There’s a start and a finish to just about everything we do, including our daily job activities. Traditionally, home-style philosophers have placed great value on good beginnings with such phrases as "getting off on the right foot" and "getting up on the right side of the bed." Good endings come in for about as much attention through such sayings as "all’s well that ends well" and "last but not least."

Getting off on the right foot in your job each day is important not only to your personal success but to your safety, as well. The same goes for the end of the day. A good ending is a key part of the overall safety picture.

This week’s safety topic and discussions will be focusing on beginning and ending each work day safely.

Let’s Get Focused

“Focus”

I remember distinctly a time at PG&E’s Diablo Canyon plant when I was assigned a QA surveillance of a job on the secondary side of a steam generator. I hadn’t worked at a plant for nine years having taken jobs at Pantex (Amarillo, TX) and Sargent & Lundy (Chicago, IL). The first was the DOE’s nuclear bomb factory, and the second was an engineering office.

The particular job at Diablo Canyon involved full PCs and climbing up a ladder to the upper manway. I began the climb, and after just a few feet, it hit me like a slap in the face that I needed to pay attention. I was shocked that for those first few feet, I was sort of spaced out. Then, all of a sudden, I realized I was on the ladder, and if I didn’t pay attention, I could easily lose my grip or footing. I finally made it to the platform at the manway, climbed inside and observed the job. It really hit home that I couldn’t do the job on “auto-pilot”.

The incident taught me in a big way the importance of focusing on the task at hand and on its associated hazards.

Ron FieldDirector QA

Diversity Quote

“Insight, I believe, refers to the depth of understanding that comes by setting experiences, yours and mine, familiar and exotic, new and old, side by side, learning by letting them speak to one another.”

Mary Catherine Bateson

Work Area Walk-Downs

When we get to our work areas in the morning or evening for those of us working backshift, there should be more to starting our job than just routinely turning on a machine or beginning a particular task.

First things first, take time to survey your area for all the potential hazards both new and the known hazards from previous surveys. What shape is the area in? Are there any slippery spots on the floor? Are there any tripping hazards around? Prior to arriving at our work area we should have conducted a Pre-Job Safety Briefing that focused on our tasks for the day and the areas we would be working in—the walk-down process is one additional way to validate what was discussed during the briefing and ensure that the conditions we were expecting are in fact the case.

If safety issues or concerns are identified during your walk-down that were unknown or unexpected, they should be resolved prior to any work activity beginning. Some are simple enough that you can resolve yourself but in the event you can not resolve the concern, report them to your Supervisor as soon as possible. Take pro-active steps to not only prevent yourself from a potential injury or accident but also your co-workers around you.

360° Vehicle Walk Around and Vehicle Spotters

How about checking those vehicles for potential hazards—not just at work but before you drove to work this morning. It takes just a minute to survey your work area, and it’s time well invested. A minor adjustment at the start may prevent a major problem later on.

Prior to starting any vehicle or piece of mobile equipment, always conduct a 360° Walk Around to identify potential obstructions or hazards in the path of travel.

In addition to performing a walk-around, use of spotters or ground guides are critical to the operation of a vehicle or equipment in our environments. Any time you find yourself needing to back-up or maneuver through tight or congested areas, a ground guide or spotter should be used to assist in safe operation of the vehicle.

Changing Conditions

Conditions change quickly and from the time you left a particular work area the day before or even at break time, there may have been alterations to the area as you remembered.

Any time you are returning to a work area or activity following a break, it is important to conduct another walk-down to identify potential changes that have occurred while you were away.

Remember, our work group is not the only one working around the facility. There are others with equally important activities and there is the possibility that they have been there while you were away to perform an activity unknowingly changing your work area condition.

Hazard recognition starts with identifying the safety concern before the accident or injury occurs. Watch out for those changes in conditions.

Clean-up Time

When it’s quitting time, you still play an important part in the safety cycle. The condition in which you leave your area or equipment will have a bearing on the safety of people who follow you on the next shift and on your own safety when you report the next day.

Don’t just quit abruptly at the end of the day and leave everything as is. This is as poor a practice as starting your job before a walk-down or Pre-Job Briefing.

First of all, make sure your job is really finished—all trash, tools and other items off the floor or vehicles and in their proper places. Always pick up all trash, scrap, and other waste, and deposit it in the proper receptacles. Take the time to eliminate those potential safety hazards you may have created before you leave. If there’s any unusual condition that could be hazardous, make sure you communicate it.

In-Between Activities

Of course, there’s a lot more to job safety than beginnings and endings. There’s that important period in between, too.—that time when we are moving between work activities, walking to our car at the end of the day, or just simply walking to the break room. Believe it or not, this is the time when we see many accidents occur. The time when people are not focused on a specific task or higher risk activity which results in dropping our guard. While it is important to start and end the day on a good safety note, it is equally important to get through the middle of the day just a safely.

Try to maintain a cool, steady pace. Know your personal limitations. It’s great to finish a job and success does feel good, but never at the expense of safety—take breaks when you feel one is needed.

Prepare yourself mentally when you arrive at work in the morning, maintain your safety focus through the day and be cautious toward the end of the day when fatigue may take over.

Remember that safety doesn’t punch a time clock. It has to be on the job for every shift—24 hours each day.

Accidents Are Avoidable

Each time one of our co-workers or team members is injured, we need to ask ourselves “how did it happen?”

Accidents just don’t happen, they are caused. Accidents are usually a result of someone not paying attention or not knowing how to recognize a job (or home or automobile) safety hazard. Having an effective safety attitude results in about a fifth as many injuries compared to those without a safety attitude.

Some general rules to follow and four hazard avoidance rules.

General Rules • Learn the safe way to do your job. • Don’t jump from one elevation to another. • Don’t work under suspended loads. • Remove protruding nails or bend them over. • Keep the work area clear of debris.

• Use the personal protective equipment required for the job.

• Treat all electrical wires as being “live.” • Use the right tool for the right job. • Be sure all tools are in good shape.

Four Hazard Avoidance Rules • Know the safe way to work, and then follow the safe way all the time. • Maintain safe working conditions – for yourself and others around you. • Work safely, setting the example, and encourage others to do so. • Report all accidents and near misses.

The last three (3) weeks we have driven down to the beginning of our decision making process to the core elements that influence everything we do.

So a question for you, do your actions and behaviors reflect your beliefs and values, based on a true understanding as you approach with the right attitude?

Remember what your beliefs and values are. As you decide to conduct work, be sure that you have thought it through and you understand—your perception of the activity needs to be validated. Finally, a positive attitude focused on safety and success will help get through to completion.

Taking the necessary time to center in on these core beliefs will ultimately result in an increased level of awareness, the second stage in the behavior based safety model.

Safety is a thinking game, the more you think about your actions the higher your level of awareness will be which will steer your actions and behaviors to positive results.

Date 06/08/2013LOCATION/SITE: Columbia Station COMPANY: BNI

EVENT SUMMARY:

During the recent shut down outage at Columbia Station, a Bartlett RP Technician caught their finger in the latching mechanism of a boundary door, resulting in 4 stitches. The tech was carrying PC’s in their left hand, badged into the card reader, opening the door with their right hand. The door was only opened wide enough to allow passage. After rounding the door, the employees hand was still in the line of fire of the door when it closed. As a result the employee’s right hand, index finger was caught in the door and lacerated.

IMMEDIATE CORRECTIVE ACTIONS/ AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT:• The injury was treated• The door examined for deficiencies or extreme pressure differentials (none found).• Stand-downs at Columbia conducted to raise awareness to the hazards associated with

doors

WHAT ARE THE LESSONS LEARNED?This is the second significant injury to a BHI employee this month involving hands and doors. Traversing to our work areas, including moving through doors, requires the same “Level of Awareness” we provide to the hazards in our work location. All doors, specifically pressurized doors must be actively considered a hazard for line of fire and pinch point injuries.

Error traps / flawed defenses / latent organizational weaknesses encountered:

• Moving Center – The technicians travel path had been changed as the elevator was out, adding time to when he anticipated arriving at the job site. He felt time pressure (self-imposed) to make up the added time, which contributed to not opening the door an adequate distance and hurrying through it.

• Complacency – The injured RP Tech is highly experienced and familiar with the hazards associated with pressurized doors. They had grown complacent as a result of accessing 1,000’s of doors successfully in the past.

HOW COULD THIS EVENT HAVE BEEN PREVENTED?

Slow Down – Recognize the hazards associated with traversing the plant. Be deliberate in your attention to stepping and placing your hands. When moving to your work location, it is not a time to mentally check out and slip into “Automatic Mode”. Your role as a BHI Leader:Discuss this event with your work crews to provide an increased focus on door safety to include:Chocking doors open when working around them or moving equipment through (as approved by operations).If working in door swing paths, brief on the hazards associated, including traffic control.Always use the handles, never grab the edges for opening or closingOpening doors wide enough to allow passageChecking the moving center impulses when traversing to our work locations