Precast Inc. - July/August 2008 - (Page 28) So, what CAN I do? Here are some suggestions for making Performance Safety a reality in your plant. Proactive activities: • Incorporate employee and manager observations. • Have employees conduct their own workplace examinations prior to the start of their shift to look for hazards. • Create injury prevention review teams. • Review current procedures with a task hazard analysis to ensure all identified hazards are addressed for that task. • Conduct pre-task reviews with work groups preparing to perform a task (to discuss how it will be done, what tools and equipment are necessary before getting to the job, and who will do what). • Use hazard recognition charts to track successes. • Develop and use job aids, such as checklists for various tasks. • Develop trainer checklists for use in specific task training that employees and managers sign after completion of training. • Discuss other ideas that fit your location. Reactive activities: • Prompt injury/incident investigations with team reviewers. • Prompt injury review with all employees, focusing on preventive measures (not blame). • Conduct follow-up training sessions to review proper procedures after an injury. • Discuss other ideas and options. Most importantly, lead by example. Wear your PPE when in exposed areas. Follow procedures for tasks you perform. Hold employees accountable for actions through performance evaluations and coaching. Unsafe Condition. An individual does not have either knowledge or the control over existing circumstances that may be unsafe that would otherwise suggest he should not perform the action. Unsafe Act. An action taken by an individual who has both knowledge and control of an existing unsafe condition or action, but chooses to perform the action or ignore the condition. The above definitions account for behaviors as well as for culture and expectations. An employee who has not been properly trained may not know how to do the task properly, resulting in an unsafe condition. He is not choosing to do it with risk, so it is not an unsafe action. An employee who knows how to perform the task but circumstances take control away would also be defined as an unsafe condition. For example, while welding, an employee must bend at the waist to reach the work area; he can’t reach it from a different angle. As a result, the employee experiences back pain while performing his duties. He had no control over the location of the work and was unable to modify the duty to protect his back. This would be considered an unsafe condition. An employee knows how to properly perform a task and has been trained specifically in this task, yet he insists on modifying the procedure to “save time.” He has full control in the decision to perform the task and has all appropriate tools and equipment to complete the task safely. An example of this is the employee who chooses not to wear leathers to weld and, as a result, catches his clothing on fire. This is clearly an unsafe act. The process is clear, the procedure is clear, and the practice (behavior) is at-risk. Implementing Performance Safety There are six keys to performing safely. 1. Proactive versus Reactive. If a company’s response to safety is based on reacting to an injury or incident without proactive preventive measures, there will always be injuries. Remembering the popular accident pyramid, by the time an injury occurs there are already 300 separate unsafe actions and/or events that have occurred to set up the conditions for that injury. Only proactive measures that address performance at all levels at the base of that pyramid will show marked improvements in safety. 2. Recognition versus Incentive. If an employee does not want to be safe for his own quality of life, a few bucks or a prize is not going to get his attention. These can get expensive and soon viewed as “entitlements” by employees. It doesn’t necessarily change behavior or improve performance; it simply rewards the attainment of a goal that could just as easily have been attained by being lucky as by performing the task correctly. Rewarding an employee through recognition of good performance, however, is different. This is a more productive Unsafe condition and unsafe act defined Historically, an unsafe condition has been defined as a condition that exists due to equipment failure or equipment/machinery being altered, such as operating with guards removed. An unsafe act has been defined as an action taken or choice made by an employee that caused an injury to occur. In Performance Safety, these definitions are not quite accurate. Performance Safety involves all the aspects of a person’s and company’s performance, so defining an unsafe condition and unsafe act are based on performance issues. Equipment that is operated without the guard is not a failure of the equipment; it is a choice of an employee. An employee getting hurt for failing to use appropriate personal protective equipment can be more than the employee choosing to not work in a safe manner. 28 JULY/AUGUST 2008 | PRECAST INC.
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.