By Andy McNab
Anyone who has
worked in the
paper industry for any length of time has experienced many different
safety initiatives that have met with varying degrees of success.
Overall, many mills have been highly successful in implementing
safety processes or standards with measurable improvements documented.
Historically, the
UK paper industry did not have a good record in safety. However,
the last 15-20 years have brought major improvements. The Health
and Safety Executive (HSE), together with various bodies within
the paper industry, have rectified the poor safety situation and
established a higher standard of safety for the industry. Additionally,
the hard lessons learned in Western Europe and the USA were used
to help establish a good safety standard for the industry, thereby
enabling new mills in existing and emerging markets to quickly
develop usable and reliable safety systems standards. Although
the paper industry has had some great results and good systems
are in place, room for improvement still exists.
Based on my 30 years
of experience in both the chemical industry and paper industry,
I offer the following insights on safety and offer a systematic
approach towards to yield improved safety results: setting safety
goals; implementing a safety management system; and establishing
a sustainable safety culture
Setting safety goals
Goals 1: 100 % of
safety incidents
are preventable: Quite often either human error
or a system failure is the root cause of accidents and incidents.
Specific root cause(s) should always be identified, analyzed and
understood. A lack of knowledge or understanding of the risk and/or
lack of training are commonly identified as causes of human error.
A partial list of other causes includes: taking unacceptable risks;
not using the correct procedures; not using the correct tools;
taking short cuts; not wearing or using the appropriate personal
protective equipment (PPE)
Often a pattern emerges
from the review of safety-related incidents and their root causes.
To be 100% effective in safety in any industry, we must strive
to overcome human error and gain a measure of control.
When DuPont developed its safety management system in the mid
1990s, it identified several safety principles. Number one on
the list was: "all injuries and illnesses are preventable".
Following the implementation of its safety management system,
DuPont claimed that several of its plants with more than 1000
employees had run for more than 10 years with no lost time injury.1
Goal 2: learn from every accident - they should never be repeated:
This should be at the top of every company's mission statement
and safety goals. If a root cause analysis is performed and appropriate
policies and procedures implemented, then by virtue of those safety
policies and procedures being in place and enforced, that accident
should not be repeatable.
Furthermore, the safety goals for every company, quite simply,
should include Goal 3: The safety goal of every company should
be zero accidents
and zero incidents.
Companies often set more modest annual goals based on past safety
performance, which may initially provide more realistic targets.
Interim targets are workable as long as the ultimate goal is zero.
If zero is not the ultimate target, where would we set the target?
How would we determine an acceptable level of accidents, injuries
and, potentially, lost lives? To achieve the above goals, you
need a plan, specifically, a safety management system.
Safety management system
To develop and implement a successful safety management system
you must, at least,
complete the following
steps: identify your business process and measure and compare
to relevant standards and to established legislation limits; study
the market in which you are selling and the restrictions on finished
or semifinished goods, current and proposed; identify safety procedures
and controls and implement a formalized safety program; then train,
monitor, and record; use a safety management system to test and
review the data collected to ensure that progress is being made.
Both internal and external third party inspections and audits
can be useful.
The first two steps are beyond the scope of this article and so
I begin with step
3. To achieve safety
goals, a formalized safety program should be implemented to ensure
that everyone applies the same principles and methodology. In
step 4, a safety management system must be designed and implemented
to monitor the safety program through inspections, audits and
continual reviews to ensure the program is up to date and sustainable.
Finally, to sustain safety successes, you must adopt a culture
of change and bring about behaviour changes in the workplace.
Formalizing the safety program: Many companies opt for a safety
program that includes elements of the DuPont system noted above.
The following list summarizes and paraphrases the key points of
the DuPont system, which can be refined as needed for your application.
• All injuries and illnesses are preventable
• Management
is responsible and accountable
• Safety is a condition of
employment - very high profile
• Safety training is required
for all employees
• Safety audits and inspections must be
regularly undertaken
• Deficiencies/faults must be corrected
immediately
• All injuries and incidents must be reported
and investigated
• Safety is important at work and away from
work
• Accident prevention is cost effective and beneficial
• All
employees should be actively involved and contribute to the process
at all levels
It sounds simple and in principle it is; therefore, try not to
over-complicate matters. If necessary, break the system down into
more manageable pieces and tackle them in order of priority. Place
at the top of the list the high risks (high potential of serious
injury or fatality) and the risks with the most possible human
interactions (high population).
As with any system there is a hierarchy of controls to consider.
The controls should follow this process: eliminate the hazard
or human interactions; reduce the hazard, ie add guards/engineering
controls; develop process/procedural controls and monitor their
use and effectiveness; and provide and require the use of personal
protective equipment (PPE).
As always, PPE is noted as the last control to consider. However,
in practice it is usually the first option taken because it is
readily available and relatively inexpensive. If PPE is used as
the first line of defence, then make sure the correct PPE is used
and provide adequate training while continuing to look to more
permanent solutions.
Establishing the safety management system: A process for managing
the safety program must be defined before the safety program can
be implemented. Anyone who has dealt with ISO standards or quality
audits knows the basic formula of most quality control systems,
which is applicable to establishing a safety management system.
PLAN > DO > CHECK > ADJUST > REVIEW
Some of the benefits of a well-defined and executed safety
management system include: satisfying
outside bodies that
there is a management system in place; gaining support from all
employees and motivating and educating them to play an active
role in safety; providing risk and hazard controls for all processes
on and off-site; and gaining compliance with regulatory bodies
and standards by operating a suitable inspection program.
Adopting a safety program in conjunction with a safety management
system will and should bring other benefits including improved,
sustained safety (the primary goal) but also increased workforce
morale and involvement. If implemented wisely, it should also
bring additional cost savings (ie improved process efficiencies,
reduced injuries, etc).
Sustaining safety program successes: Sustaining all the
safety improvements
and benefits resulting from your hard work requires constant maintenance
and reviews of the safety program. Failure to do this will inevitably
result in a breakdown and thus a recurrence of poor results and
an increase in accident rates. Unfortunately, following the initial
success and reduction in accident rates, many companies find that
results do drift back to previous levels or worse, if no attention
and maintenance is given to the safety program. Only by focus
and continuous improvement can the results be sustained.
Many companies believe that once a management system is in place,
the end to accidents is on the horizon. Indeed, this is a large
step toward the zero accidents goal. However, to truly strive
toward the ultimate goal of zero accidents, another, complementary
approach is also needed; one that can evolve and change to keep
up with the fast pace of business practices and process changes.
To gain truly impressive results in safety, changes to the culture
of the business and
employee behaviour must occur. In other words, once all the processes
and procedures are in place as described previously, the emphasis
can shift to the behaviour and actions of the workforce. Then
we can see a shift to zero accidents.
Culture changes: Many culture change systems have been adopted
and tried with varying success. One of the causes of failure was
that these systems were often management led with minimal workforce
support or involvement. Thus, they were doomed from the start.
Changing the culture of a company must include every level and
involve the entire workforce. Everyone has to buy into the process
and believe it will work to bring some benefits. This is not always
an easy sell. Thus, the benefits of a culture change system must
be well communicated and demonstrated for all to understand.
Peer pressure is one of the greatest forces for change. So by
changing the behaviour and attitudes of some of the workforce,
thereby developing a positive safety culture, a company will be
fortified by subsequent positive peer pressure. This peer pressure
will also reinforce the culture for safe working practices throughout
the company. Once the culture of a company changes, employee behaviour
often follows.
Behaviour changes: Why do we have to focus on the behaviour and
actions of the workforce? Consider the following example: If an
individual takes a short cut in a job to finish early, risk is
increased because the required safety procedures are not completely
correctly. However, the benefit can be an early finish.
Consequently, if the job is completed without injury, the individual
would be more apt to repeat this short cut every time the job
is performed, so that it becomes habitual. It may even become
part of on-the-job training to others. This is a simple example
of how changes to work practices (which quite often can be unknown
to the managers or safety people) occur and can lead to future
injuries.
To facilitate behaviour changes, behaviour based safety (BBS)
systems have emerged in differing formats. The basic concept of
this system is to develop a 'trusted' self audit type approach
with co-worker watching co-worker and each checking that the other
is adopting the safest behaviour and processes for the job being
completed. BBS should be based on a positive observation and feedback
approach which focuses on problem solving and improvements. It
should not be presented as an approach for criticism or discipline.
If this happens, these systems will appear to be management-led,
employees will become skeptical, and the system will be doomed
to fail. Initiating the process only after obtaining union support
and involving trusted, interested parties in the work force, such
as safety representatives, should help ensure the success of the
system.
Conclusions
To become a truly world-class company, an exceptional safety record
and performance is
a must. This can
be achieved by: setting
safety goals; implementing
a safety management system; and establishing a sustainable safety
culture. Continuously improving your safety management systems,
and therefore your safety record, is critical to your business
success. To achieve the ultimate goal of zero accidents requires
the additional step of developing and maintaining a positive safety
culture. Improvements in safety have been shown to increase productivity,
reduce sick time, and promote a healthier, more highly motivated
work force. Demonstrating a good health and safety record may
enable a company to attract, employ, and maintain a high level,
professional staff. Furthermore, a good health and safety record
demonstrates to customers our full compliance with health and
safety legislation. This is increasingly important as the world
market becomes truly global. TW
REFERENCE 1 St. John Holt, Allan. Principles of Health and Safety
at Work 5th Ed. 1999. IOSH services print.
| Andy McNab is European
Applications Team Manager with Hercules Incorporated based
in the UK. |
Safety
crucial to business success
