Cold Weather Safety

Summer and fall are gone and the winter months are upon us.  Even though it’s cold outside we still have to work and get the job done.  There are several things we can do to keep warm and prevent cold weather related incidents.

The first thing is to keep our body temperature at or about normal, 98.6 F.  This can be accomplished by wearing layers of clothing both inside and outdoors.  Wear cotton or lightweight wool next to the skin and wool layers over your underwear.  Keep dry by having proper rain gear available and a pair of good, waterproof boots.  An extra pair of clean, dry socks can really come in handy.  Don’t forget to protect your neck and ears; you can lose a lot of heat from these two areas, and a good pair of gloves is essential.

Do you know the signs of frostbite?  Our skin will become white and you won’t have much circulation.  In the worst case, blisters will form but you won’t feel any pain.  First aid for frostbite is as follows: NEVER rub the frozen part of the body with snow –Add extra clothing or use a blanket to cover the frozen area – get out of the cold and into a warm location – the frozen area may be immersed in warm water but NEVER use hot water – if the condition does not improve seek professional medical attention.

Another area of concern during cold weather is the use of portable heaters.  If they are not maintained properly they can cause accidents.  Carbon monoxide can result from defective ventilating and from incomplete fuel burn.  Do not use in an explosive or potentially explosive atmosphere.  A competent person should check all portable heaters before being put into use.  Locate fuel containers, regulators, piping and hose where they will not be subject to damage.  LP gas containers not in use should be stored upright, in a specified outside location and protected against damage.  Containers in use must be kept in an upright position and secured.  Always be sure to protect the valves from physical damage.

Cold weather is here to stay for a few months – keep your guard up against cold weather injury.

Punishment or Prevention

by Bobby Jones (http://www.bobbydjones.com)

Many incident investigation programs are focused on determining who was at fault. Much effort is spent on who to blame for an incident and therefore who will receive some form of punishment.

This type of behavior-based approach can affect one employee at a time and is not conducive for preventing other employees from demonstrating a similar behavior. It is well known that humans are prone to making mistakes.

From a prevention point of view, focusing more on at risk behavior works at the symptom level and is considered correction activity and not prevention activity.

In order to achieve prevention, an organization must be able to understand how the existing management system, in place, allowed the at risk behavior to escalate to the incident level.

Policies and procedures are a management system mechanism for establishing desirable employee behaviors. An organization must take a logical, unbiased look within the management system to understand what changes need to be made in order to absorb the at risk behaviors and prevent the incident from developing.