Four residential construction sites shut down due to safety concerns
Four residential construction sites in North Canberra have been issued prohibition notices and 14 improvement notices by WorkSafe ACT for serious safety breaches.
The sites were shut down after inspectors identified concerns including fall from height risks due to non-compliant scaffolding; slip, trip and fall risks due to poor housekeeping; insecure fencing allowi ng unauthorised access to dangerous worksites; and no toilet facilities for workers.
Work Health and Safety Commissioner Jacqueline Agius said these types of safety breaches are far too common. Last week after 11 construction sites were shut down for safety issues.
“We are continually seeing the same types of safety issues at residential construction sites across the ACT,” she said.
“Basic health and safety requirements, like having proper scaffolding and fall protection, is not negotiable.
“We will continue working with industry to help improve the safety culture in residential construction, but we will also keep issuing notices to companies who blatantly disregard their legal obligations to maintain a safe workplace.”
Sharing great news on plastics worker safety We recently reported one of the most positive stories I can remember in our 31-year history: The U.S. plastics industry is becoming a safer place to work.
Steve Toloken crunched the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data and discovered that injury and illness rates in plastics processing plants have dropped about 20 percent in the last decade. The rate in 2018 fell to a record low of 3.8 cases per 100 full-time equivalent workers. Just 10 years ago, the rate was 5.1 per 100 workers.
Some of the credit goes to improving safety in all manufacturing plants. According to the National Safety Council, the injury rate for manufacturing across the board has fallen from 4.3 to 3.4 between 2009-18. NSC credits workers’ compensation laws, government oversight through agencies like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, safety training and attempts to promote safety culture in organizations.
Drilling down more specifically into plastics, it’s also possible that strategies that identify and address “near misses” are helping to improve safety, according to the Plastics Industry Association in Washington.
There is one significant caveat: According to the BLS data, smaller plastics factories remain much more dangerous places to work than larger facilities.
Employees at plastics plants with between 50 and 249 workers were nearly twice as likely to be injured on the job, according to the government data.
That’s proof that, with more professional attention and more resources to invest in automation and technology, there’s still room for smaller firms to improve.
Safety must be every company’s top priority. It is encouraging to see progress. Let’s stay vigilant and continue to improve.
TVA fined $606K, two executives reprimanded over actions against former employees
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission is assessing a penalty of almost $607,000 against TVA and punishing two TVA executives after an investigation found they sought to punish two employees who came forward to express legally protected concerns.
The actions follow an NRC investigation into the conduct of Joseph Shea, identified as vice president of nuclear technology innovation at TVA’s corporate office, and Erin Henderson, then the director of corporate nuclear licensing at TVA. … The NRC found essentially that Henderson and Shea discriminated against the two unnamed employees who raised concerns about a chilled work environment that discouraged them from talking about safety concerns.
According to a public notice Tuesday, the NRC found that Shea and Henderson “engaged in deliberate misconduct.”
“The NRC is prohibiting (Shea) from any involvement in NRC-licensed activities for five years, since he was a decision-maker for the adverse employee actions. The NRC is issuing a Notice of Violation to (Henderson).”
According to NRC records, the case dates back several years ago when a whistleblowing employee at the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant operated by TVA in Soddy-Daisy, Tenn., expressed concerns about the regulatory response to violations regarding operations at the plant.
The now former employee was legally protected to speak up to Henderson from a safety context. The employee also filed a complaint alleging Henderson had created “a chilled work environment,” records state.
Ep.40 When should we trust expert opinions about risk?
EPISODE NOTES To frame our conversation, we use one of Drew’s papers to discuss this issue. This paper, Forecasts or Fortune-Telling,was borne out of deep frustration.
Topics:
The two questions the paper sought to answer. What we mean by “expertise”. Forecasting. Determining the value of a given expert. Biases in reporting and researching. Super-forecasting. Wisdom of crowds. Better ways to get better answers. Why mathematical models aren’t as helpful as we think. Practical takeaways.
Quotes:
“Is it best to grab ten oncologists and take the average of their opinions?”
“But there is this possibility that there are some people who are better at managing their own cognitive biases than others. And it’s not to do with domain expertise, it’s to do with a particular set of skills that they call ‘super-forecasting’.”
“As far as I understand it, most organizations do not use complicated ways of combining expert opinions.”
Cooking Gas: NALPGAM establishes resource centre to boost capacity, safety … A worried Falusi disclosed that safety remained one of the major concerns agitating the minds of stakeholders in the sector. As such, he said, safety is a number priority in the usage and consumption of LPG which the centre would be focusing on in the months ahead. He said the centre would not shy away from creating further awareness that basic safety culture must be embraced by every user and operator in the industry as it relates to every segment of the entire value chain. The resource centre boss said there was the need for LPG usage in the country to be fully domesticated across the distribution and supply chain network, adding that as a country, we do not have any business importing LPG because we are so much endowed with the natural resource.
Ep.39 Do accident investigations actually find the root causes?
To frame our chat, we reference the papers, Our Current Approach to Root Cause Analysis and What-You-Look-for-is-What-You-Find.
Determining root causes of accidents. Why investigations are social processes. An explainer on editorials. What “process change” really means. Applying the Swiss Cheese Model. Confirmation bias in research. Only finding what you can fix. The difference between internal and external investigations. Practical takeaways from the studies.
Quotes:
“What they suggested was that we should always have a very strong evaluation process around any corrective action to test and check whether it actually addresses the things that we’re trying to address.”
“To really understand how the investigation has happened, you’ve got to talk to the investigators as they’re doing the investigation…”
“I can’t imagine a safety person taking to the board a recommendation that they weren’t sure themselves, they could fix.”
Paper on Maritime Accidents and How They Can Be Prevented Entered Into Congressional Record
Why are regulators not following the guidelines set out for them? Why are inspectors overlooking obvious irregularities? How are maritime companies able to sidestep regulations? These are all questions the authors set out to answer.
“With modern technology, the burden of responsibility can, and must, extend to ship operators, ship owners, classification societies and flag states,” according to the authors.
Further, why are seaman fearful of speaking up, and sailing vessels outside of regulatory compliance?
“It is difficult to establish a shared safety culture between the ship and management when the future of the master and crew may depend on not sharing safety information with management,” the authors write.
All of these complex issues are examined. The authors strongly encourage those interested to review the appendices and imbedded links to get a more poignant overview.
FAA employees who oversee airplane makers report pressure
Federal employees overseeing Boeing and other aircraft makers say they face pressure from the companies and fear retribution from their own bosses if they raise too many safety concerns, according to a survey of the workers that was delivered to Congress on Friday.
Many of the Federal Aviation Administration employees surveyed said they believe that agency managers are too concerned with the industry’s objectives and aren’t held accountable for decisions about safety.
One FAA employee said companies will say they will lose money if the FAA doesn’t certify its plane fast enough. Another said the message to FAA workers is, “’Don’t rock the boat’ with Boeing.”
The summary and comments were contained in a private company’s report, dated in February, on the safety culture at the FAA. The FAA faces scrutiny from Congress over its approval of the Boeing 737 Max, which remains grounded after two deadly crashes less than five months apart.
The report reflects “a disturbing pattern of senior officials at a Federal agency rolling over for industry,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., chairman of the House Transportation Committee. “That’s especially disturbing to see when it comes to Boeing, which, as we know now, pushed a plane through a broken regulatory process that resulted in the deaths of 346 innocent people.”
FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson said the report shows “that we have work to do to address problems” in the safety culture within the agency’s aviation safety organization. “It is completely unacceptable that there are employees who lack confidence that their safety concerns are taken seriously.”
The risk assessment trap: Are risk assessments encouraging unsafe behaviours?
Working with SHE professionals, almost daily I meet people who are frustrated with other people’s behaviour, especially when it comes to safety. They feel that they have done everything to keep people safe and that ‘they’ won’t follow basic instructions and stop taking risks.
There are many reasons that people take risk at work, I want to explore one that is not often discussed.
The idea for this article came from a recent discussion on LinkedIn about risk and risk assessment. As with many things in safety, risk assessment is a logical process that is then applied by less than completely logical people.
Are risk assessments encouraging unsafe behaviours? One of the ways in which risk assessments break down is when it comes to human behaviour and people taking greater risks because a risk assessment has been completed.
This sounds like an oxymoron. People take more risks because we’ve done risk assessments!
Yes, unfortunately this is true. The answer isn’t to not do risk assessments, but to understand why they are taking the risk.
In 2018, GFSI released a position paper “A Culture of Food Safety,” which defined five dimensions of the food safety culture: Vision and Mission, People, Consistency, Adaptability, Hazard and Risk Awareness. When we look to GFSI’s five dimensions of food safety culture, we can identify several ways that The Why of Food Safety – Become the SLO initiative can have a positive impact, particularly on the first two.
Vision and mission addresses business reasons to exist. I am sure that no organization’s mission or vision in this sector include harming consumers, as people are the critical component of food safety and the recipients of The Why of Food Safety – Become the SLO initiative. The document also defines food safety culture as shared values, beliefs, and norms that affect mindset and behavior toward food safety in, across and throughout an organization.
Can you see how aligned The Why of Food Safety – Become the SLO initiative is with GFSI’s food safety culture definition? People must understand and believe that what they do (norms) matter for saving people’s lives. Giving people this higher mission will definitely imprint a new mindset and collaborative behavior in the organization—after all, we are consumers too! One day, our own loved ones may end up in a hospital bed with food poisoning because they ate unsafe food, right?
Faults Cited After A 2008 Nuclear Carrier Fire Exacerbated The Bonhomme Richard Conflagration
As the USS Bonhomme Richard fire—and as at least 4 other major pier-side fires have demonstrated since a shipyard arsonist torched the attack submarine USS Miami (SSN-755) in 2012—the pier is a dangerous place for any naval vessel. Earlier in the month, as the wrecked amphibious assault ship still smoldered, the Navy’s waterfront chronic safety culture shortcomings were re-emphasized and emphasized again after workers inexplicably sparked two minor fires aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD-3) and America’s undelivered super carrier, the John F. Kennedy (CVN-79).
The Navy’s pier-side safety standup is as welcome as it is overdue. But the Navy also needs to take a closer look at fire safety at sea and throughout the enterprise. In the past month, far too many have sought to minimize safety culture, claiming that the USS Bonhomme Richard conflagration was due to circumstances unique to the pier-side environment, and would not happen with a full crew aboard. That is a false comfort, as the U.S. Navy has already suffered a Bonhomme Richard-like fire at sea.
National Safety Council: Open roads led to dangerous driving
The council released figures for March, April and May — the worst of the pandemic restrictions keeping drivers off the roads — showing that despite lower traffic the death rate per million miles driven was up each month. In March, the death rate was 1.2 (1.07 in 2019), in April 1.45 (1.08) and in May 1.47 (1.19).
Those death rate numbers increased despite the number of miles driven being down substantially, including a high of 40% in April. Ms. Martin called the numbers “grim.”
“Unfortunately, the pandemic has actually exposed our national road safety culture for what it really is — deeply flawed and unfortunately in need of some immediate action,” Ms. Martin said. “We took cars off the roads, but we did not reap the safety benefits we should have experienced. Instead, for every mile driven our roads became deadlier even though they were much emptier.”
Panelists said they want to see a complete study of why the death rates are up, but they believe one factor is motorists feeling free to push the speed limit when there is little traffic on the road.
Please stop calling healthcare workers ‘heroes’. It’s killing us www.theage.com.au/national/…
We need to talk. It’s not that we don’t appreciate being appreciated. We do. But this ‘healthcare heroes’ nonsense is actually killing us. All over the world, people have clapped for healthcare workers, banged pots and pans out of their windows, praised us to the heavens and it’s not like there isn’t a roll call of the fallen to justify it all.
… Taiwan learned the lessons of the 2003 SARS epidemic and was ready, as was Vietnam. Canada, which itself had a SARS outbreak in 2003, failed to learn those lessons, as have most other English-speaking countries. There is a pattern here, a pattern of anglophone hubris, in which a disregard for the evident successes of Asian nations in protecting their healthcare workers borders on racism.
We need to forget the “hero” narrative, get serious about building a robust safety culture for our healthcare facilities and embark on the hard work and attention to detail required to re-engineer our system into one that works to protect us all.
Restaurants Must Elevate Safety Culture, Not Just Protocols in COVID World
After being home during the months-long COVID-19 quarantine, many people rejoiced when restaurants and bars finally reopened. They were delighted to get drinks, enjoy delicious food, and socialize. Many restaurants and bars followed proper COVID-19 protocols: enforcing proper social distancing, requiring personal protective equipment (PPE), frequently cleaning, separating dining tables, etc. But some establishments blatantly disregarded the rules—and may be, at least partly, responsible for spreading the virus.
Nationally, restaurants and bars are becoming a common source of coronavirus outbreaks. Florida is seeing a tremendous spike in coronavirus cases, some of which have been linked to local establishments. For instance, in Jacksonville Beach, 16 friends went out to celebrate a birthday together, and, days later, all 16 tested positive for COVID-19.
Since mid-March, when COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in the U.S., many people have been afraid to leave their houses for fear of contracting the highly contagious, potentially deadly coronavirus. Patrons may have gotten takeout or delivery meals from their local restaurants, but many were unwilling to dine at restaurants, worried about the safety of doing so. Additionally, some restaurant employees have been reluctant to return to work, fearful about the exposure risks.
As we’ve seen over the past few weeks, their fears are legitimate. As COVID-19 cases spike in certain states—including California, Florida, and Texas—state officials are shutting down restaurants and bars again, trying to reduce the number of people contracting the virus.
Speeding problems rise during COVID-19 pandemic
(The Center Square) – Despite fewer cars on the roads because of pandemic restrictions, traffic crashes are becoming more deadly.
The National Safety Council, based in Itasca, reports a 23.5 percent increase in the fatality rate in May compared to last year.
Lorraine Martin, the president of the NSC, said the pandemic has exposed our national road safety culture for what it really is.
“It is clear that our open roads have created somewhat of an open season for reckless driving,” Martin said.
The number of miles driven in May dropped 25.5% compared to the year prior. Overall, the mileage death rate per 100 million vehicle miles driven was 1.47 in May compared to 1.19 in 2019.
US lawmakers request FAA safety culture survey results
Two US lawmakers have asked the Federal Aviation Administration for results of an employee survey about the regulator’s safety culture as part of its investigation into the design, development and certification of the troubled Boeing 737 Max aircraft.
In a letter to FAA administrator Steve Dickson dated 20 July, lawmakers say the survey data and related analytical products – including presentations, memos, reports and statistical analyses – will help shed light on factors related to two crashes that killed 346 people, including eight American citizens The crashes led to the Max’s grounding in March 2019.
The lawmakers who requested the documents are chair of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio, and chair of aviation subcommittee Rick Larsen.
Ep.36 How do we tell the difference between theories and fads in safety? Topics:
Recent changes in the spread of ideas. Where new management techniques come from. How innovations get labeled. How messages often get broadcast. Six Sigma training. The acceleration and deceleration of broadcasting. Why general ideas are more diffuse. Be conscious of the differences between academics, promotors, and researchers.
Quotes:
“Interestingly, when we get into the literature, you may, um, look at those books with a little bit of skepticism, when you see how books on management get published.”
“The fads start off with small groups of innovators solving problems within their own companies. But those initial innovations aren’t able to spread by themselves.”
“But now that industries…not really having the uptake in behavioral safety practices they were maybe twenty years ago, you don’t see much broadcasting in the market for, you know, behavioral safety practices.”
East Kent: Maternity scandal trust still had higher-than-average deaths last year, report says
He added: “But the number of babies born alive and subsequently dying in 2019 would put EKHUFT above the average.” He said Imperial College London’s Neonatal Research Group had agreed to carry out a review of mortality for the trust.
Concerns about the safety of maternity care at the trust’s Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, Hospital in Thanet prompted a review by the RCOG in 2016 which found a group of consultants who repeatedly refused to work evenings and weekends were leaving less experienced staff on their own. It also highlighted a poor safety culture with staff unwilling to raise concerns.
These failings were repeated in the case of Harry Richford more than a year later. An inquest into his death in January this year ruled he died as a result of neglect.
EasyJet ‘using sickness records to decide job cuts’
EasyJet has been accused of intending to use pilots’ sickness records when drawing up plans for over 700 job cuts.
The Balpa pilots’ union said it was “unnecessary and wrong”, claiming the airline was risking safety because unwell staff would report for work.
EasyJet said general absenteeism could form part of its assessment, but denied sickness might be a key component.
The airline said it had put forward initial proposals for talks with Balpa which were at a very early stage.
EasyJet is planning 727 pilot redundancies as part of up to 4,500 job cuts and a restructuring that includes closing bases at Stansted, Southend and Newcastle airports.
The airline has blamed the collapse in air travel due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ahead of the start of formal talks, Balpa said the airline has told pilot representatives it will use sickness as a component in choosing who loses their job.
Brian Strutton, Balpa’s general secretary, called it outrageous. “Flight safety is built on a culture of openness and not fear of repercussions. This is a well understood and fundamental tenet for everyone involved in ensuring our skies are safe.
“It is unnecessary and wrong that easyJet is intending to use sickness as a stick to beat its safety-critical staff. EasyJet has in the past rightly encouraged pilots to report in sick or fatigued if they are unfit to fly - that is in everyone’s best interest.”
Covid-19 boosts China’s food safety focus
he onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated an already heightened food safety culture in China according to speakers at Fruitnet Live: China.
A panel featuring Winstone Chee of Altitude Fresh and China retail specialist Stacey Wang discussed the changing shape of food safety in China and its importance in the fresh produce industry.
Chee said customers are becoming more educated on food safety and the need for retailers and suppliers to share this information is increasing.
He said while the pandemic had accelerated some changes in food safety, such as in e-commerce, China’s food safety culture had already been progressing.
One-fifth do not train line managers in health and safety
One in five organisations do not train their managers in health and safety, despite the view that they are often based placed to recognise and act on hazards.
A survey commissioned by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) found 96% of company decision makers agreed that line managers had an important role in ensuring the people who report to them are safe and healthy yet, despite this high showing, nearly a fifth (19%) conceded their organisations failed to train line managers in health and safety.
Twenty-one per cent said management failure had contributed to an accident happening at work. Conversely, 25% felt management failure was rarely responsible for accidents.
Most of the organisations that did not upskill line managers in health and safety competence were SMEs, IOSH said.
“As with all risk, management are accountable for delivering a safe workforce and performance – first-line managers for ensuring controls are implemented and middle managers for providing the resources to deliver controls and the leadership for setting direction,” said IOSH’s head of advice and practice, Duncan Spencer.
Substandard electricity wiring enhances 50 percent cases of electric shock during monsoon
MULTAN, Jul 05 (APP):Electricity has eased our day to day life in almost all sectors. Whereas it facilitates our routine life, similarly, it causes tragic incidents also, as substandard electricity wiring, citizen’s careless attitude, and lack of safety culture are important causes of electrocution, in the backward region of south Punjab. It merits a mention here that on June 29 last, District Information Officer (DIO) Jhang, Rao Shakeel (33), died of electric shock as he was adjusting pedestal fan for masons, working at his under-construction house, at Kukar Hatta village, in tehsil Kabirwala. Rao Shakeel, had started his career as article writer in Directorate General Public Relation (DGPR) in 2007. After availing promotion, he joined his duties as District Information Officer Jhang in 2018. Deputy Director DGPR Asghar Khan while talking to this scribe maintained that Rao Shakeel was a hard working officer. He had two sons.
Coronavirus: London’s Nightingale hospital recorded 144 safety incidents in 29 days
London’s Nightingale hospital recorded 144 patient safety incidents during its 29 days treating 54 patients, it has emerged.
There were two serious incidents at the field hospital, a doctor told a Royal Society of Medicine webinar.
Dr Andrew Wragg, consultant cardiologist and director of quality and safety at Barts Health NHS Trust, said a study of the long-term outcomes of the 54 patients was ongoing, as 20 of those treated at the ExCel conference centre site were still recovering in hospitals across London. … Johanna Cade, a nurse at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS trust and who worked at the Nightingale, said: “We had quite high incident reporting at 144 incidents reported and I think that demonstrates that Nightingale really did well at building a no blame safety culture for resolution and learning. This system manifested itself and staff were really striving to make things better continually. We knew who to report to and how to escalate things.”
She showed data revealing the largest number of safety incidents involved medical devices.
There were 25 incidents that included the ventilators used to keep patients alive. Staffing issues and medication, as well as pressure ulcer and communication incidents, were also among the highest numbers.
NTSB Report: Pilot In Kobe Bryant Helicopter Crash May Have Been Disoriented Due To Fog … An executive of Island Express Helicopters says that when they hadn’t landed within an hour they began a frantic search on tracking software. However, the helicopter’s tracker had stopped working at around 9:45 am which the executive noted was “not normal.”
The overall safety culture of Island Express Helicopters has also been called into question. One pilot said that Zobayan never talked about safety policy or the minimum amount of visibility need to fly while another says the company didn’t have a real safety management program to speak of.
Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, has filed a lawsuit against Zobayan and Island Express for negligence, claiming that the pilot shouldn’t have flown in those weather conditions and should have aborted the flight. …
MADISON, Wis., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ – In a new study conducted by Wisconsin Safety Council (WSC) and Rural Mutual Insurance Company, 85% of respondents said they “sometimes” or “often” see a coworker come to work sick even though he/she should have stayed home. In the current environment, exposure to sick coworkers is the leading safety concern for workers in Wisconsin.
In an effort to identify top workplace safety concerns and provide solutions during National Safety Month in June, WSC and Rural Mutual polled more than 180 WSC members, the majority of whom are safety professionals working in Wisconsin trades, including contractors, manufacturers and construction workers. The study was completed in April.
“Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, we know businesses and organizations across the state are looking to create safer work environments now more than ever,” said Aaron Huebner, WSC executive director. “This study revealed safety professionals should focus on establishing initiatives that prevent the spread of infection and reduce exposure to employees who are sick.”
The respondents indicated several other top safety risks in the workplace:
Interacting with hazardous materials (80%) Driving for work-related activities (80%) Standing for more than two hours in a row (79%) Working in high noise levels where a raised voice is needed to talk to people less than four feet away (76%) A new, free e-book from Rural Mutual and WSC is now available to help safety professionals and trade workers in Wisconsin address these leading safety concerns. The ‘Work Safe in Wisconsin’ e-book offers easy to implement solutions for a safer and healthier workplace.