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...