TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT LOOKING FORWARD


Gary Escot t, Director at SiteZone Safety shares his thoughts on possible areas of focus for safety training and culture in 2019.


As we begin a new year full of possibilities and opportunities, safety professionals everywhere will be thinking about how to improve work environments in companies, cross sector. The considerations are many; from our point of view at SiteZone Safety, we address anti-collision specifically, and as we have learned that various factors affect safety performance in this sphere. These influences also affect workers in other high-risk jobs, so how can safety professionals raise and maintain momentum on their improved safety journey? Here are a few thoughts on how businesses may achieve that in the coming year.


COLLABORATION IS THE KEY In some industries, doing things the same way is the key to their success - a sought-after wine made with the same grapes in specific barrels, or a particular perfume, maybe even a specific artisanal object. However, in industries that depend on evolving, knowledge sharing, and gathering intelligence to streamline and improve processes is vital. In this case, the adage of ‘we’ve done it this way for years’ does not work.


The same can be said of safety practices. As methods of manufacture and production change, associated risks change too. Take the construction industry as an example; buildings and infrastructure are getting bigger, sites are more active, machinery is larger and more powerful, even potentially more dangerous as they deal with bigger loads. Working schedules are longer, sometimes around the clock, therefore workers are adapting to different environments at all times of the day. And it goes on.


If safety professionals don’t continuously seek to adapt to new ways of working, then accidents can happen. Sometimes it doesn’t mean rewriting the book, but just a matter of sharing intelligence regularly with colleagues and peers. There’s no reason not to share, because the result is that injuries are prevented, lives are saved, time and cost are reduced – there’s nothing to be lost but so much to gain.


Going forward, finding new and more efficient ways to communicate our experience with each other as safety professionals is going to be important if we are going to keep up with innovation as fast as change happens..


EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY As we talk about keeping up with change, then technology is going to be a key factor in enabling a good pace to make our processes more efficient, safer and better. Technology should be a complement to existing safety protocols based on common sense.


As an example, in our area of expertise, multisensory alarms should be part of the safety toolkit when dealing with mobile plant operating around workers.


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This could significantly reduce the risk of collision between workers and vehicles. It doesn’t mean that workers must stop using their eyes, exercising spatial awareness or judgement. Technology has the ability to help them be even more mindful of their surroundings, and to be aware of safety risks at all times while at work.


There is a growing fear that technology will replace people at work. In some cases that may be true. However, here at SiteZone, we feel that our safety technology can enable more efficient placement of the workforce. It will mean learning to do things a bit differently, but whenever we embrace technology in our working lives, change in habits is inevitable.


MINDFUL SAFETY It’s ok to talk about mental wellbeing in the work place now. This was not always the case. In high risk industries, even whispering about one’s mental health was often regarded as a weakness, possible ridicule from peers, or worse, career limiting. It was never really thought of as an addressable issue with positive outcomes. Worse still, in jobs that have been traditionally male dominated, discussion of these issues was not commonplace and so workers suffered in silence.


“There’s no reason not to share, because the result is that


injuries are prevented, lives are saved, time and cost are reduced.”


We’ve learned that sweeping mental wellbeing concerns under the rug helps no one, not the worker, their colleagues around them or the employer. For individuals in industries with a high collision risk, stress, caused by work, can be exhausting. Often it manifests as plant workers become anxious about the possibility of colliding with their colleagues when operating large machinery.


Therefore, as safety professionals and employers in high risk industries specifically, I think a successful part of health and safety strategy will depend on putting more focus on creating safer spaces – working space, headspace and discussion space. Because if one or other fails, the others will be affected if open dialogue and help isn’t forthcoming.


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