While conducting Safety Training is a fun, it throws up "Point to Ponder"

Recently, I was invited by one of the multinational consultants, to undertake a training program on their behalf for officials of a company, who are into externally cleaning the tubes of "Boilers & HRSG", with the help of blasting by Dry Ice". This company's team was to go abroad for some work assignment & their client wanted the Engineers & working persons to be trained & to have gone through not only a training program on "Working in confined space" and "Working at heights" but also seek a certificate to that effect. I am happy to share that the third party on whose behalf I conducted this training program are quite professionals and ensured that proper training material is developed and scrutinized to meet need of ultimate customer. Also ensured to engage an appropriate trainer, who could deliver with the program with back up understanding of working in the field. It was not merely a theoretical speaker with just a set of slides to present.

It gave me opportunity to not only conduct these training programs but also interact with the persons at different levels, who did have some past experience of working for the same job of cleaning by Dry Ice blasting for more than five to twenty times at different sites. This is the first time that they have been asked by their "client" to get certified persons having gone through these two training programs.

My predicament was, as to how do I train these persons who had been already doing the same job over few years & are well versed with the basic requirements. To overcome this situation, it became handy for me to physically create a working atmosphere ( created by the company at its factory premises) & ask them to climb with the Blasting gun onto a scaffold as mock of working at site.

Now observation of how they had been working & what kind of errors being done, were identified & notified to the individual & explained to others. Knowing fully well that it was more like behavioural part of safety, doing this exercise in presence of all concerned in the group. It was quite a fun to watch the activities being mocked. However, after a few trials & explanation about the right way of doing an activity others who were initially onlookers, became active to pin-point mistakes / shortcut in what others were doing. It gave the observer group, full insight & appreciation about the likely hazards if done wrongly.

The whole program went extremely well but one very pertinent point bothered me think deep. In the present context, at the behest of Middle East customer, the company genuinely engaged an MNC third party inspection / training agency, to undertake such a training program. Whereas, to my knowledge & understanding, so far no Indian client has ever asked for such a "certificate of training" or to undergo such a training program for any persons engaged by a contractor prior to work in such hazardous & precarious condition. Why ? Why ??

So every time, we conduct any Safety training program, it is filled with fun, but also throws up some points to ponder.

Let us make "Safety" a serious business at different levels, not merely a lip service. The number of industrial accidents are on rise in our country for variety of reasons and unless we tighten our belts at every level, by self-regulatory systems and procedures, the "Safety at work place" & "Safe work culture" cannot evolve. Therefore, if we all take responsibility for every thing related to Safety & Safe work culture at our work places, we can make this change.