10 Essential Components For a Safer Working Environment
Monday, December 13, 2010
No matter where you are or work, safety is crucially an important issue that cannot be ignored. I have experienced a number of accidents throughout my years as an engineer and that's why I must emphasize this seriously. Luckily the accidents I was involved in were not fatal. On top of my personal accidents, I also witness some fatal accidents and also near death incidents.
That is why every time before commencing a job/project or event a shift, it is important to conduct safety briefing. It doesn't matter if it is a short meeting or a casual one (normally in between shift in a plant). For huge project, a more intense
meeting / documentation such as Job Safety Analysis (JSA), Method of Statement (MOS) plus filling up permit to work (PTW) and hot work /cold work permit is imperative. As an engineer, it is our duty to ensure the safety of the entire project or area under our responsibility. Safety involves our manpower, equipment and so on.So, what and how do we create a safety working environment? To answer that question, I consulted with Mr. Mitchell, an experienced guy who specializes in workplace behavioral change through performance management.
According to him, a safe working environment is a condition or state, it is not necessarily an event like an incident of an accident. This means that the low number of incidents or accidents doesn't mean that the workplace is particularly safe. What really counts is the process of safety because it is an integral part of every day activities in the workplace. There are a number of activities which are clear indicators of a safe working environment and this article lists 10 of them.
- Daily safety briefings. Every morning at the beginning of the work day or the shift, the leader holds an interactive safety briefing with his or her team. It lasts less than 10 minutes and has contributions from the team members.
- Weekly inspections to identify unsafe conditions. Every staff member participates in turn and conducts a regular safety inspection where they look for hazards and unsafe conditions. This can occur weekly or twice a week.
- Weekly inspections to identify unsafe behavior. Each week two staff members carry out a regular inspection where they are identifying unsafe behavior. The objective is to identify the unsafe behavior and mention it at the next daily safety briefing. Of course no names are mentioned.
- Accident and incident investigation. Every accident or near accident is investigated with the sole objective of prevention in the future. The process of investigation is not a witch hunt to apportion blame
- Constant improvement. During the daily safety briefings, the group members have an opportunity to recommend and discuss improvements to the workplace and the processes that are carried out within it
- Reporting near hits. Every single near hit (this is an incident where no damage or injury occurs) is investigated and prevention measures are put in place so it will not happen again.
- Positive reinforcement. Each day the leader goes into the workplace and gives positive reinforcement to those members of staff for working safely. This encouragement and enthusiasm for safety is a great motivator for safe working practices.
- Blame. It is noticeable that all safe working environments do not use blame or punishment as tools for creating safe behavior. Instead, they use positive reinforcement, encouragement and recognition.
- Practical on-the-job training. Group members are continually receiving on-the-job training from experts within the company and outside.
- Effective leadership. Is no coincidence that all safe workplace environments have good leadership. This means that the leader is prepared to listen and has the skills to create followers. These leaders engender cooperation and most of all discretionary effort. They are the main reason why people are working safely. They are not invisible and spend between 30 and 50% of their time with their team members.
For much more information on this and related subjects, you are welcome to visit the http://plmitchell.com/.
Bottom line, in what ever you do no matter during work or out of work, think about safety. Think about those love ones who are waiting for you at home... :)
For further reading on this Safety Working Environment topic, I highly recommend you to get this article: Support OSHA Compliance and Create a Safer Work Environment.
Find out how automating workforce management policies help to improve workplace safety and allows you to meet documentation requirements for OSHA compliance. With workforce management solutions, energy companies can create a safer work environment and maintain compliance. Download this brief to learn more about how you can put safety first while complying with OSHA.
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Labels: Accident, Chemical Engineer, Chemical Engineering, Environmental, Equipments, Safety
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 6:17 PM,
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Molten Iron Throwing
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Do you like fireworks? Are they beautiful? Off course. What if you don't have fireworks but want to enjoy something almost as exciting and as gorgeous as fireworks? If you dare (not afraid to die) and if you are brave enough, you can try throwing away molting iron. If you hire a safety officer, you probably won't be allowed to do this. It involves extreme temperature and is not safe. Imagine the temperature of molted iron.
However, in a dangerous festivals - in Nuanquan, China, locals hurl molten iron at a wall. And sometimes, on themselves. To believe it, watch this following video. Interesting...
Be the best chemical engineer you could be. Learn something about chemical engineering that's not inside your textbook. Subscribe to the content of this blog.
Labels: Accident, Energy, Video
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 3:33 AM,
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Me and My White Safety Helmet
Thursday, December 27, 2007
When i was a student, I wonder how would it feel to become a chemical engineer? How does it feel to wear the safety helmet, that will made us look like a real cool macho engineer.
In the lab at the university, we just put on the white lab coat and not the safety helmet. After my first degree, I continued with my masters degree and still, I have not yet put on the safety helmet. I wonder when will I own and wear the safety helmet.
After completing my masters degree, I joined a local oil and gas servicing company and directly traveled to the site on my first day at work. I was supplied not only with the safety helmet that I wanted to put on all this while, but also jacket, safety boot, coverall, cotton glove, leather glove, goggle and 3M half face mask. On top of that, I have to manage a group of people who were about 5-10 years older than me to blend some specialty chemicals. Under the hot shiny sun, I have to wear the safety helmet. That time, I wished I don't have to wear the safety helmet with the goggle attach on top of it (The goggle need to be applied while blending or pouring the chemicals). I don't feel like the safety helmet is protecting me from anything. After all, there's nothing going to fall onto my head at the side. It was really heavy and I felt like my center of gravity is at my head!!!
Despite of that, I felt sort of proud to display my safety helmet on the rear dashboard of my car and let everybody see it. At home my son will take my helmet and act as an engineer, just like his father. I don't know whether he wants to be an engineer too. It's totally up to him.
Few years after servicing the oil and gas industry, I get a new job as a process engineer in a refinery plant (in the oils and fats industry), I still put on the safety helmet. Now, it is different. I don' have to put any accessories on the safety helmet. It is lighter. I have to wear the safety helmet which is white in colour as soon as I enter the factory. White safety helmet differentiate executives from supervisors, technicians, operators, and others which put on a yellow safety helmet. In different places, safety helmet colour coding is applied. Some may have blue colour representing a safety committee or safety officer etc.
Wearing safety helmet in the plant is very important. The plant is really big and there are a lots of equipments. I lost track of the number of occasions where I knock my head on something. Sometimes, my head hit a metal bar, a globe valve, a lowered roof and others which I could not recall. Luckily I have my safety helmet to protect my head and brain! I could not imagine the state of injury I'm going to face if not protected by the safety helmet.
Previously, I wrongly used the safety helmet. How did I misused it? I sat on it!!! That is totally a wrong usage of the safety helmet. As a result, my safety helmet have a lot of ugly scratches. The white safety helmet on the picture above belongs to me. If you have super focus eyes, you can zoom in and notice some scratches and uneven surface on the helmet edge. Don't be like me. Appreciate your safety helmet. Don't sit on your safety helmet. Respect it. It will protect you, your head and brain!
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Labels: Accident, Chemical Engineer, Jobs, Learning Curve, Oil and Fats, Oil and Gas, Plant Shutdown, Problem
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 8:49 PM,
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HAZMAT Team In Action
Friday, December 14, 2007
This video reminds me on my Hazmat experiences while I was in the oil and gas field a few years back. Hazmat is not ONLY required during/after chemical explosions or biological warfare but also when dealing with very hazardous materials. For my case, we dealt with oil and gas with high mercury content, which is above the minimum exposure level to human (Mercury is very dangerous!). Hence, we need to really protect ourselves from mercury contamination. The following video shows an example of a group of people being trained for Hazmat. You can see people with coverall going through few steps to be cleaned. That's part of the buddy system which requires other people to help us get cleaned up. In addition, a Hazmat team must be well organized so that the activity will be smooth and well coordinated.
Labels: Accident, Fire, Health, Oil and Gas, Problem
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 9:46 PM,
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Production Plant Problem
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Normally, there’ll be less or no problem when a production plant is running smoothly. The supervisors and plant operators will be happy taking care of a normal running plant. The executives and engineers will monitor and optimize the processing parameters and ensure all utilities consumption such as water, electricity, steam, air, chemicals, natural gas, LFO, diesel etc are kept at the lower side. Once in a while there’ll be some problems such as leaking mechanical seal in a centrifugal pump or the level transmitter signal is not showing the right reading. Well, those are just some minor maintenance problem and could be easily entertained by the fitters and technician.
In the next post, I’ll share 3 problems that we faced during our plant stopping and starting up last week, which made a lot of us miserable. You’ll learn these real problems that none of us ever expected it to happen. Check it out later…
Labels: Accident, Chemical Plant, Equipments, Experience, Fire, Learning Curve, Plant Shutdown, Problem
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 12:32 AM,
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Terrifying Forklift Accident
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Does your workplace have a forklift? If yes, you better be extra careful. My workplace have a lot of forklifts. We need those forklift to carry our drums, heavier goods and equipments (motor/pump/spare parts etc). A forklift do not have the speed equivalent to a car, but it can be deadly because of its mass and sometimes human carelessness.
A forklift accident recently took place in Hampshire industrial estate, United Kingdom. A lorry driver was crushed to death by a forklift truck in a horror accident. The unlucky man, aged in his twenties, had driven his lorry to Budds Lane in Romsey to deliver sheet metal to the firm Wessex Medical Equipment. It is believed he was hit by a green Mitsubishi forklift truck while he was standing at the back of his lorry and suffered serious injuries. Continue read the full news...
Morale of the story: Be careful wherever you are. Death can happen anytime anywhere even though we're perfectly healthy person.
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 12:30 PM,
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Another Tragedy
Friday, March 02, 2007
Year 2007 started with a tragedy of me getting hurt during the shutdown. Last wednesday another tragedy occurred. I had a massive car accident. I'll write about it later. I'm too drained and tired. The whole story is in my wife's blog.
Labels: Accident
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 5:11 PM,
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Be Cautious at Dirty Cooling Tower
Saturday, February 03, 2007
If you're a in the oils and fats industry and are working in a refinery, there'll be a dirty cooling tower. The condition of this dirty cooling tower is not very pleasant. The water is already mixed with fatty acid and some trace of oil. You need to be extra cautious when dealing with this type of cooling tower. One thing that you must avoid the most is welding. DO NOT WELD anything nearby the dirty cooling tower. This is very dangerous and hazardous. The fatty acid and oil that is contained inside the cooling tower water is very flamable and can caught fire easily. So, warn your people/technician/fitter > Never deal with any type of fire/spark nearby the dirty cooling tower.
Labels: Accident, Cooling Tower, Problem
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 9:05 PM,
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Accident & Injury
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
It is still day 3 and I was walking towards my plant. It was a rainy wet night. Suddenly, in split second, I slipped and felt down. My left foot hit the 1cm thick metal plate before going inside a drain beside it. I sat there for a while helplessly. It really hurts. I watch around to call for help but nobody was at sight. I inspected my left leg and to my surprise, I have 2 really bad cut/wound and they were big!!! Blood slowly appeared from the deep wounds. I rose and walked slowly to the washing basin nearby the control room and washed the wounds with a lot of water, washing the blood a way. I ran the water past through my leg for about 5 minutes. By that time, my collegues have surrounded me and checked out my leg. It really look bad. It definitely have to be stitched. Both of my feet were shivering. My whole body is also shivering. Lean, my colleague, drove me to the hospital. The medical assistance inspected the severity of the wounds. He injected me with some antibiotics before sending me for X-ray. It almost hit my tibia bone. They want to check if the bone is fractured or not. Luckily it was ok. Then I have to overcome my worse nightmare, to be stitched. All together, I have 10 outside stitches and 6 internal stitches.
Labels: Accident
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 1:35 AM,
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The Author
I’m Zaki. I used to be a project, process and chemical engineer. Few years ago I successfully became a Chartered Engineer (IChemE) and Professional Engineer (BEM). I'm now employed as a chemical engineering educator/researcher/consultant. Hope you like reading my blog. I welcome any feedback from you. My email: zaki.yz[alias]gmail.com. TQ!
