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Electric Energy T&D - Index

Electric Energy T&D - EE Magazine March / April - Index

and decide not to report incidents or injuries. Should this scenario
ever occur in your company, you need to diffuse the situation by
focusing on the safety process.
THE SAFETY PROCESS
In order to maintain safety at a level that prevents injuries, you first have
to work on dealing with the emotional issues so the focus is on good
decision-making. Realize that safety is both art and science and needs to
be treated as such. The “art” is about dealing with people—establishing
accountabilities, holding people responsible, and building trust. The
“science” of safety is about dealing with behavioral and technical
processes. Hazard control is an example of a process that includes both
behavioral and technical aspects.
The technical process of safety involves identifying the hazard, abating
or controlling it, engineering so it no longer exists, or changing work
processes to include the use of protective or personal protective
equipment.
When a hazard control has been established, practiced, and proven over
time, workers and leaders accept it as normal, and it becomes “common
sense” safety. Sometimes acceptance of a new rule or work practice
seems to take a while. And often, people don’t even understand their own
resistance to the process.
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1 I March-April 2008 Issue
THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION
Bob, a safety committee chairperson, works in an industry where
workers are required to wear protective personal equipment (PPE).
When people don’t wear the appropriate PPE, the results can be
devastating because workers are exposed to the hazards of high
voltage electricity. As Bob explains: “We had someone get hurt last
month because he wasn’t wearing sleeves with his high voltage rubber
gloves. We all know that it’s a good work practice to wear the sleeves,
so why doesn’t everyone just do it? Why don’t they get it?”
“Why don’t workers get it?” That’s the $1,000,000 question.
Experience shows that acceptance of new rules, regulations, and work
practices happens faster when workers are engaged in the process of
determining the appropriate PPE for the hazards of their job.
In your next safety meeting, take time to engage workers in a
discussion about what the hazards are in their workplace. Get them to
think both deep and broad about dangers they can encounter. Make
a list of these on a flip chart so everyone can see. Then ask what can
be done to control each hazard. Be sure to use your safety rule book
and documented safe work practices during this discussion. Finally,
ask the group “Which of these controls will we always do?” Most of
the time, the answer will be “All of them!” When workers get involved
in this kind of discussion, it can have a big influence on how your
organization talks about safety.
TAKE ACTION FOR A SAFE WORKPLACE
Sure, some people may think your company talks about safety too
much, and maybe they’re right. Yet safety is an important topic that
needs to be discussed. Consider how you can get everyone involved
in the discussion and how you can encourage them to take action to
ensure that nobody gets hurt. When you do, you’re likely to find the
answer to that $1,000,000 question.
About the Authors
Carl Potter, CSP, CMC and Deb Potter, PhD, CMC work with
organizations that want to create an environment where nobody
gets hurt. As advocates of a zero-injury workplace, they are safety
speakers, authors, and consultants to industry. For information about
their programs and products, see www.potterandassociates.com or
carl@potterandassociates.com.
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Radius US celebrates a big increase in the uptake of
its NetMan Distribution Automation Solutions.
Radius US has been providing remote control systems to the American
electricity industry for nearly a decade. Last year it increased
its product offer with the introduction of the NetMan series of
remote control SCADA ready motor operators for both pole and
pad mounted switches.
The NetMan series of products is designed to operate with a vast
range of different air break switches and pad mounted equipment.