Archives for September 2018

Handyman solutions often aren’t

We all know the dangers of how a home handyman can be more trouble than it’s worth. The video clip below shows one of many different versions seen in all industries.

Well, the HSEQ industry is no different. Yes some can do a great job themselves and other so called experts can be shockers.

If you’re doing it yourself, the product still needs to be workable and handle more than the brick wall in the video clip does. It might seem ok for now but remember the systems you’re building often only really get tested when it’s critical they work.

Just because they pass an audit or the client looks them over and accepts them for a tender, it does not mean they’ll work for what they’re intended for. For example, if a working at heights procedure passes an audit, but won’t help stop workers get injured from falls (e.g. it stops them no better than if you didn’t have it), then it was a waste of time having it in place. If it’s unworkable and you need to do something different to achieve the intent (not injured from a fall), then it wasn’t any good either.

So doing HSEQ systems yourself can definitely have advantages over many of the purchased packages, none less valuable than it being how you know and want a job done. But if you’re going to guess and do stuff that is how you think it is probably q meant to be done, then you’re likely at some stage to end up with some aspects as weak as this brick wall.

https://safetyrisksolutions.com.au/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/repost-2.mov
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Load restraint

The more employers we talk to in non-transport industries, the clearer it is that the understanding of Load restraint laws is lacking.

For example in Western Australia there are some who believe they only apply to road trains and transport companies, or still think it’s only the driver who is liable.

Well, as with them, can I suggest you’re likely able to influence transport more than you think. If you have work vehicles to deliver a service, order stores or parts that arrive by road, or produce a product that gets to its final home via road (even if it’s taken there by the customer), maybe review your risks and plan to manage them.

You’re likely expected to comply with the Load restraint guide (cited in the Road Traffic Regs in most states incl. WA), and chain of responsibility aspects too. Drop us a line if you want some more info.

It’s not as bad as it seems, and we won’t be getting you to tied loads down like the picture below.

#loadrestraint

#chainofresponsibility

#itslawsowemayaswellcomply

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Don’t eliminate your ability to learn before you start

This meme captures the very much the premise of any good incident investigation.

No matter how much one think they’ve got the answer or likely cause of an incident, by going into it in that mindset, they’ve failed before they’ve started.

It is the single most common barrier I see with an organisations own investigations. They may sometimes be in the ballpark, but it’s very rare they’ll be seeing much more than the basics or immediate causes. They’re missing valuable learnings and almost definitely destined to repeat incidents caused by many similar factors if they don’t approach it with an open, yet curious mind.

It’s costly and just bad business to jump to a conclusion too promptly or before gathering the spectrum of data.

So our advice is to make a conscious effort to don’t close your mind with an existing likely cause of an incident investigation. Do the data collection and then rule out what’s not a factor and you’ll often be surprised that there are many more significant factors than one where an individual has screwed up or a single factor has failed. Once you’ve gotten these elements of data together, then put them on a single page and rank them in a hierarchy of most to least significant or systemic. You may actually be surprised that you weren’t as accurate with your initial reasoning as you thought.

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