Safety Culture Plus

Time! – with each training class, consulting session, program audit and follow-up,  one theme is constant – the push back on taking on new activities, discussions on lack of time, pressure due to time constraints – a universal issue.   Time management books are must reads and can offer many insights – the classic work by Steven Covey, “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” is a must read and provides thoughts on keeping the focus on the most important aspects of life.   Books like “Managing the Paper Tiger”, “Organizing from the Inside Out” and “File, Don’t Pile” provide ideas on keeping clutter down, files in place and by this means, find, you guessed it – more time to do that which is most important.

David Crenshaw’s book is an interesting read with the plot of a time consultant helping a time-deprived executive review where her time goes and what should be done.  The theme is obvious – Computers can multi-task – actually flipping back and forth between operations.  We have unknowingly used the term to justify our flipping between e-mails to cell phones to blackberries back to projects to interruptions in a complex cycle – convincing ourselves we are getting many things done thereby being “effective” and “saving time”.

Crenshaw provides comment and data about the damaging effectives and ineffectiveness of multitasking.   We are actually doing what he calls “switch-tasking” and with each switch losing focus and quality.   The restart after each interruption or e-mail check or blackberry response is hidden in our everyday activities and takes a severe toll on our quality of life. A very high percentage of each workday is lost!!

This is a quick and good read with techniques that can be used to reduce “switch-tasking”.  Time is well spend on books like this. Old habits can quickly reappear as the pressure to respond to all the electronic devices that we communicate through – believing in the myth of that we are effective when we multitask.

Nathan Crutchfield

N_crutch@comcast.net

“No Matter where you go there you are”

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After the box was removed, one worker was crushed

Tallahassee, FL (CompNewsNetwork) – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Tim’s Hauling and Tractor Service Inc. for safety violations following a trench collapse that resulted in a fatality last October at a worksite in the Tallahassee area.

The Havana, Fla., company is being cited for one willful violation with a proposed penalty of $49,000 for allowing two employees to continue working in an 8-foot-deep trench after removing a protective trench box. After the box was removed, one worker was crushed when a sidewall of the trench collapsed. The agency defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health. 

To read the rest of the story click on the link below.

WorkersCompensation.com’s CompNewsNetwork – OSHA Cites Contractor For Safety Violations Following Trench Fatality

• Mar 10, 2009

OSHA has cited Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc. for safety and health violations, proposing $130,500 in penalties. The petroleum refinery in Commerce City, Colo., has 384 employees.

OSHA began its investigation Sept. 8, 2008, as part of a National Emphasis Program focusing on petroleum refinery process safety management. As a result, the company was issued 26 serious violations with combined proposed penalties of $81,000 and one willful violation with a proposed penalty of $49,500.

To read the rest of the story click on the link below.

Process Safety Management Failings at Refinery Lead to $130,500 in Fines — Occupational Health & Safety