The battle for a safe and secure workplace cannot be won by following the same thought patterns that created the problems in the first place. Albert Einstein is credited as defining insanity as "performing the same actions and expecting a different result."
          

The imposition of rules and regulations at the beginning of the industrial revolution to protect against safety occurrences is outliving its usefulness. Today's work environment is forcing us into a new paradigm shift in our approach to safety.
           
If in the past accidents at the workplace were costly, then more so in our modern times. The costs of safety occurrences have taken on a myriad of dimensions some of which include:
           
LAWSUITS have become more common as the populace gets more educated and empowered to demand their rights.
           

DAMAGE TO REPUTATION in the presence of social media is an inescapable outcome of an accident.
           

LOSS OF LIFE is a constant probable outcome. We are moving faster, working with bigger and heavier machines and climbing greater heights. A misstep could easily spell doom.
           

LOSS OF REVENUE  due to all the associated costs. "If you think safety is expensive try an accident," is a very true axiom. Accidents have often led to bankruptcy.
           

CRIMINAL OR ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTIONS is to be expected especially, if Management was trying to cut corners.
           
The GOOD NEWS is that accidents and other occurrences can be reduced below the accepted Level not through magic, luck or providence, but implementing systematic measures which research and organizational history has refined and proven to be effective.
           
The alternative is not an option!

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​The individual prongs of my approach include:

 

ACCIDENT & INCIDENT INVESTIGATION

The unthinkable has happened? A life has been lost, an injury has occurred and/or an equipment has been damaged. Do you just commiserate with the family, comfort or sanction the employee/customer and/or replace the equipment and hope it never happens again?
           
The purpose of an investigation into such an occurrence is to identify ALL the causes leading to the occurrence and putting up barriers or plugging the holes so it does not occur again along the same pathway.

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I offer seminars, targeted training in Accident and Incident Investigation and can be contracted to be on an Accident Investigation Panel as the Project Manager to guide the work of the subject matter experts.

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AUDITING & AUDITING TECHNIQUES

Auditing is defined as the on-site verification activity, such as inspection or examination, of a process or quality system, to ensure compliance to requirements.
          

How do you ensure:
           

• That audits cover the required scope?

• That corrective actions are followed through?

• That you get the buy-in of the audited?

• That you avoid conflicts of interests?

• Etc.

            
An audit carried out using proper auditing techniques is a must for any organization intent on improving safety performance.

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HAZARD IDENTIFICATION AND RISK MANAGEMENT

Ask any worker and you will be told the plethora of hazards he or she has learnt to live with in the performance of organizational duties.
           
Notwithstanding the above, most organizational processes are fraught with latent or hidden hazards, which must also be identified and addressed. These hazards can only be identified after a systemic analysis of the organizational processes.
           
What do we do with the identified hazards? If the can be eliminated so that they pose no risks that would be excellent. However, more often than not, the hazards cannot be eliminated and we are left with the only option of classifying the risks posed by the hazards and mitigating their effects to an acceptable level.
           
Identification, analysis and corrective measures are important and vital links in the chain of risk management and which must be performed with attention to detail to ensure safety standards and expectations are met.

 

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HUMAN FACTORS

The human is the most important element in any organization process. But the human is not the only element in this process. The organizational process may include software, hardware and the working environment.
           
All these elements must work together harmoniously and effortlessly to achieve the end product. Moreover, the human may need to work with other humans in this process.
           
What factors do you need to consider in bringing all these elements together to work harmoniously? Can the process be made more smooth to avoid jarring edges at the meeting planes of these elements?
           
Human Factors answers these questions.

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K/SPIs & K/SPTs SETTING

Goals must be S.M.A.R.T. i.e. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound. Safety goals can and should be quantified. The setting up of and monitoring of Safety Performance Indicators and Targets shoud receive the same prominence from the leadership of an organisation as the setting up and monitoring of other business Key Performance Indicators and Targets.

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To fail to plan is to plan to fail. To fail to plan for safety is to plan to have an accident prone environment.

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MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE

Change is inevitable. In an organization, change may involve downsizing, upsizing or restructuring.
           
Any of these changes brings along inherent problems in safety that must be anticipated, planned for and addressed before implementation of the change.
           
Building a Safety Case for a change in operations leads to a safe working environment.

 

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SAFETY CULTURE DEVELOPMENT

Safety culture is the collection of the beliefs, perceptions and values that employees share in relation to risks within an organization, such as a workplace.
           
It is an organisational culture that places a high level of importance on safety beliefs, values and attitudes and these are shared by the majority of people within the company or workplace. It can be characterised as 'the way we do things around here'.
           
A positive safety culture must necessarily start from the top. From the leadership of the organization.
           
Two very important symptoms or evidence or determinants of the kind of safety culture an organization has are Just Culture and Reporting Culture.

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Just Culture:
A Just Culture in an organization is a culture in which mistakes are recognised as errors and    learning opportunities. Culprits are spared the rod and rather the reasons for the mistake are investigated. The lessons learnt are disseminated to prevent reoccurrence.
               
Just Culture does not absolve a perpetuator of gross negligence or wilful and malicious actions from deserving consequences but rather seeks to protect the inadvertent or ignorant mistake of an otherwise "normal" staff/employee.

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Reporting Culture:
A good Reporting Culture is an atmosphere in which workers feel encouraged to report identified hazards, safety occurrences and inadvertent mistakes without the fear of punishment or reprisal.

 

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AVIATION

For aviation related consulting please click here.

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