Pick up almost any publication and within the pages you’ll find health and safety by numbers. The safety headlines are indeed typically writ large with statistics of injuries and deaths.
Quantifying the efforts of industry is, of course, an important gauge in the drive to improve safety standards. It also feeds directly into how we tailor the legislative and training framework.
Behind each safety statistic though, resides an individual. And, behind this individual, resides friends, family and colleagues. When incidents occur the humanitarian impact of injury or death is always far-reaching.
As such, let us not forget that the most fundamental element of any statistical equation is the actual person and persons. Remembering enables us to plan today for a safer tomorrow.
With this in mind, we got to thinking about 7 of our personal favourite quotes about health and safety. Not captions centred around facts and figures, but inspirational sayings that remind us what health and safety is really about.
#7 Cicero on the law of humanity
#6 Jefferson on the importance of family
#5 Einstein on continual improvement
#4 Reynolds Training Services on safety
#3 Abraham on freedom
#2 Kletz on human error
#1 Hackitt on fact versus fiction
Have a safe journey.
The health and safety road is long and winding. Regulators, legislators, training providers and industry must travel down it together, navigating a clear course of direction towards an even safer future for workers, the public and the environment.
Have these quotes inspired you towards safer actions? Do you agree or disagree with the sentiment? Can you share any other linguistic moments of inspiration?
The Oil & Pipelines Agency says it considers competency as “key to unlocking safe and efficient processes” across its six COMAH regulated Oil Fuel Depots (OFDs) sites.
In its latest Process Safety Focus newsletter, the OPA details the “significant moves” it’s made over recent months to further develop its competency management systems.
OPA enlisted competency specialists, Reynolds Training Services, to develop and implement a competency assurance programme across the six OFDs.
The OPA Site Leads and Site Teams working with the Competence Assurance Manager, Mathew Nicholson, had identified a lack of formal processes to instil skill, knowledge and understanding in new and existing operators.
“The move was designed to foster regulatory compliance and ensure all operators are safe and competent in performing their roles on the depots,” explained Mr Nicholson.
US Chemical Safety Board is deploying a three-person investigative team to the scene of an incident that killed three workers and reportedly injured seven at the Packaging Corporation of America plant in DeRidder, Louisiana.
According to initial reports, the explosion took place while contractors performed welding on a tank during a facility shut down. The explosion, which occurred on Wednesday, February 8th, is said to have caused the tank to fly and land in a different area of the plant.
“The CSB has investigated many hot work accidents across the country, including a 2008 explosion that killed three workers at a different PCA plant in Tomahawk, Wisconsin,” said US CSB chairperson, Vanessa Sutherland.
Hot work incidents, she added, are one of the “most common” and “readily preventable” causes of worker deaths the CSB sees.
“The CSB continues to be concerned about the frequency of dangerous hot work incidents and has added safe hot work practices to the agency’s Drivers of Critical Chemical Safety Change Program, a list of key chemical safety advocacy initiatives.”
Hot work
Welding resides as one type of ‘hot work’ that can ignite fires or explosions. Most hot work incidents result in the ignition of combustible materials or the ignition of structures or debris near the hot work.
In the aftermath of 2008’s deadly explosion at the PCA plant in Wisconsin, the CSB issued:
The CSB is an independent federal agency charged with investigating serious chemical accidents. The agency’s board members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. CSB investigations look into all aspects of chemical accidents, including physical causes such as equipment failure as well as inadequacies in regulations, industry standards, and safety management systems.
A New Year, brings new challenges. For a lot of people, these challenges are felt most keenly in the workplace. According to the Health and Safety Executive, in 2014/15 440,000 people in the UK reported work-related stress that they believed was making them ill.
Figures like these underscore the scale of the problem and the importance of finding effective ways of dealing with stress.
In a recent interview with Forbes, Sharon Melnick, Ph.D., business psychologist and author of ‘Success Under Stress’, gives some helpful tips on how to combat stress.
Act rather than react
“We experience stress when we feel that situations are out of our control,” says Ms Melnick. When a person feels out of control their body has a stress response that over time impacts on well-being and concentration. To counteract this, try to
identify the elements of the situation that you can control and concentrate on what you can do rather than what you can’t. This will help reduce your stress levels.
Just breath
If you’re feeling overwhelmed or are under increasing levels of stress, find a quiet place to take a deep breath. If you Inhale for five seconds, hold your breath and exhale in equal counts through the nose this will help you to become calmer and think rationally about the tasks you have in front of you.
Plan ahead
Not having a structured plan for the day increases stress and can ultimately delay the completion of the tasks. It is easy to feel overwhelmed if you aren’t organised. To combat this create a plan of action for the day to break down your tasks into bite size pieces. This will make you feel more in control and make the tasks easier to complete.
Look after yourself
It may seem obvious, but if you don’t look after your health, your health won’t let you work. Your mother was absolutely right when she said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. A good breakfast, combined with a low sugar, high protein diet will help keep stress at bay. Another vital element of your physical health is making sure you get enough sleep. Lack of sleep can make you more likely to get high blood pressure, diabetes and suffer from stress. It is important that you try to get at least 7 hours of sleep every night.
THE NEBOSH INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL CERTIFICATE IN OIL AND GAS OPERATIONAL SAFETY HIGHLIGHTS THE ROLE THAT PROCESS SAFETY PLAYS WITHIN THE PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY.
As the king of all oil and gas qualifications, it benefits companies as well as individuals seeking to implement effective safety and process safety management across all areas of operations.
With a focus on international standards and management systems, students are enabled to carry out workplace safety responsibilities both onshore and offshore, reducing accidents and achieving cost savings for the business.
Health and safety expert, John Reynolds, breaks down this sought after oil and gas qualification.
Watch NEBOSH video guide
How do I start learning?
Get started on the NEBOSH International Technical Certificate in Oil and Gas Operational Safety or view the course calendar.
Deck the halls with Buddy Holly. Now, surely no one would object to carol singers? In particular, our health and safety regulator?
That would be less Christmassy than a Caribbean beach. Even so, recent years have seen reports of insurance companies producing comprehensive ‘health and safety’ guides for people wishing to take part in this age old tradition.
In some instances, parish councils ordered groups of singers to apply for a permit in order to stop them upsetting home-owners.
Rather than grenade the good old serenade, the Regulator describes well-intentioned advice such as ‘don’t sing in the road’ or ‘carry large amounts of cash’ as simple common sense.
It wouldn’t be Christmas without a spot of snowball throwing. Unfortunately though, every year inaccurate stories surface about children who aren’t allowed to throw snowballs.
Seeing as it’s Christmas, we can affirm that the Health and Safety Executive do not trouble themselves with such trivial tasks. Reality is, that would take the Regulator’s attention away from the serious business.
Speaking of snow, do you know what happened when the snowgirl fell out with the snowboy? She gave him the cold shoulder!
There are many reasons to attend the Christmas panto. Atop our personal list, is sweet throwing. That’s why it’s the best time of the year.
Even so, a safety myth persists that the panto’s characters should keep their sweets holstered, leaving the kids (and us) without our treats.
Health and safety rules were blamed when a panto stopped throwing out sweets to the audience. In fact, they were worried about the cost of compensation if anyone got hurt.
Realistically, if a panto throws out sweets the chances of someone being seriously hurt is incredibly low. And, let us reassure you (and ourselves), it’s not something that the Health and Safety Executive is concerned about.
In the workplace, every manager should have an understanding of their responsibilities when it comes to health and safety.
IOSH Managing Safely is designed to bring managers up-to-speed on the skills they need to tackle safety and health issues in the workplace.
The course is flexible to you. It is hands-on, practical and forgoes jargon in favour of a sharp business focus. IOSH Managing Safely engages and inspires.
The practical programme has helped a huge range of businesses to raise standards of safety and health. Now, it’s your turn.
Course details
Modules
Assessing risks
Controlling risks
Understanding responsibilities
Understanding hazards
Investigating incidents
Measuring performance
Protecting our environment
Assessment
A 25 question, multiple format assessment paper
A risk assessment based project
When you pass, you’ll be awarded an IOSH Managing Safely certificate.
How the course delivery style suits you
Get inspired by thought-provoking facts and case studies that drive home key health and safety points over the whole course
Each module is backed by easy to follow examples and scenarios you can relate to. Quick summaries reinforce key learning points
The course includes checklists and other materials for delegates to try out and then use when they get back to their own workplaces
Little ‘down time’ – the programme can be delivered flexibly so that it suits your business
Efficient and effective learning – health, safety and environmental basics are covered in a single programme
Business benefits
Greater productivity as fewer hours are lost due to sickness and accidents
Improved company-wide safety awareness culture and appreciation for safety measures
Active staff involvement to improve the workplace
Nationally recognised and respected certification for managers and supervisors
