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.