Carlile terminal manager credits team for safety award nomination … “I believe I was nominated because of our terminal’s overall safety record,” Sibley said. “We’ve met and even beaten all of the safety goals set by our regulatory department during the past five years, including lost time and recordable injuries. I can’t take all the credit – my team knocks it out of the park with the safety culture in Tacoma.”
“We’ve met and even beaten all of the safety goals set by our regulatory department during the past five years, including lost time and recordable injuries. I can’t take all the credit – my team knocks it out of the park with the safety culture in Tacoma.”
Sibley said he fights complacency and keeps safety top-of-mind by implementing the message “on a constant cadence” of daily safety briefings with all personnel and clear signage throughout the terminal.
“Safety now has become culture. Safety and safe practices in Tacoma have practically become instinctual and safety leads itself,” he said.
U.S. Coast Guard Signals Intent to Require Safety Management Systems
More than 6000 U.S. flag commercial vessels carry more than 200 million passengers annually on domestic voyages in the United States. These include ferries, dinner-cruise vessels, sightseeing and excursion vessels, dive boats, and overnight cruise vessels, among many others, operating along the coastlines and internal waters throughout the United States. By way of comparison, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, approximately 14 million passengers annually embarked on large cruise ships that call on ports throughout North America.
… Safety Culture: Last, but certainly not least, perhaps the single greatest factor in determining the effectiveness of any SMS is the “safety culture” of the company. Establishing and maintaining that level of corporate commitment from top to bottom is hard work. While a strong safety culture will not completely eliminate the risk of a casualty, it is undeniably essential to implementing an efficient and effective SMS.
SUMMARY
Roundabouts are designed to make intersections safer and more efficient for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists. The last few years has seen the addition of several roundabouts constructed for use on our roadways. Most drivers are unfamiliar with the use of this type of intersection, or how to navigate them. Especially if they are multiple lane roundabouts.
[NSW could relax social distancing rules for venues but only if masks are mandated[ (https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw-could-relax-social-distancing-rules-for-venues-but-only-if-masks-are-mandated-20201011-p563zg.html)
The NSW government is considering relaxing the four-square-metre distancing rule and limitations on large gatherings. These, and the closure of international borders, are hurting the economy.
As long as the government is prepared to be flexible and retighten these rules if COVID-19 in the community should require it, it could sensibly plan for these measures. Closing international borders is a major reason why we are in a position where we can consider these kinds of rollbacks. Substantially opening them could result in significant community transmission.
…
Business owners must equally take responsibility for collaborating in a safety culture. A breach, as recently happened in the south-western Sydney cluster, makes contact tracing impossible, and increases the risk of silent epidemic growth. Contact tracing is feasible when the outbreaks are small, but when you have to trace thousands to hundreds of thousands of contacts at a day, even the best-resourced health system will not be able to keep up. SARS-COV-2 infections grow exponentially. The virus does not wait for anyone, nor care about our wishes for a return to normal life. If we deny the existence of the worst pandemic in living memory, raging outside our borders, we tempt fate.
Ep.48 What are the missing links between investigating incidents and learning from incidents?
EPISODE NOTES This discussion is building off last week’s episode where we focused on blame. We thought we would dig a little deeper into how people learn from incidents.
We use the paper, What is Learning? A Review of the Safety Literature to Define Learning from Incidents, Accidents, and Disasters, in order to frame our chat.
Topics:
Single and double-loop learning. Incident learning models. The least effective method of learning. How to make a safety bulletin effective. Why organizational trust is a factor in learning. Why management is important to creating a culture of safety. Lessons Learned About Lessons Learned Systems. Practical takeaways.
Quotes:
“Learning from accidents is pretty much the oldest type of safety work that exists…and almost from the very start, people have been complaining after accidents about people’s failure to learn from previous accidents.”
“This paper really confirms the answer that we gave last week to our question about, ‘does blame sort of get in the way of learning?’ “
“You’ve got to admit that you are wrong now in order to become correct in the future.”
FDA Reaffirms Commitment to Safety, Security of its Public Health Laboratories
SILVER SPRING, Md., Oct. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s mission to protect and promote public health by ensuring the safety of the nation’s food supply, as well as the safety and efficacy of medical products, has always relied on a rigorous analysis of the scientific data available and a strong commitment to safety. We are dedicated to helping ensure the safety of the American public through our work and the safety of all of our staff by continuing to support and strengthen a culture that prioritizes workplace safety.
FDA staff across the nation work diligently to help ensure the safety of FDA-regulated products. I’ve seen this same dedication in their shared commitment to protecting each other and prioritizing safety across the agency, including our laboratories across the country. As we work together to build upon our strong safety charge, I’ve recently stood up a new cross-agency working group with support from the FDA’s senior leadership to optimize and further foster a holistic, cohesive, and collaborative safety culture. As part of their charge, the group will review our current organization structure and reporting relationships that support our safety program. This working group will explore best practices and incorporate and leverage the expertise of the existing safety councils within our agency to optimize ongoing efforts. The group will focus broadly on several areas in the safety space to include occupational safety and health, environmental safety, and laboratory safety; and will look to best practices in industry to determine if they can complement our regulatory organization. This effort is meant to strengthen the already robust safety measures that staff and senior leadership have implemented. I look forward to continuing my work with the FDA’s senior leadership to bolster an already strong culture of safety and security within the agency.
IFALPA Calls for Immediate Release of Russian Air Traffic Controllers
MONTREAL–(BUSINESS WIRE)– The International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA) was extremely disappointed to learn about the final verdict passed by a Court of the Russian Federation where three Air Traffic Controllers were sentenced to 5, 5 ½ and 6 years imprisonment in the aftermath of the take-off accident of a Unijet Falcon 50 at Moscow-Vnukovo airport on 20 October 2014.
This decision to single out and punish individuals who are already under intense psychological pressure due to an accident will not prevent a similar event from happening again. It is extremely detrimental to flight safety to criminally prosecute individuals involved in aviation accidents, as such prosecutions have the potential to seriously hinder our ability to learn from incidents and accidents so that future mishaps can be prevented.
Further, sentencing these controllers shows a complete disregard for the positive safety culture principles laid out by Annexes 13 (Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation) and 19 (Safety Management) to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, and for the work of the technical experts who were assigned to this investigation. It may also lead the general public to conclude that the accident resulted from the controllers’ intentional acts, rather than technical issues or a string of simple errors caused by multiple factors.
HP to promote road safety campaign to curb accidents
Himachal Pradesh Transport Minister Bikram Singh on Wednesday said the road safety campaign would be promoted as a mass campaign to establish road safety culture to check accidents in the state. After the meeting of State Transport Development and Road Safety Council, Bikram Singh said around 95 percent road accidents were caused due to human errors.
“Out of these 62.86 percent accidents are caused by over speeding which could be reduced by making people aware of road safety.
The department has carried out a comprehensive road-safety awareness campaign in the state and districts which has resulted in a decrease of 7.62 percent road accidents, 5.13 percent in death rate and 11.65 percent decrease in injured persons,” he said.
Singh said a total of 3110 accidents took place in 2018 in which 1202 persons lost their lives while 2873 accidents took place in 2019 in which 1146 persons were killed. State Transport Minister said the Transport and Police Departments will jointly make efforts to make Himachal Pradesh a safe state by making people aware of wrong habits like over speeding, drinking and driving, overloading and over taking.
Doug Banning’s Legacy of Safety Earns Him 2020 Pipeline Leadership Award
One of Banning’s biggest achievements was in prioritizing a culture of safety — before it was popular and expected. As a pioneer in this respect, Banning helped spread the gospel of safety throughout the pipeline industry, and it’s one of the things he is most proud of in his career.
“As a company, we pushed a process to make safety personal,” he says. “Our campaign ‘What I Live For’ highlighted how safety impacts family members and the important people in our lives, and that really made a difference in our safety culture. Making that connection was important in sustaining our safety culture.”
In addition to driving transformation at Miller Pipeline and MVerge, Banning’s contributions to the industry are extensive, including his work with trade organizations and initiatives to improve workforce development and service quality.
NTI WELCOMES HVSI FUNDING FOR SAFETY CULTURE INITIATIVE
Heavy truck and transport insurer NTI is looking to press ahead with its Driving a National Culture of Safety initiative after being named amongst the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s (NHVR’s) 2020 Heavy Vehicle Safety Initiative (HVSI) grant recipients.
The $300,000 grant supports NTI’s proposed, a 12 month campaign to deliver online, digital and interactive heavy vehicle educational content, with the aim to embed an industry-wide view on safety culture.
NTI developed the initiative to address customer insights revealing a need for better management of safety priorities within the industry and support for businesses in communicating these to their people to create better culture.
Ep. 47 Does individual blame lessen the ability to learn from failure?
Topics: Accountability in regards to safety in the workplace. The papers referenced are commentaries, instead of studies. Policy shifting to no-blame reporting systems. A Tale of Two Stories gives two narrative perspectives on one incident. Employee voice. A climate of voice vs. a climate of silence. Creating communication opportunities. How blame can be a default. Practical takeaways from the discussion.
Quotes: “ ‘Employee voice’ covers a whole range of behaviors that people can do in organizations that are discretionary.”
“Ironically, when they spoke to a number of managers…as part of the study, managers believed they were encouraging employees to speak up, but on the other hand, they’re employing all sorts of informal tactics to silence this dissent.”
“There’s so many broader forces in their organization that are seeking resolution…that if you enable an approach where an individual can be blamed, then I think that will be the dominant logic in your investigation…”
Food safety culture: What to do now that everyone is watching?
This year has brought nothing but huge changes for the world, especially for the food industry. Shutdowns, new operational models, and re-openings at this scale are new territory for us all. Even the definition of food safety culture has changed from “what you’re doing when no one is watching” to “what you do when everyone is watching.”
Customers and employees have their eyes open wider than ever before. Employees are watching to make sure you’re not taking their safety for granted, and customers are watching closely to make sure your employees’ actions don’t ring any alarm bells for health and safety.
Even though the definition of food safety culture has expanded, that doesn’t mean the purpose of food safety culture has changed. And the purpose of creating a food safety culture plan is to reap the benefits of employee buy-in, reduced risk, increased personal responsibility and ownership of food safety and customer experience, and more.
Stand Tall: AWEA Launches Sixth Annual Safety Campaign
Washington D.C. - The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) today kicks off the U.S. wind industry’s annual safety campaign. Stand Tall, this year’s October campaign, will focus on sprains and strains. With a record 120,000 Americans employed in bringing affordable, clean wind energy to communities across the country, workplace safety is more important than ever. AWEA’s safety data shows that sprains and strains from handling, lifting, or carrying are among the top injuries in the wind turbine generator.
To get the word out about best safety practices, AWEA today launched an on-demand webinar in which Adam Simoes, Workplace Services Director, Occupational Therapist, County Physical Therapy, LLC discusses the importance of dynamic stretching and provides details on the benefits for wind workers. The webinar also provides an overview of sprains and strains, symptoms, and ways to prevent injury.
“American wind power is always seeking to improve workplace safety culture as our wind workers head out every day to provide clean, reliable electricity for millions of Americans,” said Tom Kiernan, AWEA CEO. “AWEA is proud to today launch Stand Tall, our sixth consecutive October safety campaign, as we lead this concerted workplace safety effort.”
AIB to Conduct Regional Training
The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Nigeria, has revealed plan to conduct a training for all accident investigators in the West African region to showcase its world class Flight Safety Laboratory located in Abuja. The AIB Commissioner, Akin Olateru who disclosed this during a Regional Enlightenment Symposium held at Enugu, recently, said the training would be held before the end of 2020.
Olateru, who was represented by the General Manager, Public Affairs, AIB, Mr. Tunji Oketunbi described the symposium as, “another viable platform for all stakeholders to meet and deliberate on how to further grow our air transport system and promote our safety culture to meet global best practices.”
“Safety is the backbone of aviation and without it aviation loses its meaning. This is why every organ or unit in the industry works tirelessly to ensure the safety of air travelers. Until recently, the Nigerian aviation industry had no fatality for about five years.
Cultivating a Safety Culture Amid Constant Change
Developing a power plant safety culture takes time and constant effort, but the payoff is priceless, safety leaders at three major power companies said during a morning session at the Experience POWER virtual event on Sept. 30.
Jeffrey Mullins, safety and health consultant for the 2.6-GW coal-fired Gavin Power Plant owned by Lightstone Generation, kicked off the panel discussion by explaining the importance of establishing a safety culture. “The number one thing about safety is that its a 24-7 job.” It must be an ever-present consideration and a top priority that every worker must understand, he said.
However, ensuring that plant workers will always adhere to safety protocols is often complicated by changes in company ownership, employee turnover, and bridging expectation gaps, he said.
At Gavin, for example, a plant that American Electric Power sold in 2017 to Lightstone, a joint venture between private equity firms Blackstone and AcrLight, plant management shifted safety strategies to adapt to Lightstone’s smaller corporate structure. One “pro in a con” that the plant faced was that there was less of an “overhead structure,” which made it easier to enact change. But it also pushed the company to depend more on third-party services for specific needs, Mullins said. Because the plant began operation in 1973, some safety awareness was also lost when several long-term staff opted for early retirement when the plant was sold, he said.
Naval Safety Center cites summer safety campaign outcome www.dcmilitary.com/tester/ne…
“We must never accept any avoidable loss of life or loss of equipment as the cost of doing business,” said Luchtman. “Each one of us must work collectively as a force to adopt a safety culture and ensure operational readiness. It is imperative for everyone to look out for themselves and their fellow shipmates.”
The Safety Center serves as the safety conscience of the naval enterprise; enabling the Navy to foster a safety culture of excellence that encourages risk management, problem-solving and proactive thinking.
“With summer waning and cooler weather approaching, I encourage Sailors and Marines at all levels to ensure procedural compliance to prevent avoidable on-duty mishaps and reinforce the use of ORM to help reduce off-duty mishaps,” said Luchtman. “There remain areas of concern, such as pedestrian and off-duty recreational mishaps, that require our continued emphasis and awareness.”
Keeping Safety Top Of Mind For Airports Safety Week
Today, Kelowna International Airport (YLW), along with 27 airports across Canada, kicked off Canadian Airports Safety Week, an airport-led initiative to promote healthy and safe work practices among airport employees.
“Our focus has always been on ensuring YLW remains, safe, secure and operational for everyone who enters the terminal or steps onto the airfield,” said Sam Samaddar, Airport Director. “This year has presented new challenges due to COVID-19, which is why it is more important than ever for employees to keep safety top of mind so they return home safely at the end of every shift.”
From September 28 to October 1, all airport staff, whether they are working in the terminal building or on the airfield, will have the opportunity to take part in virtual safety-themed activities and events throughout the week. This week is a prime opportunity to introduce and remind airport employees of the new safety culture at airports due to COVID-19 as well as a chance to thank them for their contributions to safety.
“There is always something new to learn and getting to hear perspectives from others working in the industry is extremely valuable,” said Peter Parrotta, Operations Manager, Strategic Aviation Kelowna. “These sessions give employees the opportunity to learn how to mitigate hazards and integrate safety skills into the work they do each day.”
Bipartisan House Bill Aims to Fix Boeing 737 Max Safety Lapses
The top Democrat and Republican on the House’s transportation committee unveiled a bill on Monday aimed at addressing some of the problems that contributed to two fatal crashes of Boeing’s 737 Max jet.
Many of the changes in the bill, which is expected to be formally announced on Tuesday, would fix safety lapses that Democrats on the committee identified in a scathing report less than two weeks ago. The report blamed Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration for a series of safety failures.
“For the past 18 months, the Boeing 737 Max has been synonymous with the tragic loss of 346 innocent people, a broken safety culture at Boeing and grossly insufficient oversight by the F.A.A.,” Representative Peter A. DeFazio of Oregon, the Democratic chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, said in a statement. “And like many people, I was alarmed and outraged by many of the findings that were revealed over the course of our committee’s investigation into the certification of this aircraft.”
The 85-page bill is sponsored by Representative Sam Graves of Missouri, the committee’s top Republican, and Representative Rick Larsen, the Washington State Democrat who leads the aviation subcommittee. It includes dozens of changes, including strengthening whistle-blower protections and requiring experts to review Boeing’s safety culture and make recommendations for improvement.
The bill also requires that manufacturers give the F.A.A., airlines and pilots detailed information about any system that can alter a plane’s flight path without input from a pilot. One such system, MCAS, has been blamed, at least in part, for the crashes of the Max in Ethiopia and Indonesia. In their report, the committee’s Democrats accused Boeing of downplaying the role of that system in the design of the Max to avoid a time-consuming federal review.
Ep.46 Is risk compensation a real thing?
Topics:
Defining risk compensation. Risk compensation in road traffic. Argument by analogy. What causes people to believe in risk compensation. Why robust data equals a real effect. Practical takeaways.
Quotes:
“…I think this is the sort of phenomenon that causes people to believe in risk compensation.”
“Basically, what they’re saying is, if there was a real effect, it would be robust regardless of how you crunched the data.”
“Just because someone does lots of citing of literature or quotes from scientific literature, doesn’t mean that their interpretation of that literature is rigorous and scientific.”
Q&A: Training is essential to creating a positive food safety culture
How can the Lobster Ink program be adapted for different areas of foodservice, and how does it tailor training to different roles and levels of seniority within one operation?
The Lobster Ink program is grounded in science-based food safety principles that are explained in a practical manner. The content can be applicable for FSR, QSR and food retail environments.
The manager oversight courses give the manager or person in charge the tools and best practices to lead by example and take corrective action when needed. Monitoring the process and acknowledging good and poor behaviors and taking corrective action is crucial to the ongoing success of a positive food safety culture.
How can this approach to training help create a culture of food safety within an organization?
A positive food safety culture is extremely important because it shows the value and commitment of the team. To have a positive food safety culture, people need to understand why it matters and – more importantly – why it matters to them. They are taught that they have the choice to make good food safety choices and they have investment in the brand. The Lobster Ink training program explains to the learner the implications of poor food safety behaviors. Essentially, their actions can also affect their coworkers and the guests. They will learn that a safe environment positively affects the guests, the restaurant and themselves.
2019 Port Industry Accident Statistics Published: Accident Stats Show Positive Trend www.hellenicshippingnews.com/2019-port…
The Accident Stats Report clearly demonstrates that considerable progress has been made over the last two decades, fostered by an ever increasing atmosphere of cooperation between ports operators. However, there is still work to be done. While accident rates have declined since 2018, the longer trend indicates that accidents have plateaued. To remedy this, PSS has developed an initiative called the “Whole Person” approach. By addressing the mental and general health of workers as well as onsite skills, core safety systems and safety culture all together, organisations can help to crack the industry’s accident plateau.
Twenty-four organisations declared zero Lost Time Injuries in 2019, indicating that accidents are not inevitable, and we encourage our members to keep up the momentum and proactively work with PSS to protect Britain’s frontline.
PSS is the UK’s professional ports health and safety membership organisation. We exist to promote continuous improvement in health, safety and skills in ports. PSS is recognised by Government departments and agencies, including the Department for Transport, Health and Safety Executive and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
YCU appeals youngsters to take part in shaping traffic safety culture
The Youth Communist Union (YCU) in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday launched a campaign to call for participation of young people in ensuring traffic safety and shaping traffic safety culture. Young participants will disseminate traffic safety information and regulations as well as encourage residents to obey the rules shaping traffic safety culture. Additionally, police force, volunteers jointly keep traffic security and give assistance to residents who encounter traffic incidents at nights in the national highways and roads. Young people will also take part in controlling traffic in 59 intersections, 49 roads and in front of schools and hospital where traffic congestion usually take place in rush hours. Right after the launching ceremony, young people traveled to intersections and roads to monitor traffic.
Safety Culture Assessments: Similar for Freight and Commuter Rail Operations, Report Says
The Short Line Safety Institute (SLSI) can expand its freight railroad Safety Culture Assessments (SCA) to another industry sector: commuter rail. A recent study shows that its multimethod assessment process, which has been conducted across 90 short lines to date, is transferable.
SLSI defines “safety culture” as “the shared values, actions and behaviors that demonstrate a commitment to safety over competing goals and demands.” It has been conducting “voluntary, non-punitive, confidential” SCAs at short lines and regionals since 2015. SLSI also offers technical assistance for implementing changes and conducts follow-up assessments.
An analysis of the methodology and outcomes of an SCA conducted at a commuter railroad in 2019 has found that the process produced the “same robust result” as an SCA conducted at a freight railroad. The Federal Railroad Administration Office of Research, Technology and Development published the study earlier this month.
The commuter rail SCA only required two notable procedural changes. Additional federal regulations specific to commuter operations had to be evaluated. Also, SLSI assessors rode the trains as passengers as part of their observations. (In freight railroad SCAs, assessors do not ride trains.) Maintenance and mechanical observation procedures remained the same.
Initiative promotes workplace safety awareness … Interaction provides better understanding of the law and requirements of the workplace health, safety and environmental issues, and gears to meet changes and challenges.
The Chamber members comprise those from the manufacturing, construction, logistics and retails’ sectors.
The Chamber will work closely with SHENA to create a safer, healthier and more environmental friendly working environment for employees and the public.
Lim said the Chamber will play its part and conduct a series of awareness and educational events. He believed that through continuous efforts, a safety culture can be instilled at the workplace.
Ep.45 Why do we need complex models to explain simple work? Topics:
Using FRAM. Vulnerable Systems Syndrome. STAMP diagrams. How the researchers collected their data. Functions that are common and functions that are outliers. The benefits of implementing a FRAM model. Conclusions drawn by the research paper.
Quotes:
“Every function of a system is a hexagon and every vertex of that hexagon stands for a different way that, you know, this function can be connected with the next function.”
“The authors say that the interviews had just one question, which was ‘how do you perform your job?”
“What I like about the use of a FRAM model would be, I think it will allow organizations to narrow that gap between work as imagined and work as done.”