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

Jul 29, 2010

Safety management OR managed safety

It is usual for us to hear and read about the commitment expressed by CEOs, CMDs, ... at various functions. They say, SAFETY FIRST, QUALITY SECOND AND PRODUCTION NEXT. After the function is over, these same people will be enquiring about the production statistics for that day without bothering to enquire about safety status. Managers will be fired, if they report drop in production or come with their problems. Such managers may be threatened to find another job or transferred to less important posts and will be given earful in the presence of others, sometimes in front of juniors also. The CEO / CMD wants to prove that he is the boss. If this is the situation, what the managers have to do. They will pressurize their subordinates without much thought about safety. Because, bypassing safety systems will show immediate results i.e increase in output, though in the long run it can result in more accidents and may even lead to breakdown. But, people do not think such breakdowns are because of failure to follow safety. They think it as an event which they attend to rectify and go on. If any accident occurs, then it may not be reported, not investigated and will be covered as a minor accident. Thus the management actually will be practicing the principle of PRODUCTION FIRST, QUALITY NEXT, SAFETY LAST.
If someone is concerned about the accident, if this someone is a union person or safety officer, then the accident will be investigated and some measures may be implemented. Otherwise, it is lost with no record.

Generally, only those accidents where injured have to be taken to hospital for surgery or saving life, will be reported. All other accidents will be recorded as minor accidents. In such organizations, naturally, safety record will be the BEST and the CEO can boast to the world that he leads by example, that he spends so much money on safety systems, training, etc, etc. And one morning, there will be the news of a major accident, shuts down all operations and investigation begins into its activities by the regulator.

Though the regulators scream about lack of safety procedures and systems, nobody is bothered, even the public. Because, they have stake in the company in the form of investment, jobs, contracts, auxiliary business, etc.

We are living like fools where we do not want to see the facts and when something happens, we are happy to discuss threadbare till the topic is HOT or interesting till something new happens. Even media also does the same.

How to improve safety culture - an example

Be a Roman in Rome, is a proverb i.e we should behave the way others do. Similarly, the attitude of the employees for safety reflects its culture, the thinking and will power of the top management and efforts put into it. If accidents are viewed as part of the work and that the injured can be compensated, then the accidents will continue to occur, because it is cheaper to pay for an accident rather than investing in safety systems. It appears costly to change the designs, incorporate safety features, provide training, provide PPE, etc. This is the reason why in many sites, accidents recur. However, if there is strict enforcement of regulations of the land, then there will be a sea change in the attutude of the management towards safety. Now, they think it is cheaper and rewarding to invest in safety rather than pay penalty and worse, go to jail.

Such a change is possible. Suppose, we go to a new place where the language spoken is different. Then, we try to learn or atleast try to find ways to communicate. The need forces us to find ways to communicate and get what we want. Necessity / need forces a person to chage.

Similarly, if regulations are enforced, then factory mangements though feel like fish out of water for sometime, soon they will understand and follow the safety principles prescribed under rules and regulations.  Can we term this as cultural change. I think this is a cultural change. And it happens because someone somewhere is monitoring with a whip in his hand, ready to punish the erring managements.

Jul 20, 2010

About Bhopal accident

There was an article on Bhopal accident comparing it with that of BP oil spill. The article can be read at this LINK. The author noted about the poor response of our industry leaders to the injustice met by the victims in comparison with the active involvement of industries at USA against BP. There are many persons in responsible positions in various companies who can come under the Sec 300 of IPC and may not be knowing that they are committing such blunders.
It is essential that top management of all industries should be informed about their responsibilities under various statutes when permissions / licences are issued by concerned government authorities. e-mail is the best service available which can be utilized by regulatory agencies to send e-mails from time to time to these leaders of the organizations.
What I feel is that most of the management representatives do not know about minimum safety procedures to be ensured in their organizations under various statutes and punishment / penalties for violators. Once this is known, definitely violations will come down as nobody likes to trouble himself of attending criminal proceedings against him.

Jul 15, 2010

Safety education - at what level it can be started?

I attended a one-day seminar on occupational hazards. The chief guest for the programme was Secretary for the Labour Ministry of the state government. In his address, he talked about various safety issues and finally he came to the subject of safety education. He advised the organizers of the event to coordinate with his senior staff and also of education department to introduce safety subject from school level onwards. He promised to talk to the secretaries of other departments for work in this direction. A noble promise indeed.

I never studied about safety, accident prevention, etc in my entire period of education. When I joined in the job, safety was touched upon during the training but there was no separte paper. Now for last few years, I am seeing that my children are having a chapter on road safety and environment protection. My juniors in the organization are having separte papers in their training programme on industrial safety and environment protection and I am taking classes for them on industrial safety. Really, a good development in our organization. Without studying safety subject, people are not aware of importance of safety and its benefits to the organizations.
In internet, we do have access to lot of information on safety, can see thousands of videos on selected topics. I feel that these videos as appropriate should be shown to children from high school level onwards and are discussed by teachers. At college level, videos on accidents (particularly those of CSB, WORKSAFEBC, HSE, etc) are to be shown and students should be asked to comeout with their own ideas and suggestions for preventing such accidents including design changes. US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) is doing a great service to the world and they even send DVDs of videos free of cost whichever part of the world you are.

The pass mark for safety subject should be atleast same as that for other papers and it should be compulsory subject and not an optional subject.

If a person does not study about safety during his education years, then he will not understand the importance of safety in his employment years and he will be moulded by his workplace seniors in such a way that safety will not a priority to say the least. He may even think that safety procedures are an obstruction to his career growth, to his bonuses, etc till he lands in an accident or accident case depending upon his level of employment. I found this type of attitude when I discussed with my fellow safety professionals from various industries and the story is same. Not many care for safety or advise of safety professionals.

Therefore introduction of safety subject from school level is VERY IMPORTANT and should be continued upto degree level and specializations can be introduced at post graduation level.

Who is responsible for accidents or incidents in an organization?

When some accident or incident occurs, immediately some committee will be constituted to fix the accoutability and normally a worker or immediate supervisor or officer at junior level will be held responsible. But what about the managers or occupier of the company.
People are in limelight and showered accolades for achieving best production. At that time none of the shopfloor level employees will be recognized for the production levels.
Only when some failure or breakdown takesplace, then shopfloor persons will be questioned and punished. From this, we can see that punishments are for shopfloor employees and rewards and recognition are for managers. During delibration of investigation committees, the committee chairman will also be biased because somewhere else he is a manager or senior executive and will be of the opinion that he need not know what is happening at shopfloor and thus is not responsible.
But, Yes. He is responsible for achieving peak production levels. Or, for reducing the costs by process modifications.
But, No for accidents or reducing costs by stopping safety systems or bringing down the level of functioning of safety gear. Such is the appraisal system. Factories Act 1948 clearly holds the occupier of the company responsible for all activites though it exempts him provided he proves sufficiently that accident took place inspite of taking all efforts.

Chlorine leak from cylinder at Mumbai Port Trust

It is reported in TV and websites of newspapers that on 14.07.2010 at about 0315 hrs, chlorine liquid leaked from one of the 105 cylinders seized by customs in 1994 years ago and kept at Mumbai Port Trust (BPT) scrap yard. Out of 141 cylinders, five were full and others were empty. Chlorine leaked from one of these 5 cylinders. More than 100 persons (126) were admitted in various hospitals and more than 500 persons in the area were evacuated. Services of Fire brigade, National Disaster Response Team and other agencies are utilized to bring the situation under control. Subsequently the chlorine in 5 cylinders was neutralized which could have been done long before.

Disposal of gas cylinders is a major issue and is to be as per Gas Cylinder Rules. The scrolling news in a TV channel mentioned that BPT asked Controller of Explosives to dispose the seized cylinders and as there is no response, cylinders were left as such. Controller of Explosives is not the agency for disposal of cylinders. They are regulators to issue licences for storage and handling. It is not known why the cylinders were seized by customs. However, BPT should have asked the person (consignee) responsible for bringing the cylinders to dispose or BPT should have disposed and collected the charges. Disposal means what we can do?. Either give the cylinders to users of chlorine or neutralize the gas in controlled manner.

Apart from the above incident of leaving gas cylinders in scrap yard, few months back we read that radioactive sources belonging to Delhi University were found in the scrap yard of scrap collector. In a book, I read that when someone was cutting a big pipe, a cylinder was found inside the pipe. There must be several gas cylinders lying for several years in scrap yards and storage areas of several industries where we do not know the contents. They have to kept atleast in shaded areas till such time the history of the cylinders can be established. Else, they may leak after sometime because of exposure sun and rains. If someone is doing hot work near such cylinders not knowing about their presence, cylinders may explode and result in fatalities or injuries. Guidelines were issued by CSB for hot work and a video is available in the website (www.csb.gov) about hazards of hot work. Several videos of CSB are also available on Youtube.

What one can do to such incidents is to dispose the cylinders as soon as they arrive by use or neutraliztion or incineration as the case may be. If not possible, they should be stored properly and history cards maintained. For those cylinders already lying in the backyards for several years, we have to shift them to safe storage areas and efforts are to be put to trace the history. If contents and supplier name are readable from the cylinder, then we can dispose them in a suitable manner. 

Jul 12, 2010

No accidents implies everything safe or something is wrong?

No accidents – Whether everything is in control or something is not identified?


It is reported that the BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig explosion (11 deaths, 115 survivors) caused by escape of gas and oil from the well dug was preceded by seven years of work without any injury. The drilling was done and the well is to be closed. Another rig will takeover for production from the well. While BP managers assembled to congratulate the team for working without any injury, the pressurized gas gushed from the 5 km deep well and exploded.

The incident is not without early warning signs. The rubber gasket (seal to close the drill pipe tightly and shut the well) of the blowout preventer (BOP) located near the seabed, for the well got ruptured in an incident and rubber pieces were found in the mud used for holding the gas and oil within the well. A crewman accidentally forced the drill pipe by 15 ft through the BOP. But, engineers failed to analyse the cause for the presence of these rubber pieces. This shows that every major accident is preceded by a number of near misses and minor accidents. We should be able to identify, report and analyze all near misses and minor incidents however negligible they are. It appears there is pressure on the crew to complete the drilling work fast as they are already behind the schedule. This might have caused the crew to do away with the repair of critical safety systems too.

Further, the backup control system called ‘pod’ for BOP lost some of its functions. This reminds us of Murphy’s law.

The emergency drill carried out every Sunday to escape after head count was not followed after the accident. People started leaving in the available lifeboats without looking for others on the rig. This shows that whatever drills we do will go haywire and those in possession of escape vehicles will disappear instead of carrying the persons for which vehicles are intended.

It appears that safety is ignored because of the short term profits seen by the management compared to possible losses that may accrue to the organization when run without safety systems in place. The management that is responsible for allowing safety violations may not be there as they may take bonuses and leave. Once a system is violated and is in place for sometime, this wrong practice itself becomes an established system and will be considered normal. This has happened in Bhopal accident. All safety systems for MIC tanks were removed to save running costs. As there were no incidents, the management thought that they have done a wonderful job and reduced operating costs. May be, they are under pressure to show profits so that investors will be happy. Accidents do take place because public memory is short. They may be losers only for a short term and reaping increased valuation of their shares. Those affected because of the accident are limited in number and their voice is lost in the herd (of investors).

Normally when people are happy having achieved certain safety record, it will be followed with a major accident. There is no accident because we are lucky till the accident occurs. We are overconfident of our performance. We ignore the warning signals saying that everything is under control. We venture out to do something adventurous. Those who protest about violations are treated as ‘nuts’ and ‘pessimistic’. They may questioned about their integrity, commitment and chided for accepting bonuses or rise in salaries when systems are wrong as pointed out by the same persons. These persons will be blamed in all respected for pointing the violations forcing them to leave or they will be fired.

When accident occurs, people will conveniently forget everything though cautioned by few and term it as ‘one of those rare accidents which no one expected’.

Jul 11, 2010

Safety mantra - If you can't do it safely, don't do it

I liked an article that was published in British Safety Council magazine (http://www.britsafe.org/). In it the Chief Executive of First Group Plc states their approach to accident prevention as below:

If you can'g do it safely, don't do it.

To improve the safety record, their new approach is "First to Zero" to eliminate all unsafe conditions. The target is not at accident numbers but to focus on persons representing these safety numbers. They do not want anyone to get injured and thus aim for eliminating all unsafe conditions. Really, we have to salute the managers and staff for aiming to such a high standards and working towards it.

Safety training - for what?

Many times it is said that to avoid accidents, create awareness, training should be imparted to workers, supervisors and managers. Even employees also will ask for training programmes, seminars, etc. But, what is the actual interest from people. In many training programmes and seminars, we find participants enquiring about refreshments, lunch, bag, pen, etc for the programme rather than the technical programme. Once I heard that a programme will be termed successful, if three conditions are satisfied. They are,
1. Kit
2. Transport
3. Food

The next condition is some sight seeing tour. Even, in seminars we see participants constantly moving in and out with actual serious discussions limited to very few persons. In training programmes conducted within the plant premises also, participants get phone calls to attend some work at shopfloor. Why people will be nominated, if they can't spare the person for the programme. Only for records?

For some, nomination to training programme is like a holiday with pay. They will come at the beginning of the programme and then disappear to do their personal works in the town or see friends.

A training programme will be effective only when participants are subjected to some form of test at the end of the programme and are penalized, if they do not secure atleast minimum marks. Participants should be asked to discuss on a given topic and should be evaluated for their active participation and contribution. If they are involved in any accident or incident after the programme, then he should be asked what is wrong with him or the training he received earlier. May be such evaluation will help the organization to make the training programmes effective and worthy.

Stress on Safety Professionals?

Many safety professionals face the problem of getting attention from their colleagues and management. People are not receptive to suggestions. Suggestions are treated as fancy ideas which are not workable. Or, not economically feasible. Safety professionals are blamed that they do not have project experience. As soon as a safety officer visits a workspot, people think that he has come to stop a work. Complain that they are tensed by seeing him, or make sarcastic comments, or disappear from the place to avoid him, etc. In meetings also instead of listening to safety man, they keep talking with others and when safety presentation is over, all feel relieved that a ritual is completed and is recorded. To show that they are committed to safety, people pay lip service by saying 'safety first, production next'.

Leaving apart production people, what about the stress in safety man. He finds many hazards, unsafe acts, wrong practices, etc. When he tells plant people, he will get no response or he will be entertained with arguments. Being a safety professional and is responsible, he can't keep quiet. He has to engage plant people in convincing them about elimination of hazards identified. Over a period of time, continuation of such practices by plant people can stress safety person and he may become cynic. It can also affect his health and family life as he carries work place thoughts and tensions to home. Everything at home also appears in disarray and he will enter into discussions first, arguments later and finally he may end up a big loser.

Experts say that safety professionals should not get disheartened for poor response from production people, but I don't think this is possible for ever for any person. Even those preaching professionals would have lost temper at various occasions.

Sometime back when I attended a 3-day training programme, one faculty arranged a discussion (actually a drama / skit) among the partcipants dividing them into production and safety groups. I happened to be in production group and few production people happened to be in safety group. During the skit, When I questioned the group playing as safety department, as they used to question me in my plant visits, they were searching for words as were taken aback by my ferociousness as a production man. I think they understood during the skit what I want to convey to them that they actually make such mindless arguments on the shopfloor with the safety man.
I also enjoyed the skit in repeating the questions whatever they said earlier to me. What I want to convey is that by stepping into others shoes, we can understand the problem and intentions. We can ask production man what he will do if he is in safety department and sees such unsafe condtions. Then, he too may think some alternative. This may ease the stress on both production and safety persons. However, this is possible if there are people who are technically sound and are patient to listen. We can't talk to bullying personalities and is futile in conversing with them. Only written communication with copies to their superiors will have some impact in removing hazards at work place.

Jul 6, 2010

Static charge ?

Yesterday, I was using washing machine. It is a semi automatic type, i.e it contains two separate drums one for washing and another for spinning (drying). After washing, when I started taking out the clothes, I felt slight pain at the edges of my hand fingers. Earlier also I experienced the same, but I assumed it as pain from nails. I think this tingling pain is because of static charge generated during rotation of the washing drum. This charge may be dissipated if I do not touch the machine for few minutes after stopping it.


LINK

Mechanical barrier for avoiding dust explosions

Please read information on mechanical barrier to avoid dust explosions.

EPA To Seek Employee Participation In Chemical Safety Inspections

As per Environment Protection Agency of USA guidelines, employees and their representatives can participate in chemical safety inspections of the plants to have greater transparency. Read the news item in the link below.

EPA To Seek Employee Participation In Chemical Safety Inspections

LINK

Jul 1, 2010

Management of Change (MOC) ?

When plants run for sometime, engineers will find that something is not working as required or they may feel that something else can give better results or some problems will necessiate to modify flowsheet, etc. When shopfloor engineers and supervisors go for implementation of the proposed change, they think that they are doing the right thing to improve. However, the possibility of unexpected events because of the change are normally not studied or anticipated.
Further they think that involving safety department is a waste of time or their work will be delayed because of possible discussions. Therefore they carryout changes without following the established safety procedures. Sometimes, there works give the desired results and therefore makes them to think that they are in right direction ALWAYS. This will set in wrong notions, disregard for safety procedures and will set a bad example for the others to follow the same methods.
Ultimately, a day will come when something goes wrong and blame game starts. Safety department says they are not aware of the change and plant executives say that safety department is not doing its job of surveillance and monitoring. If people do unsafe jobs and then wait for others to point out, then nobody can help. Safety departments are for providing advise and also monitor to caution the mangements. However, if people do works by hiding the information, they are doing so at their own peril.
So, change management should first be applied to persons' attitudes and understanding of safety procedures and then established MOC in the system will be followed by these people with complete understanding and regard for system.

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