1 question

Describe the Safety Management System in use where you work, or used to work. Do you think it makes a difference in how hazards and risks are managed and controlled? If you were not aware of a management system, do you think it was because there was not one, or was its existence poorly communicated? Please be specific in your position and statements.(safety Coord)

  

All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations.

Topof Form

Describe the Safety Management System in use where you work, or used to work. Do you think it makes a difference in how hazards and risks are managed and controlled? If you were not aware of a management system, do you think it was because there was not one, or was its existence poorly communicated? Please be specific in your position and statements.

Please include the name of the person or question to which you are replying in the subject line. For example, “Tom’s response to Susan’s comment.”

Reply

Quote

Bottom of Form

Message Unread

Mark as Unread

Message Not Flagged

Set Flag

9 days ago

Robin Smith

Email Author

Robin’s response to the Unit II DB Question

Collapse

Top of Form

Parent Post

 

  

  In the early years of my construction career, I can say beyond all doubt that most of the companies that I worked for could use a major overhaul of their complete safety management systems. To be very specific, it was a “pen on top of the rule book” type of exisitence at every level of the company. I think that even the safety person ran from the safety person. There was total choas and major breakdown of a system that really didn’t exist.
     As time passed, the system grew from the malfunction of the century into a somewhat more productive safety management system. A few problems still existed but the company was still making the transition into a more effecient safety system. I do believe that problem that existed with that company is that it did then and still does use a staffing agency for safety professionals as oppose to an “in house” safety team. I do understand that many construction companies make use of this advantage and many safety professionals prefer to have the options.
     I am not saying that it is better or worse to use compentent people who are hired through staffing agencies, I am saying that the level of trust that can be achieved by a competent safety team that is more than familiar with the workers can bridge a gap that just seemed to be missing within this company. Another major issue I found within this company and with a couple others as well, as recently as last year, top and mid level supervision asking to be excluded from complaince with safety procedures. It is my belief that when you have workers who see thier leaders show a disregard to plant and company policies not to mention OSHA regulations, it is a failure in  the safety management system.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form

Hide 1 reply

Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag

3 hours ago

James Campbell Email Author

RE: Jim’s response to Robin’s post

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

I agree with you. It was a “pen on top of the rule book” type of existence with most companies I have worked for not only in construction but in General Industry also. There is no real system that is used, just a belief that there is a working system.

There are changes taking place now that did not exist 10 years ago in the thought process on safety. A lot more companies now want a safety system in place. And want a safety person on site.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag

7 days ago

Donald Voiers Email Author

RE: Don’s reply to Unit II Discussion Board Question,

Prof Nick

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

I have experienced working at several different facilities over the past couple of years, and have seen safety management systems that work, some that function, and others that are a mess. Currently I am representing a client that is in the process of expanding and the general contractor is having a good amount of incidents. in rreviewing their safety program, I see that it has everything in the right place including audits, but what is missing is follow up on action items and procedure issues. Identifying issues is not the end of the process; the issues need to be corrected, a review of the processes related to the issue need to be reviewed and revised in order to control or eliminate the cause of the issue, then train employees and initiate the changes.

A particular concern for this contractor and others in this area, is the loss of experienced craftsmen. Currently, there are so many “turnarounds” and construction projects going on in the gulf coast area workers can pick and choose where they want to work; most will go to the company paying the most money and per diem. Contractors are left with employees who have little or no experience, forcing contractors to spend more time training employees, adding extra supervision to monitor workers, and implementing mentor ship programs to help lesser experienced employees adapt to current work conditions.

Most every company has a good written safety management program; including hazard identification, employee training, and PPE policies to name a few. The break down occurs when it comes to mitigating issues, discipling employees, documenting actions, and following up on hazards identified.  

   
Reply Quote

Bottom of Form

Hide 3 replies

Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag

6 days ago

Robin Smith Email Author

Robin’s response to Donald’s DB post

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

I agree with a lot of what you said about the problems in the construction industry. I was not one to bounce around from company to company. I stayed with the same company for over 7 years as did a lot of the workers. I mean, we would work with different companies when our normal company didn’t have any work at the time. I found that even though we had structure within the company, there was still much lacking in the safety area beyond the points that you made. I faced issues with being asked by my general foreman & even the field engineers to do things that were in serious violation of safety procedures. When saying that I didn’t really feel comfortable doing those things, it was met as a refusal to do my job and most of which ended with an injury. Nothing major such as a fatality but I will say that a few times, I feel it was more the protection of God rather than luck that prevented it because it was more than a near miss. I am not looking to place blame or out to get supervisors who make unsafe practices a job requirement. I am merely wanting to help bridge the gap and speak truthfully so that maybe we can find a way to vastly improve the real issues in the construction industry. I think it is long overdue.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag

2 days ago

Nick Lees

Instructor Manager

Email Author

Prof Nick to Don

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

Don,

I see an opportunity here. Eternal optimist that I am where my students are concerned!!

If there is any way that you can glean, take away, steal from – whatever you call it – the materials, techniques, organization, procedures and “stuff” that is in this class and in this textbook (or the extra resource materials)…then I think that you should use it. It will probably mean taking a little from here and a little from there along with adjusting it to fit the current organizational leadership and situations that you are seeing. But it will be worth it. Even if you are putting together some brief set of bullet point suggestions on your own time, this is something that you can do. A follow-up with your supervisor or boss would be in order and it can be framed in the context of …”Here are some thoughts that we had about how to improve the safety culture in your organization. If you have the opportunity to implement some, or all, of these suggestions it has been shown to save money in the long run and improve the performance of the employees in the workplace along with reducing the overall Risk Levels for accidents and incidents in the company.”

Hey, I don’t think that it would take long to put something together once you started thinking about it. At the very least it would show your supervisor that you are thinking “on the job” and “about the job”. In addition, it could be offered as a freebee to the company.

Prof Nick
Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Hide 1 reply
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
2 days ago
Donald Voiers Email Author

RE: Prof Nick to Don

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

I agree; and it is this new generation of safety professionals whom are better educated and have enhanced problem solving techniques that will make a difference.  But looking around I do see that many of the tools of a quality safety program are in place, people just need a an incentive to begin using them; this may be a monetary incentive or an “or else” directive, depending on the caliber of managers and supervision.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
6 days ago

Ronald Greasley Email Author

Rgreasley response to Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

I used to work for a local municipality where there was not a safety program in place.  There were workers that took care of the parks, mechanics, police, fire and admin.  The only training we received was when a series of accidents would occur.  Once the risk manager saw a pattern, the managers would gather the employee’s together and give a safety class.  The government agencies I worked for were strickly reactive, rarely would there be training to prevent an incident.  The only way I would here about a way to suffer an injury if the injury had occured in the past and a senior employee would give you a ‘heads up’ on how not to get hurt like the last guy.  The lack of a safety plan is due to no accountability.  Like a lot of government entities, they answer to the people of their community who are not asking for us to be safe, but for what we can do for them.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Hide 1 reply
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag

4 days ago

Donald Voiers Email Author

RE: Don to Ron

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

The public service sector has lagged behind private sector industry for many years, but what I have seen in the past few years is a gradual change in thinking by municipalities and other state and federal agencies regarding safety and the cost of allowing someone to be hurt while on the job. The COSS program here in Baton Rouge generally has representatives for municipalities in attendance as well as utility sectors such as power, water and gas companies. Regrettably, these changes are caused by the exaggerated cost of associated with injuries and civil law suites, but at least they are changing.  

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag

posted 5 days ago (last edited 4 days ago)

William Curtis Email Author

WCurtis “Marty’s” response to Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

Well I will say that I am fortunate to have set standards to work with in the United States Air Force.  In the early years (80’s) I will say that safety was not as prevalent as it is now.  We have set guideline that state how the job will get performed.  In some cases if a Technical Order (TO) is being used they may have statements like “Warning, Caution or Note”  for a reason.  We never bypassed the warning statements because the way that those words got put into the TO was that someone would to have either been killed or badly injured performing the task.  In my current position every time a new operation is accomplished a risk assessment is performed to identify any shortfalls.  If the unit will continue the same operation, we then use the original risk assessment and develop an operating instruction or standard operating procedures.  This way every time they do the work they have set standards to follow.  We have over time developed robust safety programs for all units whether it is an office environment or maintaining aircraft.  By making use of the safety standards not only protects the people and property, but also saves the taxpayers money.  Do not get me wrong there are those individuals out there that will push the so-called envelope and take more risk than necessary and they are usually the ones I end up performing an accident investigation on. 

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Hide 3 replies
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
4 days ago
Donald Voiers Email Author

RE: Don to Marty

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

A phrase I have heard used a lot when conducting safety meeting and orientations is ” Every safety standard ever written, has been written in blood” meaning that someone was hurt of killed and a standard was issued after the fact. To me, good safety management programs should make this statement obsolete; new standards should be written because good well educated safety personell and employees have the foresight to identify and eliminate hazards before someone is hurt or killed.

I am pleased to see so many people with current or past military backgrounds entering the safety profession; their strong discipline background and attention to detail will surely help this profession advance to the next levels.  

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form

Hide 2 replies

Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag

3 days ago

Joy Travis Email Author

RE: Don to Marty
Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

I agree you really can’t take safety for granted you always hear about someone getting hurt or killed when it wouldn’t have took a minute more to do the task the safe way. Well it will only take a minute that want hurt me. We have a man that worked with us at the nuclear plant and he had been working at the plant for years using procedures in electrical. He was killed when his car fell on him because he was trying to hurry and not take the time to secure the car before climbing under it. Now his two little girls are without their DAD. It breaks my heart to see some of the most useless things happen like that.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag

1 day ago

Robin Smith Email Author

Robin’s response to Don’s comment

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

I completely agree with your comment. The problem within many companies is that they have a reactive policy that only deals after the fact and when they do deal, they cover just the bare minimum. I would love to see & am here to learn how to help do my part to change the concepts in safety. I will admit I have a lot to learn but already, seeing the posts coming from all of you gives me new hope. I even admit, after becoming disgusted with the system in place in many different companies in which I worked, I tried to give it up and just change careers altogether but just couldn’t do it. That is when i decided to come to college to get the education with my experience to try a better way to change the system.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
3 days ago
Joy Travis Email Author

RE: Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

 

The Safety Management System that we have on site at the Brunswick Nuclear Plant is called the BNP Safety Issue Resolution Team (SIRT). This group gets together and discusses safety issues and other plant issues that need to be fixed or replaced. This group has one person from each of the safety councils present at the SIRT meetings to bring anything up that needs attention from all over job site. Each group has their own safety councils but we as a plant follow all the same Safety and Human Performance messages and procedures that are given to us each week.

            This group helps in making new hazards be known and come up with ways to help mitigate them which helps manage the risks and control the access to these areas. This group has the ability to get things done and even change the procedures if need be.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
3 days ago

Douglas Danielson Email Author

RE: Doug’s reply to Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

Hello Professor and Class, where I currently work has somewhat of a safety management system. I am not sure if it follows what we have read thus far, but it is a system that identifies hazards and risk only when a incident occurs and occasionally brought up in monthly meetings. However, it is my opinion that the organization can do a better job with safety and analyze all avenues. Currently, upper management is to ensure all direct reports have the proper PPE and understand the policies and procedures. Additionally, a supervisor will conduct monthly field observations, to ensure the employee is being safe and using their PPE correctly. Where I believe the organization falls apart with safety is following through, have more safety personnel than one safety manager, get involved with each location and praise those who continue to be safe, not personel randomly when they have no record for at least 3 months.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Hide 3 replies
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
2 days ago
Ronald Greasley Email Author

Rgreasley response to D.Danielson

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

We have monthly and quarterly safety meetings to keep the employees abreast on the latest trends and safety techniques.  As part of our culture we attempt to keep safety on the minds of the workers.  As management we live it and remain an example for the rest of the staff.  Record keeping is essential in a safety program.  You do not want to repeat the same training and loose the interest of the worker.  A safety program needs to be continually nurtured to keep it alive and thriving.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Hide 1 reply
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
2 days ago

Chase Pearson Email Author

Chase’s response D.Danielson

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

A very proactive approach. That is very good. Setting a good example to the rest of the organization cannot be stressed enough. I think that we lack the record keeping in training. We do have certain times of the year we review certain items, I think that is the only thing that keeps us in line.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
2 days ago

Richard Goodwin Email Author

Richard Goodwin’s reply to Doug’s reply to Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

Doug,

The safety plan your company has is a typical reactive and not proactive approach to safety. I myself have also worked for companies like that in my past. Seems as if they are more concerned about having a quick read-through of a safety plan followed by a signature to relieve them of any real liabilities. Being proactive instead of reactive can be extremely effective in so many ways. Unfortunately there are still alot of companies that just don’t view safety as an important part of the overall success of their business. Anyways, great post Doug and best of luck to you the rest of the semester!

 

Sincerely,

Rick Goodwin

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
2 days ago
Chase Pearson Email Author
RE: Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick
Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

The safety management system at my workplace seems to work well. I think that we do have adequate training and detailed SOP’s for most operations. We do have a safety committee as well. The shortcoming of some of the system are that the safety committees recommendations are not followed. Some of the injury prevention items that have been raised have valid points and although they come at a considerable cost, the benefit seems to be there. Other operations get in the way of implementing safety and that is where the management system could be improved.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Hide 1 reply
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
2 days ago
Donald Voiers Email Author

RE: Don to Chase

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

Many safety management programs run into roadblocks due to cost of implementation. Good managers don’t quit, they refine their data and build a stronger case for the improvements, or they continue to look for other forms of mitigation that might address  the hazard.

One good way to argue the issue is to research injury rates and costs by similar hazards and demonstrate that the preventative measure are cheaper than the obvious and hidden costs of an injury.  

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
2 days ago

Eric

Petterle Email Author

RE: Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick
Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

In my previous job, I was an (in-house) cable technician with a large Cable Communications corporation.  On the surface this company looks like a great place to work and tout their concern for their employees, especially keeping the technicians safe.  However, as a technician for seven years I saw superficial efforts to investigate incidents, even serious ones that led to days away from work greater than 30 days.

Here is one example of the lip-service management and supervisors give to safety:  To start with there was no one person assigned safety duties among a technical workforce of more than 160 people and more than 500 administrative personnel at one facility.

One incident involved a technician pole-climbing up a utility pole using foot gaffs and a single safety belt system.  The technician was in a hurry due to the heavy appointment schedule management allowed.  As a result of mistake he miscalculated his footing and gaffed out of the pole from a height of 25 feet, injuring his back and ankle as well as receiving serious abrasions from the pole.

The investigation was cursory, finding that the technician failed to follow proper pole-climbing techniques as taught in the annual class.  The technician was out of work for almost a year, and the case was closed by briefing all the other technicians to “be careful, while pole-climbing”.

Additionally, when the technicians complain about the hazards of pole climbing with no fall arrest protection they are told to do it or get fired.

This company lacks the safety culture to address the other causal factors of this accident, like the pressure to meet a schedule, ignoring the known fall hazard of pole-climbing and willing refusal to let technicians use secondary fall arrest systems during climbs.  The company culture is “the blame game”; find a person or thing at fault then move on, case closed.

First of all I think with this large of an organization in this one facility, and because of the many hazards that are present, that this company needs to assign full-time safety duties.  Second, they should look at all causal factors when investigating incidents.  Third, develop a system of participation where employees safety concerns can be addressed and acted upon. 

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
2 days ago
Richard Goodwin Email Author

Richard Goodwin’s reply Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

My previous job was working overseas in Afghanistan as an electrical inspector for the Army Corps of Engineers. The company I worked for was based in Chicago, Illinois and was an electrical engineering firm there locally. Our safety management system had some good points as well as some bad ones. The safety plan was well written, and PPE was always available and offered. Safety training was manditory upon inprocessing at Bagram, and was ongoing as situations changed within theatre. Every morning there was a tailgate meeting before work began by our safety manager. The downfall to their system was the safety manager. His name was Keith, and was the twin brother of the comapny’s safety manager back in Chicago. Keith was a retired Chicago City police officer and was well trained in things like CPR and first aid. Otherwise, Keith was just not a competent safety person. There were times when he created a hazard while trying to take pictures, etc., and was not properly trained on NFPA 70 requirements. Just goes to show that having a well written safety plan just cannot be effective if it isn’t applied correctly. If we would have had a more well seasoned safety manager, I’m sure our incident rate would have been much lower.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Hide 1 reply
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag

21 hours ago

Zachary Hyatt Email Author

zac hyatt’s respons to richard

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

 

This is a problem that can happen a lot of times. This shows that you can write all you want and  it still won’t make things safer it’s the actions of the workers that make it safer.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
1 day ago

Vannessa Taylor Email Author

RE: Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick
Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

The current safety system at my job is very well put together, in the beginning they started you off with a two week training course that you have to pass in order to be employed with the company. The training is called “Life Critical Rules” and the rules are designed to help save lives. We start everyday with a 15 minute morning meeting where we name a different rule everyday, we also have different safety material around the meeting room to keep safety fresh on everyones mind every morning. At first, I thought it was to much and eventually it would get old and they will stop at some point but needless to say 2 years later everyday and still going strong. To answer the second half of your question yes we still have had some accidents, but they are down to a minimum we went over 6 months before we had a fatality (not the drivers fault). It does make a difference on how we all work it makes you more cautious and alert to help avoid running into to hazards by using those life critical rules.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Hide 2 replies
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
1 day ago

Eric Hoaglin Email Author

Eric’s response to Vannessa RE: Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

I like your company’s approach to safety by keeping it fresh on their minds everyday. I briefly worked for a distribution company, i.e. big box store, that did basically the same, before our shift we would have a meeting to discuss the day’s goals, some sort of safey related topic and then about 10 minutes of stretching exercises before starting work or even inspecting our lifts for the day. Needless to say that we had very few incidents while I was there.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Hide 1 reply
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
1 day ago
Vannessa Taylor Email Author

Vannessa response to Eric’s response to Vannessa RE: Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

Hi Eric,

Your absolutely correct it does keep safety fresh on your mind everyday, some of the guys think they go over it to much. I think it is never to much when dealing with safety, I feel like my goal is to go to work do my job and not hurt anyone or myself in the process. They also have incentives, where you can earn coins and turn them in for cash, its  pretty cool to know that if your safe you can earn money for doing it. I also wish we would stretch before work but we are on a time constraint, but that is a great thing for all jobs to do. And to your point we did have fewer accidents/incidents because while your out there safety is our number 1 concern. Thanks for your response and I look forward to reading more of your responses in the future.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
1 day ago
Eric Hoaglin Email Author
RE: Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick
Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

When I started working for my former employer I was hired on as a laboratory assistant and a part-time assistant safety officer which consisted mainly of taking care of the hazardous waste paperwork. It did however afford me a chance to thouroughly review the company’s safety program and give me a good laugh at the same time, because it was so poorly written and barely followed any guidelines.  I was not in a postition to change anything but I did make a few suggestions, which of course where ignored. Two years later I was asked to take over the safety program at the company in which I immediately started to change things. Monthly laboratory inspections where instituted where supervisors and the employees would do the inspections, employee training was revamped so the employees knew how to look for hazards and also how to better avoid them. The company immediately saw a drop in the accident rate and employee morale seemed to go up a little too. I have heard since I left that the company has gone back to thier old ways i.e. limited training, hit and miss inspections by the operations officer and accident rates have jumped, they even failed the safety portion on an industry specific inspection.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Hide 1 reply
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
21 hours ago

Kristal Smith Email Author

Kristal’s response to Eric RE: Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

Hi Eric,

It is good that you have had the opportunity to finally get the chance to help make a difference in that company’s System Management System especially after your suggestions were ignored previously. It must have felt really good to be able to institute inspections and trainings to help keep your fellow employee’s safe. I believe that the greatest reward in this situation was for you to see that the accident rate drop while you were in charge of safety. It is a shame, however, that since you have left that company’s safety policy is no longer a priority. I believe companies that does not consider safety a priorty does not value their employees. It’s a good thing you left, it gives you the opportunity to be employed where your safety efforts are appreciated.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag

2

2 hours ago

Zachary Hyatt Email Author
RE: Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick
Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

 

I work construction with a small crew; we have a real good safety record. To say we have a safety program might not be true. We do things safe as possible and use our heads to stay out of danger.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
21 hours ago
Kristal Smith Email Author

Kristal’s response RE: Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

I remember a Safety Management System in a place where I once was employed. It was implemented because there was a lot of injuries and near misses occuring. Leadership, supervisors, and employees were involved in implementing this safety program. each department in the company assigned an employee as the safety person. This person would: meet with leadership and management on a monthly basis to determine the safety focus for the month, design and put together safety boards in their department, and help with the monthly training meeting with all employees. At the time I believed that this safety program did make a difference in how hazards and risks were managed and controlled at this company because there was a reduction in injuries and near misses. However, knowing what I know now, I do not believe that the safety program at this company made a huge difference because eventhough there was a reduction in injuries near misses a good number of them were still occuring.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Hide 1 reply
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag

5 hours ago

Eric Petterle Email Author

Eric’s comment to Kristal’s Discussion Board post

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

Kristal,

It sounds like your company hit bottom from a safety standpoint and finally realized it.  The actions they took seem logical, assigning safety duties, and holding meetings and training.  I am curious if there was really a change of mind and heart at the leadership levels?  As you know, a successful safety culture must be top driven. 

Also, I wonder if a continuous improvement process like Deming’s PDCA could get the to bottom of that incident rate.  Managers many times will be content to have a reduction but not continue to determine all the causal factors of every incident thus, incidents will continue.  I know this was the case when I worked in the cable industry, management was quick to find a person at fault, but reluctant to find and address any other causal factors.

Great post, thank you

Eric
 
Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag

6 hours ago

Carol Williams Email Author

RE: Carol’s reply to Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

The Command I work for has a very good Safety Program. We are currently working towards VPP. This is a small command and the injuries, mishaps, near-miss and accidents are few.  Actually the majority of the injuries and mishaps are caused by the contractors as they are the ones working in the warehouse, the civilians and military work in the offices.  There have been serious accidents with equipment due to driver error on the forlifts.  We do offer remedial training to all and not just the single individual that had the accident.  The contractors are responsible for their own safety training thru there company. We have had a safety stand down with them.  The investigations can be tooth pulling to get the information we need from them. I have taken pictures myself and did my own reports and compare with theirs to see what they may have omitted and then readdress with them the difference in information.

Becaues we are on top of things quickly I would say our porgram makes a big difference in how risk are managed and controlled.  We have employee involvement and safety reps who report to the safety office. We have employees who are quick to fill out an unsafe/unhealthful working condition slip and know they will get that response with in the 10 day time frame.  Infromation on safety is given thru safety flashes with input from employees, safety news letters and thru our intranet that the employees have access to read the minutes from the safety meetings and VPP committee meetings. Health and Wellness page and command fittness activites.  We encourage our staff to share some of our safety information with their family and friends.  We also have an annual safety fair that the employees, family, friends and our school partner (students) can attend. 

Due to the sequestration the fair will not be held this year.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Hide 1 reply
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag

4 hours ago

John Lyles Email Author

John’s response to Carol’s reply to Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

Great reading Carol. Always an awesome thing to meet a fellow military member (U.S.Navy Ret. Dec 2012). I can totally relate to the things you are dealing with at your command. In Bahrain, as the safety officer for my command, my biggiest concern was the attitudes from the local civilians reguarding safety. They would do unsafe acts often and the idea of trying to offer protection advice to them and protect the command was at times overshawdowed by their point of just wanting to get the job done quickly. It’s was imperative that the sailors from my command got the latest policy and training when it came to performing their jobs in safe manner. The benefit should never outweigh the risk if it will cause harm to self or others. Thank you for your service!

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
4 hours ago
John Lyles Email Author

John’s response to the Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

While in The Navy (always a Navy story) I was the safety officer and what we and other commands utilized was the WESS, Web Enabled Safety System. It was a program that documated training given, introduced changes to Navy wide safety policies, and instructions given from OSHA amoung many other task. The Navy was serious about safety as they recognize the sailor makes the difference and without them the job can not be accomplished. Safety is and always will be paramount. It makes a huge difference how hazards are managed. Allowing a known hazard to remain will eventually cause harm to people and equipment. 

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
3 hours ago
James Campbell Email Author
RE: Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick
Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

I have not seen a real management system in the companies that I have worked for. Yes, we have had a safety policy statement. Yes, we had a policy manual with policies in it. But, a system for managing safety, we reviewed policies yearly; we did safety audits, safety team yes. I did what I needed to keep us compliant as I could. I believe Z 10 is a great system and as I become more familiar with it I will adapt it into our safety program.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Hide 1 reply
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
2 hours ago

Joseph Bearse Email Author

Joe’s response to James

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

Hello James,

Unfortunately, with my experience, it is more common to see an employer with a poor or non-existant safety program than it is to see one with a well designed one. I also believe that the construction idustry is slowly but surely becoming the leader in safety because of all the risks that are associated with it. Pretty soon there will be manufacturers and retail stores modeling their safety programs after the current existing ones throughout the construction industry. Great post buddy.

Reply Quote

Bottom of Form
Message Unread
Mark as Unread
Message Not Flagged
Set Flag
2 hours ago
Joseph Bearse Email Author

Joe’s response to Unit II Discussion Board Question, Prof Nick

Collapse
Top of Form

Parent Post

My current employer has a much more advanced view of safety than my previous employer. I’ll start off by saying that the company that I work for now operates under the umbrella of a very fruitful safety program. We have strong leadership that starts all the way at the top of the company. The president and Executive Vice President’s views on safety is not only very thorough, but it is morally driven as well. The good ethics that they practice are unmeasured in my opinion when compared to any other construction firm that I’ve ever crossed paths with.

My previous employer… on the other hand. They weren’t as well rounded as they liked to preach. I was a project manager / estimator for about five years with them when they decided (via recommendation from their insurer) to create a position for a safety director which was me. Their views of safety were based upon enforcement. Even though I had a better moral understanding of what was required of me, they basically made me walk around the sites and the shop and find reasons to blame the employees for any accidents or injuries. The company had been bought into by an acquisition firm so needless to say, they were monetarily motivated. There was even one occasion where I was told by the senior vice president “don’t start the $#!t and there won’t be no $#!t” after I slightly hindered production briefly to correct a safety hazard.

To answer the questions above, yes I believe that it makes a huge difference in the way hazards and risks are managed. I am a firm believer in empowering people to take initiative. If it is managed poorly, then it will trickle down to the employees and you’ll have poor results. With my previous employer… the safety culture was communicated crystal clear… the motives on the other hand were skewed so nothing ever got better. We continued to have accidents and low morale. The new employer is the opposite.

Reply Quote
Bottom of Form