K.I.C - Safety Graduates

Iam sure this has happened to you
You’re doing an inspection, and you find what you think is an obvious hazard. You turn to the closest worker and ask, “Hey! What happened here? How long has it been like that?”
And then you get the one answer that you never want to hear. “A while. I figured someone would fix it eventually.” 🤦‍♀️

But the employee never reported it themselves. 🤷‍♂️ They never told anyone.

✅ They saw the hazard

⚠ They recognized it could hurt someone

⛔ But, they waited for someone else to do something about it.

The safety hazard itself is an issue to be corrected. But non reporting is a bigger problem. One that you DO NOT want to ignore.
One of the biggest reasons hazards go unreported is that we don’t make it convenient to report them. We come up with complicated forms that are hard to find, and it’s not clear where to turn them into.

In Safety Management there is an entire lesson dedicated to getting employees to report hazards.

But, let me share one of the BEST secrets with you…🤫

..simplify your forms.

It’s only ½ page
There are only a few lines for the employee to fill out
And their name is optional
But having a simple form is not the end of the process. They need to be easy to get a hold of.

Don’t keep these forms in one place. Have them everywhere.

⏩ Break Rooms

⏩ Work Stations

⏩ On equipment

⏩ Outside Your office, the supervisors, the managers

⏩ Basically everywhere

And then have several places to turn them in. You can put a box in the break room or outside your office. Have them turn them in with their daily work paperwork such as pick sheets, order sheets, or equipment inspections.

The key is to make it as easy as possible for them to report every little thing.
Of course, you then need to act on it, so they know you’re paying attention, but that’s part two, right?

Chat again soon, Have a Safe night.

Culture is an ‘invisible power’ in the organization, that drives, influences, and guides the behaviors of all members of that business. It lives in the perceptions of people, or in simpler terms, in what they ‘believe is the right thing to do where the ‘right thing’ is open to many interpretations.
The ‘right thing’ is mostly defined by management, the leaders, and they translate the requirements for this to everyone else. They design processes to ensure it happens as wanted, they tell everyone what to do - and then they measure whether it has happened.
But then it all goes off the rails!
The message is either misunderstood, or deliberately distorted because it does not suit people lower down the line – especially the middle managers and the supervisors. They have ‘designed’ their work practices over a long time, to minimize effort and maximize outcomes.
Now management want to see more of different efforts, because ‘they’ believe it will create more or better outcomes…but how do they know, how could they know? They don’t know…
Takeaway:
What is culture and how do you measure it?
What is ‘safe’ and how do you measure this?
What does a ‘deepsafe’ look like?
Creating a new power in your company…

10 Good Housekeeping Rules For A Tidy Construction Site:

Good housekeeping is more than news.
On construction sites, good housekeeping refers to the practice of keeping your site clean and tidy.

Should you really bother trying to make a construction site a clean and tidy place? Construction work is messy after all, and if you clean up now there will only be more mess later.

Yes, you should practice good housekeeping! A tidy work area reduces the risk of accidents and increases fire safety.

Not only that, but it will actually make your work more productive, and could actually save you money. Because when a site is organised and tidy and everyone knows where everything is, they spend less time looking for things, and more time getting on with things!

This is all well and good in theory, but let's face it, tidying up is one of the jobs that tend to end up last on the list.

On sites, for example, tidying up tends to be left until the end of the shift. But that just means you’re exposing yourself and others to trip hazards all day long and that’s when the accidents will happen.

So here are 10 good housekeeping rules for a tidy site. Implement these, and you should see a reduction in slip and trip accidents and near misses to your workforce.

1. Designate an area for rubbish and waste.
After all, if you want your work area free from waste materials, you need somewhere to put them. This could be a skip or other waste disposal bin depending on the amount of waste. Best practice is to segregate waste types for reuse, recycle or landfill.

2. Stack and store materials safely.
You need materials and tools for use throughout the project, store them safely. Poorly stacked materials can block access routes or topple over causing crushing injuries or damage to property.

3. Maintain a safe work area.
Check your work area at regular intervals throughout the day and clear up as you go along. If trip hazards and mess is starting to build up, sort it out sooner rather than later.

4. Keep access routes clear.
A safe work area includes access and egress. Do not leave materials/tools/benches etc in gangways/corridors where they might impede someone’s escape or cause a trip hazard (it might be you or a colleague who needs to get out in a hurry).

5. Put tools away when you’re done.
If tools or equipment are out of use, put them away. It’s easy to leave items lying around, but if you won’t be needing them again in a hurry, put them away. If it’s out of use, it should be out of sight, or at least out from under your feet!

6. Set a tidy example.
Just because it’s not yours, doesn’t mean it’s not your responsibility. If you see anything lying on floors, stairways, passages that could cause people to trip and fall, pick it up and put it in a safe place DON’T WAIT FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO MOVE IT.

7. If it is broken, fix it.
Fix it, or ditch it. Good housekeeping is also about keeping things in good working order on site. Damaged tools or equipment must be taken out of use and immediate steps are taken to have them repaired and put them somewhere safe.

8. Don’t let cables trip you up.
Trailing leads and cables from equipment are common trip hazards, particularly when using portable equipment. You may not have a socket close the working area, but make sure you route the lead away from walkways or access points. Route cables where they do not cause a trip hazard to you or to others.

9. Avoid fire risks.
Make sure waste or the storage of materials does not build up in fire escapes as you may need to use these escapes at some point. Don’t allow waste materials to be stored close to sources of ignition. If all rubbish is regularly collected and put into the skip, in the event of the fire, the danger is confined and more easily dealt with.

10. Make others aware.
A tidy work area requires commitment from everyone. Raise awareness on site with our free good housekeeping toolbox talk. Get everyone practising the same good housekeeping techniques and you will be on your way to a tidy, and safe site, for everyone.

Worker Health and Safety is Up to Management

When employers care about workers and their safety, workers respond by becoming enthusiastic about what they do. They tackle work related issues with creativity. They invest more energy in protecting the business. We protect those that protect us.

At home, we care about our family’s safety because we care about our family, if management doesn’t care about employee safety; it’s most likely due to indifference. They don’t care about the employees, only what the employees provide to the company.

Management teams that value their employees will work to create safety cultures. They will also reap all the rewards that come from loyal, engaged employees. These are the companies that will thrive.

A simple Google search of “best global companies to work for,” will display many successful companies that place high value on their employees.

Worker safety, well-being and happiness are forefront to management. These companies understand the importance of worker engagement. They care about employees and it shows in the work environments they provide.

It’s not a matter of safety; it’s a matter of indifference versus caring. Management cares or it doesn’t. What about your management team? How does management view your workforce? Are you a family? Do you protect each other?

Companies that care about employee’s well-being will enjoy the many benefits a loyal workforce can provide. This will include fewer accidents and a much more enjoyable work atmosphere.

Accident Prevention

Definition - What does Accident Prevention mean?
Accident prevention refers to the plans, preparations, and actions taken to avoid accidents or stop them from taking place.

Accident prevention includes all measures taken in an effort to save lives, escape from injury, lessen the degrees of injury, avoid damage to property, reduce treatment and compensation costs, and prevent the loss of productive time and morale.
Safety Management Systems:
The Path to Measuring, Increasing and Sustaining Employee Engagement
OSH explains Accident Prevention
The old proverb that "an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure" holds true for workplace accidents. It is much better to prevent an adverse event from happening than to try to fix the damage after it has already happened.

While it's impossible for employers to predict every single accident, it is their duty to anticipate that accidents will happen and put control measures in place to prevent them or lessen the damage they cause. They have a legal obligation to comply with the laws, standard practices, and safety observations to avoid emergencies and accidents.

Many accidents occur due to human factors, such as:

1.Unsafe behavior
2.Inattention
3.Negligence
4.Lack of knowledge
5.Inadequate training
6.Working conditions is another leading factor of accidents. Unsafe working conditions can include faulty machines, bad work design, substandard processes, and occupational hazards.

Accidents will continue to happen if preventative measures are not taken. Accident prevention can be achieved by commitment and cooperation between management, safety programs, safety culture, and accountability. Prevention requires the following actions:

Conducting a risk assessment to identify hazards
Using research and development to optimize work processes and eliminate hazards
Taking unsafe machinery and tools out of service immediately
Improving working conditions and the workplace environment
Ensuring trainings

Construction site safety is one of the most overlooked things during a construction project. In most workplaces, accidents are a nuisance for the worker and a headache for HR. However, at construction sites, accidents have the potential to be life-threatening. With every new story about environmental disasters, earth-shattering explosions, and trapped laborers, construction sites become less and less appealing — even as the population grows and demands new, updated structures increases.
Construction work is one of the most dangerous professions. And work on the job site is where most accidents occur. Employers do need to mitigate safety hazards to construction workers, but workers need to keep in mind a lot of precautions themselves when working in such hazardous conditions. Thus, construction industry leaders must strive to safeguard their employees — if not for ethical reasons, then for the economic ones. Here are eight ways construction businesses can reduce workplace accidents and promote construction site safety.

1. Awareness

Before any worker — no matter his or her role or experience level — can set foot on a construction site, he or she must be fully aware of the possible hazards. Ignorant workers are perhaps the biggest dangers in any industry, as their unknowing mistakes put everyone else at risk. Understanding of perils at hand and sustaining a perpetual state of alertness is perhaps the number-one best way to prevent accidents. To become aware of such risks and how to avoid them,
OSHA Safety Check Lists. Every single person that steps foot onto a construction site should be aware of the risks associated with the job and how to prevent them with their knowledge of construction site safety.

It is the construction managers job to make sure that every worker is aware of the dangers that come with working on a construction site and they must protect workers from these dangers.

Construction work is a hazardous land-based job. Some construction site jobs include: building houses, roads, tree forts, workplaces and repair and maintain infrastructures. This work includes many hazardous task and conditions such as working with height, excavation, noise, dust, power tools and equipmen.

Good morning all, I have created this page for all the safety professionals that passed through this college for the purpose of sharing information and ideas. You are all welcome.