There is one common theme in all the facilities I worked at during my time as safety and health manager/director… the employees were the ones who would explain to guests how we achieved the level of safety that set us apart from others. Most guests came to visit thinking they would discover a magic pill…...
We see a lot of talk about “written procedures” and how they should be minimized in length/detail and in some cases done away with altogether. I call this rubbish – when done well they can be the cornerstone of a well-executed SMS. And yes, I subscribe to the practice that some of these procedures will…...
Even though this Human Factors model is going on 30 years old, it is still the most widely used and recognizable today. In my process safety career, Human Factors were intended to be part of all Process Hazard(s) analyses; and although the chemical industry adopted some really good checklists to aid in these analyze’s, they…...
Reviewing safety performance takes a ‘big picture’ overview of the patterns of evidence arising from all forms of monitoring, investigation, and audit to decide whether the overall approach, policies, resources, priorities, improvement targets, and the SMS remain relevant and appropriate in pursuing the safety vision and strategy and cultural development. Taking from the “Five Themes…...
I am a huge proponent of building a safety process, formally called a Safety Management System, that establishes some critical indicators of how well the process functions. This is done in the same spirit as how a business measures its production, quality, costs, etc. But as we all know, anything that gets measured WITHOUT VALIDATION…...
“Accident-prevention engineers must know why and how accidents occur; they must know the causes of accidents and direct their attack to the removal of those causes, instead of selecting a remedy blindly or arbitrarily. … Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in here...
Improving the safety culture requires an integrated approach to safety through coherent actions in three (3) areas:… Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in here...
To help organizations understand how SIF can complement their current OSH efforts I am making these posts and powerpoints FREE through Sunday…. Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in here...
Recently a client who uses anhydrous ammonia (NH3) had a significant event involving their NH3. This event is the perfect scenario to demonstrate that “inherently safe design” is by far the best design. The incident involved unloading a tank truck of NH3 into a bulk tank. A single valve was in its CLOSED position when…...
Earlier I shared a quote from Hippocrates in 450 B.C. and in that post, I mentioned that management’s reliance on incident rates is a sickness. That got me a lot of texts and a few phone calls. So I figured I would explain what I meant by that. Reliance on lagging indicators to measure the…...
“A supervisor or a foreman stands upon the first rung of the executive ladder. Because of certain valuable personal qualities, he has been selected to direct the work of other employees. Unfortunately, in the average case, he enters upon this phase of work uninstructed in the art of executive leadership—and works into it so gradually…...
Playing on what Hippocrates said centuries ago, I’ll offer this advice to safety pros who are exploring their next gig… Before you can heal [an organization], ask [them] if [they’re] willing to give up the things that make [them] sick. Hippocrates, 450 B.C…. Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View...
