on Safety

   One of the most irrational over-sights that exist in the trades today is the lack of focus on quality and its far-reaching impacts on so many aspects of business, but, in particular the impact that quality has on safety. Quality, far too often, is sacrificed for the sake of production. But this oversight, as we’ll see, comes with a cost.

   There are numerous definitions of quality listed in the dictionary but the one most applicable to this discussion is “a degree of excellence”.  In more practical terms, this could be taken to mean something along the lines of, the ability or state of a product or service to serve it’s intended purpose for a reasonable interval of time.  In fact, the International Standards Organization, commonly known as the ISO, defines quality as, “the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears it ability to satisfy stated or implied needs.”

   Let me start by suggesting that we consider the practical implications of a lack of commitment to quality by posing the following question. When a part, let’s say for example, a section of pipe designed to connect a pipeline to a tank is built too short, or with the flange misaligned or a weld failing to meet inspection requirements and is now in need of re-work or repair, what just happened to your exposure to any given safety hazard associated with this particular task? I would suggest your hazard exposure just increased tripled! What happened to the odds of a pinched finger, back-strain, a spark in the eye or any other potential hazard associated with the task at hand? The obvious answer is that all of the risks involved increased threefold! First, was the act of performing the task the first time. Second, was the risk incurred from removing the defect and the third, from having to perform the task properly. (Anyone engaged in the financial aspects of the business might apply the same line of thinking to profit analysis.) For this reason, I will suggest that we need to stop focusing on safety as a stand-alone concept and consider the idea that safety and quality are interrelated; opposite sides of the same coin.

   Developing a true safety culture takes more than just rigidly enforced compliance measures. Administrative controls are important and nothing in this writing should be taken in any way as dismissive of the importance of an objective, comprehensive safety policy. But I will also state, on no uncertain terms that safety; true safety, goes far deeper than just telling people to put their hard-hat and safety glasses on. Again, these are important, but let’s face it; this is picking the proverbial “low hanging fruit” in a safety program. It is very easy and requires minimal knowledge, experience, skill or ability to confront a worker and reprimand him or her for not having all their personal protective equipment in order. It takes a much higher standard of cognitive ability, knowledge, work and experience to perform a qualitative assessment of a part that is being fabricated or an ongoing project of any size or scope. The importance of quality control can not be overstated on this basis.

   I remember a very specific incident on a job site that I was privy to some 10 years ago. (I became involved by administering first-aid to the injured worker.) Two workers were attempting to assemble a prefabricated, “field goal styled” bolt-up pipe support. As they were attempting to level the cross member that the pipe would rest on, one of the workers put his hand under the support to try to raise it into the level position. As he placed his hands under the support, his co-worker, on the opposite side of the pipe decided to use a small, 4 lb. mini sledgehammer to beat the cross member into level. Suffice it to say, the worker put the full force of his swing into the first man’s hand, which crushed, and nearly severed the right-hand index finger. This was part of a project building a well head and tank battery site for a high-profile energy company (who shall remain nameless, lest they be known) so a full-on investigation ensued with all the typical stand downs and impromptu safety meetings. Many valid points were made by the management and safety personnel for the energy company; all the requisite admonishments about the obvious breakdown in communication, line-of-fire and not placing your hands somewhere you can’t see them were all discussed at length. Absent however, was any inquiry as to WHY the cross member was bound so tightly as to require that degree of force to move it into the level position. Had anyone bothered to investigate further, as I did, they would have discovered that the tubing sleeve on the piece that was designed to slide over the vertical post of the pipe support assembly had been welded out of square and was now “bound up” on the vertical support, impeding any further movement. Sadly, a teachable moment was lost on a culture that never attempted to address safety policy with anything other than authoritarian compliance measures. Had the welder been more cautious and disciplined in his task, had a QC inspector caught the out-of-square part, had the installers paid adequate attention to the parts they were charged with assembling, the cross member would not have been bound up on the vertical support and therefore, would not have required blunt force trauma to a man’s hand in a disastrous attempt to remedy the non-conformant part. (To anyone wondering, the worker’s finger healed properly with no lasting, long-term effects.)

   As previously stated, quality workmanship is key to developing a safe workplace and culture. I would encourage anyone reading this to pause here and reflect on the last safety related incident within your organization and ask yourself, honestly and openly if there was not some lack of quality dynamic that, at the very least, factored into the incident, or, as in this case, was possibly the central reason for said incident. It has been said, correctly, I believe, that “safety is everyone’s responsibility!” And for that reason, everyone needs to work together to ensure that they are producing products and services that will not require endless repairs and revisions that greatly, and unnecessarily increase your exposure to any hazard associated with that task.

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