KEEP SAFE - AS A HUMAN SHOULD

A human being is a frail creature, vulnerable to so many kinds of dangers and risks. We don’t have strength like a beast, we can’t fly, we can't run as fast, we can’t jump very high, we don’t have extraordinary eyes. In a nutshell, we don’t possess so many such characteristics which other members of the animal kingdom possess to keep themselves safe while they are carrying out their necessary livelihood functions. But there is one thing extraordinary which nature has given us and that is the power to think logically and plan accordingly. This power helps us in identifying the risks?and hazards well in advance. Not only this much but also a discovering mind to find an appropriate and innovative solution to keep him/herself safe from those dangers. In one word it is human being’s intelligence that has made them survive in this animal kingdom inspite of being so frail and delicate.

When we go to work, which is our necessary function for livelihood, then also we face some hazards. There can be several dangers to our health, wealth and environment pertaining to any given profession. It may be diving into the deep sea, going to space, Construction work, chemical factory or relatively simple job of sitting in an office and working on a computer.

Neither we as humans nor the business to which we are contributing are in a position to let these hazards hit the working human beings. It is a loss. Loss of life, loss of health and loss of money also. But as the wok is part of our livelihood so it is required to be done in spite of the risks involved.

What is required to be done to not to get affected by these hazards?

Humans have to use their biggest natural gift, their intelligence.

How does human intelligence work?

·???????It analyses the situations

·???????Learns from experience

·???????Predicts the hazards

·???????Finds ways out for prevention

·???????Implements the measures

·???????Learns from the shortcomings and the mistakes

·???????Implements improved measures

Don’t you agree that this is the natural flow of intelligent human behaviour?

This lead to making a Safety Management System for workplaces which

·???????Identifies the Hazards and Risks of each and every activity

·???????Assesses the risk in terms of its frequency of occupancy and impact

·???????Plans the safety measures to mitigate the risk

·???????Gets the measures implemented

·???????Reviews the effectiveness of measures and suggests improvement

How close is this Management System to the natural way of thinking of human beings? Isn’t it?

So,?may I take the liberty to state that if you are not following a Safety Management System then you are not following natural human behaviour?

?There is a specific tool in Safety Management System that is dedicated to the process explained above, it is called Hazard Identification Risk Assessment & Control (HIRAC). Following is about HIRAC contributed my colleges and Safety Engineer Gyan Ranjan in brief.

Let us understand some terms first

Hazard:?Hazard is a source and situation which have the potential to cause harm, ill health, damage to property and damage to the environment.

Risk:?The likelihood of causing harm is known as Risk.

So by the name itself, it is clear that in the process of HIRA we have to identify the hazard, assess the risk and take the control measure.

Steps to do HIRAC

Step 1: Identify Hazard:

Walk around the workplace and identify what are the source & situation which may cause harm. Experience and working employee feedback are beneficial for this.

Step 2: Workforce exposed to harm:

Check what types of workforce (visitors, contractors, labours, engineers, public etc.) are supposed to expose the hazard.

Step 3: Assess the risk:

It means, assessment of the impact of the risk above the workforce. Either it leads to a minor injury or major injury or catastrophic.

Step 4: Control measure:

Control measures will be taken on the principle of hierarchy of control like elimination (if a person is working at height, then we can raise the ground level and eliminate the hazard), substitution (manual material handling substitute with mechanical material handling), Engineering control (limit switch, guards etc.), administrative control (training, job rotation etc.) & PPE (hard helmet, safety shoes, reflective jacket etc.). With the help of this objective is to minimize the risk and make it low.

Assessment

On the basis of probability and severity, the risk will calculate and as per the calculation with the help of the control measure, all risk will convert to a low category.

Probability: It means the probability of accident due to that certain hazard how many times it may occur. It can be categories as Almost certain (5), likely (4), Possible (3), unlikely (2), remotely likely to happen (1).

Severity: After the incident happen what is the impact upon the workforce. It can be categories as catastrophic (5), major (4), Moderate (3), Minor (2), Insignificant (1).

As per the scenario by multiplication of probability and severity, the risk can be categories as below,

Low Risk (1-4), Moderate Risk (5-12) and High Risk (13-25)

Implementation

Before commencing any activity, the HIRAC should be done. Also, it should be reviewed by the expert team and approved by authorized personnel. For any activity, those who are directly involved to execute the said job will be active participants to prepare HIRA

Review

As HIRAC is a systematically recorded document so it is audited and review in every audit process.

When an accident (man-days loss/ product damage/ environment damage) happens, changes in legal procedure change in safety standards, changes in process and certain passage of time HIRAC to be reviewed. If changes are required it should be done.

Benefits

It improves the work procedure and safety standards of the organization. The organisation can easily take the control measure for any risk, which prevents the accident in workplace which improves the organization’s image, the morale of workforce & productivity.

HIRAC also helps the organization for compliance with any legal requirements before starting the activity.

?My intention of writing this article with the help of Gyan is to bring forward the fact that the Safety Management System is not something theoretical that is written for the purpose of submission to the client as a part of a contractual requirement. It is a part of the natural human way of thinking.

Hope this will work as an eye-opener.