Reflections on safety

Recently, Safety Solutions magazine asked readers the question: "What do you think is the most important issue in workplace safety today?"- We received a huge number of responses - following are some of the editor's picks for the most useful answer to the question.

1 / Peter Goss

Safety in the workplace is all about identifying risks, and then managing those risks to avoid accidents and incidents. Workplaces that have high safety records do not necessarily have low risks in operations, and vice versa. High risk industries tend to appreciate the risks as the penalty for failure is often serious, or fatal.

The common thread that holds workplaces that have excellent safety performance records together is a management commitment to the safety system. Without management commitment, any safety system will be doomed to failure.

The trend in workplaces is that the workers in the workplace are becoming more casual and the use of labour hire firms is increasing. The crew of workers on site this month may not be the same as next month.

An induction program introduces workers to hazards and risks specific to the workplace and how the workplace manages those risks (eg, site rules and procedures). It sets the standard to which people are expected to work. With the ongoing casualisation of the work-force, management must understand that workers may work at several workplaces and that, if not inducted properly and managed and supervised properly, they may make incorrect assumptions and open themselves up to increased risk.

While it is easy to overlook subcontractor safety, casuals and subcontractors are stake-holders in the safety management system which must be managed and controlled properly. The most important issue in workplace safety is ensuring that as workplaces become more casualised, all stakeholders properly understand the risks of the industry and the site and that their understanding is continually verified.

2 / Bruce Fraser

I believe the most important issue in workplace safety today is simply the role each individual plays in whatever work/ob that is being carried out at the time.

Let me explain myself more clearly:

While we can institute legal and financial responsibilities on each individual for their actions during their work function, this still does not guarantee a safe work environment.

All workplaces are faced with similar safety considerations, the main difference being the methods used to complete the task at hand.

The only way to guarantee the highest level of safe operation at work is through the roles of each individual, backed up with a large helping of trust in a person's skills and abilities. Ultimately this means everyone being responsible for their own actions with the emphasis being on the completion of the task at hand safely and effectively.

Easy to say, you may think, however, also easy to do, with a bit of planning, education, and a solid set of standards and values, which are instituted and repeated regularly for all situations. It would be unfair to ask anyone to carry out a task effectively and safely if that person did not have all the tools to complete said task, and by tools I don't just mean spanners etc.

So, is it not fair then to expect a safe work ethic if proper preparation is undertaken?

There are so many clichés, adages, and proverbs about this situation that some of these thoughts must be true, however mundane and simple they sound. After all, they were written based on other peoples' actual experiences.

A simple solution to a largely complex problem?

3 / Jon Hilder

In my opinion the most important issue in workplace safety today is the behaviour or attitude of employees. This can range from good, bad or indifferent behaviour caused by a number of factors and not limited to such things as the working environment, the home environment and the people themselves. There is more and more pressure placed on employees to produce more and compete to the highest level that this can potentially cause stress and fatigue in some people.

They may have problems in their home environment and be experiencing trauma from marriage breakdown, custody issues or loss of loved ones.

Others may see safety as someone else's responsibility and will not participate unless there is "something in it for them".

Employees need to be motivated to change and the culture of risk-taking behaviour is influenced by the pressure of performance and an "it will never happen to me" attitude.

With all that has been said and done about attitude and behaviour, if the employee does not want to change his/her behaviour, as soon as they are out of site they will revert back to their old ways. It has been recorded where employees working long hours or nights have not intentionally done something outside of their normal behaviour but, without thinking, have placed themselves in a position where they have been injured.

To overcome these inherent risk-taking behaviours, management need to promote safety leadership by example, promote safety training and competencies of all employees and actively seek participation by employees in safety management of their workplaces.

Once these issues have been addressed and only then will employees embrace a safety culture and instinctively perform their tasks with a safety attitude.

4 / Mike Carter

An organisation can have in place all the appropriate regulatory measures, provide the appropriate tools and equipment for workplace safety, but at the end of the day these safety practices and management tools are part of everyone's job description.

To get through to the employee that it is their own personal responsibility to identify and correct hazards, wear the correct protective equipment, and that the safety committee is to be respected is probably the biggest hurdle today. The culture that can exist among employees of "I'm bulletproof" or "She'll be right" needs to be dissuaded by rewarding them for identifying potential or existing hazards and coming up with the appropriate preventative and corrective actions, whilst on the other hand enforcing the rules when the rules are ignored. At the end of the day, when unsafe work practices take place or hazard identification is ignored it's not just themselves that may have put at risk but others also and the consequences may have many ongoing effects on business and personal fronts for weeks, months, even years to come. "Effective safety starts between your ears, and not with your hands."

5 / Geoff Field

In my opinion, the most important issue in workplace safety today is a combination of awareness and responsibility. Most incidents are due to someone not doing the right thing, and this is often because they're (a) not aware that what they're doing is wrong, or (b) not taking responsibility for what they're doing. Everyone needs to switch their brains on and take charge of their lives.

6 / Jason Zealley

The most important issue in the workplace today would be working at heights, it affects almost every industry whether it's loading trucks at Safeway or working on housing.

There is a huge cost for all industries, I myself am a safety coordinator for a large construction company with over 300 employees and many sites to control and the biggest issue is trying to teach the old new ways.

Where the new can't see the risks and the consequences of falling more than 2 metres and turn a blind eye against their own personal safety and importantly other co-workers.

There is no tool out to teach personnel from these dangers, there are regulations but try to explain that in ways your personnel on-site understand, it's hard where they sign your work procedures in which they help to format - I just make it sound with the use of safety terms.

When these new regulations came about last year everyone could see they were necessary in some industries but what weren't thought about were what the effects would be and what was practicable and what was not. Anyway this is one of many concerns I have and I see in our everyday working environment.

7 / David Callander

As an Occupational Health and Safety co-ordinator for a workforce of 122 employees, being made up of both permanent and casual staff, that cover an area approximately 22,000 sq kilometres, I believe that one of the most important issues affecting OH&S is education.

Council workers are called upon to provide a large and varied range of tasks and through proper and effective education programs, the tasks are performed efficiently and safely.

A good education program not only enforces the importance of safety at the work sites, it also gives the workers the knowledge of their rights, ownership of theirs and their fellow workers' safety, security in the knowledge that the employer knows the benefits of providing a safe work environment, both for the employer and the employee.

Through regular updates and in-service education programs, the workers are also kept informed of current best practise and any changes in the industry.

Employees who understand and practise good risk management, are receptive to new ideas, change from the old habits to best practise, are keen to continue learning, make the life of an OH&S Coordinator a little easier. Education is the only way. Waiting to learn from mistakes is not an option.

8 / Craig Brogan

In my opinion we need to combat the area of complacency. It can be found in all areas of work no matter what the industry. You will find that where people regularly do the same task they will have less of an attention span to the task at hand, they assume that because they have been doing the same job for a period of time they know all of the dangers involved and as such are blind to the probability of the unforeseen circumstance arising.

Also when they train others in the same task they do not take a look at the whole picture and will invariably leave out important safety factors.

Example of complacency - a boilermaker or fitter will use safety glasses to grind a piece of steel in preparation for work, they then remove their safety glasses to have a closer inspection of the job and they find a small area that requires touching up with the grinder, they then use the grinder without safety glasses thinking "It's only a small area and shouldn't take long." Result - foreign body in eye.

We have a program at work where the employees sign a toolbox meeting sheet every morning, we regularly move the names around so that they have to look for their names prior to signing, thus showing them that things can change without their knowledge.