ACCIDENT PREVENTION STRATEGIES FOR AND BY MANAGERS AND SUPERVISORS

MEANS OF ACCIDENT PREVENTION THAT CAN BE INITIATED BY MANAGERS

As a Manager, there are means and ways that can prevent accidents that you may initiate.

Means of preventing accidents

Strategies for preventing accidents take many forms. These include:

1. Prohibition: Some processes and practices may be so inherently dangerous that the only way to prevent accidents is by management placing a total prohibition on that activity. This may take the form of a prohibition on the use of a particular substance, such as an identified toxic substance, or of prohibiting people from carrying out unsafe practices, such as riding on the tines of a fork-lift truck, climbing over moving conveyors or working on roofs without crawlboards.

2. Substitution: The substitution of a less dangerous material or system of work will, in many cases, reduce accident potential. Typical examples are the introduction of remote control handling facilities for direct manual handling operations, the substitution of toluene, a much safer substance, for benzene, and the use of non-asbestos substitutes for boiler and pipe lagging.

3. Change of process: Design or process engineering can usually change a process to ensure better operator protection. Safety aspects of new systems should be considered in the early stages of projects.

4. Process control: This can be achieved through the isolation of a particular process, the use of ‘permit to work’ systems, mechanical or remote control handling systems, restriction of certain operations to highly trained and competent operators, and the introduction of dust and fume arrestment plant.

5. Safe systems of work: Formally designated safe systems of work, with high levels of training, supervision and control, are an important strategy in accident prevention (see below).

6. Personal protective equipment: This entails the provision of items such as safety boots, goggles, aprons, gloves, etc, but is limited in its application as a safety strategy

Safe systems of work

A safe system of work is defined as ‘the integration of men, machinery and materials in the correct environment to provide the safest possible working conditions in a particular working area’.

A safe system of work should incorporate the following features:

(a) a correct sequence of operations;

(b) a safe working area layout;

(c) a controlled environment in terms of temperature, lighting, ventilation, dust control, humidity control, sound pressure levels and radiation hazards; and

(d) clear specification of safe practices and procedures for the task in question.

Safe systems of work are generally designed through the technique of ‘job safety analysis’.