SAFETY AWARENESS

SAFETY AWARENESS
(Frequently asked questions)
What is my business with safety anyway? It has a lot to do with you, as long as you are working with others in a work environment. An 'Unsafe Act' from you could lead to thefts, injuries, fatalities, property damage and financial losses to the company.

What is the objective and purpose? The primary focus is LOSS PREVENTION
What is KPI? KPI means Key Performance Indicator. KPIs are parameters for measuring safety performance against set targets. They show how well a company or an organization is doing in terms of Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) management in executing projects and maintenance in rendering its services to the society or clients. Monitoring of performance against targets is usually done regularly as appropriate i.e. daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. Records are usually entered in appropriate charts provided for the purpose.

Why do we need to keep track of KPIs and why do they matter? Statistical evidence shows that there is an inversely proportional relationship between employees HSE activities or acceptable culture and incident (accidents, injuries, damage to property etc) rate. In order words, we know that the more employees get involved in HSE efforts, the lower the incident rate and consequently better performance.

How do we get involved? Reporting Unsafe Acts, Unsafe Conditions, attending HSE training and meetings (in- house or otherwise), submitting HSE improvement suggestions, conducting a facility or departmental inspection and participating in a safety investigation team if called upon. Incident investigation is usually done to establish learning points that can be applied in order to avoid reoccurrence or prevent future incidents.

What about my 20 years experience on the job? Your experience on the job does not remove the hazards involved? The evidence of drivers, pilots, okada riders, other workers etc who die everyday as a result of an error or neglect gives credence to this fact. The bottom line “EVERYONE NEEDS TRAINING AS LONG AS YOU ARE IN A WORK ENVIRONMENT” All the Managers, HODs, Supervisors, Technicians and all category of workers, including public workers

What is in it for me? By getting involved you are helping to keep yourself and your co-workers safe and potentially boost the company's image. Additionally, because injuries and theft cost the company a lot of money every year, you can help boost the bottom line.
All accidents and injuries can be prevented and all should work towards this goal.
All operational procedures that possess the potentials for causing accidents should be strictly controlled.

Lack of proper Safety culture and implementation: The Niger Delta crisis is a critical example. The chain of problems resulting from the region is affecting everyone directly or indirectly. This is as a result of lack of implementation of safety standards, non-chalant attitude of the government in cultivating a proper safety culture and implementation in the region as they overprotected the oil companies. The natural environment in the region has been severely degraded.
Lack of proper safety orientation has made public facilities to have degraded below the zero level.

In the same vein in corporate bodies, lack of proper Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) management plan in the execution of projects and maintenance of facilities leads to degradation (loss of value with time) of facilities and even health of workers. Also lack of good administration in contract or project execution has a lot to do with safety as it affects the image of a company.

SAFETY generally has to do with acceptable STANDARDS, QUALITY CONTROL, ADMINISTRATION, PROTECTION of LIFE and PROPERTY. In most cases the losses incurred in the event of an incident greatly surpasses the little efforts put in place to prevent occurrence of incidents.