Proactive Safety Begins With Hazard Identification
Dailycsr.com – 19 November 2019 – Domtar’s Kamloops Mill takes a proactive measure for safety whereby involving all their colleagues for improvement is a “continual journey” while that of “employee safety” is turning out to the “more and more personal” to them given the “21st-century manufacturing environments”.
The above mentioned journey took off in the 2017’s summer with collaboration between the mill leaders and Domtar’s union partners. Both the group worked to create “dynamic hazard assessment”, in short DHA to help in identifying and mitigating potential risks of injuries.
DHA was carried out by supervisors on employees performing “new or unusual tasks”. In the process workers involved themselves to carry out discussions on “potential hazards” along with opportunities to improve the specific “work being done”. Through this effort, the teams chalked out a “proactive safety plan” which addressed the concern and eliminated the risk. In the words of the Health and Safety Manager at Kamloops, Lisa Durack:
“The DHA was successful and yielded some good input but the next logical step was to make it personal and have it apply to the entire site.”
Following the attempt of proactive safety, the task was taken a notch higher. Thus, the “personal hazard assessment”, in short PHA, was designed which “put the safety program directly into employees’ hands”. PHA was introduced in June whereby employees give to safety as they document hazards and critically prepare themselves before they start their work. And Durack said:
“It’s been quite successful so far. We’ve definitely seen an increase in the reporting of opportunities for improvement. That has directly contributed to increasing personal hazard awareness, which we hope will translate to fewer injuries, especially for higher-frequency events like pinch points and slip or trip hazards.”
The manager at Kamloops Mill, Jean-Claude Allaire proudly added:
“The submissions we receive are very thoughtful and thorough. We want employees to think of the PHA as their ‘permit to work,’ and to take the time to think very seriously about how to prevent injuries — not only their own, but their colleagues’ as well.”
Even though PHA has received “very positive” initial response, the team at Kamloops is aware that safety cannot be a static achievement. The plan now is to hold a “comprehensive review” last in this year which will be conducted by the “health and safety committee” at the mill. This way, the team will get to bring in further refinement in the safety programme.
While Durack also informed that in the next course of action, which is due for next year, the workers at Domtar will undergo training for better identifying “risks in their working environment”. And the “Pulp and Paper safety director” for Domtar, Larry Warren stated:
“One of the best aspects of Domtar’s proactive safety culture is the level of collaboration across our mill sites. All proactive safety improvements begin with hazard recognition. The collaboration the Kamloops team has shown around hazard identification is definitely something all sites can strive for.”
References:
3blmedia.com
The above mentioned journey took off in the 2017’s summer with collaboration between the mill leaders and Domtar’s union partners. Both the group worked to create “dynamic hazard assessment”, in short DHA to help in identifying and mitigating potential risks of injuries.
DHA was carried out by supervisors on employees performing “new or unusual tasks”. In the process workers involved themselves to carry out discussions on “potential hazards” along with opportunities to improve the specific “work being done”. Through this effort, the teams chalked out a “proactive safety plan” which addressed the concern and eliminated the risk. In the words of the Health and Safety Manager at Kamloops, Lisa Durack:
“The DHA was successful and yielded some good input but the next logical step was to make it personal and have it apply to the entire site.”
Following the attempt of proactive safety, the task was taken a notch higher. Thus, the “personal hazard assessment”, in short PHA, was designed which “put the safety program directly into employees’ hands”. PHA was introduced in June whereby employees give to safety as they document hazards and critically prepare themselves before they start their work. And Durack said:
“It’s been quite successful so far. We’ve definitely seen an increase in the reporting of opportunities for improvement. That has directly contributed to increasing personal hazard awareness, which we hope will translate to fewer injuries, especially for higher-frequency events like pinch points and slip or trip hazards.”
The manager at Kamloops Mill, Jean-Claude Allaire proudly added:
“The submissions we receive are very thoughtful and thorough. We want employees to think of the PHA as their ‘permit to work,’ and to take the time to think very seriously about how to prevent injuries — not only their own, but their colleagues’ as well.”
Even though PHA has received “very positive” initial response, the team at Kamloops is aware that safety cannot be a static achievement. The plan now is to hold a “comprehensive review” last in this year which will be conducted by the “health and safety committee” at the mill. This way, the team will get to bring in further refinement in the safety programme.
While Durack also informed that in the next course of action, which is due for next year, the workers at Domtar will undergo training for better identifying “risks in their working environment”. And the “Pulp and Paper safety director” for Domtar, Larry Warren stated:
“One of the best aspects of Domtar’s proactive safety culture is the level of collaboration across our mill sites. All proactive safety improvements begin with hazard recognition. The collaboration the Kamloops team has shown around hazard identification is definitely something all sites can strive for.”
References:
3blmedia.com
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