In my column last week, we asked "When it comes to safety in our mills today as compared to the past, do you believe we are..."
83.3 percent answered "More safe," and 16.7 percent said "About the same."
Next, we asked, "Do you think mill safety can be improved beyond its current level?"
75 percent answered "Strongly agree," and 25 percent answered "Agree."
Finally, we asked, "Any safety topics you would like for us to discuss this month?"
Some of the responses:
> Sprains and strains caused by an aging work force.
> I find too much emphasis is placed on the safety pyramid I.e. 1000 minor accidents = 100 serious accidents = 1 fatality. I'm not convinced the same approach to slips and trips works for major accidents. But does a greater emphasis on safety culture result in less major incidents anyway? An interesting discussion.
> Effective safety training.
> new technology in regards to safety
> 1) Overcoming the "human nature" desire to do things the quickest, easiest and most productive way instead of the lowest risk way. 2) How leadership can consider what conditions they allow or messages they send that contributes to employees taking risks.
> As you point out, a good safety attitude leads to safe behavior and that leads to safe work. a)However, if leadership does not lead by example, attitude and focus on safety above ALL else, employee attitude will follow. Fatalities have resulted from putting the focus on production efficiency to the point that employees violate safe work practices to avoid stopping production. A manager does not have to state the production is more important than safety. Attitude speaks as clearly as words. b)Near-misses must be tracked, get follow-up, be encouraged and NEVER lead to discipline. They are the indicators of a problem, need for a change (method, equipment, training, attitude). A broad base of near-miss reports at the bottom of the safety triangle will result in fewer more serious incidents. c)Good housekeeping and safety results are directly correlated (it has been statistically proven in the former Weyerhaeuser mills). They have the same foundation in attitude that leads to behavior. d)Safety data measures success, but over-emphasis on the numbers (giving away a pick-up truck in a drawing if the mill sets a record) has led to false reporting, keeping an employee on a job (any job) to avoid lost time, when the employee should have been recuperating at home. It's hard to work a desk job in a wheel chair with a cast on your leg. A return-to-work program will reduce the length of lost work days, but it must be part of the recovery process, not the statistics. e)Line employees should be the leaders of the safety program, not managers and supervisors. They know what safe work practices should be. f)Incident investigations must get to the root cause. Simply ask "Why?" until it can't be asked any longer. This means that if the leadership attitude is the root cause, it will be identified. Stopping at "the employee made a mistake" almost always means that the investigation was superficial. WHY did he/she take the action? OK....that is a short list.
This week's quiz can be found here.
Jim goes over the Quiz results during the Tech Center Show on Pulp & Paper Radio International every Monday.
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