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“Whether it’s your service shop, or manufacturing
facility, it’s amazing what you can get done with just
a piece of butcher block paper and a marker. Start by
writing the word ‘Safety’ on top. Under that, have
people list everything they have concerns about,” he
explains. “Next, you have a column for who is going to
own it, one for the anticipated completion date, and
you leave a blank for when it really gets done.”
The next step is to talk things over and prioritize.
And while the list may be big to begin with, as a line
gets drawn through each problem solved, “people
will begin to feel empowered again – like they’re part
of a community, part of a team – versus just being a
number,” says Hollis.
And when people feel empowered and listened
to, they’re less likely to bend the rules. It’s a win-
win for safety.
SCENARIO 3
A BEAR IN YOUR BACKYARD: PROCESS
SAFETY AND PREVENTION
“Backyard bears” – process safety incidents – are
usually characterized as “low frequency and high
severity.” These are the incidents that result in
multiple injuries and major damage to the facility
and/or the environment, such as several pipeline
incidents and spills recently in the news.
There are many factors that can negatively impact
process safety, but perhaps the most egregious is the
failure to acknowledge and accept reality. Denying
that bears exist – or pretending they can’t really hurt
you – can result in fatal errors.
As a manager sitting in an office upstream, you
know your company has invested the money for
proper tooling. You strive for the best procedures
and the best policies. Thing is, though, as people
get higher and higher up in a corporation, they can
forget what it’s like to be on the front lines, and the
disconnect between perception and on-site reality
can result in increased risk.
Sure, on paper, your people have the perfect
conditions: level ground, the right equipment,
and favorable weather, but in the real world,
things might be different. “Say instead of ideal
circumstances, you find yourself in a little fenced-off
area in the middle of a farm,” Hollis says. “The pipe
is different from your original specs, the excavation
is all wrong, your crew doesn’t have scaffolding, and
[rather than what you’d planned on], they’re using a
backhoe and some slings to get the job done.”
When accidents happen, it’s easy to blame
workers for not following protocol, but Hollis notes
that it can be difficult to “write a perfect safety
procedure for an imperfect situation.”
So, How Do You Address This “Disconnect”?
Step Out From Behind Your Desk.
Planning for the concept rather than the reality
puts projects, personnel, and the environment at
risk. When workers are forced to improvise with
equipment and implementation to complete tasks
under unexpected conditions, safety procedures
must adapt to meet changing circumstances. To
avoid risky disconnects, Hollis says it’s critical to
leave the office and take a look at what’s going on
in the field. “You have to get up, go out on the floor,
go out to the site, and see what’s really going on,
then act accordingly,” he says.
The Final Analysis
The fact is, people are going to make mistakes, so
plan and provide tools for workers to be error-free
when performing critical steps of a task. Set your
workers up for success and build systems and process
that can quickly recover when the “bears” show up.
Pretending they don’t exist, or simply maintaining
the status quo, isn’t enough to keep your personnel
and assets safe.
Hollis believes a culture of outmoded corporate
safety may be the most dangerous bear of all, noting
that the oil and gas industry continues to judge
total recordable incidence rate in terms of personal
safety. “But zero incidents does not necessarily
equate to safety,” he explains. That’s because zero isn’t
always zero in an atmosphere where accidents aren’t
routinely reported, or when data on near misses
(which occur a lot more frequently than actual
incidents) isn’t properly taken into account.
“You have to get upstream to find the real
indicators that tell you about the culture,” he says.
“Does your company have the integrity? Do you have
the courage to say no to an immediate opportunity
or pressing ‘need’ when you know your equipment
hasn’t been properly serviced? This industry has got
to have a learning culture. It’s irrelevant whether it’s
safety, quality, production, or finance ... It’s how
quickly can you learn from other peoples’ incidents
and your own, and how quickly can you adapt or
change the direction you’re going. You have to be
accountable. So, ultimately, what all of us have to be
asking is: ‘How do we know bears are present, and
what are we doing to keep them away?’ ”
Safety Matters
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