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SAFETY SOLUTIONS: Safety Is Everyone's Business
Thinking about past clients who were more interested
in production than in the safety of their employees
inspired this month’s column. One of my past
Fortune 500 clients, (who I no longer represent) wanted
me to turn a blind eye when observing unsafe acts of
employees and other safety hazards in their facilities. This
client’s representative asked, “Jack why do you get so passionate
about this business of protecting people? It is just
a small hazard and such a very small risk of someone
being injured”. My response was, “Safety is everyone’s
business. A hazard on your factory floor does not have to
injure someone to be called a near-miss accident. Hazards
are signs of a management system failure.
One of the major safety hazards at your company may
have nothing to do with what you manufacture. Do you
have any electrical problems in your facility? Are all of
your circuit breakers properly marked? This is one of the
most citable items that OSHA writes each year. To prove
my point, please inspect any of your electrical panel boxes
and open the outer door. Now look at each breaker and
see if it is properly annotated on the legend sheet. Are
each of the breakers marked? If so, do they go to the right
energy source? If not, think of what could happen if you or
someone in your facility needed to shut the power off in
an emergency.
In the United States, 3,600 disabling and 4,000 nondisabling
electrical contact injuries occur annually. In addition
to these injuries, one person dies from electrocution
in the workplace every day, making this the fourth leading
cause of workplace deaths.
These Department of Labor statistics are startling, yet
they do not tell the whole story. This data only represents
the incidents that must be reported. Other types of
injuries, along with near-miss situations, are not reported.
A near-miss is an electrical incident in which no one is
injured and the electrical equipment is not damaged. Here
is another accident that could have been prevented if this
employee would have just Locked-out and Tagged-out the
energy source before working on a lamp.
From Official OSHA Files:
The employee was attempting to correct an electrical
problem involving two non-operational lamps. He proceeded
to the area where he thought the problem was. He
had not shut off the power at the circuit breaker panel nor
had he tested the wires to see if they were live. He was
electrocuted when he grabbed the two live wires with his
left hand and then fell from the ladder.
Inspection Results
As a result of its investigation, OSHA issued citations
alleging three serious violations. OSHA’s construction
standards include several requirements which, if they had
been followed here, might have prevented this fatality.
Accident Prevention Recommendations
The employer should not allow work to be done on electrical
circuits unless an effective lock-out/tag-out program
is implemented [29 CFR 1926.416(a)(1)].
The employer should not allow work to be done on energized
electrical circuits or circuits which are not positively
de-energized or tagged out [29 CFR 1926.417(a)
and.417(c)].
Safety is everyone’s business. If someone would have
taken the time to conduct their job properly this person
would not have been injured. Please review your electrical
circuits and make sure employees know how to use electricity
safely!
Let me leave you with this safety poem. I try to live it
each day and get very upset when someone asks me to
overlook a simple safety hazard. I do not have the authors
name so if anyone knows who wrote it, please let me know.
I chose to look the other way,
I could have saved a life that day,
But I chose to look the other way.
It wasn’t that I didn’t care,
I had the time, and I was there.
But I didn’t want to seem a fool,
Or argue over a safety rule.
I knew he’d done the job before,
If I spoke up, he might get sore.
The chances didn’t seem that bad,
I’d done the same, He knew I had.
So I shook my head and walked on by,
He knew the risks as well as I.
He took the chance, I closed an eye,
And with that act, I let him die.
I could have saved a life that day,
But I chose to look the other way.
Now every time I see his wife,
I’ll know, I should have saved his life.
That guilt is something I must bear,
But it isn’t something you need to share.
If you see a risk that others take,
That puts their health or life at stake.
The questions asked, or thing you say,
Could help them live another day.
If you see a risk and walk away,
Then hope you never have to say,
I could have saved a life that day,
But I chose to look the other way.
For more information, click on the author biography at the top of this page.
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