The Risk Management Tool Box Blog

This months Process Safety Beacon highlights the dangers associated with electrical equipment in coal mines.

The Beacon highlights how an electrical spark at the Senghenydd Colliery in Wales caused an underground explosion resulting in 439 miners losing their lives.

The explosion at Senghenydd on October 14th 1913 was the worst workplace disaster in the history of UK mining.

This month marks the 100th anniversary of the pit disaster.

Click here for information and sign-up to a free safety event aimed at farmers in the Northeast of England.

The good folks at the Centre for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) are hosting their 1st CCPS Middle East Regional Meeting.

The meeting is taking place on October 7th 2013 in Dubai at the Park Hyatt Hotel.

Registration is still open but with limited seats now available. 

And best of all, attendance of this meeting is free, therefore be sure to register pretty quickly.

Plus, the CCPS has negotiated a discounted room rate at the Park Hyatt Dubai.

So reserve your guest room, use the group code F200.

The CCPS meeting is designed to provide a platform to Process Safety Management leaders and professionals to share their knowledge and experience among other CCPS member companies. 

For more information on sponsorships or attendance, please visit the CCPS Website or contact Umesh Dhake, or Lamese Bader at CCPS.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is urging all maritime workers and boat owners to watch a short online safety video that features an accident involving a crew member on board a ship who was tragically killed by an explosion while cutting a used 200 litre drum with an angle grinder.

The ATSB has investigated several accidents involving "hot-work" cutting of used fuel drums in the marine industry.

In all cases, the  accidents could have been prevented if the workers had just given some time to think about the hazards involved and followed proper "hot-work" procedures.

The video provides a powerful reminder to all seafarers of the need to take make sure that hazards involved in "hot-work" are appropriately managed.

To view the video, click this link.

Edith Cowan University in Perth is the first Australian University to have its OSH courses accredited by the Australian OHS Education Accreditation Board.

Accreditation applies the both the graduate diploma and masters degree courses offered by ECU.

The significance of accreditation to ECU is that its courses are now bench-marked against the new national model of OHS education.

Accreditation provides confidence and certainty about the capabilities of OHS professionals who provide advice and guidance in industrial settings.

ECU is the only University of the 15 in Australia that provide OHS courses to have been accredited.

Here is another in the excellent series of Safety Alerts put out by APPEA. This time, highlighting the need for good procedures when TIH or TOH with casing during rig operations.

Talk to us about writing good Procedures for completions operations.

Whenever possible, pressure test equipment using water (hydrostatic test) or another non-hazardous liquid.

Water is a non-compressible fluid, and water at a given pressure contains a lot less energy than a compressed gas such as air. 

Think about the difference in the sound of bursting a balloon filled with water compared to one filled with air. 

The air filled balloon “pops”, but the water filled balloon does not make much noise.

Before you start a pressure test, think about the consequences if a failure occurs. 

Take precautions so that people are not at risk during the test. 

Remember that it is a test – what happens if the equipment fails the test?

Do not rely on valves only to isolate equipment being tested from other equipment that is not strong enough to withstand the test pressure. 

Provide positive isolation with blinds or physical disconnection of piping.

Use an approved written pressure testing procedure, and follow it rigorously.

Post warning signs and restrict access to places where pressure testing is being done.

Make sure that people who are not directly involved in the test are not allowed in the area for any reason.

If you must use pressurized gas for a test, do a thorough safety review before conducting the test.

WorkSafe in Western Australia has reported on new figures which demonstrate that one West Australian worker dies every 21 days as a result of a work related accident

Statistics compiled between 2008 and 2013 showed 5,350 workers suffered very severe injuries in total, with at least one fatality occurring every three weeks.

At the Risk Tool Box, we know that all of those accidents could have been prevented if the hazards were correctly identified and managed. 

Effective hazard management is essential to your safety and the safety of those you work with. 

Do you know how to identify, assess, and control  workplace hazards?

As the Worksafe statistics clearly demonstrate, workplace accidents occur every day. 

But most accidents are  preventable, particularly when the correct hazard management process is used.

For many years now, the Risk Tool Box has been at the forefront of equiping workers with the knowledge and skills to apply the hazard management process to assist in managing risk and maintaining an injury-free workplace.

Our training courses are modular and aimed at any individual who may be exposed to hazards in their workplace.

On completion of our course, workers are able to:

1. Define the Hazard and Risk Management Process;

2. Identify hazards and assess triggering factors;

3. Understand incidents and the potential consequences which could occur when things go wrong;

4. Select and implement controls using the hierarchy of control;

5. Monitor and review controls, ensuring that emergency situations are quickly dealt with; and

6. Record the results of the hazard management process using hazard spotting or JSA.

For more information about our award winning program, call Dr Graham Marshall on 0408 472 678.

NOPSEMA in Australia is facilitating a workshop on safety culture.