Health, Environment, Safety, Sustainability (HESS)

#41

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This week marks me completing reading the Book “THE GODFATHER” about 40 years back. It was during the summer vacation as 14 year old, my thirst for English novels began. “The God Father” one of the first few I picked up to read from Dad’s office club which had 1000s of books in English fiction. (I am yet to fully see the 3 sequels of the movies in theater, Hopefully one day I do make it; may be the 50th year of its release in 2022). 

One of the key charecter who impressed me in the entire book as well as Snippets of movie (Practically seen 90% but never at a stretch) is “TOM HAGEN” the family lawyer. (played by Robert Dovall going strong at 86) Tom is the go getting guy who works the plan, agrees to disagree with  father and son Dons, Vito and Michelle Corleone and the sound board for all the plans that the family puts across. Infact, Tom could have been swept away in the auora of the Godfather! But he never does go away and always maintains his own stature, image, point of view to gudie the family in good times and not so good times! 

Can’t see a better description to match what ESH folks do to that of Tom Hagen!!! 

So what is that EHS Folks need to do to work things and go up places in the ladder as well as holding on to their own! 

1. Work with a mentor!! It matters a lot, look for a person who is a master (Sensei) who can guide, coach, imbibe skills in to you. Be willing to learn, be open minded, flexible to pick up things! As Steve Jobs says,”Steal Shamelessly” 

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2. Work Relationship:- Nothing brings success as much as developing working relationship and getting things done. 70% results is acheived through relationship power. Be in touch with folks, keep connected, get to know people. Reach out to them, read my post on ARK for aspects.  

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3. Deliver Results:- Ultimately you are judged by what you delivered. Failing to deliver results with all other aspects in good shape counts to nothing! So work a plan, turn plans in to measurable objectives, targets and how success would look like. Track them through weekly, monthly, quarterly, half yearly progress and do course correction. Targets should be what people want, not what you want to deliver! 

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4) Failure is not an option:- Successful people, never give up even at worst of times. The classic example “APPOLO 13” catastrophic failure of mission, the team leader Gene Cranz worked to bring back the stranded astronauts safely. His mission” Failure is not an option”! Work with positive intent, work plans, seek opinion, be transparent, respect ideas, communicare, communicate, communicate!! When working plans and executing always work to make people better!.

5) Intelligent Risk taking:-  In work situations, many times not all data points, information shall be available. Work the best optimal outcome by intelligent risk taking. Agree, organisation culture should promote such behaviour of accepting failures, for getting better results. 

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6) Integrative thinking and Technical excellence:- EHS Folks need to think like owners with basic expertise in all areas of business like Finance, operations, People capital, Sales & marketing to promote their ideas. One trick pony would no longer carry them ahead to have integrative thinking skills! Ofcourse, these are only possible if the Subject matter expertise in their work area of EHS functional excellence is well oiled in the area of 1) Safety operations, 2) Industrial Hygiene 3) Environment 4) Occupational Medicine 5) Sustainability 6) Facilities 7) Projects management being core areas to shape up. 

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As I keep saying, it is all easy to read, but difficult to execute, this requires will to change, a desire to succeed, a good environment that works the change as well as leadership and culture. 

Take it easy, take care, god bless.
Karthik.

21/5/17. 1830 Hrs. 

Some times adapting to change and keeping your own self, can be as nerve wrecking as Irvin Allen’s Master class 1972 movie!!

Change can some times lead to such DILBERT fiascos and all efforts down deep like Titanic! 

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I was asked in my whatsapp by a fellow safety professional? How to sustain Organisation safety culture when leadership change happens! Very challenging question! In my 32 years of Safety implementation, I had encountered very few such situations, where leadership change brought a big jolt to implementing programs/ things! (Of the 9 Managers to whom I reported, only 2 were due their exit from the company. Overall, I had steady interactions with my leaders to work the EHS implementation)

I wont have a magic bullet to shoot and hit bulls eye. No safety solutions ever are. I would do my best. Folks are free to add their views in comment section.

Let’s step back to basics and take it up from there on!

What is Safety Culture?

“The safety culture of an organisation is the product of individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies, and patterns of behaviour that determine the commitment to, and the style and proficiency of, an organisation’s health and safety management. Organisations with a positive safety culture are characterised by communications founded on mutual trust, by shared perceptions of the importance of safety and by confidence in the efficacy of preventive measures.” ACSNI Human Factors Study Group: Third report – Organising for safety HSE Books 1993

So with that definition in, it is easy to see that Culture is what people do when it is from within not forced in to. It takes time to build one. As indicated below the components that go in to building culture (safety culture) are 1) Leadership 2) Company Business culture and its work environment 3) Systems 4) People and their attitude which manifests in to behaviours. So in the first place for a matured safety culture to be in place, the four basic elements are to be well blended and exist in harmony.

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So when a component in the element of safety culture is subjected to change, naturally the impact lead to some adverse consequences. Such instances are common with the departure of leader the legacy disappears soon. Organisations like Dupont, Sandoz, bp have faced issues that have put serious credibility issues over the years! Leaders need to understand first that they were not the guy who let the diaster happen! That is where organisation culture, Business ethics, work environment play a crucial part to adher to “THE VALUES” even in uncertain times! 

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So what to do to sustain culture in midst of people change? (It is assumed that the system, people, environment, behaviour are non variable to a large extent). What can EHS folks do to make sure the leadership buy in to EHS and maintain stauts quo.

1. Influence upward, look for what leaders expect from you. Deliver that faithfully. As our Super boss Larry Bossidy (Honeywell)  explains in this practical article.
   1. Get involved with your new leader. Establish targets linked to strategy.
   2. Update him on Business portfolio, EHS Major risks so he gets a hang of things. Remember you succeed only when he succeeds.
   3. Generate ideas, Influence upward. Give constant feedback on things that go well above all anticipating ahead things may not go that well.
   4. Colloborate, participate, be his eyes and ears in workplace. EHS changes reach top leadership above the leader very fast!(Believe me!)
   5. Stay Current, EHS topics, Norms, Legislature etc. Think through your feet. Be ready to provide solutions to issues. Reach out to any problem with two solutions, let him pick one.
2. Be ready to provide solutions based on business environment, solutions that can work in good times, would be ridiculed in bad times. So adpat. 

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1. From personality side, leaders are classified in to 4 types, Based on task and people focussed, find out what kind of type is your leader is and adapt accordingly. The behavioural pattern are as below to get a clue. 

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As saying goes, nothing is permanant except change and so good EHS managers always expect change and are in sync with it. Very smart managers are able to have educated guess of change that is distant but not visible and adapt!!

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Take it easy, take care, God Bless!

Karthik,

19/5/17 1845 hrs.

So Said Gordon Gekko, 30 years back in the 1987, block buster “WALL STREET” 

30 years on, Has Anything changed?? Yes, it has gotten worse, 2017, even Greed is super good in Emerging economies, III world etc! (Disclosure:- I have benefitted immensely from Wall Street on NYSE Stock Options, so love the Wall Street!) 

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So what Wall Street has to got to do with EHS!? The Answer is, Read this lead article in EHS Today  ” Are Injuries Still the ‘Cost of Doing Business’ at Some Companies?

Sandy Smith, touches up on based on research data, that companies in order to meet wall street expectations and favoring shareholders, look to turn the other way on spending on EHS aspects, Skill enhancement of workforce through Training etc when pushed. While, this is not unknown or not a shocker, what is now coming out in the open is the deep research study that has gone in to it! This is the situation in USA which is a nation that is compliance driven, liability conscious, Guilty until proved innocent environment. Also to note is agencies method seen by companies as agents of “COMPLIANCE TERRORISM” Goes to show, when pushed against to show profits, companies can get blinded by short term benefits and lose out on long term gains.

So one can imagine, what would be the case in a III world environment where laws are archaic, poorly enforced, rampant corruption with enforcing agencies are hand in glove in a coteire,with their demand of a share in the pound of flesh (I call them the Shylock). Companies spending in EHS beyond the need, enhancing employee skill would be seen as a waste, as well as competitive disadvantage? 

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Is it??? 

I Don’t think so? Here is why! 

1. Compliance is only 30% of operational excellence even in the best of work environment. Compliance can be only reactive, as organisations need to adapt and change which can be a painstaking process.  Many times relying on compliance without systems, process, procedures, programs, ownership can lead to the following situation.

WHOSE JOB IS IT ANYWAY???

This is a story about 4 people
Every body, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody
There was an important job to be done;
Everybody was sure Somebody would do it
Anybody could have done it, but nobody did it.
Somebody got angry about it,
because it was everybody’s job
Everybody thought anybody could do it,
but nobody realized that Everybody would not do it
It ended that Everybody blamed Somebody
when Nobody did what Anybody could have done

2. In today competitive scenario, it has been proven, that organisational excellence with EHS linkage in concept, design, execution, implementation and followup can add value to business with as high as 2 to 3 times on ROI.  PDF 2017 WSI

3. In 2017, Accident prevention/loss prevention is key to sustain business. With a very weak compliance laws, one can’t do much. (Despite poor enforcement, and companies doing their bit to bribe out authorities) The shit can’t go on forever, more so in the Social media watch dog age, you cant be lucky all the time.

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5. With the next generation of workforce coming in to the workplace, (The millennial—> The disruptors) fully armed with the interconnected world. They would look work place from a far different perspective. Get ready, for them compliance is least of the priority, else organisations are sure loser! ( I have a 23,25 yr old children, who look and view their work place far far different from I did in my 20s!) 

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I can add-on and on, but the bottom line is Companies in which ever part of the world, need to work beyond compliance and focus on operational excellence that adds value to business. So shrinking on EHS spending, not doing enough on skill building wont take entities very far. So, I am optimistic that competitive pressure, stake holders outreach, Employee feedback, Social Media as watch dog, would make organisations take up the path which would bring rich dividends.

Take care, God Bless.

Karthik.

17/5/17. 1645 Hrs.

 

It’s all about Leadership! Stupid!!!

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Phil La Duke as usual is at his brilliant best on his post on Safety professional Behaviour and laments nothing has changed over last 10 years. I have also posted my comments in the forum in comments section of his blog post. The forum has some exchanges with disagreement from EHS professionals, who have their own views! 

As a fellow EHS professional, I tend to agree with Phil and his discussion in the post makes a lot of sense to me considering the situation that I find here in this part of the world. Goes to show, developed world or developing world or III world, the approach to keeping people safe has the same level of importance in priority “which is Urgent but Not Important” as in Eisenhower Decision Matrix, from Management standpoint. The Fellow EHS professionals too have not covered themselves in glory. 

So why? Things have come to such a pass!! I agree that 1) EHS implementation in absence of stronger regulatory norms as well as absence of enforcing agency, for folks to work alone is a tough sell. At the same time in 2) organisations which are on the path of bigger growth, strong and committed Leadership with participation from engaged work force EHS conformance needle has moved a bit. In some organisations where 3) EHS is seen as a value enabler linking it as a “Status to be Green for maturity path” in same terms as productivity, Quality, Inventory, Delivery and Cost, it has been able to reach a level of higher maturity with EHS being in Cruise Mode of Flight journey. My estimate is that 60% organisations in Indian work environment are in #1, 30% in #2 and 10% #3 would be my ballpark number based on my visits over the past Five years.

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1. Very Poor Housekeeping.
2. Lacking Clear policy, Direction from top management for QEHS. It is more a necessary evil.
3. Legal compliance at very basic. No in-depth engagement to compliance. At top overview all looks in order but as you start to deep dive issues crop up.
4. Concept of safety management system, poorly understood, so consultants who support sites make it worse!! I have seen  even in Indian arm of Global Companies of repute,with EHS professionals in charge, Adding Probability and severity to derive Risk. (Where as R=P*S). Few such sites are even ISO -9001-2015 certified as well as for OHSAS 18001, thus exposing auditing agencies too!!! 
5. 80% sites have no clear set objectives and targets that are to be derived from policy, business strategy, Risk Assessment etc to charter a course to know where they want to go?  
6. Procedures have no linkage to risk assessment! They stand alone without any connectivity making people wonder why they do what they do without any justification or comprehension!   
7. Not a single site has workmen from shop floor participated in developing procedure or Risk assessment. The very person the procedures are set to protect.
8. I have hung  my head in shame in presence of fellow overseas EHS auditors (More than one occasion) that HAZOP study for a plant of 20 Chemical reactors  and processes and accessories was completed in a few pages. (The consultant is related to statutory authorities) Also is the case where HAZOP study recommendations were blatantly ignored. (Oleum in a reactor cooled with water circulation !!) or a top-notch API company in disdain referring to HAZOP recommendations action plan closure as “FUND NOT ALLOCATED”
9. Lack of recognition of inherent hazards like Static Electricity, Rotatory parts, Confined space, Use of outdated Safety belts (!!), No Seat belt in forklifts (These are all sites with full-fledged Safety professionals) 
10. Most of the times, EHS person is seen as living nuisance to put up with and he is sent away on travel so that activities which could be impeded by him are done when he is away! 

I can list on and on, but I think folks would get the essence of state of EHS ! So with this kind of work environment, is it even fair for organisations to contemplate changing Employee/workmen behaviour and do BBS and thus keep people safe. Or as in many cases, Incident investigation in to Injury/Illness points to fault/error of the person making me wonder how the change would happen and What EHS folks are up to?

 

So what can Safety professionals do to work some kind of restore system and they can have some say and be a person who can work the change initiatives. Again, this may look easy on paper but it is tough to execute. As I keep saying, implementing a cultural turn around  or Technical excellence is not like Making Noodles and eating it so that Hunger is gone and instant gratification. It is like shedding Excess body fat through a disciplined regime and that wont happen overnight! It wont be easy either as people resist change (Even would EHS professionals want to change?? Why fix when ain’t broken).

1. Create a sense of Urgency. Make key people / influencers/decision makers see why change that is desired, needs to happen and buy in is required? What is in it for them.
2. Get Leadership committment! Without that essential binding agent no use trying to work change? Work in terms of risks, compliance, status, indicators to show why change must take place? Linkage to business enabler can some times do the trick to leadership. Leaders need to send a unambiguous message that people need to accept initiatives! or ………… Great change initiatives always comes with a bit of coercion. 
3. Work Organisation baseline to see in terms People, Process, Program, Procedure and work where gaps that are identified, need to be plugged in before change can be brought about. Get the resources committment and bring the change.
4. Seek Expert opinion, dont try to reinvent wheel. Don’t be Penny wise- Pound Foolish. Take advantage of a good, matured, meaningful management system duly validated and is not a Certificate on the wall. Good management system can do wonders!! 
5. Any shift from status quo has to be mix of Strategy and Tactics in a right blend! So don’t make it too tactical and thus miss out on the medium term/long-term vision for what the end would look like.
6. Always piggy back on established operational excellence program or strive to create one in its absence. EHS change as stand alone is tough sell, Line Management wouldn’t be able appreciate as Stand alone component. 
7. Establish Metrics to measure progress. What gets measured, gets done. Assign person with responsibility to work the change who is a key decision maker. Also do not forget to include target date of closure. Without closure dates, plans are meaningless.
8. Engage all levels of folks in change initiative program, All said and done, Safety initiatives are for Workmen / Supervisors, the first man to take the Bullet, should things go astray, so it goes without saying to include “TO WORKMEN, By WORKMEN to make such initiatives more meaningful and speed up things.
9. Stay on top on the communication on initiatives, some times these initiatives can be seen as a threat, more so in these current uncertain times, when economy, competition would make people think otherwise. Involve few end-user in the process, so that message spread that it is not head count reduction or flavor of the month. Work on visual management as appropriate, so that what gets visualised gets retained deeper in mind. 
10. Stay on top, Followup-follow up, followup. Never feel shy to push things. Put your skill and influence in to use.  In my experience, the EHS guys are the most unpopular guy in the most happening sites! (Not the most unlikable guy; note the difference) 

My idea of this post is not to criticise EHS folks or nit pick issues with them! I am posting this to give a course correction on how to do it. Remember it is always easy to learn from others! Learning from your own shortcomings may be costly or you may not be around to get second chance!!
Good Luck and GOD BLESS
Karthik

15/5/17 1845 Hrs. 

 

MEETING, first thing that come to mind is late Jaspal Bhatti! What a true reflection of things!! 

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I should count my lucky stars that in the 27 years in my corporate life, I never got in to the rut of meeting which are meaningless, non productive and rambles on clueless, directionless. Yes, one assignment, the devil caught up with me too (few years back!!), in which I got stuck for 6 months,was hell where meetings rambled on and on without an agenda, without purpose and 2 hr meeting could drag for 4 hrs with no one giving a damn!  I cant recollect a single meeting ending on time during that time.This is shameful as in corporate environment, where business leaders (Now a days EHS is too sucked in this stupid act) are required to provide leadership, guidance, direction and instruction to team to stay on top of the situation/issues. Instead they waste their time in such stupid meetings!! As my 1990s, #Sandoz Colleague, Tapas Chakraborty( Wonder where is he now??) used to say” Meeting without eating is nothing but cheating” Thankfully, as a Change Agent, I am able to direct meetings to a large extent and would be able to judge a company’s work culture out of meetings!! 

Yes, Indian entities have to a long way in honoring time committment, and we joke even from Sandoz days 1990s  “IST= INDIAN STRECHABLE TIME”. 30-40% of my meetings over the last 5 years have been delayed by good 30 min and to one instance to over FOUR hours without a semblance of an apology from the “Saettu” (Tamil colloquial for Gujju/Marwadi owners)  ( It was another matter we ignored them forever as closing the meeting was more out of courtesy which imbibed in you than get business!! ) Indian Multinationals too no different, in one instance, a EHS Manager, me having traveled 50 Kms, for 10am appointment, cooly asked me if I can be  present at 3pm (Fully knowing my flight back to Bangalore from Baroda, is at 2pm!! such people!!, I tell you!)  I can count god’s blessings, as I have heard many frustrating episodes of Indian ministers making my CEO, Chairman wait for hours!!! I have broadly established a corelation over five years that companies that keep up time committment in honoring meeting appointments, have kept up their payment committment! Thus giving me a clear prelude to how things would shape up!!! 

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So How EHS folks can do their bit to have a sensible meetings and dont have to be a victim and feel, What can be cured has to be endured!! What is an indication of a good meeting? They are,

• Effective– A decision was arrived at! effectiveness trumps efficiency
• Efficient – So stuff that was planned ahead gets done!
• Positive and fun – So people enjoy themselves and look forward to the next meeting. (Not for eating donuts or Samosa)
• Participative – So everyone participates equally, instead of just zoning out or faking agreement.
• Open – So people say what they really think with Candor without Shout out! 
• Creative – So the thinking goes beyond the usual and into new territory.

Here is how this can be acheived:-

1. Communicate well in advance.Haste makes waste. Give a good lead time. 
2. Decide the # participants, >10 usually non productive. 
3. Send Meeting request over Outlook etc, ensure acceptance for 70% of attendees.
4. Make sure the meeting room is available, No point in gate crash or hope to find a room available. Use Outlook or meeting room software. 
5. Work an agenda a typical agenda would have Time from/to, Topic, Person’s Name called Directly Responsible Individual (DRI)! Review of last meeting a key item as well as progress acheived.
6. Start the meeting on time! Don’t wait for every one to arrive, however important be the person, (Unless informed before he would be running late).
7. Reward early bird and punish late arrivals. (Punishment could be scribe for next meeting or a Good humored T-Shirt indicating “Late Latiff” (My Boss had distributed such in 1990s) or collect Fund from late comers to be used for common cause.
8. Close the meeting room door, 2min post the start time.
9. Put Cell phone in the middle of table, no one allowed to use it, should be in silent mode.
10. Use “SPACER” —->Safety, Purpose, Agenda, Conduct, Expectation, Results
11. When scheduled end time on agenda item is reached, if no decision is arrived, put on parking lot, move to the next item on agenda.
12. The chairperson should ensure no one person hijack a meeting agenda, ensure collective participation. Meetings are to work things that EMAIL can’t decide!!
13. Take notes of meeting, need not be detailed, some key aspects as memory jogger to transfer in to meaningful summary of discussions.
14. Meeting should have Drop Dead Time, Come what may, It can not extend beyond the time mentioned in agenda.
15. Learn to respect other’s time. Treat others way you wanted to be treated.
16. No Side conversations, do not interrupt, listen.

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I was lucky to participate in standing meeting which helps people to focus on items and finish on time. I have heard of colleagues who have worked on tableless meetings. The advantages are:-

• People are more free to move around, instead of being locked into one sitting position, which keeps people charged energised.
• Communication flows better, because one can see the entire person.
• An increased participation, because people can’t simply slump down and hide
• You can get people closer together. If you seat 10 people around a table, the distance from one end to the other is going to be huge.
• Seating people in a circle signals that everyone is equal. It’s democratic, unlike normal table where the boss sits at the head of the table.

Meetings can be made lively by the above actions (not just excited over Donuts etc). (That too would disappear if the bloody recessions hits, who better than me to see the mayhem in 2008-2010 global recession!) 

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On the other hand, it is always good  to know the 12 Meeting killers and weed them out!!! Courtesy: Ott Joggi.

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Good Luck and God Bless

Karthik

Mother’s day, 2017 ; 1450 Hrs. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This post has nothing to do with my all time favorite actor in Negative roles, Robert Shaw and effortlessly insulting actor Walter Matthau (Oscar Winner) Movie. This movie grossed 5 times the Budget in 1970s!!! 

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So you wonder what is the connection between EHS and Train Hijack??? 

I am linking one word “VULNERABILITY” 

Wherever I visit facilities, people have very confident feel of things and say all fine, no worry, things  on ESH going super!! I then ask,? What is your “Vulnerability Assessment”? As my ex- boss Anthony would joke in our conference calls when all quiet as “Stunned Silence” is what I get!!

Organisations, Individual miss this very obivious aspect when working the improvements at their operations as well as managing issues. From the personal side, classic case how to be ready, as happened to Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg. She was on a holiday with her husband, 3pm she saw him saying he would be off to Gymnasium and went in to an afternoon nap,and few hours later David Goldberg the CEO Survey Monkey aged 47 then, was found dead at the tread mill! Sheryl has written a wonderful book “OPTION-B” in which she has covered the “VULNERABLE aspects” that she never saw  coming??(Naturally in hindsight) the question is how do we tackle the aspects to which we are vulnerable? There are no easy answers!!! 

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So what organisation can do to work this Vulnerability of setback, shock, failures, rug pulled from its feet that everything nose dive in matter of minutes??? Ofcourse, organisations are entity made of individuals, so the folks who sail the ship need to be aware, else its all goner!!

No point to beat the horse to death, Leadership is critical and without that nothing works! so Vulnerability aspects are given a top priority to focus and linked to business objectives and Strategy elements.

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Risk = A Function of Threat, Vulnerability, and Consequences (Risk = f(T,V,C)) with that in mind, work on following aspects.

• Natural Hazards.
• Substance Chemicals  Risk.
• Infrastructure Risk
• Sabotage, Intrusion
• Cyber Threat
• The above can be eloborated as:-
  • American Chemical Council Responsible Care criteria for Cybersecurity
  • Local computing environment
  • Specialized networks including:
  o Process control network
  o Shop floor network
  o Engineering network
  o Laboratory network
  • Firewalls associated with specialized networks
  • Critical applications and data
  • Root cause analysis of prior site related incidents
  • Wireless networks
  • Equipment and chemical storage
  • Perimeter and interior security
  • Facility physical characteristics
  • Security force management
  • Physical security policies and procedures
  • Applicable legal and regulatory policies
• Data privacy
  • Disaster recovery and business continuity planning
  • Security vulnerability analysis through US DHS Vulnerability Assessment Tool LINK!! 

I also laugh at folks telling me that information is confidential (especially outdated Army folks in their 50s, 60s who still think that nothing is unpenetratable!!) 2017??? U think??? God bless such companies!!! 

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Organisations need to be more ready for any unknown-unknown….. Great organisations try to work that quagmire and solve issues one step at a time working one day at a time slowly,painstakingly like Miner defuse the bomb in STRATEGO (I played in my teens, 80s)  ! It is not easy, as 9/11 proved, the folks who want to cause harm, are always one step ahead in their act and it is always a catchup.  Also remember the “TROJAN Horses too”

Good luck and God bless.
Karthik.

12/5/17 1830 Hrs. 

Update 1230am Saturday 13th May 2017!!

Call it Auditor’s curse or Auditor luck!! As I posted this blogpost on Vulnerability, less than 12 hrs later, massive Cyber attack on Medical and health care systems massive hit across the world affecting 100 Countries!! hmmmmm!!! 

 

What we would do without Maid to sustain excellence Housekeeping be at work or home ???? 

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Over past 5 years in my consulting experience, as well as in my corporate time across organisations I served, an aspect which was key in our success to whatever we did was “HOUSEKEEPING” ——-> A Place for everything and everything in its place.  It all starts with Housekeeping being right, everything would follow!! 

So it is natural that Housekeeping is a broad indicator as to how things are at the facility. In our EHS audits globally that we carry out, on day 1, post opening meeting we set out for a 2 hr Site tour, at that time we get an idea of what the EHS score on Day 5 would be and we auditors would exchange thoughts over Lunch. believe me 99% time the Site audit score after 79 Sections of HSE audit being marked and averaged hardly changes with in 5 points or so (more so would be higher side i.e our rating was never low) As saying goes in some cultures, if you are in a stranger’s house and want to judge the family, just check how good the wash room is?? That’s good enough!! 

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So how Site can go about working on housekeeping:-

1. What Housekeeping is not??? 

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So How to go about committment to improve Housekeeping:-

1. Leadership Engagement:- No Program can succeed without Leadership engagement, involvement and participation. Get leadership to see things that HK is a value enabler and people protector and it is their obligation and that they be dissatisfied by state of affairs. Get resources required as identified. Always work on principle that 80% issues arises from 20% area.

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2. Policy:– Work an Housekeeping Policy to get committment, involvement, engagement and resource from management. Identify a champion who would be the Single point of contact for the initiative. (Person with the authority).
3. Establish a program:- It can be 5″S” or 6″S” or whatever you want it called. The basic aspects involve, Sort, Set, Shine, Standardize and Sustain with Safety being thrown in as a freebee check in some places!! Go executing them in phased manner. There is no short cut. 

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4) Monitoring and Measurement:- No program can succeed without measurement and working course corrections through action plans. Ensure timely actions are done. Delay can cause lose faith in system and demoralization.

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5) Always good to post improvements, blow your own trumpet such as Before vs After!!

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As all my posts indicate, everything is about knowing and doing and not letting knowind doing gap derail programme. Good Luck.

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Karthik.

6th May 2017, 1630 Hrs. 

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Note:- It was great catching up after three years, with my Honeywell Boss (2006-12) Anthony Wareham, this week. He has since moved out of Honeywell in 2015 and was on Business visit here. I accompanied him for HSE Legal compliance support across locations in Madras, Chandigarh. (Anthony and I have monthly catch up on happening at Work, #Brexit, Rugby etc etc) 

 

In my 4 years of support visit to facilities, one of the aspect which amazes me is the lack of clear objectives and targets that are Specific, Measurable, Accountable, Result Oriented and Timely.(SMART) that establishes and measures the safety performance in most of the facilities I visit. What is sad is these facilities are certified for safety, environmental, Quality management systems, thus making me wonder are such certifications a Tick in the box!!! 

So what are the expectations from this program:-

• Integrate HSE objectives and targets (O&T) into business processes, safety succeeds only when it leans on Business and acts as a value enabler! Link O&T to Business metrics.
• Establish a HSE Management Plan to achieve strategic Plans (3-5 years) and Annual Operating Plan (AOP) performance expectations
• Establish, assess and maintain objectives and targets which assure continuous improvement of the HSE Management Systems. A good Management system sustains efforts for better HSE performance.( Note HSEMS is not ISO 14001 or OHSAS 18001, but can be)
• Ensure HSE objectives and targets are established to address and manage the frequency and severity of HSE risk that are identified in through Risk Assessment. The hierarchy of controls for such risk mitigation can be guideline for setting them.
• Ensure proactive and reactive performance measures are integrated into a HSE Management Plan. What gets measured gets done; so start measuring.
• Note that Objectives are broader scope of implementation with Targets narrowing down to precise quantifiable aspect. Plans are measures that involves breaking down the O & T in to manageable, doable steps. 
• Ensure that Senior leaders sign off on O&T and plans. as said, align to business goals as value enabler.

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  So what are areas of setting O & T. (They are both Proactive and Reactive)

  • Accident rates, Near miss, First Aid. (Linked to site census)
  • Behavioural observation, Conditions monitoring.
  • Safety linkage to permits, Preventive maintenance Machine down time! 
  • Risk Assessment in facility, area, process, procedures update
  • Self Assessment, Audits, Inspections.
  • Safety committee meetings, Suggestions
  • EHS design review
  • Corrective Action closure Targets % items close out
  • Training hours, communication handout.
  • Waste, Air Emissions norms,Spills etc 
  • IH Monitoring Work area
  • Employee Safety Perception Survey
  • Sustainability Index linkages as applicable ( Fuel efficiency, Green house gas reduction, Renewables etc)
  • OCP updates!
  • MOC Close out
  • Trend Analysis and setting Objectives from Trend for future.

Establishing and implementing O & T enables organisations and EHS professionals to charter a course over which they can have all the control and do course corrections as required. A good linkage to Facility’s EHS policies, Legal Compliance, Conformance to Corporate Norms besides Risk Assessment outupt shall be a good data points to establish “SMART” O &T. 

It goes without saying displaying O&T at stragegic locations where people can have visual contact would calibrate facility on progress on the same.

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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Also another aspect that is missing is the Corrective action closure of actionable items as identified from incident investigation, audits, Inspections, or any other means which trigger an action. Many times issues are open with due past well going months/years beyond original completion date!! This is similar to Smoking Gun situation. Never let the situation get ahead of you or your management! Stay on top on Corrective action closure. This helps when incidents like major spill, leaks, fatality happens and authorities drill deep in to your past record keeping to find items open for years and years!! (DuPont has issued open for 20+ yrs in Belle, WV Fatality)!! (This is an example and intention is not to name & Shame a company) 

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One of the practical way to stay on top is to classify corrective actions that are due in to 1) Items that can be closed within 30 days, 2) Items that can be closed within 90 days and 3) Items that can be closed with 180 days. Corrective actions which require >180 days to close should be taken out of Facility responsibility as it would require resources that are beyond facilities budgets, capability.

Once closed use validation process through check by a III party or III person not involved in the process so that there are no Bias, skewed interpretation of closure. 

Corrective actions at end of pipe and O &T beginning of the pipe if done well can let the Safety system flow smooth! Some times in great organisations, the best laid plans /Schemes do go smooth like oiled machine.

Good Luck, God Bless

Karthik.

29/4/17, 1305 Hrs.

My Merchant Navy friends always fear “Bay of Biscay” as one of the very high risk area in their sea faring experience!!! call it Bay of Biscay-Bery Bery Riskaay! (Accent!!) 

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I did not want to get in to TECHNICAL Safety topic in my BLOG! I wanted to keep this to generic ESH aspects as well as people focus. But can’t help! 

Over the past 5 years, in my ESH consultancy, in the 10s of sites I have visited for Assessments, Training, consultations, I repeat not one person, yes not one person at those facilities, (Including 90% of EHS professionals) have managed to answer my following Question? 
1) “What is Hazard? What is Risk” What is the Difference” !!!!And 90% are OHSAS 18001 certified facilities on paper, to add insult to Injury!!!  

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2) I am also puzzled  to see Inconsistencies in Severity ratings!! For example falls and Electric Shock would always lead to a Fatal Situations as maximum potential scenario in severity!! People rate them as fatal in severity and while other situations they rate such harm as a First Aid Injury.  

3) Risk Rankings never done to identify top 10 issues or potentials and establishing Site Risk Portfolios and acting on them.

3) Heirarchy of controls to mitigate risk not applied. Always folks resort to Procedure or PPE! Engineering options not even considered as a possibility. 

4) There is no tie up /connect of Risk assessment to established Operational control Procedure! 95% of folks have no clue to the linkage that procedures are output to Risk Assessment. Procedures as one of the tool in Heirarchy of controls! The procedure reference is also never mentioned in Risk Registers as to how the risk was mitigated.

5) Risk Register is a live document, it is updated as and when changes happen to activity or change in legislations. At a minimum a review is done annually to bring the register up to speed and through calibration once in Three years to make it current.  (Courtesy Riskscorecard.net) 

6) Many sites still sticking to 2 by 2 Matrix!! (Probability, Severity) this clogs the risk spectrum! The best practice these days are Probability*Severity* Frequency*% people exposed*Level of legal compliance. ( all rated from 1 to 5) so that max risk is 5*5*5*5*5=3125 thus you can focus on your risk mitigation efforts. 

7) Whenever I ask folks how many of Shopfloor employees / workmen participated in working the risk assessment, the answer is practically next to Zero. Risk assessment are mainly done to keep people in the action safe!! We dont seek their inputs???? 

8) Risk assessment not tied to establishing Objectives, Targets, Management plans more so with focus now on ISO 9001, 14001 and upcoming 45001 all focused on risk based approach to Business. 

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Hope folks can learn and take risk assessment to next level!! I recollect Doing Risk portfolio in 1992 for my facility, good Seven years before OHSAS 18001 even introduced! That helped us to have peace and focus on key issues knowing the expect the unexpected is just 1% probability.

Good Luck and God Bless!
Karthik.

20/4/17 1610 Hrs.

 

 

What can be the Acts of  Random Kindness (ARK) that Safety (ESH) Professionals can do at workplace!!! I would try to list!! please feel free to add!! While Random can be seen as an unplanned act, I would work here in a planned context.

1. Be visible, show empathy, reach out to employees.
2. Involve Employees at decision-making. Lower the level, the better. Make things happen where action is. 
3. Spend time at shop floor, understand issues from their perspective. Listen. Always see what is in for them, why they should do it?? What will be the benefits to them?
4. Speak AT them not Speak to them.  Hear what is not being said. Read Body language.
5. Listen to Employees,Ask “What is your Opinion”? “I don’t know, what do you think?”
6. Get to know people, try to know more about “the PERSON” (without being intrusive)
7. Establish Trust. A key ingredient to relationship building. 
8. Encourage employees to report situations when reported, work out resolution one way or the other.
9. Seek inputs from them on Policy, Program, Procedures, PPE etc. Give feedback post decision on their inputs one way or the other.
10. Get to know people better, their dear/near. Julius Cesar knew every soldier by name.
11. Incident investigations are never done to blame employees!! Such Investigations are stupid! Only a terrorists do acts intentionally to kill themselves and others. Every Incident is fault of management at a base level. 
12. If you can say good things about them spread / propagate the word. If nothing to be said, keep quiet. Never bad mouth people! If to be criticized, point to the behaviour and give feedback to the individual.
13. Catch people doing right things, nothing works like a praise! There are many people who would like to be praised than getting truck load of money! Different people, different needs!! Find out what people want!! 
14. Look out / Scout for female employee issues, Especially Sexual Harassment nature. Be the person to escalate,  even if, every one at work, keeps mum and mind their own business.
15. Make sure people are well fed,the army moves on its stomach, many times (especially end of month times) folks may not have money, so may choose to go hungry /  starve. Look out! 
16. Work people development as part of your goal, Inspire, Motivate, Engage. Make people feel good. 
17. Communicate Communicate Communicate—-> NO News is bad news. Have courage to inform folks of information they wont agree with. Never hide.
18. Dont be a Safety policemen to find faults, people don’t come to work to commit mistakes. So Go easy.

Safety (ESH) is all about to the people, by the people, for the people, so go about just doing it with Technical excellence as hardware and people skills as software.

 

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GOOD LUCK! GOD BLESS
Karthik.

17/4/17 1500 Hrs.