February 2011Safety Message

2 Simple Questions in Safety

In our safety tool box we have many tools we use on a daily basis to ensure the health & safety of our workers. They include JHA’s (Job Hazard Analysis), Proper SOP’s or Standard Operating Procedures, 5 Point Safety Cards, the PASS (Positive Attitude Safety System) and Stop & Correct.

Before any employee gets engaged in any work we ask that everyone make a personal commitment to safety as a part of our Safety Culture to ensure we achieve our goal of zero harm.

Understanding our safety culture and working with all the different safety tools mentioned above gets us to that moment when we are about to commence that daily task. The final step in safety that every person needs to ask themselves is two simple questions; “How will I get injured for the task I am about to perform” ? By asking yourself this question you will self analyse the situation, the elements surrounding you and the task you are about to perform. At this point you need to re-assure yourself and others around you without a doubt that you can perform the work safely without harm. Imagining what could happen will allow us to be more proactive towards safety by making changes and reacting before something happens. The second question you need to ask of yourself; “What will I do if there is an event or unusual unexpected situation and how will I react”? When we look at many of the injuries in the past, it seems there are injuries related to what is referred to as a secondary action where we are avoiding a situation and through those actions we see an injury. By asking yourself this question you will ensure yourself the proper steps to take to avoid an injury or incident. This might include ensuring you have a safe path of retreat and something as simple as housekeeping comes into play and is addressed when you ask yourself this question.

It is important to ensure we understand our commitment that we will not start any task or job until everything is right and that we can perform the work safely. If we all follow this simple process and ensure all our people ask these two very simple questions I am certain it will ensure the personal commitment is there to achieve zero harm.