WRITTEN FOR ALLEN & YORK
BY - ROD TRIPPIER (FREELANCE - HEALTH & SAFETY ADVISER) - The views expressed in this article, are not necessarily those held by Allen & York.
Each of Rod's articles will contain his opinions, anecdotes observations, topical tips and useful references from the world of Health and Safety. And we would like to you to join the discussions and give us your views on the HSE industry.
SO, WHAT IS HEALTH & SAFETY?
Basically it’s human and asset management; with the emphasis on asset. Not because asset safety is more important than human safety. It’s just that if we get the work-place, plant machinery and equipment controls in place, we help remove or reduce a high proportion of the inherent significant risks, leaving us to concentrate on the people risks, i.e., the silly things that are done in the work-place; driving plant on a construction site whilst using a mobile ‘phone springs to mind.
If we were to look at the people issues first we’d be in danger of muddying the waters by mixing work-place and task risks with people risks, struggling to develop “one size fits all” controls, it doesn’t work.
WHAT IS THE JOB OF A HEALTH & SAFETY PROFESSIONAL?
So, as Health & Safety professionals it’s our job to help make a positive contribution to profitability. Do I hear howls of disagreement? Profit from Health & Safety I hear you say, we’re only here to stop accidents. No we’re not, it’s our function to help make the job run safer, smoother, and more profitably; protecting our executives, managers and operatives, and others, often from themselves. Not forgetting the guy who breaks into our premises, falls down an uncovered and unguarded inspection chamber, fractures a leg, and who might successfully claim for negligence.
That’s why a good Health & Safety professional needs to know his/her industry well, and to make valued judgements based on experience of the process, and the business, giving advice and support to all sectors of the enterprise, and to look for ways of solving and resolving Health, Safety and Environmental issues whilst keeping the job going. In this respect, “Reasonably Practicable” is a very powerful tool, it can help us make some very wise decisions, and without the need to issue Red Cards or “Stop Notices” at the first hint of a non-compliance.
RECENT CASE STUDY
On a recent construction project for a very large retailer, the P.C. constructed a temporary stair-case from scaffolding, facilitating access to the first floor whilst dismantling the existing stair-case. Approximately two hours after completion, the P.C’s own health and safety advisor taped off the stairs; didn’t use barriers, just tape, and then stuck condemned stickers in prominent places and walked off, threatening to “Red Card” anybody who dared to use it. Did he involve and consult, and did he say what the issues were? No. This is a poor example of how to implement robust control measures, and a not an untypical example of why Health and Safety gets such a bad press.
So what were the issues? No edge protection. Could this have presented a significant hazard? Unlikely given that the installation was not being worked off and therefore with little risk of tools or materials falling. Might the landing platform be worked off today, or later? Yes, some electrical containment was planned for fitting to an adjacent wall some time later in the week.
Solution; assuming the scaffolders to be off site, have a quick chat to the “chippy”, or to one of “the lads”, to see if there were any spare scaffold planks, quickly fixing them in place. Then, contact the Supervisor, and agree and plan a permanent solution, setting a “reasonable”, achievable time scale for completion. So, by making a “sensible decision” guided by regulation, e.g., a suitable and sufficient risk assessment, and the non-compliance rectified in a “reasonably practicable” time scale. The stair-case did not have to be taken out of service; everybody happy and job done, not forgetting to file the risk assessment, and update the SHE Advisor’s personal daily log.
Health and Safety can also get a bad name because of “knee jerk” reactions from apparently untrained people who rather than making an informed decision, it seems, will make one without consultation with a Health and Safety advisor, or if it was, possibly the H & S advisor got over-ruled. Conkers and goggles spring to mind, or councils that ban hanging baskets where previously hanging baskets had hung for decades without incident. And to see members of the Time Team walking round fields digging up artefacts whilst wearing hard hats at jaunty angles, makes one wonder just how many blocks of frozen urine fall from passing aircraft.
ASSESS THE 'SIGNIFICANT' RISK
The HSE make the point very strongly; where there are people, there will always be risk. So what is it we are trying to achieve when it comes to managing risk; do we strive to eliminate all risks? No, we’re actually setting out to eliminate, or reduce only the significant ones. And a brief read of RIDDOR will provide the answers, detailing the categories that quantify the word “significant”.
What else can we look at to determine significant risk? Related industry statistics, yes; frequency of different incident types, yes; HSE accident statistics, yes; in-house records, yes. But don’t use data that doesn’t apply to your sector.
There are many people who believe there is no such thing as an accident, simply that it’s a number of un-planned events coming together simultaneously; emphasis on the word un-planned. Therefore, if it is likely that a process can fail, or a person can get harmed, or a piece of plant/machinery/asset can get damaged, it’s our job, to try and prevent it by being our employer’s/client’s conscience.
Therefore, preventing people from getting harmed is not just the preserve of health and safety professionals. Preventing harm is a management function, resulting from tasks and processes being carried out correctly and to time. Good health and safety is achieved through good management systems, processes and practices; and as it happens, it’s also the way to help achieve improved productivity and profitability.
To be a good health and safety professional we have to get involved with the work-force; talk to people, find out what the issues are, and help get them resolved quickly, keeping people “in the frame”, especially if progress is slow. Not only do we have to understand regulation, and be able to apply it effectively, we also have to understand our industry or sector, and be able to empathise with it, and the people who work in it, and be all things to all people at all times, and that includes the HSE/EHO.
WHAT TO DO NEXT
Here’s your “Must Do” for tomorrow;
- If you don’t know who your local HMFI or EHO is, get on the ‘phone, introduce yourself, get him or her round for a chat, and find out what their issues are.
- If you haven’t already done so before, organise a half day training session with your HMFI/EHO as speaker, and invite directors and senior managers to hear what the HSE are majoring in on. You’ll be surprised how quickly attitudes change, particularly if Corporate Manslaughter is discussed.
It’s not the knowing that brings success; it’s the understanding, the application, and the passion.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? ............Please POST A COMMENT
3 comments:
ROD TRIPPIER Column.
As a Health and Safety Professional who has worked all over the world and currentlyin Singapore I agree with most of what has been said, however I have a couple of comments to add and a question to ask.
1. Under the heading "conkers & goggles" I believe that some of the bad name that is attached to Safety Professionals is brought on by our own kind. Today, worldwide (including a very large site in London) there are so called Safety Professionals who do thier business with a camera, take the picture then 4 days later a letter hits your desk asking what you are going to do about it, the person concerned was never challenged and the name is not known - now, is that SAFETY??
2. Supervision - in our modern day I have found that supervisors are only reponsible and accountable when something goes wrong, they have no authority (surely something that is vital to thier success up the management ladder. My fear is that within ten years the supervisor who eventually becomes a manager will not be capable of making a decsion beause he has never been allowed to.
Q. What is your Safety Experts opinion on "micro management and nanny state", as that appears to be thje way forward - I hope not!!
I am a Safety Professional with a little above 5 years of practice.
When I read Rod's defination of Health and Safety laying emphasis on assets rather than humans, I said to myself "I don't agree with this." On reading further, I realised that I have just learnt a new dimension to it, I see the whole issue in a brither light now and have changed my mind. I agree with him.
balneil Thank you for your comments - Rod replies.......
"Very many thanks for your comments, and I’d like to reply as follows;
1)In a word, NO.
This type of approach leads to frustration and can lead to non-cooperation. But, and this is the tragedy; if the employer has asked the safety advisor to make observations and send memos to record non-compliances, then as a service provider there is very little a health and safety practitioner can do. May be the employer is only interested in marketing fear in order to achieve compliance, or, on the other hand, it could be that the employer’s instruction has been misinterpreted and misapplied. Either way this should have been discussed and resolved at the weekly site health and safety meeting(s).
But, it must be said, in order to measure results of the health and safety observance process, whether the culture is prescriptive or proactive, we have to log non-compliance, otherwise we lose useful information. Because this data is required to develop a scoring process, helping identify the key safety issues so that measures can be put in place to help reduce further non-compliances, and, more importantly run safer sites.
2) Supervisors, foremen, charge hands, call them what you will, are in a very difficult position.
They are given a badge of office, seldom receive appropriate training, particularly in the construction sector, and as you say, can get the blame when something goes wrong. Use of the word blame will be discussed further in a future article.
The common mistake is to select a person for a supervisory role because he/she is good at their job, then failing to support them in the new role, particularly in safety matters. This is where a good health and safety practitioner can help, by giving the support and confidence required. Once site personnel get to know and can trust the “safety man”, issues will be closed out as they occur, and the project will run much more smoothly. The supervisor gets an opportunity to work directly with safety issues, and the KPI scoring process can still be employed.
On the final point;'The Nanny State'
Unfortunately (in my opinion) we are in a nanny state and this is being reflected even more, particularly on construction sites. However, the problem has been prevalent in other industries for years. The hard hat is a question in point; these don’t have to be worn where there is no risk from falling objects. But this is difficult to manage because people take them off, then, forget to put them back on again as conditions change. If we could train people to manage their own activities and self-regulate, we wouldn’t need to impose blanket rules."
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