Celebrating my world

Why manual scavenging Have you ever met those people who clean sewers? They are from the poor and often the uneducated unorganized sector of the society – the easily exploitable class of the society. India is a country where millions of people in the urban and rural do not have access to adequate sanitation. Open defecation is a common practice. The urban society produce wastes. Our  urban planners have created sewer lines running throughout the cities that eventually take all the sewage generated in a city and probably into some sea. These sewer lines should be cleaned in order to remove any clogs.   Poverty and unemployment forces people to take up this profession. Risks of manual scavenging Lakhs of people engaged in manual scavenging works in unorganized sector do not normally use any personal protective equipments. This can lead to medical issues like skin diseases, nausea, jaundice, anemia. The H2S gas Hydrogen sulfide/ H2S   is a colourle...

I am not into a fight against all those optimists who read this, nor am I willing to contribute to the conundrum of never ending discussions on ’optimism/pessimism’. In my opinion it is the balance between optimism and pessimism more often in the wake of wisdom or past experiences and learning that guide decision making. Just like the share market is live only because both bulls and bears are sufficient in numbers. If all the people who invest in share market turn bullish on all the companies in the stock market, then do you think that the system can exist? If there are no bears, who will all these bulls buy shares from? In the same way share market with only bears will plunge to rock bottom levels. I am an optimist- but only until I wear the suit of the Safety Man. It is the optimists who help companies grow and flourish. All companies with incredible growth stories to boast about are driven by visionary and optimist leaders. If they don’t invest more money and sit on their armc...

I like to scribble something down and post without any edits. I describe myself as a lonely raider. Some sad youth living a two thousand kilometers away from everything he loves. A tender soul made to work twelve hour shifts, wear a mask and then walk around with a fully shaven face and ironed clothes- one hand in his pocket. I used to be the heartbeat of all that you call entertainment. Used to be, used to be – means not anymore. Saving all those Privilege Leaves and Casual Leaves to take a good long vacation and go home, I often forget to satisfy the man I used to be. I won’t complain unless my leave request for that dream vacation is put on hold. I can fight any fire because I have a bigger fire inside me. I have been living with it. I have never tried to put it off. Without it, I am afraid I may not exist. I connect socially (online) while travelling in the company vehicle to and from office. The round trip costs me around 3 hours of my day. Those fine days I switch ove...

Safety enhances business. Healthy and safe workplaces are more productive and make businesses more sustainable. Sustainability is an emerging topic in India. What the word Sustainability in this context means is that the business should be able to sustain as it is now. It does not mean that the company should not grow. Sustainable development is the one that takes the future generation also into consideration. Similarly, when a business expands, it should take care that the expansion should not negatively affect its stakeholders. Sustainability is a new agenda that is yet to be imbibed into the hearts of most of the organizations - Unlike Safety, Quality or Environment those that have been made a practice in organizations through Integrated Management Systems that include OHSAS 18001, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 respectively. Sustainability is not an entirely new thing or something that is mutually exclusive of the above mentioned three arms of IMS, it is rather the least understo...

The National Safety Day is celebrated on the 4 th of march every day to commemorate the foundation of the National Safety council of India. Later on the celebrations turned into a week of celebrations from 4 th to 10 th of March as the National Safety Week. Humans are prone to attach emotions to material world. The same makes them attached to the workplace where they work and spend most of their time in some way or the other and celebrate it with a whole heart along with those people with whom most of their day is spent, celebrate his joys along with that of others or just for the sake of a moment of rest from the busy lives they have. I think celebrating Safety Week isn't just about celebrating safety - it's about celebrating your work life. Whose work does one know the best, if not one's own? Nobody else in this world can be better than you yourself in telling you how to do what you do in the best possible way. The best way is the safest alternative. Whose wo...

The teacher was standing in front of the class giving lectures. You talk to your friend sitting next to you. And the very next moment you are thrown out. It can even get worse if the teacher decides – You will not enter my class until your parent comes and meets me. Many safe acts are inherently punishing whereas many unsafe acts are inherently reinforcing. It is the consequence of a behavior that decides whether the occurrence of the particular behavior is increased or decreased. The consequences that drive behavior are can be summarized into the following four groups. 1)   Positive/ negative Consider the case of two bikers; one Mr. A who wears a helmet and Mr. B who does not wear a helmet. Person B is happy because he does not have to suffer from the irritation caused from the use of helmet. Mr. A but in spite of the irritation has worn the helmet. The attitude of A must be nurtured. It is not possible to reward A every time he wears a helmet. But it is possibl...

Behaviour based safety (BBS) is a widely used and still a less understood term in safety.  BBS is not just about forcing the workmen to wear the chin strip of the helmet or a stage created to give gifts to certain workers. It is much more than. BBS is a scientifically designed and people driven approach to safety. ABC of BBS    Antecedents    Behavior    Consequences Antecedents for BBS usually are the communication inputs given to the target group. It can be in any form including trainings, slogans, campaigns, signages, work instructions and procedures etc. Antecedents have a diminishing effect with time. They follow the ‘Law of diminishing returns’ (for any economist reading the article). i.e If we keep on increasing the antecedents, it will finally reach a stage wherein you will not be able to find any remarkable increment in the output in comparison to the higher levels of efforts put in. Also, the antecedents can have an effect on...

Fundamentals for Root Cause Analysis During analysis of the problem, a number of root causes will be identified. Some of the identified root causes will be within the workplace or the department wherein the problem has occurred whereas some will be outside the workplace or the department wherein the problem has occurred. Now the root causes that have been identified as not within the workplace / department should also be addressed. But as they do not lie under the jurisdiction of the workplace / department, they have less control on the same. Identifying such root  causes  may turn the investigation report into a blame game wherein one department blames the other. What will happen to image of the organization if such a report is sent to the leagal/ regulatory authorities? It may lead to feud between departments – which is not the intention of the investigation. Hence such causes are normally mentioned as contributory causes as the concerned department does not...

What was the root cause? What was the root cause? – Any top management official who pays a visit to the accident site puts forward this question. This article does not deal with the tools and techniques used for root cause analysis (RCA). This is meant to enhance your understanding and give you a clarity on the three most used phrases in accident investigation. 1.        Root cause 2.        Immediate cause 3.        Contributing cause Immediate cause is the mostly the cause that has more to do with causing the injury rather than being a reason for the accident. It can mostly be related to unplanned release of energy or of hazardous materials. To be more clear we may check the following two cases 1.        Person A slips and falls on the same level. Gets cut injury. 2.        Person B slips and falls from the...

Incidents do happen. But we should not let them repeat. Learn from your mistakes, work out a solution and be sure that the incident is not repeated. This is the main reason why we investigate incidents. Flowchart for incident investigtion The incident investigation should concentrate on finding answers to the three questions       What happened?       Why did it happen?       How to prevent repetition? The organization should have an effective system to track the implementation of corrective action which should be based upon the principle of Verify and Validate. If the system  has loop holes even after the corrective action has been implemented, the condition should be reviewed and a better corrective action will be put forward which will again go through the Verify and Validate stages until satisfactory results are achieved. Every incident investigation should hence find out at least one Root cause, and a...

The speed limit in places where I drive is 30kmph. I follow the speed limit. Should I still use a seat belt? Why do you make it mandatory to use seat belts even when the speed limit is 30kmph? Even at 30 kmph, there is going to be enough speed at which you can break the windscreen or the windscreen can break your head. It can lead to injuries eventhough not driving to fatality. Ours is a beautiful country where the cars sell only on the basis of these three things –Mileage, Price and design (Just the interior or exterior beautification thing. Not what the Germans call as design). Safety is the least priority when you buy a car. Even if you are driving at 30 kmph and the driver coming from the opposite side is also driving at 30 kmph, the combined speed of action will be 60kmph. Most of the cars you see on the roads have never cleared the crash tests conducted at 64 kmph as per euro standards or even at 58 kmph as per Indian standards. My car has an air bag; should I still...

We celebrate Road safety week every year some time in January. I have been part of road safety week celebrations too. Hence I would like to give a generalized description for all the road safety campaigns happening here as – ‘Dear driver, it is you. It is you who are the sole reason for all the accidents.’ I just felt it like a blame game. Put the blame on the uneducated driver, sit and enjoy your cup of coffee, keep discussing. Now you may point towards the accident statistics. Please tell me how many of those accidents were investigated in detail by a team that consists of a traffic design expert and a mechanical engineer? I firmly believe that too less of those accidents so investigated will point to faulty driving. You tell me that accidents cause death. I have seen it too. But is it just the accident that caused death in the last few road accidents you have heard of? Are you sure? Tell me what was the crash worthiness of the car that led to the death of the people you know. ...

Who is an Ideal manager? If you are a manager, how to measure your efficiency. You should be that manager whom you would dream of working with. Competencies you should build  in order to become a successful manager 1.        Shares the vision The companies you work for have their vision. A manager should be a visionary leader. He should be able to share his vision with his colleagues. Build a team that has the same vision, each person in the team will work in blood and sweat. 2.        Concise and inspiring communicator This doesn’t mean that a manager should be some orator. Clarity of expression is important. He should be able to effectively communicate to people. (Probing- as I have mentioned in my previous article). If you couldn’t understand what someone has told you, clarify. 3.        Planner Better the planning better will be your execution. A better manager should alw...

All of us love to be the kind of person who is loved by all. But how many ever become successful in getting the love of people? There are certain inter personal skills that distinguish people. These can be divided into six different traits. Trait no. 1 – Friendliness How many different masks do you wear? How long can you fake? At one moment or the other, what you are trying to hide from everybody will get exposed. Don’t fake. Remove your mask. Be yourself. You will be happy. In a while you will find yourself surrounded by people who enjoy your company and those whom you are more comfortable with. Who doesn’t want to be cared? How much you care for the other always counts. People who care for their fellow beings are always loved. When was the last time you had asked a kid, “Who do you love more, mom or dad?” The habit of ranking people starts right there.  Being friendly requires you to develop one more skill – i.e. You should learn to respect others. Ranking take away t...