Safety and Shortcuts Part 2

Safety and Shortcuts  Part 2

4. Wrong Labelling

Safety label is one of the ways to convey information throughout the facility. When making labels, however, you need to make sure you are using the proper type of label at all times, and determine where the label will be placed to make it conspicuous. Materials Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) is very important and there should be no short cut to its information.

5. ‘Near Misses’ Should Never Be Ignored

Major accident or injury in the workplace is always followed by reports, proper paperwork and usually an investigation into the cause. What most people tend to forget is that for every actual accident or injury, there are often several ‘near misses’ where something went wrong, but nobody was hurt, and so nobody reported.

It is always tempting to ignore these events, since they didn’t cause a disruption of work, ideally employees should be taught to always report incidents no matter how minute they seem.  This of-course is to ensure they don’t happen again or lead to more unpleasant situations. Today it ‘near is miss’, tomorrow’s it could be accident if it is not prevented. To this we strongly suggest increased employee awareness on Health, Safety and Environment issues. There are several methods/ways to achieve this.

6. Emergency Preparedness

Most facilities or workplaces do not meet a set minimum for things like the number of fire extinguishers or emergency eye wash stations in the location. While these minimums are a good start, employers should really have more of them available, just in case of emergency.

A Safety Specialist should identify areas where there are specific risks, and make sure the proper emergency equipment is located as required. Complying with just the minimums is a popular workplace safety shortcut, which can lead to major problems. Provision of the items alone is also a short cut, adequate man-power and training is mandatory should the need for its use arises.

7. House Keeping

Most establishments if not all will have a team of people who are responsible for the day to day cleaning of the facility. While this is wonderful, it is not sufficient to keep everyone safe. There are often many areas of the facility that need to be properly cleaned beyond just sweeping up messes or cleaning up spills. This makes it mandatory for everybody to take housekeeping more seriously. The maxim you see it you own it must be practiced company wide.

Remember, keeping all the safety signs in the facility wiped down is very important. Dust, dirt, grease and other things can build up on them, making them very difficult to read. Since they aren’t on the floor, cleaning them is often neglected for months at a time, which can cause significant risks. Regular HSE Training to encourage people own up is very essential ingredient to safe work place and prevention of shortcuts.

8. Exits

Companies must have emergency exits clearly marked with an easy to read sign that lights up in the dark as stipulated by regulations. To continue next week.