Loss prevention professionals

However unfortunate, drilling personnel have been historically directly connected with major incidents within the petroleum industry on numerous occasions and the impression, consciously or unconsciously still remains. On the other hand, it is very rare or non-existent that a loss prevention professional is promoted to the ranks of senior management, even though they may have been keenly conscientious in maintaining a high economic return to the company by the prevention of catastrophic accidents. 

Safety and loss prevention professionals, as is human nature, often rely on the tried-and-true solutions to problems, which have worked in the past. In the safety and loss prevention area, this often means relying on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSH A) standards or other base-level requirements to resolve the problem. If OSHA requires that a particular problem be addressed in a specific manner, then this is the method that must be used. This tried-and-true method does work however, what does a safety and loss prevention professional do when the answer to a problem is not in the OSHA standards Are there alternative resources Are there other strategies that can be used to obtain a solution to the problem ... 

The usual reply to managanent s question as to why resources should be allocated to safety and loss prevention projects is OSHA tells us we need to have it. Many safety and loss prevention professionals sell their programs and solutions... 

Suppose the answer given by the management group had been no. What does the safety and loss prevention professional do then to resolve the problan The problem still exists, but now the safety and loss prevention professional has no support or funding. Does the safety and loss prevention professional simply forget about the problem in hopes that it will fade away Does the safety and loss prevention professional simply accept the consequences of the no answer Are their alternative solutions to be explored Are there alternative funding sources Are there new technologies Can a creative solution be derived to address the problem ... 

And consider the new technological advances that have been made in the last few years. Do new technologies have a place in the safety and loss prevention function Can these new technologies be adapted to the safety and loss prevention function For example, how many safety and loss prevention professionals possessed a computer in their office in 1960 1 would suspect very few. How many safety and loss prevention professionals have at least one computer today 1 would suspect most have at least one computer, if not more, when you consider office computers, laptop computers, and home computers. 

Creative ideas or even recycled ideas can incorporate these new technologies. For example, in 1970, even if safety and loss prevention professionals wanted to utilize computer programming to modify their written programs periodically, the expense of purchasing the necessary base-level computer was often prohibitive. Additionally, the time to learn the software program and its ease of use were also prohibitive. Today, the cost of a base-level computer is under 1000, and the software is user friendly. Can we utilize such technology today to assist us in our safety and loss prevention solutions ... 

The professional s ability to acquire upper-management commitment and to sell a safety and loss prevention program to upper management is often the key to the success of most safety and loss prevention efforts. But, the question for many safety and loss prevention professionals is how does one actually acquire this commitment and the appropriate support and funding ... 

Safety and loss prevention professionals should ensure that their middle-level managers fully understand the costs of injuries and, conversely, how much the... 

The safety and loss prevention professional should specifically show the risk versus return in regard to the efforts and time of middle-level managers or supervisors and the specific amount of work required to achieve the requested results. Using the above eye-protection program as an example, the safety and loss prevention professional could provide an approximate amount of time each day the manager or supervisor will be required to address eye protection and correlate the costs and benefits of the expenditure of a few minutes each day. 

In conclusion, safety and loss prevention professionals should utilize creative ways of ensuring that the safety and loss prevention message is received and embraced at... 

A substantial portion of the budget of most safety and loss prevention professionals allows for the purchase of personal protective equipment for their employees, medical supplies, and professional services, as well as salary and benefits for staff. Virtually all of these costs are fixed but often possess an ongoing expense factor. Additionally, safety and loss prevention professionals are often faced with emergency situations and unforeseen costs requiring specific items on an immediate basis. In essence, safety and loss prevention can be expensive, but methods are available to manage these costs appropriately. 

Prior to ordering, however, the safety and loss prevention professional should establish relationships with the vendors or providers—larger vendors or those for... 

In the one-stop vendor type of purchasing, the safety and loss prevention professionals can establish close working relationships with one or a small number of vendors to provide virtually all their services. The vendors become familiar with the safety and loss prevention professionals operations, employees, management, purchasing system, and other aspects, and this ensures smooth acquisition of needed items. The negative aspect of this approach is that on a single-item purchase, the price may be higher than if bid competitively. 

Under the bidding approach, each item is submitted for competitive bids, which often yields a lower price for a specific equipment purchase, especially if the equipment or item is purchased in bulk. A negative aspect is that the safety and loss prevention professional will be dealing with a large number of vendors and an ongoing relationship may not be established. 

Especially in safety, health, environmental, and related areas, it is not uncommon for the vendor to provide training services with a substantially large purchase of safety equipment. However, this additional service is usually requested by the safety and loss prevention professional during the purchasing process. For example, when... 

Another possibility is to ask for a floor model of a particular high-priced piece of equipment. The floor models are often used for demonstration purposes or at conferences. Because they have been slightly used, a vendor can often sell such equipment to the safety and loss prevention professional at a reduced cost. However, you have to ask. 

Also, when purchasing a substantial quantity of an individual product, safety aud loss prevention professionals can ask the vendors if they will provide specific items or other items being purchased at such a volume at a reduced cost. Or, given the substantially large purchase, will the vendor provide any additional extras For example, suppose a safety and loss prevention professional is buying 50,000 worth of hard hats. He can ask the vendor if he will throw in a higher grade of helmet inserts or a specific number of face shields. 

The idea is to negotiate to achieve a win-win situation for both the safety and loss prevention professional and the specific vendor. Vendors often possess a certain amount of flexibility with regard to the purchasing arrangement, and the safety and loss prevention professionals should ascertain these perimeters in order to acquire the best deal possible. That is not to say that you should hold up the vendor or exploit the vendor in any way however, the safety and loss prevention professional should negotiate the best deal possible to benefit the company and employees. If you do not ask, you will not find out. 

For safety and loss prevention professionals who are purchasing or ordering safety equipment through a specific purchasing department, it is vitally important that the purchasing department be provided all information in order that they can make an educated purchase of the equipment. Safety and loss prevention professionals should be aware that purchasing agents do not normally possess the experience... 

In order to tap into employees creativity, the safety and loss prevention professional should create an environment in which employees are empowered to express their creativity and possess the freedom to express that creativity without suffering any possible adverse consequences. Who knows the equipment and operations better than the employees who work with that equipment and operations on a daily basis But when was the last time we asked for their ideas and input as to better ways to perform the job and perform it in a safer manner, to improve quality, or any other aspects of the job ... 

To amplify this point, safety and loss prevention professionals often use the pyramid model to drive home the point that near-misses and other underlying factors, if not addressed, will ultimately lead to an accident. Visualize a pyramid or triangle starting at the bottom, for every 300 equipment damage accidents or... 

FIGURE 5.1 Domino theory used by safety and loss prevention professionals. 

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