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Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2011 22:07:21 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
Sender: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
From: Ernest Lippert <ernielippert**At_Symbol_Here**TOAST.NET>
Subject: Re: 2 Re: [DCHAS-L] Nature News Article: Fatality adds further
momentum to calls fo
In-Reply-To: <C0BEE5EDF83599459B29693B69C312150571D709**At_Symbol_Here**mail.uswa-us.local>
--bcaec53af1b899aa9204a1643309
Division of Chemical Health and Safety
Good grief! Safety training begins at home. Didn=92t your mother teach you
not
to touch the hot stove - or to look both ways before crossing the street?
Apparently not. It then becomes incumbent on the mentors (surrogate parents
)
to enforce common sense on their students and employees who, perhaps
unwittingly, have become their charge. Perhaps the mentors themselves lack
common sense, thus compounding the problem.
As a result, we have instituted a cadre of =93Health and Safety Officers=94
to
enforce a set of rules designed to prevent incidents and accidents that
result in personal injury or the loss of property or life. In itself this i
s
not bad; but it is necessary in this current society. In many instances thi
s
cadre has proved to be ineffective. Do we have any right, in the light of
innumerable academic, industrial, and public accidents/incidents to assert
that the HSO=92s did not do their job? Perhaps the most important function
of
the HSO=92s (in addition to imposing safe work practices) is to impress upo
n
their superiors the consequences of failing to have adequate and enforceabl
e
safety policies in place so that in the case of an accident, blame can be
fairly placed.
What is important is that everyone realizes the requirement of common sense
.
As a society, we apparently forgot its importance. Since it takes a couple
of generations to reverse a trend, we are probably condemned by our own
stupidity. In its advancement, technology has become more complex and
dangerous. Unless we are able to instill common sense in our conduct of
technology, we are ultimately doomed. Management, workers, and the populace
must work together to regain the common sense so important to society.
It has been a policy of mine not to criticize/complain unless I was able to
offer a solution. In this instance I don=92t have a comprehensive solution.
My
best suggestion is to look at institutions that have long-standing exemplar
y
safety records like DuPont. They emphasize good safety practices both at
home and at work. How can this be integrated into the common sense that
university presidents, corporate CEO=92s, or government laboratories must h
ave
if they are to competently run their institutions?
Ernie Lippert
On Tue, Apr 19, 2011 at 9:45 PM, Wright, Mike wrote:
> I've been following this thread with interest, but I've been out of the
> country, and doing a lot of traveling in the US, and I haven't really
> had the time to contribute until now.
>
> I'm the safety and health director of the union that represents the
> majority of unionized North American workers in the chemical, oil,
> rubber, metals, paper, non-coal mining, and general manufacturing
> industries. We also represent the staff at a number of Canadian
> universities. The department I head has a staff of 26. My own training
> was in engineering and industrial hygiene. Our staff and I investigate
> about 70 serious accidents a year. A number of those involve chemical
> hazards, including a refinery fire a year ago that killed 7, and
> fatalities over the past three years that involved HF, H2S, mixed
> aromatics and liquid wastes from pulping operations.
>
> We've sometimes had the opportunity to go into high school, university
> and, of course, industrial labs. In the past we provided internships,
> and gotten a few interns from university chemistry programs. I've been
> dismayed by how little they've been taught about safety. That also goes
> for the chemical engineers hired into industry. We've had to educate
> grad students on things like the toxicity of benzene, combustible dust
> hazards, vapor cloud explosions and how to use protective equipment. And
> some of what we've seen in labs is pretty bad.
>
> Safety requires a number of simultaneous approaches. First, there has to
> be rigorous education -- not just a set of rules, but a broad
> understanding of the reasons for the rules. We've had people killed who
> followed rules they did not fully understand in situations where they
> didn't apply.
>
> Second, safety culture means a focus on hazard identification and risk
> assessment, first using formal tools, but also through a constant
> situational awareness. The way to build the latter is to involve
> students and lab workers -- the people most exposed to the risk -- in
> that formal process of finding the hazards and assessing and addressing
> the risk. That's also the best method of education.
>
> Third, safety culture also means that reporting and addressing a hazard
> gets rewarded, not punished. I was amused by the comment that industry
> has an advantage because they can fire people at will. It's a good thing
> they can't do that in union workplaces without proving it's justified,
> because too many employers try to get rid of people who complain about
> safety, rather than those who take shortcuts to get the job done.
> Getting the job done is what frontline management wants.
>
> Finally, there needs to be some independent oversight that can overrule
> or at least impede a decision to charge ahead on a potentially unsafe
> task in order to beat the competition, whether the competition is
> commercial or academic. ("Publish or perish" can sometimes be literal.)
> I think the union can fill that role to a large degree. OSHA and MSHA
> do. A strong, well-resourced university safety office with the power to
> shut down dangerous situations can also do that, of course.
>
> One suggestion: my favorite book on safety culture is "Safety, Culture
> and Risk," by Andrew Hopkins, published by CCH Australia. In fact, if
> you Google Hopkins, you can find a lot of excellent stuff on process and
> organizational safety.
>
> Mike Wright
>
> Michael J. Wright
> Director of Health, Safety and Environment
> United Steelworkers
> (412) 562-2580 work
> (412) 370-0105 cell
> (412) 562-2584 fax
> mwright**At_Symbol_Here**usw.org
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of
> Ralph Stuart
> Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 12:25 PM
> To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
> Subject: [DCHAS-L] 2 Re: [DCHAS-L] Nature News Article: Fatality adds
> further momentum to calls fo
>
> Just for the list's information, I'm agglomerating posts to the list in
> order to keep the discussion going while staying within the 15
> message/day
> limit. Unfortunately, I'm getting used to a new computer at the same
> time,
> so my process is not as elegant as I'd like, particularly when it comes
> to
> subject lines. Thanks for your patience.
>
> - Ralph
>
> From:scrooks**At_Symbol_Here**ppeppro.com
> Re: [DCHAS-L] Nature News Article: Fatality adds further momentum to
> calls
> fo.
>
> Of course there wasn't "any single individual finding of fault!"
> (emphasis
> added)
>
> Heinrich would be okay with the report I guess and while I hesitate
> bringing
> Dan Petersen up again after the last round of crickets, Dan is up there
> looking down and wondering, "why still so many lost souls?"
>
> From: ACTSNYC**At_Symbol_Here**cs.com
> Re: [DCHAS-L] Nature News Article: Fatality adds further momentum to
> calls
> fo.
>
> Amen. My cork is throughly charred by this as well. Monona
>
>
--bcaec53af1b899aa9204a1643309
Division of
Chemical Health and Safety
Good grief!
Safety training begins at home. Didn=92t your mother teach you not to touch
the
hot stove - or to look both ways before crossing the street? Apparently not
. It
then becomes incumbent on the mentors (surrogate parents) to enforce common
sense on their students and employees who, perhaps unwittingly, have become
their charge. Perhaps the mentors themselves lack common sense, thus
compounding the problem.
=A0
As a result,
we have instituted a cadre of =93Health and Safety Officers=94 to enforce a
set of
rules designed to prevent incidents and accidents that result in personal i
njury
or the loss of property or life. In itself this is not bad; but it is neces
sary
in this current society. In many instances this cadre has proved to be
ineffective. Do we have any right, in the light of innumerable academic,
industrial, and public accidents/incidents to assert that the HSO=92s did n
ot do
their job? Perhaps the most important function of the HSO=92s (in addition
to
imposing safe work practices) is to impress upon their superiors the
consequences of failing to have adequate and enforceable safety policies in
place so that in the case of an accident, blame can be fairly placed.
=A0
What is
important is that everyone realizes the requirement of common sense. As a
society, we apparently forgot its importance. Since it takes a couple of
generations to reverse a trend, we are probably condemned by our own stupid
ity.
In its advancement, technology has become more complex and dangerous. Unles
s we
are able to instill common sense in our conduct of technology, we are
ultimately doomed. Management, workers, and the populace must work together
to
regain the common sense so important to society.
=A0
It has been
a policy of mine not to criticize/complain unless I was able to offer a
solution. In this instance I don=92t have a comprehensive solution. My best
suggestion is to look at institutions that have long-standing exemplary saf
ety
records like DuPont. They emphasize good safety practices both at home and
at
work. How can this be integrated into the common sense that university pres
idents,
corporate CEO=92s, or government laboratories must have if they are to comp
etently
run their institutions?
=A0
Ernie
Lippert
On Tue, Apr 19, 2011 at 9:45 PM,
Wright, Mike
<mwrig
ht**At_Symbol_Here**usw.org> wrote:
I've been following this thread with interest, but I've been out of
the
country, and doing a lot of traveling in the US, and I haven't really
had the time to contribute until now.
I'm the safety and health director of the union that represents the
majority of unionized North American workers in the chemical, oil,
rubber, metals, paper, non-coal mining, and general manufacturing
industries. We also represent the staff at a number of Canadian
universities. The department I head has a staff of 26. My own training
was in engineering and industrial hygiene. Our staff and I investigate
about 70 serious accidents a year. A number of those involve chemical
hazards, including a refinery fire a year ago that killed 7, and
fatalities over the past three years that involved HF, H2S, mixed
aromatics and liquid wastes from pulping operations.
We've sometimes had the opportunity to go into high school, university<
br>
and, of course, industrial labs. In the past we provided internships,
and gotten a few interns from university chemistry programs. I've been<
br>
dismayed by how little they've been taught about safety. That also goes
for the chemical engineers hired into industry. We've had to educate
grad students on things like the toxicity of benzene, combustible dust
hazards, vapor cloud explosions and how to use protective equipment. And
some of what we've seen in labs is pretty bad.
Safety requires a number of simultaneous approaches. First, there has to
be rigorous education -- not just a set of rules, but a broad
understanding of the reasons for the rules. We've had people killed who
followed rules they did not fully understand in situations where they
didn't apply.
Second, safety culture means a focus on hazard identification and risk
assessment, first using formal tools, but also through a constant
situational awareness. The way to build the latter is to involve
students and lab workers -- the people most exposed to the risk -- in
that formal process of finding the hazards and assessing and addressing
the risk. That's also the best method of education.
Third, safety culture also means that reporting and addressing a hazard
gets rewarded, not punished. I was amused by the comment that industry
has an advantage because they can fire people at will. It's a good thin
g
they can't do that in union workplaces without proving it's justifi
ed,
because too many employers try to get rid of people who complain about
safety, rather than those who take shortcuts to get the job done.
Getting the job done is what frontline management wants.
Finally, there needs to be some independent oversight that can overrule
or at least impede a decision to charge ahead on a potentially unsafe
task in order to beat the competition, whether the competition is
commercial or academic. ("Publish or perish" can sometimes be lit
eral.)
I think the union can fill that role to a large degree. OSHA and MSHA
do. A strong, well-resourced university safety office with the power to
shut down dangerous situations can also do that, of course.
One suggestion: my favorite book on safety culture is "Safety, Culture
and Risk," by Andrew Hopkins, published by CCH Australia. In fact, if<
br>
you Google Hopkins, you can find a lot of excellent stuff on process and
organizational safety.
Mike Wright
Michael J. Wright
Director of Health, Safety and Environment
United Steelworkers
(412) 562-2580 work
(412) 370-0105 cell
(412) 562-2584 fax
mwright**At_Symbol_Here**usw.org
-----Original Message-----
From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of
Ralph Stuart
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 12:25 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] 2 Re: [DCHAS-L] Nature News Article: Fatality adds
further momentum to calls fo
Just for the list's information, I'm agglomerating posts to the lis
t in
order to keep the discussion going while staying within the 15
message/day
limit. Unfortunately, I'm getting used to a new computer at the same
time,
so my process is not as elegant as I'd like, particularly when it comes
to
subject lines. Thanks for your patience.
- Ralph
From:scrooks**At_Symbol_Here**ppeppro.com<
br>
Re: [DCHAS-L] Nature News Article: Fatality adds further momentum to
calls
fo.
Of course there wasn't "any single individual finding of fault!&qu
ot;
(emphasis
added)
Heinrich would be okay with the report I guess and while I hesitate
bringing
Dan Petersen up again after the last round of crickets, Dan is up there
looking down and wondering, "why still so many lost souls?"
From: ACTSNYC**At_Symbol_Here**cs.com
Re: [DCHAS-L] Nature News Article: Fatality adds further momentum to
calls
fo.
Amen. =A0My cork is throughly charred by this as well. =A0Monona
--bcaec53af1b899aa9204a1643309--
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