues should be reviewed without fail).

Such procedure will make the in-charges to give equal time to all issues and ensure a safe work place for all.

Bullying safety officer is like hitting under your own pants

Those who do not like safety officers to inspect their areas for identifying hazardous conditions and also pick up arguments to make/scare them not to visit their works areas will not help to improve the situation. It will only spiral the hazardous conditions and can lead to accidents on a large scale at a later date.
Clearly, there are provisions in related regulations to penalize and also punish the works managers for violations. It is a matter of time before the law catches up with the violators.

Unless these works managers realize the importance of safety and learn the punishments that await the (willful) violators, there is no light for the safety of the persons working in  work areas managed by such persons who are no different from murderers.

Injuries / deaths to employees in those work areas can be compared to planned murders/attempts to cause injuries as works managers neither take action to prevent unsafe conditions not help the safety professionals to identify and suggest safety measures.

Unfortunately, safety officers are not vested with powers like that of regulators and thus will be at the receiving end unless the in-charge of the facility gives unconditional support. Else, at some time or other, the safety department officials either will keep quiet leaving the matters to the fate or will look for better opportunities in other companies. Either way, it is the loss to the company having such safety culture.

Crowding near the entry point of examination centers

I went to an examination center to drop my son for medical admission entrance test. The authorities were allowing only the candidates to enter inside and stopped accomplices. There were strict instructions for them not allow the candidates even a minute late beyond the scheduled time.

Inspite of knowing this, the accomplice of the candidates like parents, friends, relatives, etc were found standing near the gate of the test center even after their wards went into the examination hall, thereby obstructing the movement of the candidates reaching the center from different places of the city and state.

This will be intriguing to those who rush at the last moment delayed for various reasons, self inflicted, traffic, not knowing the location, etc and because of no entry even for one minute late, they will be at loss and have to lose one academic year.

Nobody should be allowed to be present near examination centers and its entrances to avoid such situation.

Do not rate growth of a nation from per capita power consumption

Judging the growth of a nation based on per capita power consumption is not correct without knowing how effectively this power is consumed. If the power is consumed on wasteful activities like lighting the buildings always, running the fans/air conditioners/entertainment equipment, etc without need, etc, though it shows high per capita power consumption, it will not contribute to improving the life of the people.
This will also add to ever increasing pollution, depletion of valuable energy resources. Countries should not compare with others while making road map for installing power generation plants. Instead, it should be ensured that the wastage in the form of unnecessary usage, transmission and distribution losses, etc are minimized.

We have to remember the saying,  "the power saved is power generated" and by this we can also reduce dependence on import of coal/hydrocarbons, etc.

Reflection of sun light from the buildings damages the car parked below

Though we know reflection of sun rays can cause fire, this news item made me to keep in mind that I should consider this aspect also while studying the safety aspects of building design for issue of safety clearance. The news item states that the sun light reflected from the concave shaped building surface caused partial melting of a car parked below.

This implies that the distance of impact needs to be assessed and the designers of the buildings have to ensure that no flammable/combustible materials are kept in this range unless suitable measures are taken.

https://in.news.yahoo.com/uk-tower-accused-melting-car-sunshade-140750249.html

Stay Covered in the Sun » OHS Insider OHS Insider

SPOT THE SAFETY VIOLATION: Stay Covered in the Sun » OHS Insider OHS Insider



The article explains that those who work under Sun for more number of days, particularly during 1200 hr noon to 1400 hr get exposed to strong ultraviolet (UV) radiation that can cause skin cancer and advises to limit working during 1100 hr to 1600 hr. A good article.

Yesterday, I was under hot sun during 1115 hr to 1400 hr and my forearms and face have become red. Even after 30 hours, still I am having burning sensation on the exposed parts. Few years ago also, when I went out under hot sun, I saw the skin on my both forearms peeling off after few days. Imagine the plight of the persons who have to work for their livelihood. Immediate sun burns and possible skin cancer at a later date can not be ruled for those workmen.

http://ohsinsider.com/insider-top-stories/spot-safety-violation-stay-covered-sun?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Bongarde

Explosive effect of accidents in the chemical industry

An article about chemical accidents

http://www.icis.com/Articles/2010/03/29/9345517/the-explosive-effect-of-accidents-in-the-chemical-industry.html

Blast during dismantling of a chemical boiler - 3 persons die due to burns

Three persons died in a blast that occurred during the dismantling of a chemical boiler in a scrap godown. The contents of the boiler are not known. However, this incident is a lesson that any vessel before sold as a scrap should be cleaned thoroughly to ensure that it is free from chemicals. The incident might have happened during gas cutting of the vessel with trapped chemicals generating hot gases or undergoing runaway reaction and with improper venting. Provision for venting should be available to avoid pressure rise.




http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/thane/Three-killed-in-Thane-boiler-blast/articleshow/33677572.cms

Plant shutdown after reaching the target

I am surprised to read a old news item (see the link below) on the above title. The title of the news item is about an accident causing burn injuries to seven persons. In the last para of the news article, it is stated that the unit was shutdown after the target was reached.
Normally, operations will be continued as any excess production too will add to balance sheet. If it is to meet CFO (consent for operation) / factory licence conditions or any other reason is not known.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Chennai/7-injured-in-naphtha-leak-at-Manali-ammonia-plant/articleshow/33631036.cms

Effectiveness of safety programme - management support

Appointment of safety officers is a mandatory requirement. When cost cutting is the mantra (rule) everywhere particularly when the company is not getting profits, how do a safety department head feels, if the management asks HR to take action for recruitment more personnel for safety department, that too, without any proposal from safety head.
It really shows the commitment of the management and this should motivate to do more. Doing routine inspections is one of the jobs. But, updating one's knowledge and foreseeing the hazards ahead and able to explain and convince the plant personnel is really the challenge for a safety officer. And, imagine if you can delegate routine inspections and is able to get time to study the processes in detail and analyze for hazards, what else is required. Definitely, this will give job satisfaction because your job is different from day-to-day jobs and you are doing special work. It will also make you an expert over a period of time and you can make your company a role model in the industry.
I always feel that the factories rules specifying one safety officer for every 1000 workers or so is insufficient even to do routine inspections for safety unless everybody in the shopfloor is committed to work safely. Otherwise, it will be like, catch me if you can, situation.
After certain age, even health will not permit a person to walk around throughout the day and his effectiveness in implementing safety will diminish.
Apart from safety inspections and pep talks in some companies, safety officer will also look after fire and environment duties, procure personal protective equipment, buy instruments, coordinate with different agencies like local authorities, factories department, pollution control board, explosives department, etc which will be taxing as he has to go their offices which can be far off and such works will reduce his attention on safety implementation.
I feel that there should be separate department for each of safety, environment, fire and welfare activities. And, one safety supervisor/officer should be available for every 10,000 square meters of shopfloor area or 250 employees (including contractors), whichever is less.
No  person should be allowed to enter shopfloor for any new work without safety briefing and work related training. Retraining should be provided atleast once in a year if the job is same. Class room training away from work area is preferable. Else, they will be called in between the training programme for any of the so called urgent works. Training programme should not pack many topics and should have one or two topics per day with theory, case studies, videos and evaluation/assessment. Participants too should be given sometime, say 45-60 minutes to speak on their experiences. Audience should be limited to 25-30. More participants means reduced attention from the faculty, less time available for the participants to interact and occasional arguments spoiling the course proceedings.

Easy to blame others for fires in our premises - what about our preparedness?

Today I read in a news paper that fire services reached late to the site of fire by which some property damage already took place. Such reasons we hear or read regularly without thinking what is that we have done to protect our property or persons before expecting others' help.

Did we keep our premises free from hazards?
Whether the house keeping in our site is well maintained?
Whether the shop floors are free from obstructions?
Whether the approach roads are free from mindless parking vehicles?
Whether we adhered minimum requirements of maintaining water storage, fire detection and control system?
Whether the persons in the building / plant are trained in basic fire fighting?
Do we have regular surveillance checks to see that the premises are safe for residing or working?

Instead of keeping our house right i.e free from hazards, we blame late arrival of fire department. For them to reach the place of incident, they have to come through congested roads. We construct our buildings without proper place for vehicle parking and we think public roads are our parking areas. Some of those who have parking space for residents do not allow visitors to park inside the premises. Big notice board will be displayed reading "NO PARKING FOR OUTSIDERS/VISITORS". Then why do allow visitors at all? All such premises and those parking vehicles on public roads should be penalized heavily. This will also be a good source of income for the local authorities. To avoid corruption / bribes, local authorities can share a percentage of such income generated with the employees making efforts to identify such lapses and collecting the amounts.

For most of the fires, short circuit is a stated reason making them electrical fires. But, why such short circuit takes place. The reason is overload, absence of surge protectors, use of poor quality wiring or not replacing the old wiring. It is stated that even in residential buildings, electrical wiring needs replacement after 15 years. Atleast, we should get the electrical systems checked regularly not for anybody else, but for our own safety.

Municipal authorities / factories department should make it compulsory for periodical checking by specifying the period also say once in five years every time after first 15 years of life. Like building inspectors authorized for checking, they should authorize experienced and qualified persons/institutions for such checks without which permissions should be withdrawn and power/water supply / sanitation services.

These data should be digitized so that defaulters can be easily found on the next day of due date and action can be taken.
Data entry of checks should be done by authorized inspectors and for any incidents, such inspectors/agencies should be made responsible.

Sun flowers for radioactive material decontamination - WTF Facts : funny, interesting & weird facts

WTF Facts : funny, interesting & weird facts

LINK

Stress and its impact on safety

I attended a seminar on occupational health and one of the topic discussed was stress management. Ill effects of stress on the person and its consequences are known to persons. It can create health problems for the person as well of lack of concentration, multitasking of the brain, non-cooperative body organs, etc which in turn can lead the person in doing work in unsafe manner.

A participant in his presentation told the audience that while opting for a job offer in a company, he insisted on working 0900-1700 hr job though in that particular company, the serious business  generally starts after lunch and will go on in to late night hours. He requested the company management to see his talent and output and not about working hours which the company agreed and the presented said he is happy and doing well even at the age of 71 now.

Though choice of working hours is somewhat difficult, still trying for the best package helps the persons to do well in their job.

Superiors at all levels too need to be counselled for proper behavior with subordinates so that the staff below are not stressed.

My boss used to tell me that one can argue with superior but not the other way. He said, it is the responsibility of superiors to listen to subordinates and try to solve their problems in the work place rather than adding the problems.

Employees at subordinate level too need to be counselled for not to think too much on an issue which will disappear after sometime.

In a joke circulated widely on internet, every person facing a problem will have two choices.
1. You can solve it, then why to worry.
2. You can't solve it, then also why to worry.

Let us be stress-free and be happy with what we are doing and what we can do instead of worrying about works which we can't do.

Etiquette / decorum during safety meetings, classes

Participants in the meetings and training programmes find it disturbing when they see some audience 

• argue without end
• talk with others
• get phone calls with loud ring tone
• converse in phone loudly not bothering about the session
• sleep (some with roaring sounds)
• read something
• etc

Such acts make it difficult for the meetings/classes to conduct smoothly and nothing can be achieved. Persons indulging in such acts should think how do they feel when they are conducting the meeting / class and then they will realize the mistakes they are making.

It is essential for all to maintain the discipline / decorum / etiquette atleast when they are in a group and if they do that even when they are alone or in closed rooms also, then it speaks of their good cultured behavior. And safety culture is defined as the way we behave when no one sees us.

Ensuring use of PPE (personal protective equipment) by employees - whose responsibility?

Recently, in a conversation during an audit, I heard the following instructions to supervisors and employees about the use of PPE:

1. Tell the shopfloor incharge to check for wearing safety shoes by all as there are some visitors.
2. Tomorrow, audit team is coming. Tell everybody to wear safety shoes and goggles.
3. Arey baba, wear shoes. Otherwise, we will get non-conformity (NC) by the audit team.
4. If you don't wear safety shoe, unnecessarily, safety man will write letter.
5. etc

The above will only show (shoe) that we have to wear safety gear only to please somebody and that the manager will not get any remarks from visitors or audit / inspection team. Nobody thinks that PPE are required for our own safety. The way we wear our clothes without being told by anybody, why don't we tell that PPE are required to protect our body parts, but NOT to protect the skin of plant manager / supervisor.

This shows that though we shout from roof top that safety is our first priority, it is, in fact first from last. It is in a way, an abusive word. Or, hatred term. Some managers may even have hatredness by seeing the safety persons even from distance and may be cursing the fellow.

In such organisations, who can save the workmen. Even GOD can not save them, as they want to inflict injuries to their own workmen from whom they want to get better production. 

Here, even workmen should be blamed for not wearing PPE. Else, why one should tell or keep on telling wear this, wear that, and so on. Don't they know? Supervisors / managers / safety officers should only do monitoring job to correct the mistakes made unknowingly, not to tell everyday same thing to those who do not want to follow. Such persons should be removed from the work. Then only, others can be protected. Otherwise, youngsters who join the organization may pick up or learn the work to do in a wrong way. 

Here, the issue is not about wearing only safety shoe or helmet or something else. This way of working leads to wrong work practices and poor safety culture. 

And an expert defined safety culture as the way we work (or do things), even when nobody is watching.

Starting problem with vehicle not used for some time

I am having scooter which I sparingly use as I my regular use vehicle is a motor cycle. Today, I gave my motor cycle for servicing and I had the problem of starting my scooter. When I took it to mechanic, he examined and on enquiry with me about its use, told me that we should not leave petrol in the vehicle which is not in use for a long time. Instead, he suggested to fill the petrol as and when required and use it. He said that the evaporation of petrol coupled with degradation of lubricating oil which will be mixed with it during filling leads to this starting problem.
Another problem I find with battery start vehicles is discharge of battery.

This is a lesson learned today.

Safety education - a subject to be made compulsory at all levels in schools and colleges

Even after so many years of industrialization, with all available knowledge, still, accidents are taking place. This only shows that managements pay only lip service for safety in their organizations. 

It appears managements think that having a safety department means that it is the responsibility of safety department to ensure safety and that other departments like production, maintenance, quality, etc need to be told what is to be done for ensuring safety of all. 

This also means that safety is not part of all activities and it is seen as an additional activity like an extra organ in a body, which nobody likes. 

Though people like to remove the extra organ, if it is not possible to remove for any reason, then people bear with it, cursing it or their fate. It appears, safety department is also in a similar situation. One can not avoid it because it is mandatory to have certain number of safety officials as per the local government's legislation. At the same, like the extra organ people don't like it. 

The fact that there is lot of friction between safety and other departments in the organizations shows that there is no safety culture. And culture is defined by experts as the activity which one does even when nobody else is watching. Good culture leads to safe work behaviors and no accidents.

This is all because, it appears to me that safety is not taught from the childhood. If it is included as a subject like language / maths / science / etc, then it is imbibed in the minds and is treated with all respect it deserved. Safety management should not be thought as the work of safety department. It should be an integral part of all activities. 

Cockroach chase leads to factory fire - how to eliminate cockroaches in your place?

Today, I read in a forum, i.e indiansafetyprofessionals@yahoogroups.com, that a house wife died of burns when she sprayed a cockroach killer in the kitchen near the gas stove which was ON. The spray, being flammable caused explosion.
Husband of the lady who tried to extinguish flames is still in the hospital due to burns.

I too had similar experience, though without injury, which I posted earlier. http://safetychat.blogspot.in/2010/09/safety-of-cockroach-killing-sprays.html

Then, when I searched internet for similar incidents, following links were found.

1. Man sets his factory on fire to kill cockroaches.
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2010/11/15/no-factory-smoke-without-roach-fire/

2. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-06-27/cockroach-spray-sparks-house-fire/2772730
http://www.mfb.vic.gov.au/News/Killing-cockroaches-with-aerosol-spray-starts-house-fire-.html


Best solution I found to get rid off the cockroaches is to use the latest HIT GEL and I am not finding any cockroach in my flat for the last few months (more than three months). Occasionally, when I find something, I use it and my house is free. Otherwise, there were hundreds of cockroaches, hidden behind tiles / corners / books / papers, etc and being in apartment complex, I thought no amount of treatment will solve my problem as they can come from other flats, even if I eliminate in my house.

The youtube video of the company can be seen in the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z9kv40SNpk

Some solutions given below:
1. http://housewifehowtos.com/clean/how-to-get-rid-of-cockroaches/
2. http://www.unce.unr.edu/publications/files/nr/2000/sp0007.pdf

Double riding on forklifts - is it acceptable?

Questions are raised on whether one can have a ride on the forklift apart from the forklift operator? Or, for that matter on any other material handling equipment like pallet truck or tractor, etc.

Anybody sitting next to the operator of the vehicle causes inconvenience that may lead to road accidents. Unless, the equipment is designed such that the vehicle controls are within the reach of the operator and that the sitting position of co-riders in noway obstructs operation/control of the vehicle, one should not permit riding on the vehicle.

It is quite common to see persons sitting on either side of the driver of tractors and sometimes on the connecting attachment between the tractor and the trailer, causing inconvenience to the driver. These person apart from causing inconvenience also cause diversion of driver's attention by talking among themselves and with the driver.

We should not add seats or modify the design of the vehicle on our own, unless it is permitted by the supplier. As said above, one should see whether the vehicle can be operated safely by the driver, with the changed design i.e addition of seats. Otherwise, we will be creating hazard for the persons in the factory.

I read sometime ago, that in some places, double riding is a punishable offence. A case study in the form of judgement teaches us that factory management also got responsibility  to create awareness among employees about do's and don't's for forklift use/operation.

Chemical burns - why to wash a spilled chemical on the body for atleast 15 minutes?

Recently, during an interaction with some trainees, nobody could understand the reason for washing a body part splashed with acid/alkali for atleast 15 minutes.
I read long ago that the studies showed removal of chemical by 93-95% even for washing this much time. Once, the reason is known, one will remember and follow the guidelines. Else, it will be like washing something that has fallen on the body which will not last more than a minute.
Time should not be lost between the splash and wash with water as damage will increase.
Further, any alkali in the eyes should be washed with more care as alkali can cause eye damage even to the extent of blindness.
As per standards, emergency shower and eye wash fountain should be located within 15 meters and atleast 16 lpm water in eye wash fountain and atleast 110 lpm in the shower at 196 kpa pressure. There should not be any obstruction the approach to the shower/eye wash should be straight so that the affected can quickly reach and use it.
The 15 m distance is not the straight distance (aerial), but it should be the total distance to be covered by the affected person.
The persons in the area should ensure its availability by testing in every shift and to allow the water to run off for sometime so that there will not be any foreign particles (rust, etc) that can cause damage to the person while using in real emergency.

Trade off between production and safety

Safety is our first concern, so say, everybody in public forums. But, there is also something called, ALARP (As Low As Reasonably Practicable). What is the measure of this ALARP. What is ALARP for me need not be the same for others. Still, we have to put our wisdom so that we do not endanger the lives of workmen, public and the environment. One should not go by apparent/immediate effects. Instead, one should see for invisible but disastrous and also long term effects.
Mostly, shop floor managers see the the visible effects whereas safety professionals see the invisible effects. Here comes the friction and safety managers will be pressurized to yield to the arguments of "there are no effects and not to imagine wildly".
Safety managers are treated as untouchables / non-entities and ridiculed at every next opportunity. It is known that every known hazard will not lead to a disaster and this gives strength to the arguments of short sighted shop floor managers and safety managers have to watch in despair.
One does not try to learn from the case studies and safety managers are shouted when pointed about similar occurrences and may be branded as brainless fellows.
But, when something happens, the black sheep will be the safety manager. At that time, again, safety managers are ridiculed for not foreseeing the hazards and that they do nothing.

The solution is to fix responsibility. If safety manager is lax, he should be responsible. If production  manager doesn't listen in spite of pointing out by safety, he should be responsible. Management should not try to protect production managers in those situations. And, every near miss/incident, irrespective of its severity, should be investigated and responsibility should be fixed. Only then, I feel that everybody understands safety and its benefits.

Compressed Gas Safety » SafetySmart

Compressed Gas Safety » SafetySmart

LINK

Government proposes safety rating system for chemical plants | Business Standard

Government likes to rate chemical plants based on 19 key performance indicators in order to create need for zero accidents in their plants with respect to safety and security and also to provide incentives to good organizations.

I feel this is a beginning and new idea from government. Government should further extend this and ask insurance companies to use this rating while assessing the premiums. Erring companies should be charged high premiums.

But, care is to be taken to ensure that (risk) assessment will be carried out by experts and these experts are selected based on strict parameters. Else, poor assessment leads to wrong faith in the capabilities of chemical plants and its management.

Government proposes safety rating system for chemical plants | Business Standard

The draft document is available from the link as below. Interested parties can send suggestions by  end of October 2013. Such suggestions can be sent by e-mail at dirrt1@rediffmail.com; arun.agarwal@nic.in or by post. The department after receiving the comments will incorporate to prepare final documents on “Chemical Plant Safety and Security Rating System”.

http://chemicals.nic.in/Forwd30092013.pdf

WTF Facts : funny, interesting & weird facts about probability, risk

WTF Facts : funny, interesting & weird facts

The above link gives information about the probability of some events (mostly death). Cancer death is most probable among the listed events and chance of being hit by a falling satellite is the least probable.

Picture This! Emergency Exit Fail » SafetySmart

Picture This! Emergency Exit Fail » SafetySmart

LINK

Chemical leak in Shanghai kills 15, sickens dozens

Chemical leak in Shanghai kills 15, sickens dozens

Ammonia leak from a food processing company led to deaths and many more were affected. About 200 fire fighters were involved in water spray to dissolve ammonia.

It is stated that earlier in June in some other company, an ammonia leak led fire and more than 100 died.

Incidents of ammonia fire are rare to find compared to toxic deaths.
LINK

NFPA fire statistics for the year 2011

http://www.nfpa.org/research/fire-statistics

One can see fire statistics, statistical reports, major causes, etc by clicking through different links. Very much useful to caution the people.

Rescue of persons from height in China - videos from Yahoo

http://in.screen.yahoo.com/dramatic-high-rise-rescues-caught-180152688.html

Person dies after long hours of work

An intern died after reportedly spending long hours of work. Legislations specify certain number of hours of work per day, per week, etc and limits on overtime hours also. However, these rules are mostly applied to factory workers and I am not sure whether they are applied to supervisors and blue collared employees in the same organization. 

This leads to spending long hours at work place by these people, either by force, or even if there is no requirement, may be to learn the work, or to get attention of higher authorities. This type of work is not possible forever. If somebody joins as trainee/apprentice and even for regular employees, managements of any establishment should strictly enforce working hours, instead of being a passive onlooker. Only then, these types of incidents can be avoided at the work place. It is all in work culture which is guided by safety culture of the organization. 

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/aug/21/bank-intern-death-working-hours

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/Intern-at-a-London-bank-dies-after-working-for-72-hours/articleshow/21947167.cms

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/20/bank-of-america-intern-dies-after-working-three-straight-days.html

610 kg Saudi man forklifted to hospital

This may be an exceptional case. But, people should not draw inspiration to use forklift for personal movement. Forklifts are for material handling. A number of persons got injured while riding on forklift. If the person standing on the forks near mast does not remove his hand, he may get finger amputation during mast movement.
Remember the injury to Imran Khan, famous cricketer and politician in Pakistan who fell down and got injured due to imbalance while standing on a forklift.
610 kg Saudi man forklifted to hospital


LINK

Stress management

In the childhood, we do not know what we are doing, though we are pleasurable (or nuisance) to others by our deeds. Later as we grow, we may not remember what enjoyed or suffered at that age. In the childhood, we are influenced / disciplined by others.

The day we start realizing what we want, we put lot of efforts voluntarily to reach the goal. This leads to stress when we are controlled by others also, like, parents, teachers, friends, bosses, etc.

We put so much effort to get good work/job, and once we get work, we become eligible to have a life partner. So much advice pours in from all directions, and one day, we marry some one.

By the time we understand each other and settles in the married life, offspring will lead to pleasure initially associated with stress on their studies and future. All along with this, we will have constant work pressure. Any headache from work place also will lead to troubled life at home as we find it difficult to put a stop or zip the thoughts of work. Though, people preach we should balance work and family life, our craving for excellence in both will not lead to any happiness anywhere.

To climb up the steps in work place, we do more work and a performer will always get more work and any drop will wipe out all hard work done all long till that time. So continuous stress will be there on us from work place activity.

Family pressure to take care of spouse and children and sometimes unnecessary fears, only compound our stress.

Experts advise to visit religious places, do exercise, take breaks from routine life, change food habits, develop hobbies like book reading, social service, etc but nothing will relieve stress permanently and bring happiness. Whatever we do, we keep on thinking about work and family in the mind.

We have to take stress part of life and live with it. If we observe others, for a given task, stress levels are not same in all persons. Again, with age and experience, our stress levels will change.

Something stressful today may not be causing same level of stress tomorrow. Many suicides can be stopped, if persons with suicidal tendency do not take hasty decisions. Just leave the so called  problem to its fate. May be solutions can be found in a day or two. Sometimes, the problem on its own disappears. Other times, it may persists, but we may get some more time to solve. At the most, we may loose something, like, money, reputation, etc. But, definitely, we will get much more later by our hard work. At this point of time, i.e. after lapse of time, when we look back, we may laugh at our own rash decisions/thoughts.

Just sit back and think about future. After all hard work, at the end of our active work life, what we want. We might have lost all our valuable time (read personal happiness), by the time we reached the fag end of our work life. The way we left our parents, in pursuit of our goals, our children also will leave us. May be spouse also, will leave us forever, or will stay with the children and we have to spend lonely life.

With all money and so called higher prestigious positions we reached, nothing will be useful when we are at say 55 or 60 years. In the young age, while spending long hours at work, we would have missed many lunches. But, when we reach certain age, even if we get time, we can't eat because of the health problems.

Finally, our hard earned money will be useful to family members and others. May be we derive satisfaction that they are happy. But, they too will be unhappy and you will not get any appreciation for your efforts, because their ambitions are much higher as their start point is more than yours.

A disciplined life, without too much ambition, will make us to live with peace of mind. Though, people advise to dream to achieve, our dreams should be in line with our limitations. Building castles in the air will not help us, unless we don't mind with the results and be happy with whatever we get.

Understanding self may help to reduce violence

Greed and ambition are turning us to go to any length to get what we want. Short cuts are taken in the form of physical abuse in this regard. This is making us to be like beasts in the wild life.

If we sit quiet and think what is that we want, whether really we should have those and whether possession of the same will bring happiness forever, and if we compare with those already we possessed by similar desire, we find we are not having happiness and peace of mind.

Whatever we already possessed by various means would have brought only momentary or short living pleasures.

For these temporary gratifications, we go to any extent, if we are not in proper frame of mind. As the media reports we see, many killings are happening, to steal or to settle some issue.

All these to satisfy this body. But, do we really know what is our body and what is that inside. If we know, probably, violence may come down, because our beautiful body on outward appearance is actually containing parts which we may not like to see, if our skin is not present.

Imagine the world, where we don't have skin and have to live without skin. In such an imaginary condition, if it is real, whether we really try to behave the way what we are doing now. It is my belief that our mental state will become balanced and try to live without harming others. What we have to struggle is to satisfy our hunger and minimal needs.

Mahatma Gandhi said that this world is having enough to satisfy our needs but not the GREED.

If, one sees medical education videos available in youtube, like, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTbhWxEu27I, and similar ones, our thought process will change and definitely, it will be for a better world than what is today.

Fire while working on a gas line

A fire erupted when persons were working in a hole (pit) on gas line. A person with minor burns on face and hands went to hospital. The flames caused damaged to electric lines above.
It is reported that the crew searched for nearby shutoff valve to stop the fire. It appears that the crew did not do their job hazard analysis properly. Whether any safety permit is taken also is not clear.
This work, ie. working on a gas line that too in a pit is nothing but a confined space work and also working on line filled with gas.
One should have stopped gas flow and evacuated the line with inert gas before start of work. For safety, slip plate also should be inserted on either ends of the gas line to avoid passing or accidental flow. Emergency plan also should be in place which prepares the persons involved what to do in real emergency situation.
Searching for shutoff valve only indicates poor planning.

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/north/10011420876346/gas-main-break-leads-to-manhole-fire-in-bedford/

Hazards in the job of trainers?

Recently, I delivered a talk in a safety training programme. After the lecture, I went out of the training hall, and tried to talk to my office for vehicle pickup to my workplace. One of the participants came to me and advised me to remove portable microphone, which was given to me before the talk. My phone conversation was audible in the training hall.

This is a lesson for me. I should have switched off the mic and handed over to the program coordinator. I forgot this. The other side is whatever I utter also will be audible and any loose talk (which may happen) would have put me in shame, if not in trouble.

Picture This! Shocking Video Debunks Workplace 'Accidents' » SafetySmart

Picture This! Shocking Video Debunks Workplace 'Accidents' » SafetySmart

In the video, a woman carrying hot water slips on a smooth surface having some spillage and the hot water splash on her body causes scalds.
The video in the above link is old and seen earlier also. However, it is important to note that many do not care about smooth slippery surfaces that are because of surface finish, spillage of liquids, etc. Use of improper shoe, or presence of congested areas, etc add to the hazard. Many even question about considering such surfaces as hazard.

Pray God that nobody should undergo such punishment.

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.

From Safety Smart - Machine Guard quiz

http://compliance.safetysmart.com/articles-insight/latest-headlines/name-that-machine-guard?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Bongarde

The above link takes to the quiz from Safety Smart. I scored 8 out of 10. Good programme by Safety Smart.

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.

Gas Encyclopedia from Air Liquide - safety data sheets for 135 gases

http://encyclopedia.airliquide.com/encyclopedia.asp?LanguageID=11&CountryID=19&Formula=&GasID=0&UNNumber=&EquivGasID=0&VolLiquideBox=&MasseLiquideBox=&VolGasBox=&MasseGasBox=&RD20=29&RD9=8&RD6=64&RD4=2&RD3=22&RD8=27&RD2=20&RD18=41&RD7=18&RD13=71&RD16=35&RD12=31&RD19=34&RD24=62&RD25=77&RD26=78&RD28=81&RD29=82

Toilet break time is also official during work hours - tribunal judgement

Those who get involved in accidents even while attending nature calls are eligible for compensation. The following news report link may be read.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Soldier-taking-toilet-break-during-working-hours-should-be-considered-on-duty-Tribunal/articleshow/21350476.cms

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

Burn injuries - an article from The Hindu titled "A burning question"

A burning question - The Hindu

LINK

In an article on burn injuries in The Hindu, following are stated:

1. Out of 30 lakh burn injuries every year in India, 10 lakh victims die and most of them are women and children.
2. Burn injuries can be from heat, electricity, chemicals, light or radiation. 
3. First degree burns involve upper skin (epidermis) and need about a week to heal.
4. Second degree burns involve upper skin (epidermis and and portions of dermis), sweat glands, hair follicles, etc leading blister formation, swelling and pain and require two weeks to heal.
5. Third degree burns involve deeper skin, charring the tissues and structures and may require three weeks to heal.
6. Fourth degree burns involve subcutaneous tissue, tendons and even bone damage.
7. Hot air inhaled during fire incidents damage respiratory tract and swelling and lead to complications.
8. Beyond 40 degree centigrade, protein in the skin is coagulated causing tissue destruction.
9. In chemical burns, protein is converted rapidly to salt causing same damage.

Burn injuries also affect psychology of the persons and require care and counselling.

During acid splash, generally persons wash with some water and do their business. But until unless total chemical is washed, it will continue to cause destruction. There can be delayed effects from inhalation of vapors from the dress material that is soaked with the chemicals like HF, phosgene, etc leading to deaths in the sleep.
Alkali burns cause more destruction to eyes even to the extent of blindness.

Therefore, removing the clothes with chemicals, continuous washing for atleast 15 minutes (even then only about 93-95% chemical is washed off) is necessary and this information should be spread among all persons working with chemicals.
In case of flash burns from arc flash, the temperature can be 20000 degree centigrade and can lead to deaths.
Then, immediate treatment to burn victims is also a must. As it gets delayed, damage will be more and chances of recovery will come down. One should know, whom to contact, which hospital to be referred and action should be taken to quickly shift the victim with care.