Safety: Who cares...

latest accident happened in Terengganu.... RM4.2 million bus terminal collapsed. Some hierarchy of building incidents in Terengganu...
So, what are the strategies by the government, professional bodies & NGOs to prevent the recurrence of the accident? What are the mechanism or system that we need so that this incident become a lesson learn for us?

• RM300 million Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium - part of the roof collapsed in June

• 

• RM18 million Aquatic Centre in Batu Burok - closed in July due to leaks in the canvas roof and rusting steel supports
  

• RM123 million Sultan Mahmud airport terminal - defects found on the roof in July
  

• Masjid Kampung Batu Putih in Kemaman - the roof collapsed in October
  

• Besut Islamic Centre - roof tiles were dislodged in recent week

Why "we" DON'T Care About Safety & Health

Sometime, as OSH Professional, it's difficult to sell the importance of OSH in the workplace. To convince management, to train employees and to explain to the contractors, we need some "personal" touch... as for me, the most important approach to sell Safety is through awareness... relate Safety from "common sense" & "common practice" approach that we experience it in our daily life...

so, some of the common questions & examples that I normally used to sell safety are:
1. Have anybody experience death or at least serious injuries before?? If yes, ask them to share with you & the others (if in the meeting or training session)
2. How many of you wearing a safety belt while you driving a car today??
3. How much is your life?
4. Your family/parent needs you more than the company :)
5. Newspaper cutting showing accident happen in the society etc

Safety Training Prog (Part2/2) by Barbara Semeniuk

Something to share (http://www.safetyxchange.org/training-and-leadership/how-to-create-effective-training-sessions-part-2-of-2)

How to Create Effective Training Sessions, Part 2 of 2

November 17, 2009

Barbara Semeniuk

The first step in creating safety training sessions is to assess the existing gaps in your training program. In Part 1 last week, we looked at how to conduct a gap analysis. Let's turn now to how to use the findings of your gap analysis to craft training sessions that deliver your safety message effectively.

Customize Training to Suit Trainees' Needs

Safety training sessions must be reality-based. In other words, they must deal with the real challenges participants actually face on the job. Training should be customized to the needs and requirements of the participants and delivered in a way that allows for participation and interaction.

Before the Sessions

Effective training classes have to be directed and, before the training session develops, upfront work must be done by all parties. Participants should meet with their boss one-on-one before the training so that everyone is fully aware of potential barriers to success and gets involved in devising strategies to surmount the barriers. The goal of this process is to:

1. Identify Skill Levels: There shouldn't be a huge range of skill levels in the class. Students have to be selected so that their skill levels are appropriate for the training material or learning will not be effective. If you have an engineer at one end of the class and someone functionally illiterate at the other end, you will lose one or the other and neither will be comfortable in such an environment.

2. Set Expectations: Management, or the student's boss, should set expectations for the class and demonstrate their commitment to the process by meeting with each student prior to the learning experience and setting goals and expectations based on the course content. During this meeting, the student should be informed that he will be graded on a performance evaluation after the training class to determine if the skills have transferred. Remember: What gets measured gets done.

During the Sessions

It's important that the trainer engage the learners in a safe, fun, informative session with good adult learning techniques applied.

1. Encourage Coaching: The tell/show/do/teach cycle of learning is very powerful and participants should actively coach other members of the class. You can turn this into a fun and informative process by tossing balls to participants in groups to select the next group to lead the class in what they have discovered. Everybody participates in a fun, comfortable and safe environment.

2. Encourage Networking: Participants should network amongst themselves. It is possible that trainees may develop lasting friendships with people they meet in the class.

3. Look Forward: Once the learning session wraps up, rather than focusing on what the group now knows, instead focus on what the group needs to do from this point on. During the class session, build "to do" lists identifying what participants need to do to ensure that knowledge gained during the training sessions is not lost.

After the Sessions

After the training session:

1. Discuss Implementation of Key Concepts: There should be a debriefing by the boss. No happy sheets grading the niceness of the trainer's delivery or how happy the participants were in class. Instead, you want to discuss which key concepts from the training session will be applied immediately, within 30 days, within six months, within a year.

2. Train the Supervisor: The person's immediate supervisor can play an important role in the transfer of knowledge and should be held accountable for his/her staff. Special training sessions just for supervisors to facilitate this process may be in order as well.

3. Follow-up: Using the "to do" lists created at the end of the training session, have the management team evaluate how well these lists are executed by conducting performance reviews at clearly defined intervals. Also, ensure that performance appraisals are conducted at the intervals discussed during the debriefing.

4. Provide Refreshers: To help participants maintain their new knowledge, periodically offer quizzes, reviews or group sessions when new machines or tasks are introduced.

Conclusion

A well-designed course is a joy to teach. The session becomes an experience in which the trainer facilitates learning and the participants learn by doing. But to create effective training sessions you need to prepare: conduct a gap analysis, set clear performance expectations and help participants maintain their new knowledge during the course of their day-to-day activities. In this manner, information from the class will be disseminated, skills will be learned and barriers to success overcome!

Safety Training Prog (Part1/2) by Barbara Semeniuk

Something to share (http://www.safetyxchange.org/training-and-leadership/using-gap-analysis-to-improve-your-program-part-1-of-2)

How to Improve Your Safety Training Program, Part 1 of 2

November 4, 2009

Barbara Semeniuk

Is your safety training simply an information dump? You're not alone. Many trainers feel that the more information they present, the better the session will be. Others simply let regulations determine what they teach because these classes are an easy sell. And these same trainers hope for happy participants in a well-attended class who rate the instructor as good to excellent. They also expect these participants to demonstrate their commitment to this new knowledge by applying it on their own time under their own steam.

The reality is that to facilitate the effective transfer of knowledge from the instructor to the class, instructors need a well-designed course, using simplicity and variety. It's a process that requires a bit of planning.

Conduct a Gap Analysis Before Training Begins

The instructor and the students both participate in the learning process and they learn in the most realistic and systematic fashion. To ensure that this occurs, it's helpful to first conduct a gap analysis. Why? A gap analysis may determine that:

• Middle management is uncertain of their roles and responsibilities in a Health and Safety management system;
• Location management may not have built a strong relationship with the trainer to allow for shared safety expectations and goal-setting. Decisions are not done in a collaborative fashion;
• Workers are frustrated with the perceived level of resources allocated towards Health and Safety;
• Workers are frustrated because some of the rules don't make sense at their location or work environment.

How to Identify Gaps

Look at your safety training program and ask yourself the questions below. (Note: These questions are performance factors adapted from Rummler and Brache's research on performance factors by the Hile group.) If the answer to any of these questions is "No" or "Don't know" there is a gap in performance.

1. Does the safety program have the necessary corporate support in place? Does everyone have what they need to do what they are supposed to do?
2. Training sessions need to set clear performance expectations. Do your trainees know what they are supposed to be able to do after training and can they do it?
3. Are trainees measured on their performance and are there consequences for good and/or bad performance?

When performance gaps occur, you have a failure in the management system and a barrier to transfer of knowledge. You also have an opportunity for improvement

Conclusion

Management, trainers and participants need to be honest about any barriers to safety training and devise methods to surmount them. Next week, we'll look at some ways to achieve that.

How to become a good SHO (Part 2)

When I'm thinking on how to become a good SHO, it's not easy to quantify a "good" SHO... I'm trying my best to become a good SHO.... unfortunately I'm still searching for it...

BUT, after working more than 10 years in manufacturing & construction industries, I believe below are some of the criteria to become a good SHO..
1. Assisting & advising your management to comply with the OSH Laws
- Here, as a competent SHO, you trying your best to deliver all the OSH legal requirements that need to be complied by your organization...

2. Enforce OSH Compliance in your organization
- Walk the talk, pre-define all the OSH requirements upfront, standardization & enforce it....

3. Continual improvement of OSH in your organization
- never ended job to ensure the OSH risks are as low as possible

4. Educate employees on OSH as a value
- this is an essential step to ensure that "the safety of you is in your hand NOT in SHO"
- "Safety.... to valuable to compromise"

How to become a good SHO

SHO is interesting occupation that can challenge our capacity & capability in managing OSH at workplace... involved multidisciplinary including technical knowledge such as engineering, chemical, health, management etc making SHO as a challenging job...

so, how to become a good SHO? I received a good comment from OSH colleague in NRG-MASHO network... below is the excerpt from his email..

On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 1:28 PM, Dinesh Kumar wrote:
Dear All,

I had received a lot of CV’s; thanks and I’ll be contacting you guys if there is any available position arises. Apologize; I can’t reply your mails personally; it’s too many to reply.

I would like to share some information and let us think: How to be a successful SHO? For many people or legally, it means that you need to study the SHO course, pass the NIOSH examination, get the required experience and register with DOSH. You’ll be walking to fame earning a very high salary. Right? It’s wrong actually….

The above requirement is the basic entry passport to be a competent SHO. Of course it will improve from your present life situation but it won’t guarantee you to be a successful SHO. You need to be very much more competent than that.

I think what going to make a difference whether you are going to be successful safety manager, safety engineer, SHO or even a safety supervisor are:

Your public relation skills: You must be able to communicate efficiently, speak good language and always look presentable. Safety is often described as non profitable department. Always there will be situation where we need to convince our boss to implement or purchase some things. If your PR is not good, your boss won’t buy your idea. Really. Everybody will have the confidence when dealing with a guy whom has a good PR. When you are in a meeting, speak confidently, don’t talk nonsense and ensure that everybody understands what you are trying to convey. You must be able to speak your mind in front of people.
Its IT world out there. Computer applications must be at your finger tips, you must be able to do good reports, make presentation slides and write commanding emails all the time. A work memo is not like sending text messages; most people still lack this basic skills (I noticed a lot of mails sent to the group are really sub standard). You can use this group as your learning platform on this matter.
Leadership skills. Safety line requires a lot of it. If you can’t show that you can lead your workers, then you are in no business doing safety.
Education. It’s been a trend these days that many people start taking safety courses right after they finish their SPM. I can’t see the logic: A full time SHO course is not even a month and a full time engineering degree is at least 3 years. Can we expect to be paid the same after we graduate? The thing here is you must have a tertiary education; a recognized diploma or degree in certain field and do the safety course as a major study later on. Now days there are even a lot of degree or master program in safety as well.
Knowledge. I mean real working situation knowledge. A lot of people out there will try to bullshit to us and find their way out; so don’t be fooled by them. Hit right to their face with your knowledge. Power will come with great knowledge. I’ve seen many cases here where the SHO will be pushed to do jobs that actually not related to him; just because it’s in context with safety. Good knowledge will let you judge how you suppose to handle this kind of situation.
Be practical. I’ve seen normally SHO’s are more concern on the legal matters. They will be so worried if their place didn’t comply with certain issues. For example there is a case recently where someone’ fire extinguishers doesn’t have the bomba cert and he has been so worried about it. What’s the scare here actually? As long as the FE can be used, explain to bomba the company situation and promise them that you’ll renew the cert as soon as possible. That’s all. The bomba or DOSH not going to penalize you, instead they’ll give you much more suggestions to improve your work place.
Goals. Set your goals. What do you plan to achieve in your career?


This mail did not intend to criticize anyone here; I’m just doing my part to the community and share my knowledge.These is all based on my personal experience and maybe some of you guys won’t agree with me as well. There are a lot of successful and knowledgeable guys in this group that I had come across. Maybe they can share their knowledge as well.

SHO-3: Where I should begin?

Why I choose Safety? To tell the truth,
a. I like to mingle with people... don't know why, maybe I inherited it from my parent :).
b. Furthermore, I like to share.... something like, you advise people... teach or educate people about the knowledge that you know... sharing your knowledge & experience and
c. I think, I want to work where hopefully it will become a good deed (pahala) for me.... since this world is just a temporary world & akhirat is a permanent world....

SO, if you have same passion with me as above, I believe SHO is the job that you can consider as a career. Maybe, some people think that money $$ is people's motivator to choose a career BUT for me that's not a career... it merely a "job"

SHO-2: Where I should begin?

Continue frm my previous blog... telling you the truth, I never knew that there is a post on Safety & Health at my 1st company that I worked... after 2 years working as Process & Equipment engineer, I think this is not the job that I want... my heart is empty at that time. I just trying to convince myself, just gain knowledge & skills as much as possible when you young. I have a good team at that time.

My first "real/formal exposure" involvement in OSH when I was selected by my boss as Safety & Health Committee (SHC) member. I just wondering at that time, why me (daaaa... maybe other people is busy & I'm the only one was free or it's another boring "jobscope" for other people..heheheh)?? I just take it without thinking a lot & hopefully my boss will see my commitment to take "additional task".... then I have good reason to promote or increase my salary (in my dream at that time, & of course not sincere enough to take additional task :).

After I joined SHC, then I can see the real "macro view" of OSH management. It really open my mind & heart when OSH talking about employee's safety, company's commitment & image, customer requirements, legal requirements, training, enforcement, ERP... wooowww, & interesting part (pssstt... you have a direct meeting with CEO!!)... nobody have that opportunity right!!.... this was my 1st stepping stone involved in OSH and it really make me to think thoroughly on my future career... this happen in year 2000...

Safety & Health Officer (SHO) - 1: Where I should begin?

The main idea why I introduce this topic is because I want to share when, where, why, whom, what, how, who... I start or become SHO. I read few comments/questions in the NIOSH Forum & also in SHO mailing list on the difficulty of some new comers to involved in OSH discipline... There will be few parts in this topic & feel free to discuss this matter openly & interllectually so that this blog can bring benefits to OSH practisioners...

Let me start on "why I want to become SHO"? Fyi, I start my career as Process & Equipment Engineer. When I joined a semiconductor industry as my 1st job after I completed my study in Mechanical Engineering 11 yrs ago, I just follow my heart. At that time, I just want to work because I need to earn money.... Don't want to burden my parent of course... At the same time, I'm still not sure what's my career path... at the same time, trying to understand some Safety Standards (more on SEMI & FM standards) when preparing the equipment specs.. furthermore, I'm incharged on the equipment that used lot hazardous chemicals e.g. Acids, Caustics & Solvents!!.... that was the first time I exposed on Safety!!

How to manage HSE? (Part 4)

I have been 2 months I didn't write anything in this blog... quite tight with my work & other part time work. When I presented a paper last week in COSH2009, I highlighted another approach on how we can integrate HSE into Supply Chain Management...

The basic principle is like "cradle to grave" concept.... the most important aspect in integrating HSE into Supply Chain Management is to understand what are the activities involved in the supply chain... from there, we can see how the whole processes/activities inter-related... when the processes/activities were lay out properly & clearly, then it is easy for us to prepare the HIRADC.

Using Michael Porter Model on the concept of value chain, HIRADC can be integrated into the model. This will help SHO to understand what are the critical activities that have some impacts to the production. By understanding this value chain, SHO can focus & assist management to minimize any incidents in this critical/value chain... I will add in the model in the next post..

How to manage HSE? (Part 3)

when we want to sell OSH to top management, we must try to sell OSH using "management terminology". An eye opener for top management normally related to any activities that can
1. increase profit
2. reduce cost
... a simple word that I can summarized is "money $$$"

One way that we can do is how we can INTEGRATE OSH into the company's risk management?? Figure below is the IOSH's vision & mission to support Business Risk Management process...

(Ref: Business Risk Managment, Getting Health & Safety Firmly In the Agenda by IOSH)

This is not an easy task for a normal SHO because we need to equip ourselves with another level of knowledge.... i.e. Business Management... as you can see from the above figure, managing OSH is dynamic & it changed as the way business is managed & focus. SO, it's important to understand the company's business operation... then from here, insya allah we can sell OSH more interesting manner + "talk the same language" with the management!!

How to manage HSE? (Part 2)

when I studied MBA, it really an eye opener for me on how to manage a business (for me, at least I have some basic on it..)... when we talked about business, "customer is the king"... any businesses MUST have customer.. without customer, or indirectly we call it as a demand, there will be no business... in supply chain management, it is always "customer-driven, customer- focused (Tony Hines)". So, how we can apply this in managing HSE?

The way I look HSE from business management of view, we need to ask ourself... who's HSE customer? for me, HSE is everybody's business... for me, it should be our responsibility from top management to employee... we need to take care our own Health & Safety... Management responsible for their sub-ordinates.... Employee responsible for their own & colleague's Health & Safety...then from here, SHO/HSE Engineer/HSE Executive etc will play their role as "coordinator" in managing HSE.... so, this is tally with OSH (Safety & Health Officer) Regulations on the responsibility of SHO i.e. as an advisor to the management...

BUT, we want to link it to the "business operation".... HSE MUST be part of the business activities... from the planning, operation, human resource, marketing, financial, etc... this can be done when all the stakeholders understand the importance of HSE in business....

How to manage HSE? (Part 1)

since I'm involved in HSE discipline 8 years ago, I keep reminding myself to see HSE from different perspectives... I have been working in production, facility, construction, quality, training, purchasing, little bit on HR.... it really open my eyes... managing HSE is not that easy... this is important to ensure how you can manage HSE challenges from different angles... I can say "thinking outside the box"

then, just throwing some questions to myself..
1. What's the best method/system/process to manage HSE?
2. How HSE supposed to be managed?
3. Where to start?
4. Who owned HSE in the organization?
5. How to sell HSE to management & employees?

Yesterday, received an info on SHO exam (paper 4) in Penang... looks like >60% failed the exam... I'm concern whether SHO candidates understand SHO modules correctly or not... it's important to teach/train the SHO candidates on how to manage HSE from macro point of view 1st. This is important, so that SHO has a clear "mind mapping" on how HSE is manage... what's Module 1, 2, 3 & 4... how this module interelated? why we must learn all these modules? how to understand the modules? etc...

After I completed my MBA, discussed with my friends, read books & newspapers etc managing HSE need some "touch" that I need to polish & learn daily... it's a skill, where I'm still searching for it... I will digest this issue slowly how we can manage HSE from multiple disciplines & suit it with out environment or situation at our workplace...

Safety Post

People in nrg-masho email group are busy discussing about the difference between Safety Officer, Safety Executive, Safety Engineer & Safety Manager.

For those who are familiar with Human Resource discipline, all the above posts are differentiate based on their academic qualifications, competencies and/or experience. It's not easy to discuss this issue without looking the holistic view of the organization/project background....

So, the best answer that I can think right now is, back to the basic principle of OSH in Malaysia i.e. Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA) & Factory Machinery Act (FMA).

Secondly, look at the title used after the word "Safety" i.e. Officer, Executive, Engineer & Manager... so open the dictionary & get the definition of each words... I think, we already solve the above issue :)

Lifting Activity (Part2)

Wokay, after thorough discussion with project owner, main contractor & lifting contractor, alhamdulillah no unwanted incident happen... below are some photos during the lifting activity..

This is the "boyz" weight 18 tonnes
The front wire ropes are the main lifter, all the loads concentrated on this crane. The back wire rope is used to support the genset during the positioning of the genset

The 2nd crane played a role once the genset already sitting on the plinth. The front wire rope will be lowered & released slowly since it is still the main crane to support the genset.

Lifting Activity (Part1)

Last Thursday was a busy day for me... busy supervising lifting activities at my workplace... currently, I'm handling a project installing a new DDUPS (genset for power backup).

Well, there are 3 gensets arrived... the weight, hemmm roughly almost 19 tonnes... the length around 6 meters x 2.4m width..... need to put these monsters on the 2nd floor of our central utilities building (CUB)... the height is roughly around 6 meters...

Before the activity was performed, did discussed thoroughly with the main contractor & also the lifting contractors... initially, I did requested to installed cantilever but it's not practical (+ it quite expensive of course)... so the lifting contractors proposed to used TWO 60 tonnes mobile crane to lift the genset... BUT, before we really start the activity, my supervisor asked me to do some calculations on the lifting activity... calculate the angle, the minimum length of the genset on the plith, the available space for the genset move in, the length of the cable to ensure the cable will not damage the wall (the edge of CUB)... so, manage to calculate it & established Method Statement of lifting agreed by the contractor... will post all the calculations & photos in next posting....

HSE Part Time Work...

more than a month I didn't write anything in my blog... quite busy per se, need to complete my "volunteer" work... together with my HSE team in Kulim... we managed to organise a seminar on 3rd - 4th March... we called it NRG-MASHO-NIOSH Seminar at Butterworth, Penang...

Sometimes, just wondering why I involved in this volunteer work? it took my precious time with family, it will make you busy, you need to chip in some $$... well, I doesn't know why I really enjoy doing this volunteer work.... BUT, as for me, I will gain some knowledge, learn new skill or new fields... management discipline, teamwork, networking, marketing, negotiation skills, problem solving etc... but, my ultimate satisfaction is I believe I can contribute something to HSE Professionals, to Safety & Health Officer (SHO).... this small contribution to northern region HSE Professionals by organizing a low fee BUT "quality" seminar can boost some of the HSE Professionals & SHOs during this economy downturn....

Malaysian drivers oooo Malaysian drivers...

Yesterday, Jan 30th, a road fatality accident happened at Kulim Hi-Tech Park, Kulim Kedah (at Jalan Perdana)... one motorcycle biker was die on the spot due to head injuries (based on initial report by KHTP)... I used the road yesterday, and I can see the victim was covered using the plastic back... it was 755am... the biker had an accident with Proton Wira car... the car was still in the middle of the road when I passed by.... from my observation, it looks like the car is coming from the opposite direction, crossed the middle road divider and hit the biker....

I'm in the process to identify the possible root cause based on the info/facts that I observed yesterday.... Will update the accident later...

BUT, I will always remind myself... if this accident happen to me, what will happen to my beloved family? How they feel when they heard about this news? etc.. a lot of questions will flying in my mind if this accident happen to me or to my family members...

Hacking inside the building

One of my project right now is to supervise the construction of radiation room... My roles
- to transfer the facility/utility & radiation safety technology from our counterpart in Europe
- monitor the project's safety during construction
- dealing with the authority on the approval of the radiation aspects
- of course other paperworks... :)

Yesterday, interesting activity was performed. We need to monitor 2 important parameters before the real hacking activities allowed inside the production building.... 2 parameters: the vibration & the noise level... this is critical in order to get a baseline data on those parameters to ensure it will has minimal impact to the production & OSH at the workplace... alhamdulillah, the results are ok... the hacking activity inside the building makes the noise level reach >100dBA!!... luckily, all the partitions already erected, PPE is mandatory to ensure the noise is minimized.... BUT, don't forget the dusts generated from the activities... additional ventilation needed, respirator is compulsory... don't forget to isolate the smoke detector bacause it can be triggered by the dust... of course, close supervision is needed to ensure no flammable materials are kept within the area!

Macro "Safety" (Part II)

I hope it's not too late to wish everybody a Happy Maal Hijrah 1430 (for muslim...) & Happy New Year 2009..

Today, Monday Blues.. Monday Fever.. Monday s#*@t ... disappointed little bit with my boss... well, after I did my macro safety, I'm trying my best to prioritize my workload... between important & urgency of my workload.... take over the workload from 3 previous engineers, trying to digest & transfer the workload slowly to my new colleague... sometimes just wondering whether I did the right thing, or my boss don't know my real workload, or my boss don't know his job (at least supporting us to deliver our job)... trying to explain to him, but he looks like more as Army Jeneral (my colleague's term given to my boss) than my office's supervisor.... I think this is a typical Malaysian or Asian's managerial style... have the authority, have the power instead working as companion/colleague /team to solve the problem for the company...

However, just keep reminding myself this is part of gaining knowledge & experience for myself... trying to think rationally not emotionally....

When thinking about Macro Safety, I'm trying to adopt "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" method... one of it Put 1st Things 1st.... quite a straight forward principle, BUT it's not that easy to execute.... I believe we need to practice it... by categorized your task to important & urgent matrix, hopefully we can prioritize our workload more efficient.... it can be more efficient & effective if we can get a full support from our supervisor!!.. hehehe, back to my Monday blues...