Co-sponsored by the PCA’s Occupational Health and Safety Committee, IEEE’s Maintenance and Safety Working Group and the Cement Industry Working Committee, the first IEEE Fatality and Serious Injury (FSI) Prevention Symposium was held during the recent IEEE-IAC/PCA Technical Conference in Dallas, USA. ICR was present to report on the findings.

Allen Hamblen, president and CEO of CalPortland Co (left), highlighted the need for change in safety

culture during the first IEEE FSI Prevention symposium

On Monday 16 May 2016, the IEEE-IAC/PCA conference held its first-ever Fatality and Serious Injury (FSI) Prevention Symposium. Allen Hamblen, president and CEO of CalPortland Co, opened the series of presentations by highlighting the need for a change in people’s attitudes and ultimately, their behaviour.

However, while safety professionals have a target of ‘no accidents’ for operational staff, in reality the need to achieve production targets, environmental compliance and employee morale make FSI prevention particularly challenging in some cases. As a result, a delicate balance between these factors needs to be struck and the right safety culture has to be encouraged.

Plant managers not only need to react when an accident happens, but also ensure it does not happen again. “No accidents ever is a difficult target to achieve, but every organisation has to believe it is possible,” Mr Hamblen said.

Beyond rules

The majority of people that get hurt are those who break the rules in an attempt to hurry tasks along. While safety rules protect people and go a considerable way towards preventing FSI, prevention efforts need to go beyond the rules. “It’s actions that speak louder than words,” Mr Hamblen stated. “People have to believe that you care about them as individuals. It is not sufficient to hang up safety signs and initiate a safety programme to avoid an accident.” It is about viewing safety as a priority and making it a priority by committing resources to it, according to the CalPortland president. So how much resources, ie money and people, do you assign towards safety? “At CalPortland, each manager is charged with holding people accountable and safe. Messages must be clear, concise and consistent,” explains Mr Hamblen. Every message and communication is essential and must have top-down support.

Empowerment is a further key concept in preventing accidents. Safety managers must feel supported in standing up to production staff without repercussions and refusing to follow unsafe working practices. “There is nothing so critical that it is worth getting hurt to accomplish it,” said Mr Hamblen.

Moreover, employees are not only responsible for their own safety but are also encouraged to look after colleagues. “You are not only responsible for your own safety, but you are your brother’s keeper. If you see somebody doing something stupid, it is your obligation to stop it. I might not do everything right, but you’d better make sure I don’t do anything stupid,” Mr Hamblen illustrates.

Gaining knowledge to prevent

Steve Minshall, director of Health and Safety at Ash Grove Cement and chairman of the PCA’s Health and Safety Committee, reviewed the industry’s statistics on injuries. While these show that, on average, around two fatalities occur annually, in some years such as 2002 the accident tally can be higher. This has encouraged cement companies to find out the reasons why FSI occur and the top three are ranked as follows:

  1. falling from height – from trucks, ladders, scaffolding, elevators, walkways, handrails, floor openings and roofs. Floor openings are not uncommon at cement plants and people fall through them more often than is acknowledged.
  2. being struck by something such as material build-ups as staff unblock structures or debris from equipment failure
  3. being in contact with hot material such as hot dust and flammable liquids.

In addition, people are often unaware of non-fatal electrocutions, conveyor belts and mobile equipment. Plant managers should also be aware of new equipment coming onto the site. For example, during the erection of cranes, materials can be dropped or high winds can make the crane unstable.

Finally, Don Groover of Dekra Insight reviewed the details of a survey of 80 companies with FSI. His insights can be gained in ICR's September 2016 issue on p80.

Article first published in International Cement Review, September 2016.