SAFETY

Every decision on a job has some degree of consequence or outcome. This is especially true in work environments, such as the maritime industry, that have a heightened level of risk associated with their operations.

Desired safe outcomes must be adequately planned for in advance. Unfortunately, many organizations dedicate a great deal of time and resources reviewing incidents and after-action reports, lagging indicators, rather than investing in tools and techniques that enable thorough planning.

Of course, organizations should learn from their incidents and injuries (the result of an unsafe outcome) and investigate them to determine cause and implement controls to prevent recurrence. These investigations may indicate that a partial work plan existed, or even none at all.

As safety and operational leaders, our time is best served coaching mariners on how to adequately plan their work for safe outcomes, preventing the undesired ones.

Jobs can be completed day in and day out incident free. Our industry can undoubtedly achieve its goal of zero incidents and injuries. It’s proven daily by every watch completed safely.

Another hitch gone by without incident. These are all real instances that prove time and time again that work can be planned, but is some level of luck associated?

Some workers may exhibit unsafe behaviors, narrowly escaping danger due to pure luck. Men and women working on waterways can’t afford to gamble and rely on luck; the stakes are far too high. We can, however, combat this reliance on luck with work planning, tool utilization, and task execution. Let’s look at each.

Gone are the days of attempting tasks without proper planning. Just as a football team prepares for a winning season, mariners too must plan for safe hitches. Poor planning will likely lead to poor execution that results in incidents and injuries.

Safety huddles, pre-job meetings, or whatever an organization may call them, are vital. Employees give themselves a much greater opportunity to arrive at a safe outcome if they leverage safety huddles and pre-job meetings to plan the work at hand. However, this tool is only effective if there is a high-level of commitment from the crew that goes into quality planning.

These forums should ensure that employees identify their roles/responsibilities (who does what?) and hazards that may be associated with the upcoming task (what can hurt us: equipment or the environment?). As an example, say a crew onboard a towboat has

orders to build a 10-barge tow. Before the crewmembers lace their boots and hit the deck plate, they need a proper plan if they want to complete it safely.

The plan should include who does what. What is each deck crewmember’s role and responsibility during this work evolution? What tools are needed? What is the appropriate PPE for the job? Are there any hazards associated with the tow building? If there are, how will they be mitigated?

If any hazards came about that weren’t identified in the pre-task huddle, we need to utilize “stop work obligation” to re-plan. Tow building for mariners on the inland waterways is a routine task, but one that should be planned for given the risk associated with it.

Executing the Task

When an adequate work plan exists, mariners can move forward with task execution, a fragile part of the work cycle. Often, employees may feel so confident with their work plan, that when conditions or the environment changes, they blindly continue to work without pausing to correct the change.

Executing a task safely may mean stopping it entirely. This may seem counterproductive, and, quite likely, it is. Stopping work doesn’t necessarily mean never resuming it, although it can if the problem cannot be resolved. If something doesn’t go as planned or an unmitigated hazard is identified during the execution of a task, the work must be stopped and may only resume if all hazards are mitigated and the task re-planned.

Capable mariners move tons of varying cargoes throughout the inland waterways system every single day. Each mile achieved matters and is just as critical as the last.

Our industry prides itself on being one of the safest, greenest, and most reliable modes of transportation in the world. Fortunately, the opportunity to plan the work is in our control.

When mariners plan their work, they are preventing incident and injury and allowing them the opportunity to arrive at a safe outcome, the product of safe work.

CODY SANDERS Safety and Quality Specialist Canal Barge Company Inc.