Basics of Safety

WHAT IS SAFETY:

Safety is derived from the Latin word –Salvus, meaning Unharmed and Healthy.
It is related to Person and Property. A person is supposed to be safe if he is unharmedand healthy from a potential hazard. Similarly when the property (machine / equipment / material etc) is in a state of unharmed and healthy, the state is called as safe.

In the industrial contest, a job safely performed means, it is performed:

a) Without any injury to any person.
b) Without any damage to property.
c) Without taking undue Risk.

WHAT IS ACCIDENT:

An accident is an undesired event, caused by unplanned activity, that result in harm to a person or damage to the property. It is usually the result of a contact with a source of energy: (Kinetic, Electrical, Mechanical, Chemical, Thermal, Radiation etc.) above the threshold limit.

BACSIC CAUSE/S OF ACCIDENT:

1. Unsafe Conditions.
2. Unsafe Acts/Practices.

Nearly 85-90% of accidents are caused due to Unsafe Acts/Practices.
Nearly 10-15% of accidents are caused due to Unsafe Conditions.
Most of the unsafe conditions are created by some or other unsafe act.
So almost all the accidents are caused by Fault of a Person (Human Error)
For keeping a work area Safe, unsafe act has to be checked at the time of its occurrence. If it is not checked in time, it may convert into practice. Then the check on practices will become more difficult.

SAFETY TERMINOLOGY

I.O.W.: (Injured on Works) Any disabling injury caused within the boundary wall of a registered factory out of and in course of employment is termed as IOW.

I.O.D.: (Injured on Duty) Any disabling injury caused out of and in course of employment out side the boundary wall of the registered factory, during duty hours, is termed as IOD.

EX-GRATIA: Is an extension of IOW / IOD benefit for the injury caused to an employee while he was coming to the Works from his residence and going back to his residence from the Works. This benefit is given to an employee, when he fulfils certain laid down conditions.

FR (Frequency Rate) : Number of lost time accident per million man-hours worked.
SR (Severity Rate): Man-days lost due to lost time accidents per million man-hours worked.
AR (Accident Rate-Rate per thousand): Number of lost time accident per thousand

Employees.

For statistical presentation, all the accidents are codified and categorised as follows:

AB (All on job lost time accidents) - A-When the person is initially unfit for >48 hrs. by a medical practitioner. B- when the person is initially unfit for <48 hrs.)

R (All Road accidents) or the accidents that had happened away from the working place like, Toilets, Bathrooms, Canteen etc) inside the Works.

F (All Fatal accidents)

HEINRICH RATIO (ACCIDENT TRIANGLE)

This is an accepted fact that out of 330 numbers of incidences (unsafe acts), only 29 are converted into minor injuries or near misses and only ONE to lost time injury (Serious/Fatal accident).

If we want to avoid ONE lost time accident we will have to check all unsafe acts. Adopting 3-Es can do this:

1. ENGINEERING: Plant layout and design, Guarding of machineries, Safe and proper working environment, Safe and standard machines, tools and tackles etc.
2. EDUCATION: Safety training, Awareness of Hazards, Safe working procedure, Job safety analysis, Risk assessment and management, On job safety inductions etc.
3. ENFORCEMENT: Enforcement of Factories Act/Rules, Safety inspection, Safety audits, Safety survey, Corrective / Disciplinary actions etc.

The above 3-E’s had to be adopted to create:

1. SAFE WORK AREA - Good house keeping, No oil spillage, Guarding m/cs. etc.

2. SAFE WORK METHOD - Safe work procedure/work instruction etc.

3. SAFE WORKERS - Education and enforcement etc.

OUR CONCERN:

Our main concern is to minimise the gap between the knowledge and implementation of knowledge while working. If we can fill this gap fully, we will be able to achieve the target of Zero accident, and then we can say, “Our work area is SAFE.”

Our main concern is to create a Safety culture, Safety habits, Safety faith, the faith on safety has to be taught, like other faiths, by some one who himself has a firm belief in this faith (e.g.: Safety Officers, Line Managers, Group Heads, Departmental Heads etc)

QUOTE:  “NO JOB IS SO IMPORTANT OR SO URGENT THAT IT CANNOT BE DONE
AFTER TAKING ALL SAFETY PRECAUTIONS”