Perception.Directing safety

Organizations must develop and maintain healthy process safety communications both vertically and horizontally for business and safety. Natmally effective vertical communications must be bi-directional as managers must listen, absorb the issues as well as speak to the safety issues and perception of safety. An ideal safety culture must include provisions to encourage a secure means for employees to anonymously share their concerns and report nonstandard conditions, which could be weak signals of impending troubles [11]. 

Although a nationwide study on the effectiveness of SRO programs is nonexistent, multiple studies on individual districts, states, and one study of nineteen different SRO programs are available. One such survey conducted on nineteen large SRO programs revealed substantially positive attitudes toward the program (Finn and McDevitt, 2005). This research reveals many aspects of an effective SRO program and specifically identifies a direct correlation between those individuals with an increased perception of safety within the school and their personal approval and satisfaction of the SRO. 

One of the techniques that we will be discussing is the use of the activity-based safety process, as described in Chapter 11, Developing an Activity-Based Safety System . We will discuss the use of the preshift meeting to set the tone for each workday as well as other techniques designed to directly shift, the perception of safety at the interface between the worker and the hazard. 

You must develop a strong personal discipline to maintain the view that your response and how you handle these requests can directly impact the perception about you and the role of safety in the organization as discussed in Chapter 1, The Perception of Safety , and in the maintaining your network and its influence on the safety culture as discussed in Chapter 3, Analyzing and Using Your Network . 

The incidence of perceptible formaldehyde in homes, offices and schools has caused widespread uncertainty about the safety of living with formaldehyde. This uncertainty was enhanced by the large scale installation of urea formaldehyde foam insulation (UFFI) because a substantial part of this material was made from small scale resin batches prepared under questionable quality control conditions, and was installed by unskilled operators (10). The only reliable way to avoid such uncertainty is to know the emission rate of products and develop a design standard that allows prediction of indoor air levels. The first and most important step in this direction was achieved with the development and implementation of material emission standards. As indicated above, Japan led the field in 1974 with the introduction of the 24-hr desiccator test (6), FESYP followed with the formulation of the perforator test, the gas analysis method, and later with the introduction of air chambers (5). In the U.S. the FTM-1 (32) production test and the FTM-2 air chamber test (33) have made possible the implementation of a HUD standard for mobile homes (8) that is already implemented in some 90% of the UF wood production (35), regardless of product use. 

These factors resulted in a dramatic change in the public perception of the chemical industry. In an uninformed public mind, it became the principal culprit for all environmental ills. During the 1980s almost every country in the world passed their own environmental protection laws, transforming the whole concept of work and occupational safety. The pendulum has swung totally in the opposite direction to its position in the late 1960s. Today, we cannot manufacture, market, transport or dispose of chemicals without proper authorization and/or documentation in industrialised countries. 

Our national ad campaign—Plastics Make It Possible — is the most visible of these efforts. The ads are focused on driving up the benefits—especially benefits related to health and safety. We did a lot of research before making these ads because we wanted to know what kinds of messages would really affect public perceptions in a favorable direction. We found that our messages have to be personally relevant they have to touch consumers fundamental values. The ads display the messages that work the best. 

Indicators might be directed at different aspects of health, safety and environment (HSE), such as major hazards, occupational hazards and illnesses, helicopter transportation hazards, physical and psychosocial working environment aspects, behaviours, attitudes and safety culture, as well as perceptions of risk (Vinnem 2010). The indicators may also differ according to types of damage, such as damage to persons, assets or environment (0ien et al. 2011b). 

That recommendation paved the way to a transition from prescriptive requirements to more goal-based requirements expressed in functional terms, which gave the operating party opportunities to choose which detailed solutions could be used to operate safely, and in accordance with the level of standard set in the regulations. That the activity is to be conducted in an acceptable manner expresses a legal standard which provides no direct specification of the level of safety required. The content of the standard will depend on current social perceptions, practice in the petroleum industry, and so forth. The requirement to maintain an acceptable level of safety can thereby change in line with developments (Hagen et ak, op cit, p. 449.)... 

As a response to the obvious need for clarification about the risk level and as a first step measure to turn the development of safety in a positive direction, the authorities, here represented by the NPD, launched the first RNNS pilot proj ect. The project was done in cooperation with external research institutions and the expressed purpose was to establish a methodology to assess trends in the risk level and safety work at the Norwegian continental shelf (Ministry of work and administration 2001). This pilot project, which included extensive interviews with some of the key actors in the industry, documented the conflicts discussed above (Norwegian Petroleum Directorate 2000). Generally speaking, it became evident that some of the actors had very different views of the risk picture and development, and expressed different perceptions of reality. As a result, the trust among the partners in the industry was low. 

Unlike United States experience with nuclear power prior to the 1979 Three Mile Island accident, the future exploration of nuclear energy will not be dominated by issues based solely on technical grounds. Nuclear power is a proven technology, but safety and reliability concerns of fhe public musf be addressed as parf of the public acceptance strategy. The public perception of nuclear power risks is fhe legacy of the Three Mile Island accident. Concessions and efforts not necessarily directly linked to safety issues may be necessary and should be part of the framework and mindsef of any such program. 

This perception changed after the introduction of direct glazing in the European automotive industry at the AUDI AlOO in 1978. All other car manufacturers then introduced this technology, stepwise one model after the other. The reason was not only to fulfill the US safety standards, but engineers soon realised that direct glazing increased the torsional stiffness of a car significantly at no additional cost. 

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