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

Aug 22, 2010

Stress and accidents

Reason for many of the accidents appears very simple and silly at times.  Many of the accidents did not occur because of some complex reactions or failure of safety systems. But, why do people get involved in such silly accidents. I think, lack of peace of mind is the reason. When we are not at peace, we cannot concentrate on our activity. Lack of peace can be due to
  • arguments with relations / servants / milkman / paper boy/ gas station employ
  • children education
  • well being of blood relations
  • arguments with colleagues
  • business loss
  • greed
  • simple problems like vehicle breakdown, plumbing problem at home, ...
  • financial needs
  • thinking about meeting, examination, bank loan, ...
  • etc
We keep thinking about these problems and something happens suddenly causing some injury / emergency. I saw a video, in which it is said, SAFETY IS NO ACCIDENT, NO ACCIDENT DOES NOT MEAN IT IS SAFE.
Accident means an event that unplanned, unexpected, unintentional,...
Though, nobody intends to get in to accident, lack of hazard identification, failure to take preventive measures and not reviewing the safety processes are the reasons for accidents. However simple the hazard appears, we should not be casual. It should be attended immediately. There is no use of repenting after the accident.
Similarly, one should not be relaxed when there are no accidents. May be they are not reported. May be there are many unreported nearmisses. May be the attitude of the manager is not to see minor accidents as accidents.
It is common for top management to boast of good safety record and take credit for it. But, a trulyaccident-free workplace is a reality because of sustained efforts all employees over a period of time. It will not happen overnight or in a week or in a month or in a year.
Some people attach value to human life and workout how much money can be spent on safety programme. My life may be worth $ 1.0 million to you. But, my family does not see like that. For them, it is invaluable. Nobody can remove the tears in the eyes of family members, when somebody dies. Nobody got right to decide the value of human life.
I read in the internet that some organizations care for their employees by attending to their personal problems, employ professionals to teach yoga, meditation and allocate time within working hours so that their employees can have healthy and peaceful life.
What for we earn money, if we do not have stress-free life. Though, some people say, certain stress is required for the growth of the individual, I think this is purely business oriented. The increase in suicide rate everywhere in the world shows that so called acceptable stress is NOT acceptable to the individual. As there is no other means to earn income, persons accept the additional demands and stress themselves. Ultimately, weak hearted will take their lives.  Persons responsible for causing stress should think twice by entering into others shoes and then decide about the work.

Same rains, but areas are flooded

Of late, there are heavy rains in different parts of our state. Though the rains appear to be same like in earlier years, what is disturbing is the fact that more and more areas in cities are getting flooded. Knee deep water on the roads is seen in TV visuals. Even people are washed off due to flash floods on the roads in the cities. Adding to this misery, open manholes / potholes on the road are endangering the lives of commuters on the road. Few have fallen into open manholes, washed off and died.
This is not seen in earlier years. Only in the last 3-4 years, such incidents are happening. Encroachment of stormwater drains (natural and artificial), laying of roads without leaving open soil for seepage of water, not cleaning the drains before rainy season, etc are some of the reasons for floods on the roads.
Huge apartment complexes are coming in the cities thereby restricting the free flow of rain water. Drainage canals/channels are occupied with hutments leaving little space for the water to flow. When roads are relaid, I read few years ago, that the surface of the existing road should be removed and new road should be laid so that the water on the road can easily seep in to the ground. Though I do not know the principle, may be relaying over and over on the same road may reduce the porosity of the road and thus water will not seep.
Further, of late, instead of bitumen roads, concrete roads are being laid for long life, with good intention. However, concrete roads are not allowing the water to sink into the soil. And concrete roads laid edge to edge in the streets without allowance for rain water to flow in the edges on the soil. Business establishments, residential buildings are also constructed with concrete surface upto the roads. Gardens are not maintained in the housing complexes. Parks are disappearing and thus no open areas are left. Trees are cut and the area is used for constructing some more rooms to get income. All this is leading to total concrete carpeting of cities and towns with narrowed storm water drains.
I feel the above are reasons for flooding of roads even with normal rains. The capacity of the underground stormwater drains got reduced because of choking / use of stormwater drain for normal sewage drain. With ever increasing population, these drains are becoming insufficient. When it rains, persons staying near the roads are removing manhole covers thinking that flood water will go into the drains through open manholes. But due to insufficient capacity, drains are full and water stays on the road. Commuters on the road, not knowing about open drains, are falling into these drains and precious lives are lost.

What can be done?
  • Floor space index (FSI) should be brought down
  • The capacity of drainage system should be in line with the population and industries
  • A parameter like open garden area with open (earth) area should be made conditional for all buildings while giving permission
  • Either side of the roads should be left open without laying bitumen/concrete
  • Summer months should be declared as months of dechoking of drains
  • All establishments which do not have parking space and making their customers to park in the roads should be asked to create parking space or to shift to some other location where they can have their own parking so that roads are not encroached
  • It is common to see at the entrance of many apartment complexes mentioning that VISITORS VEHICLES ARE NOT ALLOWED INSIDE. Such practice should not be allowed. All residential buildings also should have sufficient parking space within their complex for visitors. Otherwise, they can have multilevel parking instead of grumbling that they do not have sufficient space.
  • Though it is not possible in already developed areas, sufficient water catchment areas / lakes should be part of city plan where expansion is taking place so that water can be held instead of allowing to flow like flood and this will also help to meet water needs of the city. Every city should be a LAKE CITY so that floods can be restricted and water need are met.
I feel above are some of the measures to reduce floods in the cities due to rains.

Aug 18, 2010

Safety Poem - I Could Have Saved A Life That Day

There are very few poems / songs available with safety theme. Here you can find one. An emotional one that reminds safety professionals not to be scared / afraid / hesitant to caution and advise when we see some unsafe act or unsafe condition.

Aug 17, 2010

Noise - Hearing protection programme

There is an article on ill effects of noise and about hearing protection measures. But, today I learnt that though all of us know to reduce the noise levels to below 85 dBA, it is also not advisable to reduce it below to 70 dBA as it can cause hearing problems to operators regarding instructions, warning alarms, etc.

There is also a calculator in the above link to calculate the effectiveness of hearing protection based on the results of noise survey in your shopfloor.

Though Factories Act says 90 dBA is the noise limit for 8 hour exposure, it is a good practice to subject all employees to audiometry test, if they are exposed to 85 dBA even once in a year. Though supervisors will be reluctant to send the employees to audiometry tests to avoid production loss, considering the ill effects of noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) and in extreme case may lead to loss of life if the employee is unable to hear warning alarms.

How to make safety training effective?

Today, I read to articles on makeing safety training effective. One is on presentation skills by the trainer to grab the attention of participants (Safety Daily Advisor). The other is use of safety videos. The original link is published separately in this blog.

Attention: It says that attention of the participants is short and therefore the trainer has to be careful in planning his presentations by giving introduction, a video, narration, quiz for evaluation, etc with interaction in between. This is like a typical James Bond movie which I am attracted to because of an action stunt in the beginning, titles with music, then movie.

Videos: Videos are quite effective in understanding any subject. There is a proverb that a picture speaks 100 words. We remember scenes of a movie for a long rather than the dialogues in it unless otherwise it is a punch dialogue. In the article I read, the author mentions that it is difficult to gather employees at one place to train them. Further, what I feel that general training to meet different trades of employees present in a training session will not be effective and we can't be specific to a particular trade of employees when other trades are present. To overcome this, the author rightly said that making availability of safety videos on-demand will be quite effective. If the videos are made available through intranet with monitors provided at workers' change rooms/cabins (rest places) where they take rest for sometime after lunch / tea break, those interested can see the videos of their interest. This viewing can also be done where there is no work and workers got a free time.

I got benfited a lot and my understanding of chemical safety improved when I watched CSB videos. For more details, whenever required, I went through the investigation reports of CSB. In my training sessions for fresh batches, I start with a brief introduction, followed by some principles and then show a video. There is a huge demand from participants for more videos. I give them the website addresses instead of videos as I feel that if we provide videos as such, then the CD/DVD will be lying in the cupboard without using it ever. If they themselves go to the website and watch / download videos, then, I am sure they will go through in length and make them to surf the net for more and more such videos and information.

Recently, in a training session for experienced employees, when I showed a video on impact of a gas cylinder when it valve is broken, many employees, some them on the verge of superannuation told me that for first time they understood why gas cylinder valves should be protected and why gas cylinders should be chained. Even in feedback forms, they mentioned the same. Mind you, I went for the training session to fill a gap of 15 minutes as the lunch was not ready.

New Safety Training Videos Help Protect ‘Human Capital’ and Shield Employers from $1 Billion per Week in Workers Comp Costs

New Safety Training Videos Help Protect ‘Human Capital’ and Shield Employers from $1 Billion per Week in Workers Comp Costs

LINK

A study on PPE use (not using) by workers - reasons - recommendations

There is good article on why workers do not use PPE and risk themselves to accidents. The article also elaborates on view of the safety professionals about reasons and recommendations for making the workers to use PPE.

Aug 12, 2010

Use of robots in automated processes - What are the safety implications?

Automation of processes is preferred by most of the organizations as it reduces human interface and improves productivity. In manufacturing / engineering industry, auto sector, etc most of the material handling jobs are automated and robots are engaged for complex jobs. This reduces lifting of weights of human beings, avoids stress / strain caused due to repetitive jobs and thus reduces health care costs.

However, it is important to understand the programming that went into sequencing of operations to be done in automated jobs and its implications particularly when the jobs are partly automated, partly manual. The job may look simple when routine sequence of operations are carried out. However, if any interruptions / change of sequence is there or breakdown occurs or power failure takes place, we need to know its impact on operations. May be we did not thought of restricting the functioning of robots or like it happens in computers when power failure occurs, there may be hanging of the computer programme. Whether such a situation creates any hazard to shopfloor operators in the vicinity is to be assessed.

Or, what are the hazards when maintenance is to be done when these automated systems are in energized condition. Whether safe positioning is incorporated when emergency stop switch is operated is to be known. Else, when someone looks into the problem during a breakdown, any of his repair job may cause the robot arm to move and hit the maintenance engineer.

Before programming the logics, a detailed WHAT IF analysis is to be done by involving concerned including design engineer, operation engineer, instrument engineer, maintenance engineer, safety engineer, etc to assess all possible hazards for all regular operations / breakdown jobs / maintenance, etc.

Still, there may be surprises depending upon the extent of questioning, imagination, thinking is put during hazard evaluation.

Why accidents continue to occur?

We read regularly in news papers that accidents continue to occur though here and there the concerned are charge sheeted. Most of the time, the families of the victims are compensated by the managements and the issue is resolved to the satisfaction of both parties. Many times, accidents are reported. It is likely that there are many accidents which are not reported and settled without notice. Though this may satisfy the aggrieved, it will not stop recurrence of accidents, if not in the same organization, as no lessons are drawn. The only lesson drawn is that it is economical to pay rather than ensure safety at workplace. This is a common sense. Why one will spend more when there are ways to reduce costs.

There will be reports for sometime in newspapers and then everybody will forget. This is true everywhere in the world. In some countries, as experts say, regulators are task masters and award huge penalties. However, the fact that accidents continue to occur in these countries shows that there is something wrong in implementation of accident prevention programme.

When there is some financial scam, more are affected and there are many stake holders in voicing there concern and try to punish the responsible. However, this is not visible in case of industrial accidents. I do not know, in how many cases, regulators stopped operations permanently after an accident. There may be suspension of operations for a while, but not as a whole. Managements can absorb losses due to suspension of operations for a while. Some can even clevery carryout maintenance works during this period which may be due after sometime and thus save time from annual shutdown.

A serious message is to be sent to managements with severe actions that can make them to realize about the importance of safety given by governments and that they may lose even their personal wealth if any accident occurs.

Otherwise, it is better for the regulators to stop issuing press notes about poor conditions in factores and be contended with the existing conditions.

Aug 4, 2010

Workplace accidents - where we are?

I read three articles 1) Why Safety Training is a Good Investment2)  Safety Training Pays Off Every Minute and 3) Training Adult Learners on importance of safety training for accident reduction. According to these, in US every year there are 4.0 million non-fatal injuries, 1.0 million man-days lost, every day 15 workers die because of workplace injuries / illness. Training the persons makes them to realize, recognize, evaluate and take effective measures for control of workplace accidents and avoid its ill effects / consequences. As pointed out in the 3rd article, to succeed careerwise, people will be learning relevant new issues. However, we have to make them realize that they have to learn safety aspects also. Otherwise, there will be bloodbath at the workplace as no attention is paid for ensuring the workplace safety. Any decision for increase production without safety means somebody will be hurt in the field. The decision maker may not realize that his decision is the reason for the deaths / injuries. Like, some people say 'to give human touch', decision makers have to give 'safety touch' and assess all consequnces arising out of their consequences.

Now-a-days, in western countries, when buying or placing order on a company, organizations conduct audit including quality, environment and safety audit. Similarly, while recruiting executives, these organizations should verify the safety credentials in the previous employment. For first timers, they can assess knowledge on safety systems, applicable legislations, etc or after recruitment, they can impart safety training. It is not sufficient only to see capabilities / past experience in achieving / reaching production targets alone. Assessment is to be done for SAFE PRODUCTION. Otherwise, accidents like at Bhopal, Deep Water Horizon, etc can happen and lead to closure of the unit or selling of the assets to meet obligations.

CHOICE IS YOURS. WHICH WAY YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR ORGANIZATION.

Aug 1, 2010

What is the level of safety followed in advanced countries and others?

It is common to read / hear about the accidents all over the world. However, what is surprising me is that the number of accidents, type of accidents, deaths / injuries due to accidents are occuring in advanced countries as well as in developing countries.

Though governments of developing countries claim about poverty, illiteracy, lack of resources to implement safety, need for development as the reasons for inability to control accidents, I am unable to find the reasons for the accidents in advanced countries. In these countries, as I understand, greater transparency exists, unions are strong and are powerful that question the managements about poor conditions w.r.t safety, huge amounts are spent for ensuring safe conditions, providing PPE, doing audits, etc. Prosecutions are also carried out on erring companies and punishments/penalties are imposted. Still many accidents take place in advanced countries like those in the other world. Most of the accidents appear to be preventable. I am not really getting any reason for this phenomena.

Whether this indicates that the attitude to safety is same whether the country is advanced or not. The motive is to gain short term benefies i.e profits. Accidents are taken as part of the job and the victims are compensated. Only the amount of compensation varies from country to country. Paying compensation appears to be a better business model compared to spending money on accident prevention.

Safety nets - test before use!!!

It is a good practice to have safety nets for works at height to prevent injuries during fall of persons. Small time contractors usually avoid provision of safety nets and even if they were forced, they will provide nets only below the place of work and shift the net as the work proceeds. Because of the cost, the quality of these safety nets also is questionable. In case of doubt, it is better to test the capacity of the nets by dropping sand bags of sufficient weight from height and see whether the net is intact or strands are broken or the net sags. This will also give confidence to the workers and will be an eye opener for the contractor if the net fails. Normally, safety nets should withstand 2200 kgf. They should be provided such that the fall of person is restricted to 2 m and the width of the nets is atleast 6 m from the place of work. There should not be any gap between the wall and the net. Any construction material / debris that falls should be removed immediately to avoid injuries to persons falling on to the net. At many construction sites, I saw construction debris accumulated on the nets with nobody to remove them.

If the floor is good, then one can provide mobile nets which I saw at a construction site. A scaffold structure is made with the net tied all around. This will be located below the place of work at height and is moved as per requirement.

A few construction engineers question about the need for providing the safety net or its practicality to provide. At many places, I saw even for a small work, scaffold is erected (11 storyes height at one software company building, 5 storey height at one super speciality hospital). Therefore, what is required is commitment to ensure safety. Else, we get 1000s of excuses for not providing the scaffold / safety net.

A simple incident during the construction

Recently, I heard an accident from my friend who experienced during the floor tile work in his apartment. Tiles were purchased and brought to the apartment. The marble tiles (about 10' x 6') were kept in an inclined position in the corridor outside the apartment. The corridor is about 4' width. Next day, when he went to construction site, one of the worker commented that the tiles are having vertical straightline cracks and appear to be joined with white cement.
To check the condition, the person in-charge for laying the tiles was called. Both my friend and the worker pulled one tile to vertical position and checked for cracks. To the dismay of my friend, there were such vertical lines as if joined by white cement. Then, 2nd tile also was brought to vertical position and then the third. While checking the third, by holding the tiles in vertical position with my friend on one side and the worker on the other side, slowly the tiles started moving towards the worker's side as the center of gravity (C.G) shifted. This could not be seen initially, but shortly both understood something is wrong and tried to push the tiles to the wall without success. The tiles were now heavy and beyond the capacity of the both persons. Both shouted for help.
Immediately, workers in the ground floor rushed and with great difficulty, the tiles could be put back into position. By that time, the worker had chest congestion because of the weight of marble tiles on him. Immediately, he was rushed to the hospital and the person was alright in a day.
The above accident is unimaginable for ordinary folks like us. The fact that the experienced construction worker also did not caution before examination shows that we have to learn a lot.

Later, on enquiry, the supplier informed my friend that they are not cracks but lines which come during polishing and that he will not spoil his reputation by supplying damaged tiles. He offered to replace the tiles of much superior quality and premium brand, even if one single tile shows cracks.

Similar to the above incident, I remember, few years ago, when my child (about two years old at that time) climbed over the refrigerator racks to take some fruits, the refrigerator started falling towards the floor.
Fortunately, I was next to the refrigerator and immediately could hold and stop the fall of the unit. Otherwise, my child could have got injured under the falling refrigerator.
Same is the case, when we go up the portable ladders and try to access by over reaching. Then also, ladder can fall on the side because of shifting of C.G.

Disposal of gas cylinders ?

Recently there was leakage of chlorine from a cylinder in the Mumbai Port Trust yard and few were affected. Subsequently, I read that all these unclaimed chlorine cylinders lying in the yard for more than 10 years were disposed by dumping them in the sea, under the supervision of a responsible officer of Disaster Control Authority.

This is not a good practice to dispose the cylinders. By dumping the cylinders in the sea, we will be causing harm to the fishes under the water.

It is difficult to dispose a cylinder, if we do not know the contents. However, it is not a new issue to dispose chlorine cylinders. The chloro alkali industry which is well established in the country could have been approached. Every such manufacturing facility is equipped with neutralization / transfer methods. Every two years, the cylinders are tested by the manufacturers at their facilities by emptying the cylinders, cleaning, checking for corrosion, hydro test, etc.

It is unfortunate that a crude method is followed to dispose these chlorine cylinders and in the process creating a hazard for the marine environment.

This disposal is no different from adding effluents to water bodies by some erring industries.

Why safety principles are followed in an organization?

1. Genuine concern
2. Humanitarian feelings
3. Regulations
4. Strict enforcement by authorities
5. Powerful unions
6. Past experience with accidents
7. ISO/OHSAS system implementation
8. Client's requirement
9. Stage show
10. Dedicated team of safety professionals and listening management

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