Safety Management System unsafe condition

PureSafety has announced the release of its Learning and Safety Management System 6.1, which includes a range of observation, prevention and training tools unprecedented in the industry. Users can report unsafe conditions and near-miss incidents, even anonymously, within their organization, which can then be tracked, researched and corrected immediately - before an incident occurs. Visit PureSafety at www.puresafety. com/ims for more information. Circle 308... 

Effective communication is the most important tool used by the safety management system. It is assumed that employees know how to communicate information and concerns about immediate hazards and associated risks. In most safety-related training we have experienced, the employee is simply told to report unsafe conditions without fiorther explanation. In... 

In fact, the basis of an audit is the assumption that its designer does indeed understand the process and has created an instrument to ensure that the process performs properly. Audits then, derive their content from the theory of accidents held by the author(s) of the audit. For example, depending on the author s point of view, the audit might emphasize unsafe conditions, unsafe acts, deficiencies in the safety-management system, or any number of other personally held accident-causation philosophies. 

Safety is a line responsibility that is shared by the operators, facility supervisor, facility manager. Director, and Vice President. The staff is procedurally trained to understand and obey the Technical Safety Requirements (TSRs) of the facility. If plant conditions change such that TSRs are threatened by operations, experiments, equipment failures or external forces, then operations are immediately terminated to minimize the possibilify of a TSR violation and a potential unanalyzed or unsafe condition. The Hot Cell Facility Periodic Maintenance/ Surveillance Operating Procedure (SNL 1997c) requires periodic inspection and checkout of important safety equipment and safety system settings to minimize the chance of "undetected" degradation of safety equipment that could lead to a safety function failure. 

We often think of unsafe acts and unsafe conditions as the basic causes of accidents. They are only symptoms of failure. The basic causes are poor management policies and decisions, and personnel and environmental factors. Fortunately, most employers now realize that safety and health must be a necessary part of the total operating system. These anployers take the responsibility to prepare a written safety policy and guidelines to instill safety awareness in their employees. Selection of best employees for the job, training, employee plaeanent, and the purchase of safe equipment and supplies are important to a successful accident prevention program. 

Report all incidents and unsafe conditions to your supervisor or use the management system to report safety conditions... 

Variations in the quality of causal factor determination were extreme. Of the 15 forms received, 10 direct the person who completes the form to identify the unsafe act of the employee. It is a prominent practice, whether intended or not, to put the principal responsibility for the incident on something the employee did or did not do. Unfortunately, it has been found that focusing on what the employee did or did not do—the unsafe acts—in determining casual factors is deeply embedded in the minds of many safety practitioners and the management personnel to whom they give advice. Some of the forms also asked that unsafe conditions be recorded. Sometimes, but seldom, they contain references to design and systems shortcomings. 

Managers and safety staff will be educated on the elements (processes) of the safety accountability system. They will be trained on the procedures to evaluate and improve these elements. Training will focus on improving the safety program whenever hazardous conditions and unsafe or at-risk behaviors are detected. At the same time, we will use effective education and training to establish a strong culture of accountability. ... 

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