Coping with hidden hazards is everyone's job
One US study showed that for every major injury, there were 600 close-call incidents, involving neither visible injury nor damage. Ferreting out hidden hazards requires both the employer and the employee to do more than just meet legislated requirements.
"It involves significant effort," says Michael Lawler, a DuPont safety professional. "It's not the safety officer's job, it's everyone's role. People need to believe they are their brother's keeper. People need to know they are going to be held accountable," he told delegates at the recent Industrial Accident Prevention Association (IAPA) Health and Safety 2003 conference in Toronto.
The best approach to health and safety is for companies to be proactive and expect that the unexpected will occur, he says.
"Incidents and injuries frequently result from unsafe or inappropriate actions and behaviors," says Lawler. "A lot of things are swept under the mat."
By ignoring obvious hazards and risks a supervisor, worker or company is "allowing something to happen or leaving a trap for someone else."
Key premises in incident and injury prevention include achieving a goal of zero incidents or injuries and being diligent in eliminating and/or controlling obvious hazards and risks, both in behaviors and the work environment.
"Make sure you work on the right things and exercise personal discipline in managing your work environment," Lawler told fellow safety professionals.
The next step is to begin searching out less obvious or hidden hazards. A tragic example of a hidden hazard involved the Apollo 1 fire that killed three astronauts during a routine launch simulation in January 1967. Although preparations had been made in case a fire occurred in space, nobody had envisioned (much less prepared for) a fire breaking out when the command module was still on the ground.
Lawler suggests using a digital camera to take pictures of safety hazards. These pictures can be shown at safety meetings and can set the stage for a hidden hazard recognition workshop for workers.
The idea is to gather workers together and ask them to identify two or three safety concerns in their work areas they believe could contribute to a major injury or other incident. These concerns should be written on individual stick-on notes and when everyone is finished each person should place one note on a wall or blackboard and discuss briefly why he or she believes it's a hazard.
Next, attendees should be asked to pick out the top three items most likely to result in a major injury or incident. Actions required to eliminate these risks, complete with specific recommendations, should then be developed and reviewed monthly or quarterly.
"Employees choose the things that need to be worked on. It's not management's process forcing something down the workers' throats," says Lawler.
He says DuPont has used such a system for a number of years. "It's a great way of getting employee buy-in."