Beyond the provision of quality fuel products, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation is also extending value-added services to its customer-partners that include strengthening safety standards and measures on fleet deployments.
Such sharing of safety standards was sounded off in the recently concluded Logistics Summit of Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines Inc. (CCBPI), which is the bottling arm of multinational firm Coca-Cola in the country; and one of PSPC’s customer-partners under its Shell Fleet Solutions marketing program.
Shell’s safety culture, which is dubbed BiyaHero (Road Safety) program, is fused into its Shell Fleet Solutions offer to loyal customers, that also integrates fuel discounts, ferry bookings as well as the streamlining of toll payments which are all geared toward achieving efficient and more convenient fleet management.
According to Lily Keh-Camero, manager for health, safety, security and environment of Shell, through the BiyaHero program, “we’re not only providing the best quality fuel products and services, but we also share how we deliver these products in a safe and secure way.”
www.irishexaminer.com/news/muns…
Medical staff at Cork University Hospital (CUH) claim they struggle to provide safe care to patients in a challenging work environment, according to the findings of a new study.
A report by researchers from University College Cork identified what they claimed was “a clear appetite for change” among frontline staff regarding patient safety culture.
The study sought to investigate the perception among healthcare workers of the safety culture in a large public acute hospital against a background of under-resourcing in the healthcare system.
Although the report does not identify the hospital in question, it has been established that it involved a survey of staff at CUH.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Worker Well-Being Questionnaire (NIOSH WellBQ) provides an integrated assessment of worker well-being across multiple spheres, including individuals’ quality of working life, circumstances outside of work, and physical and mental health status. The questionnaire measures “worker” well-being as a holistic construct rather than simply “workplace” or “work-related” well-being. The NIOSH WellBQ is intended to help researchers, employers, workers, practitioners, and policymakers understand the well-being of workers and target interventions to improve worker well-being, among other applications.
This month, SADD (Students Against Dangerous Driving) is running conferences in Wellington and Dunedin to enable young leaders to come together with other passionate teens, and road safety groups, to discuss ways to take action to prevent further harm on our roads.
At SADD National Conference, students will take part in masterclasses where they problem solve and actively design innovative, preventative approaches to challenges, such as navigating the Graduated Driver Licence System, distracted driving and avoiding risks on our roads.
Conference is being held during April in both the North and South Islands: www.sadd.org.nz/conferenc…
Wellington: St Patricks College, Silverstream, 21-23 April
Dunedin: John McGlashan College, 27-29 April
NZ Police, regional road safety partners and Fire and Emergency NZ will be in attendance to help students produce resources that improve wellbeing outcomes for all New Zealanders and build a road safety culture.
SADD National Manager Donna Govorko says, “Conference brings together like-minded youth who are committed to making a difference. The participants are empowered to lead others to understand how we can all contribute to Vision Zero goals - a 40% reduction in deaths and serious injuries by 2030.”
… Safety culture and climate
You can have all of the best safety procedures and PPE in the world, but if your company does not have a safety culture, then you might as well not institute any safety measures at all. Safety needs to be a primary concern for everyone in the company, from the managers to the boss to the new hires who are being trained, otherwise safety procedures can quickly fall by the wayside and be considered unnecessary complications which only the sticklers follow.
Everyone on the team from the top down needs to promote a culture of safety, and also institute a zero-tolerance policy for breaking safety procedures. You can create a safety culture by emphasizing health and safety during training for new employees and maintaining a zero-tolerance policy when someone breaks safety policies. The United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers, & Allied Workers also produces regular reports on the best ways to maintain health and safety in the industry. …
Shell shares safety standards, programs with Coca-Cola Beverages PH sg.news.yahoo.com/shell-sha…
Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporations shared its best practices and road safety program with Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc. (CCBPI) at the latter’s virtual Logistics Summit. Shell seeks to promote quality safety standards in the organization and its partners.
Pilipinas Shell is CCBPI’s partner under the Shell Fleet Solutions that helps businesses achieve efficient and more convenient fleet management. Among the services that Shell Fleet Solution provide are fuel discounts, ferry bookings, and streamlining of toll payments.
Shell Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) Manager Lily Keh-Camero claimed that its safety culture ensures a secure manner of delivering products. “We’re not only providing the best-quality fuel products and services, but we also share how we deliver these products in a safe and secure way,” Camero said.
For her part, CCBPI Logistics Director Ruth Genota said that road safety protocols count as an important part of their business. “We have always placed great value on our partnership with Shell, because CCBPI’s road safety protocols are integral to how we do business,” she noted.
Pubs and restaurants could lose business without robust food safety culture
Pubs, restaurants and coffee shops reopening after lockdown face increased consumer concern over food safety and hygiene, the British Standards Institution (BSI) said today.
With tens of thousands of outlets expected to serve customers for the first time since Christmas from today, the BSI warned of a potential shift in confidence around food safety.
Consumer polling of 2,182 UK adults online, conducted by YouGov for BSI immediately after the Government’s Eat out To Help Out scheme, found that over half (53%) of consumers say they have become more conscious of food safety and hygiene at food outlets since the pandemic began.
Pubs, chain restaurants, and independent coffee shops and restaurants were the places that respondents were most concerned about.
Consumers indicated that this increased consciousness of food safety and hygiene would impact their choices going forward.
‘Team effort needed’ to drive changes at Shropshire hospitals following staff survey concerns
It will take a team effort to drive forward change and address concerns raised by staff at Shropshire’s main hospitals, its board has been told. Questions in the 2020 NHS Staff Survey were divided into themes and the results show that the overall ‘safety culture’ score for Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust was the worst nationally.
Concerns were also raised in many other areas which scored lower than the national average.
Addressing the trust’s board of directors at a meeting yesterday, its chief executive Louise Barnett said the results were ‘poor’ and it was important to take action.
She said: “It’s important for the board to understand fully what our staff are saying, for us to commit to actions that we can continue to take to build that culture and safety culture within the organisation.
“Overall, our aim of course is to deliver high quality care, and to do that by supporting our staff.”
Director of workforce Rhia Boyode said the results were a ‘disappointing read’ in many aspects of the report.
WSPS CEO: What we learned from surviving a pandemic
As president and CEO of Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS), Lynn Brownell knows a thing or too about the importance of organizational health. … “Here at WSPS, my main contribution centres around connecting people: government and industry; business leaders, communities and partners; our employees, volunteers and customers. There are many moving parts in what we do and many relationships that need to be nurtured. Although protecting people’s physical health and safety is still our top priority, we have moved into spaces such as mental harm prevention, the role of leadership in creating a strong safety culture, and of course, the impact of technology on everything we do.”
As a female CEO, Brownell was quick to offer up advice to the next generation of female talent. For her, it all comes down to being true to your authentic self – the rest will ultimately follow.
Read more: How to improve inclusion in the workplace
“I think anyone could apply the advice I would give,” she told HRD. “We need to encourage people to know themselves and be true to themselves and play to their strengths. We need people to bring what makes them unique individuals to their careers. Leaders need to get out there and speak to diverse groups and let them know that traditional ceilings have no value anymore – we need different viewpoints, skills and experiences. WSPS will be sponsoring the Skills Ontario Young Women’s Conference – for the third year in a row - and I’m delighted to speak to such an enthusiastic group of young people who are interested in careers in the skilled trades and technologies. It’s a different world today and the differences people bring to their professional lives make businesses so much stronger. And much more interesting!”
Maintaining a Strong Safety Culture The top 6 considerations in establishing your safety strategy, and the culture it will create.
Safety culture, for many safety professionals, is a system.
The system consists of attitudes, beliefs, values and principles that encourage safe behavior in the workplace. All the moving parts need to come together to upkeep this system. The pieces of safety culture include management and employee involvement, hazard analysis, control and abatement, communication and training, and evaluation. Each of these steps is necessary and needed to create and upkeep a safe work environment.
Ep.70 Is OHS management a profession?
Topics:
Making generalizations about work across Australia. Collecting and defining OHS knowledge. Three broad criteria for defining a profession. Defining a role and career path. The OHS body of knowledge. Claim over decisions. Technical problems and social problems. How to define a professional organization and determine which is the premiere org for your profession. Do you need to be part of a professional organization? Why there need to be professional education programs. Practical takeaways.
Quotes:
“A profession should have an established hierarchy, it should have some consistency in role titles, and it should have a career path.”
“We’ve got this wonderful project called the body of knowledge, but in the professional sense, we don’t have a stable body of knowledge; we have a really contested body of knowledge…”
“Either you put up barriers to entry and say ‘safety work should only be done by recognized professionals’. Or you say ‘we want to grow as an organization and anyone can be a recognized professional, just send us the cash’. And either way, you end up diluting what it means to be recognized as a safety professional.”
New AAA survey reveals half of drivers admit to being ‘intexticated’ when in car alone
As traffic begins to pick up across the country with increased vaccinations and decreased pandemic restrictions, AAA Texas reminds drivers about the importance of focusing on the road ahead and not on their smartphones. April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, and AAA has just released the results of a survey to assess driver attitudes and behaviors toward distracted driving. The online AAA survey revealed the following: More than half of drivers (51 percent) admitted they text and/or email while alone in the vehicle Those in the age range of 25 to 34 are even more likely (59 percent) to text and/or email while driving alone A quarter (26 percent) of drivers say it’s OK to use a cell phone if they are alone and at a complete stop with no other passengers in the vehicle
Callahan Construction Managers Holds Safety Stand-Down
BRIDGEWATER, MA– Callahan Construction Managers announced that it hosted a mandatory company-wide safety stand-down last month. During the stand-downs, teams at each Callahan jobsite reviewed hazards associated with the type of work they do and identified ways to eliminate them.
The goal of the safety stand-down was to refocus the importance of safety, eliminate complacency, and reflect on hazards to make every Callahan jobsite safer. All Callahan project executives, managers, superintendents, and subcontractors participated.
“Callahan is proactive when it comes to safety and we used this as an opportunity to refocus and avoid complacency and promote our zero-injury safety culture,” stated Justin Azbill, Director of Safety at Callahan. “We want to lead by example and do everything in our power to ensure every employee on site goes home safely at the end of the day.”
Stand-downs on each jobsite were led by Callahan Superintendents where the teams discussed complacency, situational awareness, fall protection, hand injuries, and COVID-19 compliance. Each subcontractor team also discussed hazards associated with the type of work they do and identified ways Callahan can help them eliminate job hazards. Callahan’s objective is to use this information to improve communication across all jobsites to continue to build a solid zero-injury safety culture across the entire company, which had a 98% rate of zero lost time incidents in 2020.
American Airlines to use nonunion pilots for some test flights, drawing criticism
But the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American’s roughly 15,000 pilots, opposes the measure.
“The foundation of AA’s strong safety culture has been a commitment to ensuring that independent, protected, and unintimidated pilots are conducting these critical safety check flights versus management pilots who may have a conflict of interest,” Eric Ferguson, an American Airlines captain and APA’s president, said in a Feb. 19 message to members. “Any move to crack that foundation will be met with the strongest opposition by APA.”
The union did not say that there were any imminent or specific safety risks or that procedures were out of line with federal standards.
American said that its company pilots were already performing most of these flights and that they received the same specialized training as union test pilots.
Creating Workplace Safety Culture: Key Steps
The worldwide public health crisis of 2020 has renewed the interest in organizational safety, with businesses and nonprofits being forced to invest in new equipment and policies. However, it soon became apparent that piecemeal solutions are the least cost-effective from the strategic perspective. Creating workplace safety that is both efficient and sustainable is only possible with the organization-wide commitment to the cause. Below is an overview of key steps for creating the culture of safety along with the common challenges organizations can face in the process.
What is Safety Culture?
In the broadest sense, safety culture is a way of doing things that brings down the number of potential risks to a minimum. It can be considered as an integral part of the organizational culture – a set of rules, procedures, and beliefs shared by all employees that pertain to workplace safety. The easiest way to describe safety culture is in terms of rules and policies. However, the term is actually more encompassing and includes many subtle components:
– Beliefs – Values – Behavioral patterns – Knowledge and experience – Attitudes – Decision-making
The concept came to prominence in the late twentieth century in parallel with risk management. It also became clear that all major accidents in the workplace are usually not due to unlucky coincidence but rather the lack of coherent effort to achieve safety systemically. In other words, safety culture is about fostering commitment to safety within the organization rather than enforcing rules.
Aviation operators urged to conduct regular safety seminars
KUALA LUMPUR: General Aviation (GA) and Business Aviation (BA) operators in Malaysia are urged to conduct regular safety seminars and briefings to make safety awareness and compliance to regulations an ingrained culture.
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong said thus fora such as the two-day Asian Business Aviation Association (AsBAA) Malaysia Virtual Safety Forum is timely in reminding all industry players to make safety paramount in their operations and corporate culture.
“Safety must not be optional to using and enjoying private aviation,“ he said in his opening remarks at the forum, according to a statement issued by Ministry of Transport here today.
The statement said following recent mishaps involving helicopters, it was imperative for the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) to quickly organise a mandatory safety briefing for all local helicopter operators, maintenance organisations and helicopter pilots’ operators in Malaysia.
5 key elements of a mature food safety culture
The differences between a culture that is mature and one that is not can be stark, says Alchemy’s Laura Dunn Nelson
In order for your poultry plant’s food safety culture to be effective, or what Alchemy Vice President of Food Safety Laura Dunn Nelson refers to as mature, focus needs to be placed on five key elements.
Nelson offered her input on how a mature culture can help plants meet continuous food safety improvements while speaking during The Poultry Federation’s Food Safety Conference, held virtually on March 29-31.
U.S. House panel probes SpaceX launch activities
WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) - The House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said on Monday it is investigating a SpaceX commercial space launch that regulators determined violated U.S. safety requirements and its test license.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in February that SpaceX’s December launch of Starship SN8 proceeded without the company demonstrating that the public risk from “far field blast overpressure” was within regulatory criteria.
The FAA says far field blast overpressure may be a hazard to the public if the launch vehicle explodes on impact, potentially creating a shock wave that damages windows in areas relatively far from the impact site.
House Transportation Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio and Representative Rick Larsen, who oversees the aviation subcommittee, said in a letter last Thursday to the FAA that “given the high-risk nature of the industry, we are disappointed that the FAA declined to conduct an independent review of the event and, to the best of our knowledge, has not pursued any form of enforcement action.”
In February, the FAA said it had required SpaceX to investigate the incident, including a comprehensive review of its safety culture, “operational decision-making and process discipline.”
The FAA ordered some testing suspended at the Texas launch site until the investigation was completed and it approved the company’s corrective actions.
The FAA said SpaceX’s corrective actions were incorporated into a February launch and that it anticipated “taking no further enforcement action on SN8 matter.”
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment. The letter was reported earlier by Politico.
The FAA declined to comment on the letter.
Committee staff have been examining for two months “SpaceX launch activities that, taken together, raise serious questions,” the lawmakers’ letter said, urging the FAA to “resist any potential undue influence on launch safety decision-making.”
The Maritime Union is calling for Ports of Auckland chief executive Tony Gibson to go following a damning report which found systemic problems with health and safety under his watch.
In a three-year period, two port workers lost their lives due to accidents on the wharves and a speeding pilot boat accidentally struck and killed an ocean swimmer.
Gibson and port chairman Bill Osborne today accepted the findings of the report and accepted they had not being doing enough to keep staff safe.
“I now expect Ports of Auckland to implement these recommendations without delay and more importantly to hold management to account on monitoring and compliance,” Osborne said.
Maritime Union national secretary Craig Harrison said the independent report by Construction Health and Safety New Zealand (CHASNZ) confirmed everything the union has said about the failure of port management to keep staff safe over several years.
“There is no confidence in the chief executive and the board has not done its job,” said Harrison, who said the first step should be to replace Gibson.
Speaking at a press conference today, Gibson said he has no plans to resign, saying his focus is making sure the wrongs that have been done are put right.
Gibson said he will stay in the job as long as the board has faith in him.
Osborne said the board has confidence in Gibson and senior management’s commitment to drive forward on every recommendation in the report.
He said there are two broad themes that stand out in the report that need addressing - making improvements to safety management systems to ensure work is always carried out safely, and transforming company culture to create a strong safety culture.
At an earlier press conference, Mayor Phil Goff said the question of confidence in Gibson is a matter for the board.
Analysis of Safety Culture and Biorisks for Nurses during the Covid-19 Pandemic
This research project aims to depict the culture of safety and the biological risks faced by nurses in times of pandemic. The research team will propose recommendations to be implemented in real time to ensure the optimal safety and health of these workers during and after the pandemic.
In this context, it is essential to document the multiple realities and their effects on the health and safety of these workers. Nurses must deal with many challenges, including fears of shortages of protective material and distress about the risk of contaminating their loved ones when they return home after work.
Are You Worried About Freight Rail Safety? You Probably Should Be.
In July 2013, a freight train carrying crude oil ran off the tracks in the small town of Lac-Megantic in eastern Quebec. As a result, it exploded, killing 47 people. The explosion also led to the destruction of 40 buildings and caused an abundance of oil to pollute the local environment. Among the causes, according to a 2018 BBC report, was “a lax safety culture at train company MMA.” That’s the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway — which was purchased by a holding company a year after the tragedy.
A new article by Vice transportation reporter Aaron Gordon suggests that this accident wasn’t an isolated incident so much as it is a warning of what’s to come. Rail freight is seen by many as a valid alternative to transporting goods by trucks, especially in urban areas. But what happens when an industry has insufficient oversight regarding safety measures? That can lead to literal accidents waiting to happen.
Gordon’s article cites a 2017 derailing in Hyndman, Pennsylvania. No one was killed, but over a dozen of the cars that detailed contained hazardous materials; had things gone slightly differently, Hyndman might have been a tragedy on the same level as Lac-Megantic.
Maintaining a safety culture in the maritime industry – Part I
The term “safety culture” has been bantered around long before I came on the scene.
But what is safety culture? Is it the speech given by the CEO or some lower management level supervisor where it’s touted to the press and company personnel about how few accidents have been recorded in the past year? Is it the spending of mountains of money on the latest and greatest safety product on the market and the company splashing it all over their web site and in press releases? Could it be how many safety meetings and safety checks are made in any given period? Or should it be how each individual employee looks to their own safety as well as the safety of those around them? I believe the answer is the latter.
I have been in the professional marine environment for almost 50 years. Safety has always been one of my major pet peeves and has been taught to me and by me as I’ve moved up the chain of command. My experience spreads across the entire marine field from being a raw recruit in the Navy and eventually sailing in the submarine force, to sailing the deep seas on merchant ships, sailing inland and finally starting my own boat tour business to round out my career. I’m semiretired and still sail for my former employer as a fill in when they are shorthanded as well as my boat tours in the summer months. Safety has always played an important role in my adult life.
HAI issues statement on March 23 NTSB hearing
Helicopter Association International (HAI) appreciates and supports the work of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for their March 23 hearing to ensure the safety of flights for paying passengers in all aircraft.
“At HAI we believe that elevating the safety culture of our VTOL industry is a global imperative,” says James Viola, president and CEO of HAI. “Helicopters are used in a wide variety of missions, including flights with paying passengers. Our industry is committed to improving operational safety for all mission segments.”
HAI supports the requirement for a safety management system (SMS) for any for-hire passenger-carrying operation. Additionally, HAI strongly recommends that all aviation operations, not just those for hire that carry passengers, adopt an SMS program. An SMS provides a ready-made, ongoing process to improve operational safety and is endorsed by aviation regulators and safety organizations around the world as the best way to systematically manage aviation risk.
Mesa County-based businesses to get $1.5 million in dividends
Counting the latest distribution, Pinnacol has returned $320 million to Colorado businesses since 2016 — about 9 percent of premiums. Pinnacol returned $70 million in 2020 and what was at the time a lockdown near the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Kalin said the company also has reduced customer rates by more than 32 percent since 2016.
Pinnacol Assurance has helped businesses adapt to pandemic-related hazards while also helping them remain focused on such common workplace hazards as slips, falls and unsafe lifting practices, he said.
“A strong safety culture and proactive management of employees’ safety and well-being can literally put money back in a business’ pocket,” he said. “This is not a nice-to-have or something to be focused on during boom times exclusively.”
Ep.69 Do safety in design processes change the design?
Topics:
Is safety and design effective? Risk shuffling. Russell’s key findings. The hierarchy of controls. The proper use of safety and design. Evaluating design to minimize risk. Practical advice from Russell.
Quotes:
“We don’t always have opportunities in safety science to get some objective artifacts…”
“I’ve never heard of a designer saying they’ve got plenty of time and a ton of budget, so let’s, you know, get down and optimize for safety.”
“And if we start by listing the operations before we list the hazards or risks, then we’re going to be in a much better place.”