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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

May 24, 2015

For information - safety statistics by ILO from The Nation, Nigeria

The link to the information is here.
http://thenationonlineng.net/new/6000-die-daily-in-work-related-accidents/

As per ILO, following are the work place related injuries, deaths, accidents and loss.

  1. Every second 15 persons die, 6000 a day and 2 million a year due to accidents/diseases. This data is from reported data. There can be many more.
  2. In addition, 268 million non-fatal accidents and 160 million new cases of work related illness also occur.
  3. The direct and indirect loss due to accidents and diseases is 4% of global gross domestic product or USD 2.8 trillion.

May 21, 2015

Bus accident

During bus driving, a driver wants to spit by bending outside his side window. With his unsafe behavior, he loses control over the bus and rammed a lorry coming opposite. In this accident, 4 persons died and few passengers received injuries. Generally, vehicle drivers keep chewing betal leaf or pan masala, particularly during night driving.
Driver should have observed before spitting outside. Some drivers keep a bottle/tin with them to spit instead of doing the same outside.

Professional hazards - thief trapped in chimney

In a local newspaper, it is reported that a thief tried to enter a locked house through the chimney and got trapped. 
The residents came next day morning and found the person trapped inside.
The chimney was broken to rescue and handed over to police.

May 19, 2015

Liquor bottle in trouser pocket breaks - person dies

A person kept liquor bottle in his trouser pocket. He ran when it rained and fell. Liquor bottle broke and its pieces injured private parts. Person died while undergoing treatment.

Source: Times of India, 18.05.2015

Sometimes, it may not be possible to assess the hazards. Atleast one can learn from others experience.

Apr 24, 2015

Short circuit initiated fire in Haryana transport office

A fire incident reported due to short circuit from old electrical wire cause damage of records, files, computers, etc. It is reported that recommendations of investigation committee on a fire incident in some other building last were not implemented.

Some of the recommendations are as follows:

  1. ensuring obstruction free passage of 6 m width for fire tender movement
  2. ensuring no parking zones around buildings for fire fighting
  3. clearing / pruning trees/lobbies/extensions, etc for fire ladder movement
  4. removing wooden partitions thus reducing fire load
  5. regular checking 
  6. keeping balconies/staircases/emergency escape routes free from obstructions (it is common to see many office building corridors filled with broken chairs, cupboards, coffee/tea vending machines, old record bundles, etc)
Apart from the above, we have to ensure availability and functioning of fire detectors and fire fighting system (hydrants, hoses, fire water storage, pumps, emergency power supply to these pumps, fire hoses, training). Regular drills should be conducted to know drawbacks in the system and make improvements.

Apr 15, 2015

Lessons learnt from process safety accidents - an article from insurancenewsnet.com


A good article is found on the above title, narrating lessons from five less known accidents. The lessons are,

  1. containment of water from fire fighting operations to avoid contamination of water sources in the rundown 
  2. to consider all auxiliary equipment also as important as main plant equipment for understanding hazards
  3. not to ignore hazards and need for monitoring even during shutdown 
  4. positive isolation, purging and checking for hazardous atmospheres (using flame is not a correct check for presence of flammable atmosphere)
  5. follow written approval system to override interlocks
  6. follow safety permit procedures
  7. identify the correct equipment before taking up work
  8. communicate with clear identification while handing over the equipment for maintenance
  9. ensure physical check by another agency before permitting equipment operation/maintenance
  10. hazards from dust, propagation of dust explosions
  11. preparation of emergency response management, with detailed instructions for every type of emergency
  12. good house keeping
  13. establish process safety management procedures
  14. inculcate good safety culture, starting from the top management

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