WOMEN IN CIVIL TOOLBOX TALK IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU

We’ve completed our White Card training; we have regular toolbox talks, and health and safety is discussed more than it’s ever been. We understand better than ever the role that we all play in getting each other home safely. With that in mind, we’ve summarised a couple of points that we can all take responsibility for no matter where we are, and what the situation is. So, let’s take a moment to remind ourselves about ‘Owning our own personal safety’ and ‘Line of fire avoidance’.

OWNING YOUR OWN PERSONAL SAFETY

Effective safety will always rely upon an employer having robust safety procedures. However, no matter how well an employer or client host organisation manages safety, there is always a reliance upon individuals to take some responsibility for their own health and safety. There are numerous actions that you can proactively take to protect yourself whilst at work that are fully within your control including:

GETTING IN THE RIGHT MINDSET

Especially if you are performing a higher risk role or working in a higher risk environment, it is important to arrive at work mentally prepared. This may mean resolving those distractions you can manage before you get to work. Consider:

WHERE YOUR HEAD IS AT BEFORE YOU COMMENCE WORK

Take an ‘internal’ five minutes before you start work and consciously commit yourself to remaining vigilant for the whole day paying particular attention to:

NEVER RUSH

You may be keen to make a good impression; however, rushing and getting injured on the first day or week of a job, or making a mistake that needs to be fixed does not make a good impression or get you home safely.

NOT GETTING DISTRACTED OR BECOMING COMPLACENT

You may have performed the same task for many years and think you know all there is to know about a job, but non-work-related problems affect our decision making. Lack of sleep, family, finances and job security are all common distractions that take our mind off the task at hand.

ALWAYS STAYING ALERT

Many tasks we complete each day are performed on auto pilot. The ability to make many decisions and perform multiple tasks at once allows us to perform efficiently. However, this can also be dangerous, especially when working in higher risk roles or working environments. A combination of auto pilot and being distracted can significantly increase your risk of injury or harm.

LINE OF FIRE AVOIDANCE

A serious injury can be sustained if you find yourself unintentionally with body parts in the path of a moving object or an object under tension. There are several common causes to injuries sustained in this way including: ф Rushing to get a job done ф Safety equipment such as guarding or grab handles being removed from handheld tools ф Not considering the potential hazards associated with a task

There is sometimes a perception that a job just must get done. In this situation, the job my get rushed or corners cut, with the people involved sometimes ignoring an obvious risk that would not be there if they simply took their time and allowed themselves to remain focussed. Not remaining focussed or rushing can also lead to dangerous assumptions about the safety of a situation for example, assuming a pipe is not under pressure, or an electrical circuit is not live could lead to very serious injury or even death.

AVOIDING LINE OF FIRE INJURIES

Looking for hazards before you start work A line of fire could be the path a moving object will travel meaning if you are in this path, you are at risk of sustaining an injury. Avoid this risk by asking simple questions before you start a task such as: ф What objects are moving or could potentially move as they are currently under tension or pressure? ф If they were to move, am I likely to be in the line of movement? ф What sudden movement or action could happen around me that could instigate an object being released or put me in the line of fire?

ELIMINATING OR REDUCING A RISK

Once you become aware of a line of fire hazard you can then take steps to potentially eliminate or reduce the risk of harm. The best-case scenario is to eliminate any risk completely by removing it, for example by removing a source of tensile or pneumatic pressure from an object. If that object is no longer under pressure, it cannot move with the amount of force required to cause an injury to you or others.

Use best practices to minimise risks. If an object under pressure cannot be eliminated completely, it would likely require a guard to provide a physical barrier should it be released, ensuring that the barrier can sustain any force released without failing. HOW TO REPORT

Make sure that you know the procedure for reporting incidents and potential hazards; it’s everyone’s responsibility to make sure we all get home safe.