Celebrating my world

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...