Control panel alarms - Do not acknowledge or reset unless action is taken

As the title goes, with huge control panels having several parameters to monitor, it becomes routine for operators to acknowledge the error message alarms. The intention is to take note of it or taken action if required. However, with work stress, it is likely that we may forget to take action. Then next high-level alarm will come, and by this time, we would have lost some precious time. It is suggested to take necessary action where it is to be done manually and then acknowledge instead of the other way. No doubt, audio alarms, make the person mad. But, if action to be taken is forgotten, it will have wider implications. May be in such places, shift hours can be shorter than normal 8 hours or more number of qualified persons are engaged with work definition.

Everything looks fine - Are you Okay?

Do not be complacent.

Life is going fine. In this serious pandemic situation everywhere also, I am healthy. Does it mean we can ignore all measures taken till now? 

Same is the question, every manger has to ask himself about work place safety. No accidents or injuries till now does not mean that he can relax procedures and allow shopfloor personnel to work the way bypassing safety procedures. 

Actually, a sense of well being,  sometimes, induces complacency instead of motivating personnel to work better.

Initially, it starts with occasional  incidents which may not go to the notice of the manager or they are covered or ignored as one time affair. And, then the frequency increases and finally the organization will be in big soup with irreparable damages.

Let us not forget the hard work and culture created before reaching the heights and we should not have fall from that height. Instead, aim for bigger goals.Let us try to become a leader in the industry regarding safety at the work place. 

At no time we should think after an incident without injury or loss, that today, we are saved by luck. Dump the luck factor and work hard.

Safety performance as criteria for outsourcing jobs

Present circumstances are creating jobs only for durations to the extent required. Organizations may or may not have considered training aspect in the contract duration. It is like instant / ready to deploy state where persons taken on outsourcing are expected to work from the time they join.

To avoid surprises, organizations have to make prior assessment for knowledge, skills, experience and past performance w.r.t. work output, quality of work, and safety performance. Medical or health records are also to be verified to ensure that persons are healthy and ready to work with 100% deliverables. Health issues should not impede performance. i.e. to say, person may be at site but output should be same as that of perfectly healthy professional.

Supervision is also essential and an effective supervision is highly appreciated. Many failures are due to non consideration of these aspects. One can have performance review on daily/weekly basis depending upon the nature and duration of the job. Frequent assessment during initial period will help to guide the persons in right direction and will same time and money.

Safety managers need not shout to make a point

It is a misconception that regulators need to be vocal while discharging their duties. Many consider a soft spoken regulatory representative as worthless. The point is that there will also be psychological barriers when enforcement agency is not approachable and there is every possibility of hiding of information. 

All those in enforcement responsibilities must have observed this during investigations. General comment is that, "sorry, I was not there, or, no, I did not see though I was nearby, etc". People should not be afraid. If fear factor is there, then, listening to the requirements even for the safety of the employees or public also will be less. 

It is better to have coordial approach with persons as long as they do accept the need for implementation of regulatory requirements. Those who do not listen can be dealt with sternly. 

Training with exhibits

As everybody agrees, training plays an important role to ensure safe production. Generally, training will be in the form of lectures with the help of power point presentations or sometimes, with some demonstrations. Though this is better than verbal methods, impact of training can be enhanced by having 3D models, or taking to shopfloor and giving a problem to the participants and getting answers by interactive discussions. Workshops too will help to understand better. Duration of training is better to be about one hour. It is observed that the participants loose interest in extended training periods. Shopfloor managers can allot 1-2 sessions in a week with each session upto one hour for shopfloor training. This may also generate new ideas for improving productivity. 

Rains - flooding - submergence of equipment and power supply systems - cleaning, checking, safe restart

Heavy rains are causing havoc in many residential areas. Many areas are inundated with water and are experiencing stagnation. What to do if the same happens in industrial plants. Recently, government issued guidelines for safe restart after long shutdown due to declaration of lock down to contain spread of covid. A similar procedure needs to be followed in this scenario also. Though there were no reports of any accidents due to flooding of industrial areas, one should not ignore the lessons. 

All submerged equipment and associated piping, instruments, access areas, etc have to be cleaned and checked for meeting functional requirement. Similarly power supply systems have to be checked for its integrity to avoid short circuit or arc flash hazards.

Only after checking everything, more than as we do for a new plant, and satisfying ourselves, energization and connecting loads to be done gradually. It is always better to go slow instead of hurrying so that there will not be setbacks later. Whatever we do at home in such scenario, same concepts can be followed. 

Occupational Safety Videos | Pharmaceutical

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