April 28th A Day of Mourning.
Every year It is estimated by the International Labour Organization (ILO) that over two million people are killed by Industrial accidents and disease while at work, many of these workers kissed their partners goodbye, expecting to see them at the end of the day, one person died, but how many people are affected, wife, mum and dad, brothers and sisters, friends, workmates, neighbors.
In addition, over 160 million workers are injured or become ill due to work hazards every year, these we often call the lucky ones, they survived, but for many their lives will never be the same, if they suffered a life changing event,
Health & safety problems can be described by statistics, but cannot be understood by statistics ““It can only be understood by knowing and feeling the pain, anguish, and depression and the shattered hopes of the victim and of their wives, parents, children, grandparents and friends”,
“The hope, struggle and triumph of recovery and rehabilitation in a world often un-sympathetic, ignorant, unfriendly, and unsupportive, only those with close experience of severe permanent disability have this understanding”
“Losses are occurring every minute of every day, somewhere in the business world of every nation” loss to the economy is incalculable principally because management is unaware of the extent of such losses.
Although we cannot eliminate the risk of industrial accidents in modern societies, we can strive to minimise the risks of such accidents happening and to mitigate their consequences.
One of the biggest weaknesses in Industry today, is the poor management of health and safety, often while conducting safety audits, I will sit with the President or CEO, and we will discuss past accidents, I will take him to the mirror, and ask, what did you do, or fail to do, that caused this accident?
Was the victim properly trained? Was he reminded? Was he properly supervised? Following this line of direct questioning, proved powerful and resulted in a positive change in attitude, and culture.
“Safety is not an intellectual exercise to keep safety professionals like myself in work. It is a matter of life and death. It is the sum of our contributions to safety management that determines whether the people we work with live or die.”
Statistically, millions of operational errors (Accidents) are made before a major safety breakdown occurs, Injury or death
“My Vision is a world where risks are controlled because everyone believes that suffering and loss are morally, socially, and economically unacceptable”
Dr. Bill Pomfret; MSc;
Bio:
Dr. Bill Pomfret of Safety Projects International Inc who has a training platform, said, “It’s important to clarify that deskless workers aren’t after any old training. Summoning teams to a white-walled room to digest endless slides no longer cuts it. Mobile learning is quickly becoming the most accessible way to get training out to those in the field or working remotely. For training to be a successful retention and recruitment tool, it needs to be an experience learner will enjoy and be in sync with today’s digital habits.”
Every relationship is a social contract between one or more people. Each person is responsible for the functioning of the team. In our society, the onus is on the leader. It is time that employees learnt to be responsible for their actions or inaction, as well. And this takes a leader to encourage them to work and behave at a higher level. Helping employees understand that they also need to be accountable, visible and communicate what’s going on