Few workers consider it their responsibility to help identify dangerous conditions or procedures, that is assumed to be the job of the safety staff. The problem with that logic is that the staff is not expert at every process in the company, they are risk managers who find problems and recommend mitigation strategies. By far the most successful example is the introduction of hard hats for construction workers.
An unusual characteristic of people is that when first introduced to a new environment, they assess the physical layout and anomalies practically jump out at them, though they are reluctant to identify them. Once a part of the company or organization, they walk past these same problems day after day, and they become invisible. This is the normal way people process and accommodate environments, but it complicates the effort to identify and remove hazards.
No matter how vigilant, inspections can not find all the conditions in a work environment that can be dangerous to workers. The people who work in the area of a hazard have usually already assimilated the condition into their environment and no longer perceive it as a hazard. For this reason, real answers to not get put in place until after an accident has occurred.
There is a well known descriptive phrase for this phenomenon. It is called blood priority, and it is a frustrating reality that until there is an accident with consequences, protective measures are a tough sell. Those measures in place have to have an advocate remind people of the reason for it, or it will fall out of compliance.
Something inside people makes it difficult to accept the idea that an accident or injury on the job could easily happen to them. In many ways they blame individuals who are victims of such mishaps, believing they must have been doing something terribly wrong, or were not knowledgeable enough to avoid the problem. The conclusion is that had they applied some common sense to their behavior, they would not have been injured.
Reality bears proof that this is simply not the case, there is no evidence that any significant proportion of injured workers are incompetent or careless. Injuries happen to all manner of employee, because they are all human and are susceptible to the most dangerous of things--distraction. Anything that causes a distraction or alters the normal pattern of behavior can result in an injury.
At one time or another, everyone gets distracted, whether it is something in their home life, a bad experience or even illness. Because of this the airline industry takes special precautions, since a single mistake can be catastrophic. They use multiple pilots to crew an aircraft, and every phase of flight is run by checklist.
Personal protective gear is designed to help individuals remain injury free even when things go wrong. Unfortunately, people see this equipment as unnecessary and resist using them consistently. One notable exception is the introduction of hard hats in construction areas, which has come t be a symbol of good work and is popular, yielding high compliance rates and lives saved.
An unusual characteristic of people is that when first introduced to a new environment, they assess the physical layout and anomalies practically jump out at them, though they are reluctant to identify them. Once a part of the company or organization, they walk past these same problems day after day, and they become invisible. This is the normal way people process and accommodate environments, but it complicates the effort to identify and remove hazards.
No matter how vigilant, inspections can not find all the conditions in a work environment that can be dangerous to workers. The people who work in the area of a hazard have usually already assimilated the condition into their environment and no longer perceive it as a hazard. For this reason, real answers to not get put in place until after an accident has occurred.
There is a well known descriptive phrase for this phenomenon. It is called blood priority, and it is a frustrating reality that until there is an accident with consequences, protective measures are a tough sell. Those measures in place have to have an advocate remind people of the reason for it, or it will fall out of compliance.
Something inside people makes it difficult to accept the idea that an accident or injury on the job could easily happen to them. In many ways they blame individuals who are victims of such mishaps, believing they must have been doing something terribly wrong, or were not knowledgeable enough to avoid the problem. The conclusion is that had they applied some common sense to their behavior, they would not have been injured.
Reality bears proof that this is simply not the case, there is no evidence that any significant proportion of injured workers are incompetent or careless. Injuries happen to all manner of employee, because they are all human and are susceptible to the most dangerous of things--distraction. Anything that causes a distraction or alters the normal pattern of behavior can result in an injury.
At one time or another, everyone gets distracted, whether it is something in their home life, a bad experience or even illness. Because of this the airline industry takes special precautions, since a single mistake can be catastrophic. They use multiple pilots to crew an aircraft, and every phase of flight is run by checklist.
Personal protective gear is designed to help individuals remain injury free even when things go wrong. Unfortunately, people see this equipment as unnecessary and resist using them consistently. One notable exception is the introduction of hard hats in construction areas, which has come t be a symbol of good work and is popular, yielding high compliance rates and lives saved.
About the Author:
You can visit the website www.tasco-safety.com for more helpful information about If All Safety Gear Were Accepted Like Hard Hats Most Workplace Injuries Could Be Stopped
No comments :
Post a Comment