The speed at which the industry and awareness of hydrogen are growing today is unprecedented. As of early 2021, over 200 large-scale projects have been announced across the value chain, with a total value exceeding $300bn1, which requires a big step change in the sector. A space that was previously limited to a few key frontrunners, now includes businesses ranging from start-ups and innovative SMEs to large multinationals, and developing a range of applications, such as long-haul trucking, shipping, aviation, steel and chemicals.
As a result, many of us working in the hydrogen industry today come from diverse professions and sectors, with different risk tolerance and levels of safety awareness and expertise. That diversity creates value in many ways, but it also emphasises the importance of fostering a strong safety culture, where all members of staff are aware of the challenges and are proactively working towards the goal of developing the hydrogen industry safely. In the energy and hydrogen business, we know we live with the responsibility to manage risk.
www.airlines.iata.org/analysis/…
Unveiling a safety culture
There is a saying among auditors in the management systems community that measurement is at the heart of management—that is, you cannot manage what you do not measure. The big data era has given the aviation sector the tools required to do both.
Though technology gave the airline industry the ability to capitalize on the vast amounts of data it generates, it is a strong safety culture that will ensure that lessons learned are put into action. Insurers are looking for evidence of extensive data capture that suggests a strong culture of hazard and event reporting, practices that also allow airlines to build understanding of their own risk environment.
www.seehafernews.com/2021/05/1…
Three businesses in Northeast Wisconsin were selected to receive the Wisconsin Safety Council’s Corporate Safety Award.
Energies Holdings in Green Bay, Airgas in Appleton, and Holtger Brothers Inc in De Pere were among ten companies to receive the honor.
This is the 27th year the Safety Council has given out the award, which recognizes the companies who have exemplary safety records and commit to creating a world-class safety culture.
The Wisconsin Corporate Safety Awards are presented in partnership with the Department of Workforce Development and M3 Insurance.
The past year has tested and stressed the food system, putting tremendous pressure on worker safety and supply chain resilience. Despite the challenges, the industry continued to work day in and day out to meet the needs of Americans. “Consumers could still go then and now to their favorite supermarket or online platform and have access to thousands of food SKUs that are available,” said Frank Yiannas, FDA deputy commissioner for food policy and response. “We have the people in the food and agriculture sector to thank, and that’s you.”
Last week Yiannas gave his third Food Safety Consortium keynote address as deputy commissioner, reflecting on the past year and recognizing the progress and the work ahead. “I appreciate the larger conversation that the Consortium facilitates on food safety.” The Spring program of the Food Safety Consortium Virtual Conference Series takes place every Thursday in May.
Since the Fall of 2020, FDA has made advances in several areas, all of which take steps to advance the agency’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety initiative. The goals set as part of the New Era aim to help the agency more efficiently and efficiently respond to outbreaks and contamination, and other food safety challenges. The intent is to go beyond creating food safety programs into fostering a culture of food safety and truly bending the curve of foodborne illness, said Yiannas. In September the FDA issued the proposed FSMA rule on food traceability with the intent on laying the groundwork for meaningful harmonization. Nearly 6200 comments were submitted to the docket on the Federal Register, and the agency held three public meetings about the proposed rule in the fall, hosting more than 1800 people virtually. Yiannas anticipates the final rule will be published in early 2022.
dailyenergyinsider.com/policy/30…
PPL Corp. is looking to acquire The Narragansett Electric Company from National Grid USA.
The companies both submitted filings this week with the Rhode Island Division of Public Utilities and Carriers. The request follows PPL’s announcement in March that it had planned to acquire Narragansett Electric after it sold its U.K. utility business to National Grid.
“As we strategically reposition PPL as a U.S.-focused energy company, we see Narragansett Electric as a great fit for PPL,” PPL President and CEO Vincent Sorgi said. “We believe we are well-positioned to continue to drive significant value for Rhode Island families and businesses and to advance the state’s ambitious goal to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. We look forward to partnering with the talented and dedicated team at Narragansett Electric to deliver energy safely, reliably, and affordably for those we serve.”
PPL intends to leverage its experience to build one of the most advanced energy grids in Rhode Island while supporting the state’s decarbonization goals. Also, PPL intends to bring its strong safety culture and natural gas strategy to bear in Rhode Island. Further, the company is committed to investing in infrastructure improvements that benefit customers and drive economic growth.
Narragansett Electric will have a Rhode Island-based president, as well as a Rhode Island-based vice president of gas operations. PPL has already established a Rhode Island transition team and is coordinating with National Grid on transition planning.
www.henrycountytimes.com/2021/05/0…
For Milton Stokes, a Georgia Power lineman who works out of the Noah’s Ark operating headquarters in Jonesboro, coming to work and leaving safely is always his top priority.
As a husband and father to two girls, he knows the importance of getting home to his family every day. Early in his marriage and when his daughters were born, he worked as a firefighter in Macon.
“I made the transition from firefighting to line work to advance my family’s quality of life and because I knew Georgia Power is a safety-oriented company,” he said. “That is one of the big reasons I knew it would be a great fit for me.”
Georgia Power Lineman Milton Stokes worked as a firefighter before joining Georgia Power. Many of the lessons he learned as a first responder have benefitted him in his current position. Special photo
Stokes started his career at the utility in the apprentice program and learned the ins and outs of maintaining and restoring utility lines and infrastructure, and the importance of maintaining a safety culture day to day.
“To ensure that everyone goes home safely every day, you learn early on to never be afraid to ask questions,” he said. “It’s better to ask too many than for someone to get hurt.”
“At the fire department, we called ourselves a ‘brotherhood.’ At Georgia Power, we believe in being your brother’s keeper and to always be looking out for one another’s well-being. Everything we do is safety-oriented,” he went on to say.
www.fullyloaded.com.au/industry-…
The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) should change its approach to fatigue enforcement as a key part of its next safety strategy, Australian Trucking Association (ATA) CEO Andrew McKellar says.
The call comes as ATA releases its submission to the NHVR on its draft 2021-2025 heavy vehicle safety strategy.
“The ATA was very pleased to see that the draft emphasises the need to build a positive safety culture in the industry,” McKellar says.
“The key to doing this is fairness.
“People are not going to report safety issues if they feel they will be unfairly blamed or issued with an infringement notice.”
A solid Safety Management System (SMS) will drive an organization’s safety culture. A business-like systematic approach to managing safety risks, a SMS provides an organized way to set goals, make plans and measure a business’ performance. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) organizes the SMS concept around four pillars: policy, safety risk management, safety assurance and promotion. Safety expert, Fred Roggero (Major General USAF Ret.) President & CEO of Resilient Solutions, Ltd., a customer-focused professional services company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, provides his perspective on these pillars below.
fox8.com/news/wash… WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — A House committee examined Monday the investigation into a deadly training accident aboard an amphibious assault vehicle that killed nine service members in California last year.
The report found the drowning deaths of eight Marines and one Navy sailor in July 2020 were the result of inadequate training, shabby maintenance, and poor judgment by commanders.
“We failed these brave young men,” Gen. Gary Thomas, the U.S. Marine Corps assistant commandant, told a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee.
The second highest-ranking officer in the Marine Corps said their deaths were preventable in many ways, but it comes down to one issue.
“The Marine Corps safety culture must improve and that marines at all levels must make better risk decisions,” Thomas said.
Parents of the victims told lawmakers the servicemembers saw red flags a week before their deaths.
“Jack Ryan told me about his concerns with the AAVs and that they sink all the time,” said Peter Ostrovsky, the father of Pfc. Jack Ryan Ostrovsky. “It was hard for me to believe that statement, but now I know there was more to the story.”
About a dozen marines have since been fired, but Rep. Jackie Speier, D-CA, wants more accountability for reckless or gross negligence.
EPISODE SUMMARY On today’s episode, we discuss the visibility of high-vis clothing. Are they actually “high-vis”?
Topics: Why the results between lab and natural environments vary. How studies determine visibility. Which colors are best for high visibility. What makes humans most visible. Using high-vis colors to identify objects and humans. Practical takeaways. Quotes: “The general goal of this, is they just want to compare a whole heap of different factors.” “The ability to just spot high-vis and the ability to spot a human wearing high-vis, seem to be actually two different mental tasks.” “There’s been some suggestion in the research that we should actually standardize a human high-vis color.”
Exactly 35 years ago, on April 26, 1986, the biggest nuclear accident in history took place at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, killing dozens of people and making hundreds of people victims of Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS). Later, the disaster was attributed to a flawed Soviet reactor design coupled with serious mistakes made by the plant operators. It was a direct consequence of Cold War isolation and the resulting lack of any safety culture in the erstwhile Soviet Union.
The 35th anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe is an ideal occasion to emphasise the imperative need for strict safeguards to prevent any possible nuclear accidents of that nature in future. This is highly applicable to an island nation such as Sri Lanka with large ports providing facilities to international freighter vessels.
Last week, timely detection of radioactive material in a ship docked at the Hambantota Port was ordered to leave immediately, thus avoiding a possible danger to the port or its
Inside the Chernobyl control room now employees. M.V.BBC Naples sailing under the flag of “Antigua and Barbados” entered the Port of Hambantota on April 20, while en route from Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to China.
Christopher Chiantella, chief medical officer at Inova Loudoun Hospital, which received an A grade, said in a statement that “feedback received in our regular safety culture surveys guides our strategies to reduce patient harm.”
“This awareness accompanied by accountability, ongoing education and performance improvement intervention across all teams, prepared us for the challenges of the pandemic,” Chiantella said.
WASHINGTON, April 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – Today, Associated Builders and Contractors announced the findings in its 2021 Safety Performance Report, an annual assessment that furthers the construction industry’s understanding of how to achieve world-class safety by deploying its STEP Safety Management System. Published to coincide with Construction Safety Week, May 3-7, the annual report details the drastic impact of using proactive safety practices to reduce recordable incidents by up to 85%, making the best-performing companies more than six times safer than the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics industry average.
“Leading from a posture of safety and committing to a culture of safety create the conditions for all in the construction industry to complete their work without incident and go home safe and healthy every day,” said Greg Sizemore, ABC vice president of health, safety, environment and workforce development. “ABC’s Safety Performance Report creates a roadmap through empirical evidence to keep workers safe on the job, regardless of the size of the company or type of work. Implementing best practices built on the foundations of leading indicators, substance abuse programs, new hire safety orientation, toolbox talks and top management engagement creates a culture that embraces world-class safety.”
Tunis/Tunisia — A partnership and cooperation agreement was signed recently between Vivo Energy Tunisia and the Education Ministry on the implementation in primary schools of educational programs and projects in several fields such as road safety education, encouragement of entrepreneurship, reading and the environment.
Education Minister Fethi Slaouti underlined during a ceremony held on the occasion, the importance of the partnership with Vivo Energy in stepping up efforts to launch programs and initiatives that will enhance the attractiveness of public schools and build the individual and collective skills of future generations for a better future.
Vivo Energy Tunisia Managing Director Mohamed Bou Griba explained the importance of devising value-added educational programs and contributing to the development of students’ skills in public schools so as to boost cooperation with the Education Ministry and ensure the continuity of community projects.
Cooperation between the two sides dates back some ten years through the “My safety on the road” program, which aims to teach children responsible behaviour and road safety culture through awareness campaigns.
Porsche Korea (CEO Holger Gerrmann) announced on the 30th the participation in the “Children’s Traffic Safety Relay Challenge” to establish a traffic safety culture and social interest in children’s traffic safety.
“Children’s Traffic Safety Relay Challenge” is a participatory public information campaign launched by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety in December last year, and was intended to form a social consensus on the establishment of a traffic culture that puts the top priority on preventing traffic accidents within the School Zone and protecting children. The campaign re-layed in which a participant shares the photo on social media with the official slogan selected through a national public contest and nominates the next participants.
CEO of Porsche Korea, Holger Gerrmann, shared the slogan ‘First (1) Stop, To (2) Look Around, Three (3) Seconds to Wait, to (4) Prevent Accidents,’ after being nominated by Jaguar Land Rover Korea Managing Director, Robin Colgan, and highlighted the importance of improving fundamental awareness of School Zones and establishing a safe traffic culture. As next chal-lenge participants, Audi Volkswagen Korea Managing Director, René Koneberg, and SFAC (Seoul Foundation of Arts and Culture) President Kim Jong-Hwi were nominated.
www.streetinsider.com/Globe+New…
LOS ANGELES, April 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – Fenix Marine Services released its Corporate Social Responsibility Annual Report 2020 which documents Fenix’s accomplishments over the past year. Fenix has continued its journey down an aggressive CSR roadmap by deploying additional hybrid electric yard cranes, purchasing renewable energy credits for 100% of electricity used, and once again leading San Pedro Bay in moving cargo by rail – demonstrating its leadership in environmentally sustainable operations, marine-terminal safety, workplace inclusion, and social responsibility, summarized in a new report released today.
The 2020 CSR Report outlines Fenix’s three founding principles of sustainable industrialization, progressive people development, and business ethics and innovation. Guided by these principles, Fenix has adopted some of the maritime industry’s most ambitious environmental initiatives, and has infused safety, ethics and equity into all aspects of its corporate culture.
“This social responsibility report proudly highlights our accomplishments so far, but more importantly, describes our ambitious goals for the future,” said Jon Slangerup, a Fenix Corporate Director. “At Fenix Marine Services, we understand that we all need to play our part in creating a more sustainable future. At Fenix, we are up for the challenge.”
Among the accomplishments described in the report:
Upgrading cargo-handling equipment to the cleanest commercially available technologies, including nine battery-electric hybrid cranes, and testing zero-emission hydrogen fuel-cell equipment Moving 37% of cargo by rail – among the highest percentage of any Los Angeles terminal – which takes diesel trucks off the road Establishing a diverse Safety Committee to cultivate a proactive safety culture that reinforces safety as a core value Developing state-of-the-art digital platforms to optimize cargo flow for higher efficiency
New Zealand’s two port unions have spoken out on Workers Memorial Day (28 April), demanding improvements to health and safety in New Zealand ports.
The Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) and Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) represent thousands of port workers throughout New Zealand.
Leaders of the two unions say port workers are being killed and hurt due to systemic problems in the industry, and things have to change.
MUNZ National Secretary Craig Harrison says the string of deaths and serious accidents at Ports of Auckland over the last few years was a glaring example of the problem, which had recently been exposed by an independent report.
However, health and safety failures were endemic throughout New Zealand ports, with deaths and serious injuries in several container terminals and bulk stevedoring areas such as logging yards.
“There are a number of causes, including a profit driven culture not a health and safety culture, but a big problem is employers refusing to see Unions as the legitimate representatives of workers.”
In his final letter to shareholders, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said the company will be as obsessed with worker satisfaction as it is with customers.
It is implementing new tools to prevent musculoskeletal disorders, which are one of the leading workplace injuries in the U.S. and affect 1.71 billion people globally, according to the World Health Organization
A combination of training, rotational jobs cycles, robots and wearable devices can help prevent MSDs, according to experts and doctors.
In his final letter to shareholders, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos urged a deep dive into musculoskeletal disorders, which account for about 40% of work-related injuries across the company and affect millions of workers globally across sectors. It is often synonymous with jobs in manufacturing and places like warehouses.
Of course, Amazon’s treatment of its employees has become a high-profile issue, from the recent union battle in an Alabama warehouse to conditions for its essential workers during the pandemic. And it has been cited for a high incidence of workplace injuries in recent years, though the company has said in the past that it also reports more workplace incidents than peers due to a more proactive safety culture.
Rue, vice president and a partial owner of JHC, said only slight adjustments had to be made because of the pandemic due to the company’s already-robust health and safety culture. “It’s not the safety program that allows you to survive, it’s the safety culture. The family environment of our company means we’ve always been able to maintain a strong safety culture,” he said. “Our employees understood it was to protect the company, our families and themselves.”
Covid-19-related redundancies at Wizz Air “dangerously influenced” flight safety culture, a whistleblower has claimed, after the way in which staff were selected for redundancy left them worried to call in sick.
Last April London-listed Wizz Air laid off around 1,000 staff – around 20 per cent of its workforce – after a travel shutdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic put financial pressure on the group.
Pilots based in Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania were made redundant last April, with the majority of redundancies from Hungary.
Despite the redundancies, the budget carrier is bracing itself for a net loss of up to €590m for the full financial year. However, Wizz said it still had €1.6bn in cash, having taken a number of steps to shore up its finances over the last quarter.
Read more: Wizz Air dives to €590m loss as wait for recovery goes on
A Wizz Air pilot told City A.M. that the basis for layoffs “dangerously influenced” flight safety culture across the Wizz Air Group.
“People have been and are being pressured to work while sick, fatigued or extended duty periods in fear of sacking,” they said. “It is unacceptable and breaches regulations designed to ensure flight safety.”
www.annistonstar.com/sports/re…
In the mournful days, weeks and months after February 18, 2001, NASCAR was faced with a challenge unlike any it had ever faced. It had to fill the massive void left by the death of its most popular and influential driver. And it had to assure similar tragedies would not occur again.
A popular narrative suggests the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. saved countless other lives. It was frequently raised this past February, on the 20th anniversary of his fatal accident on the final lap of the Daytona 500, the last fatality suffered at NASCAR’s highest level. That notion somehow makes the death a little easier to accept, as if adding martyrdom to Earnhardt’s legacy.
SPOKANE, Wash. - Spokane City Council President Breean Beggs is the next in a string of officials to release a statement in response to the verdict of the Chauvin trial.
Read the full statement below:
“A Hennepin County Jury found former Officer Derek Chauvin guilty of all the murder charges leveled against him in connection with his killing of George Floyd. Many have celebrated this outcome as justice, but so many other families have failed to find justice in our court system under similar circumstances. People of color in our community and across the nation are still afraid that they will unjustly be assaulted or killed by law enforcement for no good reason. I hope that this conviction after the full due process will be at least a small step towards broader community reconciliation.
Spokane community members and their police officers have been walking down the road of attempted reconciliation since the death of Otto Zehm was similarly resolved by a jury verdict against an officer in 2011. Despite good intentions by many, this road of reconciliation has been rocky. Dozens of reforms have been implemented, but there is a tremendous amount of more work to be accomplished until our police are perceived as peace officers by all they serve.
In my opinion, we are still closer to the beginning of the community healing process than the end. But we are farther ahead than we were last year, and together we can move even farther ahead in the coming weeks and months. The progress to date is cold comfort for those who are still living in fear or who have lost loved ones. I commit to keep working to reconcile our entire community and to create a new public safety culture until everyone can fully participate in our community without fear. We all belong in Spokane, and our justice system and its first responders should reflect that principle in every respect.”
www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/…
Washington — During an April 2 public business meeting, the Chemical Safety Board announced it has revised a board order on board member roles and responsibilities in response to criticism of the agency in recent Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General reports.
CSB Chair and CEO Katherine Lemos called the measure “a major step forward for the efficiency of the agency,” which has carried on with only one of its five board seats filled since Kristen Kulinowski stepped down May 1 – three months before her five-year term was set to expire.
EPA OIG’s most recent report on CSB – issued in July – found that various management challenges – namely the abundance of board vacancies and unclear policy on board member responsibilities – “will impede the ability of the CSB to function effectively.”
The revised board order outlines multiple responsibilities of board members, including:
Voting on investigation reports, safety studies, special investigations and other board products related to chemical incidents and hazards Voting on and advocating the resolution of safety recommendations to federal, state and local agencies; private organizations; and members of the public pertaining to reducing recurrences of chemical incidents Voting on reports of cause or probable cause(s) of chemical incidents, reporting all necessary information, and making and advocating public safety recommendations Propose amendments in accordance with the product review process, to the extent possible and as desired, to any agenda item at least two days before any public meeting scheduled to consider that item Prepare for and participate in site visits, as necessary or appropriate Prepare for and participate in public hearings and other safety inquiries Complete all training on schedule
www.freshfruitportal.com/news/2021…
Now, much more comes into play and businesses should be seeking to utilize the rise of these five food trends in order to catapult themselves to greater success and deliver a service that the consumer demands.
A positive food safety culture Food safety culture is the way in which an organization values its food safety, and it is vital that these values are shared by both management and employees.
A business with a strong and positive food safety culture demonstrates to its customers that safe food is essential and a commitment.
Poor food safety culture can result in food hygiene violations, which can lead to serious repercussions, for both the business and its customers.
Particularly with doors of restaurants opening once again for outdoor eating on April 12, it is crucial for businesses to create a positive food safety culture. Businesses must actively consider presenting accreditations such as a Covid19 certification which will help customers to feel safer when returning to an establishment.
Topics:
What double-checking is. The difference between a practice and mandatory policy. Armitage and his history of papers regarding the medical field. Deference to authority. Formal risk assessment and internal risk assessment. Independent checking. What the evidence shows. Practical takeaways.
Quotes:
“How do you know whether an error has happened, if no one notices it?”
“I think you’re doing a good job of qualitative research, if readers want to then go and actually read the raw data.”
“And I am completely unwilling to say, ‘This is a bad practice, we should get rid of it’ until we’ve got the evidence.”