New CSB Accident Prevention Guidance for Executives
The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) has released a new guidance document entitled, “CSB Best Practice Guidance for Corporate Boards of Directors and Executives in the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry for Major Accident Prevention.” The new seven-page document is focused on the importance of the role of boards of directors and executives in ensuring that there are effective safety management systems in place to properly manage risks, with the goal of preventing major accidents and protecting workers, the public, and the environment.
Chairman Dr. Katherine Lemos said, “April 20, 2020, marked 10 years since the catastrophic Macondo/Deepwater Horizon blowout, fire, and explosion. The CSB’s final report determined that a robust process safety program is important to a company’s overall success. Companies operating offshore have the potential for major accidents that threaten the lives of workers and may result in catastrophic environmental damage, as seen in the Macondo/Deepwater Horizon blowout and explosion.”
The guidance document includes the following for boards of directors and executives:
Ensure that a robust safety management system is in place that integrates internal safety requirements with regulatory requirements to control major accident hazards and that identifies, prevents, and mitigates identified process safety deficiencies. Promote a strong process safety culture. Ensure that at least one of the company’s directors has the necessary and relevant education, experience, and training to gather, assess, and communicate important process safety-related information. Develop a process safety policy that is periodically reviewed and revised, as necessary, and is an integral part of the company’s culture, values, and performance standards. Establish a board champion for process safety who initiates discussion at all board meetings and leads process safety oversight and other initiatives on behalf of the board. Communicate process safety policies and their importance, as well as the crucial role of workers in risk identification and management. Establish strong Board visibility, including site visits, presentations, and board-level training initiatives, including health and safety training courses, as well as the creation of company-specific programs with an emphasis on process safety.
Embry-Riddle Plans Lower-Density Operations for Summer B and Fall 2020
Following careful preparations, and in compliance with state and local guidance, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has launched a three-phase “crawl, walk, run” reopening strategy. Our goal is to resume lower-density operations on both of our residential campuses in time for the Summer B term on June 30 and the fall semester on Aug. 24.
Embry-Riddle’s Summer B plan – including face-to-face, low-density learning environments as well as students in our residence halls – will be confirmed on May 15. Please plan accordingly. Our planned, safety-focused, step-wise approach and new health precautions will allow us to safely navigate our return to delivering on our mission – education. With each step forward, we will be guided by Embry-Riddle’s safety culture and our ability to rapidly engineer and implement solutions when confronted by unforeseen emergencies.
Our safety culture, which requires each of us to proactively voice concerns – without fear of negative repercussions – has allowed us to jump many high hurdles this spring. Physical distancing principles are being applied through smart pathways, barriers and lower-density solutions for residence halls, classrooms, workspaces and more. Daily wellness checks and advanced cleaning protocols are now the norm. Supervisors will soon be reaching out to employees with information on work options and expectations. Every member of our community is taking personal responsibility for their safety by wearing cloth (non-surgical) face coverings and other personal protective equipment.
Kindness – Building a better chemistry culture
Chemistry World and the Inclusion and Diversity team at the Royal Society of Chemistry are proud to offer the first of a monthly webinar series to support the chemical sciences community in response to and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic.
Throughout the Building a better chemistry culture series, we will illuminate the science behind the issues being experienced and provide support tailored to the needs of chemical scientists including sharing coping strategies and reducing stigma around mental health and wellbeing.
The very first webinar will take place during Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW, 18-24 May) and will highlight the MHAW theme of kindness. We will explore how to build a better chemistry culture through the incredible impact of kindness, and examine examples from the chemical sciences.
Our speakers Sarah Bond (expert on inclusion and diversity), David Hamilton (expert on kindness) and Zoë Ayres (R&D chemical scientist) will discuss:
The importance of kindness and how it can be applied to individuals, teams and the wider community The science of kindness and its impact on health Self-kindness and the importance of focusing on caring for one’s own mental health Learnings from examples of kindness in response to COVID-19 to build a better chemistry culture
By building skills to support your lab members, you lay the foundation for success
‘The most challenging thing is the management,’ says chemist Josep Cornella, who has been leading a research team at the Max Planck Institute for Carbon Research in Germany since 2017. ‘I was good in the fumehood, but then they take you out of that, put you in an office and give you eight people to manage.’
While there are other challenges associated with heading up a lab – including attracting funding and preparing lectures – managing a research team is arguably one of the bigger ones. In a recent Wellcome Trust survey of more than 4000 scientists, 80% said they had the skills to manage a diverse team. But of the people being managed, only 11% had been asked for feedback by their supervisor. They also reported experiencing few of the behaviours associated with effective management, like noting achievements, discussing career aspirations and providing support with personal issues.
How to build a forklift safety culture
IF YOU ASK THEM, most forklift operators, fleet managers, and warehouse workers will say that safety is their number-one priority. They’ll probably also say that they continually think about safety while they’re at work. More often than not, though, such assertions are closer to aspiration than reality.
Yet it is possible to develop an environment where every employee and contractor actually does consider safety to be his or her responsibility and does think about it throughout the workday. That describes a “safety culture,” which Don Buckman, Hyster Co.’s environmental health and safety manager, defines as “a set of beliefs, attitudes, and actions consistently adopted by everyone in the organization to make the right decisions that value safety.”
The word “everyone” is key: A successful safety culture requires each individual to value and prioritize safety, regardless of his or her position on the organization chart. “We want every person who comes to work, including not just forklift drivers but also office staff, to have a ‘zero injury mindset,’” says Ed Johannesen, director of manufacturing for UniCarriers Americas (UCA).
Sanitation workers on front line of crisis
Sanitation workers are one of our more valuable assets to keeping our communities clean and green.
Dealing with all the trash society produces is a dirty and dangerous job even in normal times. During a global health pandemic, it gets even riskier. According to USA Today, refuse and recyclable material collectors is No. 5 on the Top 25 most dangerous jobs list.
Garbage collectors and other sanitation workers are selfless in their desire to perform an essential service despite the potential high risks to themselves.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, each person in the United States produces an average of 4.5 pounds of solid waste every day. During quarantine conditions, this number is likely to double.
This means heavier loads as well as the potential for exposure to COVID-19 contaminated trash. A single worker on a residential route comes in contact with the garbage of hundreds of different individuals each day.
Some ways that you can help our sanitation workers stay safe while they continue to provide essential services are:
Use soap and water or an alcohol-based cleaning product to wash off the handles and lids of all trash and recycling bins that are physically picked up by
sanitation workers. Ensure that bins and bags are closed and sealed properly, rinse off and wipe down bottles, cans and other recyclables that you put into bins. Keep to the rules outlined by your local sanitation department and only place proper waste and recycling materials in the proper bins. Not only do sanitation workers run a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 and other deadly diseases, they also are subject to weather-related injuries, such as falls from wet or slick surfaces, injuries resulting from hazmat materials, such as battery acid to bleach, from pesticides to hypodermic needles.
Evidence of lead contamination was dismissed as resulting from a laboratory refurbishment
An image showing Flint water bottles
Source: © Alamy Stock Photo
The signs were there – so why didn’t anyone in authority act sooner?
It was during a typical lab exercise in October 2014 that I knew something was really different about our water. Our undergraduate students at the University of Michigan–Flint were making copper sulfate solutions for a spectrophotometry exercise. But instead of clear blue, all their solutions were cloudy, even though we were using water purified by reverse osmosis. I knew that this could be bad: the only insoluble sulfate salts are lead, mercury (I), barium and calcium. It turned out to be evidence of the true nature of Flint’s nightmare.
Six months earlier, in April 2014, the city’s water supply was switched from the Detroit water and sewerage department to the Flint river. There had been immediate public complaints about water quality, and testing revealed unusually high levels of trihalomethanes (THMs) in the supply.
10 years later: How the Deepwater Horizon oil spill changed safety, education
Today marks the 10-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that deeply affected south Louisiana and took years to clean up, affecting wildlife and the seafood industry.
If there was anything to gain from this disaster, it was realizing the importance of safety in the drilling industry, says LSU Petroleum Engineering Professional-in-Residence Wesley Williams. According to an LSU release, Williams works to teach his students the importance of safety, and he and other LSU petroleum engineering faculty have spent the past decade researching how to prevent future offshore explosions and spills.
On April 20, 2010, high-pressure methane gas from the oil well expanded into the marine riser and rose into the Deepwater Horizon rig, where it exploded, engulfing the rig and killing 11 workers. The rig sank on April 22, 2010, and oil spilled into the Gulf for 87 days at an estimated flow-rate of 1,000-5,000 barrels per day. The U.S. government estimates a total of 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf.
BP spent more than $65 billion on cleanup costs and penalties. According to Williams, the petroleum industry is not to blame; the lack of safety culture is.
“My first thought after hearing about the [Deepwater Horizon] rig explosion was, ‘Where were the human failures?’” Williams says. “It’s always multiple human failures that create these kinds of disasters. Deepwater was days of ignoring telltale signs that what you’re doing is wrong. It was years of culture that built up into causing that.”
Chipotle Will Pay A $25 Million Fine In Relation To Foodborne Illness Outbreaks From 2015 To 2018
In its own statement, Chipotle outlined some of the changes it has made since the outbreaks began, including wellness checks for each employee before they start their shift, detailed traceability of each ingredient in the supply chain, and enhanced food preparation and food handling practices designed to reduce food safety risks.
“All of these efforts have led to a robust food safety culture that Chipotle believes is one of the finest in the industry as evidenced by Chipotle leading the industry with the lowest number of violations on independent health department inspections,” the statement concluded.
Several industries are searching for qualified welders
Turner Industries’ partnership with the Construction Maintenance Education Foundation (CMEF) and local community colleges does welding training.
“The model we support is to work as a helper/laborer in an industrial setting to learn the safety culture, industrial assignment requirements, and go to school at night to develop skills,” said Thompson.
Distracted Driving Fatalities Down in Washington
Fatalities from distracted driving are down in Washington, reported the Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC) during Distracted Driving Awareness Month, which traditionally begins in April. Recent data from WTSC show a decrease in distraction-related fatalities since 2017, when the Driving Under the Influence of Electronics Act (E-DUI) went into effect.
In 2016, the year before the law passed, 155 people died in crashes involving a distracted driver. In 2019, two years after the new law, 33 fewer distracted driving-related deaths occurred.
“Washington’s Distracted Driving law is working,” said Erika Mascorro, WTSC Program Manager, “The data shows that Washington culture around distracted driving is changing. With Washingtonians at home observing the governor’s Stay Home, Stay Healthy order, now is a good opportunity to review the importance of being an attentive driver, so our families will be safer when we all return to the roads.”
WTSC conducted a 2019 statewide Traffic Safety Culture Survey and found that most Washingtonians are familiar with the distracted diving laws:
Most (74 percent) know that using a hand-held cell phone while driving is illegal Most (68 percent) know that using a cell phone at a traffic light is illegal Most (69 percent) agree that using a hand-held cell phone while driving is dangerous
What Can Be Done About Moral Distress?
There is a persistent and growing need to educate and retain nurses who are prepared to address patient care needs within complex health care systems. Approximately 17% of newly registered nurses leave the profession within the first year of practice. Moral distress contributes to this dilemma. Moral distress is defined as feeling constrained from acting upon one’s ethical knowing. It is associated with powerlessness, compassion fatigue, apathy, and burnout. My research focuses on identifying factors causing moral distress among nursing students and implementing curriculum promoting moral agency.
This work is important because students who develop moral distress in nursing school have an increased risk for becoming apathetic – new nurses reported “going along to get along” in the workplace. In a national three-site study, student nurses reported moral distress when they witnessed daily dilemmas such as compromised infection control, unsafe medication administration practices, and inadequate resources to alleviate human suffering. These situations were pervasive across workplace settings. The findings resulted in curricular strategies to promote resilience.
We taught ethical decision making and conflict communication strategies in the classroom and rehearsed in simulation labs. We also provided education for nurses working with our students in clinical settings. We emphasized resilience protective factors such as social support, goal efficacy, and communication techniques.
Ep.19 Is virtual reality safety training more effective? safetyofwork.com/episodes/…
EPISODE SUMMARY On today’s episode we discuss whether Virtual Reality is a more effective method of safety training.
EPISODE NOTES We chose to use two papers to frame our discussion. Those papers are Construction Safety Training Using Immersive Virtual Reality and Comparing Immersive Virtual Reality and PowerPoint as Methods for Delivering Safety Training.
Let us know if and how you are using Virtual Reality in your business.
Topics:
VR research is a mixed bag. How VR training works. Advantages to VR training. How VR training can be used more effectively. Outsiders publishing in safety journals.
In December last year, The Gin Guild produced a safety poster for distillers to highlight the dangers of handling ethanol solutions.
Created in collaboration with not‐for‐profit organisation the Solvents Industry Association (SIA), the guide was created in light of the increased numbers of “new and often comparatively inexperienced distillers”.
The guide was also aimed at ‘gin schools’ – particularly those using micro‐pot stills, some with open flames.
Speaking to The Spirits Business last month, Bombay Sapphire master distiller Anne Brock said: “There’s a huge interest in gin and I think one of the issues that we have is that people drink gin and it’s a safe liquid.
“Therefore, consumers don’t associate dangers with it. It’s something they use on a regular basis and in their gin and tonics at home. It’s very much about getting the message out that distilling can be safe but you have to take precaution.”
She added: “I think we need to educate a safety culture across the industry. This first step that The Gin Guild has taken is crucial and very important but we need to keep moving forward from here and making sure we continue to educate and make people aware of the dangers.”
[Marking the Ocean Ranger tragedy in Newfoundland and Labrador) [www.saltwire.com/news/prov…)
Today marks the 38th anniversary of the sinking of the Ocean Ranger drilling rig off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.
A news release from the provincial government says it joins all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in remembering the 84 lives that were tragically lost on this day in 1982.
“Our thoughts and prayers go to the families and friends who lost their loved ones as a result of the Ocean Ranger tragedy 38 years ago,” Premier Dwight Ball stated.
“A priority for our government is the health and safety of offshore workers. We want to ensure a strong health and safety culture in our offshore industries and we will continue to make necessary improvements so family and friends can have peace of mind as their loved ones work in our challenging ocean environment.”
The annual Ocean Ranger memorial prayer service was held on Friday at St. Pius X Church in St. John’s, hosted by Gonzaga High School.
Summit on laboratory safety coming to UO on March 4
UO Safety and Risk Services will host its second annual summit on laboratory safety on March 4.
The half-day event is aimed at university faculty members, staff and students who manage labs and who work as principal investigators. Its goal is to teach best practices for preparing for and preventing major incidents such as lab fires or equipment failures.
This year’s summit theme is “Emergency Planning for Research Continuity.” It will take a look at lessons learned from a catastrophic freezer failure in the UO’s Stankunas lab in 2019 and from a 2014 fire started in UO’s ZIRC quarantine room. Both incidents had lasting effects on some research efforts at the university.
Speakers will discuss preventive measures that labs can take to minimize risks, as well as researchers’ ongoing recovery efforts. The summit also will feature a Q&A session with the UO fire marshal group and the Eugene-Springfield Fire Department and a keynote address from André Le Duc, UO’s chief resilience officer.
Health and Safety freelancer brings 10 years of knowledge to Whanganui
A Health and Safety Consultant is bringing his skills and expertise to Whanganui to help local businesses succeed.
Gerard Luby has 10 years of experience under his belt working with a range of industries “trying to build their health and safety culture and awareness”.
Having previously worked as a health and safety manager for KAH NZ Ltd at Mt Ruapehu, Luby now resides in Whanganui freelancing out to create and train management and staff with his business Premier Safety.
He said there is a global shortage of health and safety professionals and it is getting harder to find these people, so that is where freelancing comes in.
“A lot of people have the willingness to get health and safety compliant but may not have an understanding of how to apply the necessary systems.”
He said if you look at the New Zealand figures in terms of workplace fatalities to other nations of similar size you will realise that there is an ongoing need to promote and support the development of good health and safety practice.
Campaign to halve road deaths by 2030
She was officiating at the 7th edition of the Road Safety Journalistic Awards in Harare last Friday.
“Let me implore the media to play its part in the campaign to reduce road traffic deaths by 50 percent by the year 2030,” she said.
“Constant knocking smoothens the rock. Repeated mass road safety reportage will surely see Zimbabwe gaining milestones in the inculcation of a road safety culture for every road user.
“Therefore, the media have a role to play in so far as the fight against road traffic injury is concerned. The jungle behaviour of some road users, unlicensed drivers, corruption associated with the testing and licensing of drivers, the condition of our roads, the driver errors causing road crashes, traffic congestion and any rot associated with enforcement of traffic laws must be named and shamed.”
Preventing Skin Exposure to Pesticides Among Apple Growers and Factors Influencing Use of Protective Clothing The data show, however, that apple growers also rely on trade know-how in developing and implementing prevention practices that become an integral part of their activities and that they present as complementing their use of PC. These findings suggest that practices that do not comply with recommendations may be seen as adaptations to common microexposure situations, to a lack of information about PC or to rules unsuited to the realities of growers’ work and needs. The prevention practices reveal the growers’ concern about the risks associated with their work.
Thanks to a combined sociological and ergonomic approach, this project produced findings and recommendations firmly rooted in the realities faced by growers. Getting farm workers involved in developing, testing and validating safety rules through trade collectives could yield outcomes that result in better protection against pesticide exposure. If the agricultural community and public health stakeholders join forces, it should be possible to design measures grounded in the realities of growers’ work and social dynamics.
Federal grant leans on leading UND research programs to solve deepwater safety concerns in Gulf of Mexico (https://www.thedickinsonpress.com/news/4873239-Federal-grant-leans-on-leading-UND-research-programs-to-solve-deepwater-safety-concerns-in-Gulf-of-Mexico)
The Academies announced late last week that Daniel “Kwasi” Adjekum, an assistant professor of aviation in the UND John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences, has been awarded $755,000 to support research as part of a larger $7.25-million Gulf research program. The initiative aims to develop an improved culture of safety in the oil and gas industry.
Adjekum, an internationally respected aerospace researcher, is uniquely qualified to transfer knowledge and skills from the aviation domain to oil and gas work. He has published extensively on safety culture in aviation and is a highly sought source regarding issues in aviation safety for major media networks.
Bradfords flies high for safety standards Builders merchant Bradfords Building Supplies kick-statred its 250th year with a visit to the Royal Navy’s Flight Safety Centre at RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset to get an insight into the aviation iundustry’s safety culture.
Bradfords aims to put safety at the forefront through 2020. Hosted on the day by the centre’s Commanding Officer, Commander Ant Laycock, and with stories and aircraft parts from Naval aviation accidents on display, the Bradfords’ team were provided with valuable insight capturing the essence and concepts that underpin the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm’s relentless development and maintenance of its safety culture.
Giles Bradford, communications and engagement manager at Bradfords and a former Naval pilot, said: “It’s a fact that the majority of incidents occur due to human factors rather than technical or environmental, and the same can be said in our industry. The aviation industry is well known as the front-runner in the management of safety, and to have the chance to learn from an organisation that is held in the highest regard in that industry is a real privilege.
Conclusion: According to the Agency for Health Research and Quality, the overall classification of patient safety score and most of the scores related to dimensions were low. Hours worked per week, participation in a patient safety program, reporting of adverse events and most safety dimensions were found to be factors associated with patient safety culture. Well-designed patient safety interventions need to be integrated with organizational policies to address all dimensions of patient safety culture.
What do you do when your new employer values output over safety?
You were excited to take this new job, because it offered new experience and more opportunity for advancement than your previous job. In fact, you last worked as a Master Electrician but were hired on as an Electrical Supervisor. You have four Master Electricians, each with his own crew, working directly under you. So you’re already on the advancement path. Then there’s the downside. One of the crew wears a T-shirt that says, “Real Electricians Work It Hot” and another routinely “forgets” his PPE.
You discussed the shirt with its owner, expressing the inappropriateness of the message it sends. During the discussion, you found he routinely avoids lockout/tagout to save time. Saving time was the same “reason” given by the other one for “forgetting” his PPE. You also found your Master Electricians don’t hold job briefings. When asked why, the answer was again the time savings — all of this in your first two days.
“Now,” you think, “this is why Bob hired me. To fix this very problem.” Your thoughts drift to the interview, where you and Bob (your new boss) really hit it off. You talked about all sorts of issues, but he never brought up safety. As you head toward Bob’s office, you figure that now you and Bob would be discussing that issue. You began by telling Bob that you wanted to know what his expectations were as far as how you would address the safety problems and what exactly the process would be for disciplining those who didn’t get on board.
For a long moment, Bob sat there just looking at you. Then he said the company was in business to make money, nobody had been seriously injured since he’d been hired, and there wasn’t going to be any change in safety practices. He concluded by saying he hired you to make sure work gets done efficiently, and that can’t happen if people are loaded down with all sorts of “extra” safety rules.
You didn’t know what to say, so you told Bob, “Maybe we can talk about this later. Let me think on it for a couple of days.” Then you walked out of his office. So now what do you do? Do you stay and try to change the safety culture, perhaps over time? Or do you leave and hope you can find another job within a reasonable time?
It’s unlikely you can change that safety culture (such that it is). Some day, something tragic will happen, and it might be a wake-up call. But since they’ve gotten by with luck so far, they are going to use luck as an excuse to gamble.
If you suddenly resign, that could be good or it could be bad. It could be good if you discuss this with another prospective employer who sees you got out of a bad situation right away. It could be bad because it means bringing up negatives to a prospective employer. But it could be really bad if you stick around and the luck runs out, so you are just going to have to resign. Before you do that, contact your previous employer and discuss this problem. If you left them on good terms, they may agree to either hire you back or help you find a job with another firm.
In the future, make a point of seeing the people you will be working with. If possible, see them in their natural work environment — and be sure to address safety during the interviewing process. Not in general terms, such as “Do you value safety” (always answered yes), but with specifics such as, “Can I sit in on a job briefing?” or “Can you tell me about your electrical work permit process?”
The Unsafe Superstar At what point, if any, do needed skill sets justify safety compromises?
But there is a fly in this particular ointment. He does not like to wear safety glasses in the field, even on sites where the client has a robust safety culture. It’s not just the glasses, either. He has not yet made his 90-day probation, and you have already recorded several unsafe acts he has committed — and those are just the ones you know of. Other crew members have expressed concern, and three have said they do not want to go out into the field with him again.
You have on several occasions asked him to stop work and tell you how he can do the task more safely. His attitude was not cooperative. When you started writing him up, your boss called you into his office and told you the company really needs this guy. Then your boss said, “If you annoy him and he quits, that will cost you your job. Understood?”
So how do you resolve this dilemma? Your boss is not thinking clearly. Nobody is so important that a company can’t fire them. The new employee — superstar or not — is a liability to the firm and to himself. And now your boss is a liability, too.
Commissioners OK $2,500 for branding effort, review more budgets
Commissioners also approved a proposal by county risk manager Jennifer Phelps to create a safety team of county employees to promote a better work environment. Phelps said items of discussion will include safety and incident reporting requirements, housekeeping items and what she described as “atypical” topics outside of the usual ones, such as no texting while driving.
“We need to bring a safety culture to our employees and understand why safety is important, not just for us as a county because everybody thinks if they don’t file a claim they’re OK or they think workers compensation is some bottomless pit of money that doesn’t affect the county,” she said. “That’s not true. It’s like auto insurance — it’s there if you need it, but it costs you money if you use it.”