ALIGNING SAFETY & PROJECT

4.1.2 Aligning Safety with Project

Note: As targets for the maximum number of accidents with injury have been defined without appointments, issues will present themselves as a choice between unplanned calamities and unplanned cost (including duration).

Most results of work done could be measured or observed during execution of tasks like tasks listed in a quality-assurance plan. Safety is an odd issue, has to do with people and requires another way of assessing this subject. This completely different approach hinders the way most workers and their foremen think with a “get-up-and-go” mentality; as soon as workers become bogged-down in tasks, they often take over without realizing it. In practice, this hinders the development of the workers and it forms an obstacle to good and safe working methods. This hindrance has to be broken down by developing a ‘framework’ that will lead the way of thinking about safety during the project execution.

As one safety engineer once said to me: "Safety becomes a pro-active process if work preparation is perfect". This can only be true if a sloppy work preparation can’t be accepted as an alternative.

Although safety protection can remove many unsafe conditions, unsafe acts According the safety theory of H.W. Heinrich and Alfred Lateiner, an accident occurs after a sequence of events; it is a chain reaction that has to do with background and characteristics of the people assigned to the project and are very hard to correct.

Most results of work done, can be measured or observed during execution of tasks, like tasks listed in a quality-assurance plan. Safety is an odd issue, has to do with people and requires another way of assessing this subject. This completely different approach hinders the way most workers and their foremen think with a ‘get-up-and-go’ mentality; if workers become bogged-down in tasks, they will often take over without realizing it. In practice, this hinders the development of the workers and it forms an obstacle to good and safe working methods. This hindrance has to be broken down by developing a ‘framework’ that will lead the way of thinking about safety during the project execution.

This situation asks as far as possible for ‘alignment’ of SAFETY & PROJECT.
The next case studies are possible and have to be considered and, if applicable, have to be calculated.

Case-3: one skilled mechanic works with more safety than two mechanics without any tacit knowledge for the reason of: a skilled mechanic works with only a few instructions. Another argument comprises that smaller teams working more efficient from a logistic point of view. Uncertainty about unsafe conditions and unsafe acts arises when the planning is based on skilled mechanics, but management had made a contract for dabblers.

Case-4: ‘cutting corners’, taking shortcuts, is based on making the wrong decisions by management and have to be avoided.

Case-5: Documents such as task risk analyses, welding and grinding in confined spaces, balancing and commissioning procedures ought to be available.