There's this popular statement that says: “if you think safety is expensive, why not try an accident”
All organizations have a legal and moral responsibility to ensure that the workplace has suitable health and safety measures in place so that everyone who works or visits is protected from any harm.
This involves creating health and safety policies and programs and ensuring everyone is well educated so that they can adhere to the policies with ease.
However, if you tune your Radio/Tv or check online you will see different reported cases of workplace accidents.
Despite the legislations, the ILO framework and even the health and safety Act of 1974, and others, accidents have never ceased to occur at the workplace. Though not peculiar to a particular country. It is a universal phenomenon.
The world of work has changed dramatically. Globalization has affected the structure of workplaces, the way work is performed, and occupational safety and health
An estimated 317 million nonfatal occupational injuries and 321,000 occupational fatalities occur globally each year, that is, 151 workers sustain a work-related accident every 15 seconds (ILO 2013a).
Notwithstanding, an accident is inevitable but can be managed if there are appropriate health and safety policies and Mechanisms to manage and ensure compliance.
Findings from this case, we were able to outline the cause and how it was managed and suggest possible health and safety measures that can be applied to avoid any future hazards.
First and foremost, What is Health, safety and security?
The World Health Organisation (1948) states that as a basic principle, "health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity"
According to Wikipedia, Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other non-desirable outcomes. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards to achieve an acceptable level of risk. While security is the state of being free from danger or threat
What's Risk Assessment and Control?
Risk assessment is a term used to describe the overall process or method where you: Identify hazards and risk factors that have the potential to cause harm (hazard identification). Determine appropriate ways to eliminate the hazard, or control the risk when the hazard cannot be eliminated (risk control)
As a point of reference, let's consider this case;
The case of an 18years old boy who just finished High school and was working in a factory as a chop saw operator (Woodcutter). Sadly got entangled in a machine called a conveyor roller and suffered compressional asphyxia which led to his instant death.
2) Cut off saw operators are in charge of the set-up, operation, and maintenance of wood sawing machines. Their job description entails controlling and adjusting sawing machines such as band saws, circular saws, and rip saw to cut or trim wood according to set specifications.
3) On one fateful day, he went for his usual break after work but unfortunately went out of bound and got stuck in (conveyor belt) one of the factory's machines.
4) After a while the supervisor got worried and went in search of him
5) Eventually, It was found out that the boy's legs were hanging in the machine.
6) Quickly, the supervisor put off the machine, alerted the emergency medical services (EMS), and after they checked him he was pronounced dead.
RISK ASSESSMENT:
1) It was noticed that there were no safety signs inscribed either on the walls, doors, or the machines.
2) There was no proper monitoring;
i. First of, The security guards on duty were not watchful and strategically positioned during the day of the incident.
ii. There were no installations of CCTV cameras to monitor everyone's movement.
iii. There was no proper mechanism to identify each worker before gaining entrance into any technical areas in the factory.
3) There was no thorough and holistic training on each job/equipment.
4) The machine( conveyor belt) was left running while not in use.
RISK CONTROL:
1) There should be a General job hazard analysis.
2) The company's policies should be reviewed consistently, and mechanisms should be put in place to ensure compliance.
3) Safety signs should be strategically inscribed on walls, doors and the machine indicating explicitly that only authorised staff should touch.
4) There should be consistent and proper monitoring mechanisms to identify each worker before they can gain access to any technical areas. Eg Access Cards, Biometrics Scan etc.
5) The Machine should be put off at all times when not in use to avoid any form of hazards.
CONCLUSION:
- No doubt health and safety are some of the aspects of utmost importance in any organization.
- There's a positive correlation between working conditions and workers' productivity and a key determining factor for the success of every organization.
- It's a shared responsibility between the employer and the employees and they should continue to pay close attention to health and safety and imbibe the culture of SAFETY FIRST!
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