Dying To Get It Fixed?

Did you know that 1 in 3 Northern Ireland workplace deaths in 2009/10 were related to maintenance work? And the situation is not improving as recent statistics indicate the figure may be significantly higher. Many maintenance accidents occur daily resulting in unwanted delays, disruption, increased costs to businesses and injury to workers – and behind the statistics and the legislation are the stories of individuals and their families within our society who have suffered. In light of this, the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) in partnership with the twenty-six District Councils have launched a new campaign entitled ‘Safe Maintenance – Saves Time, Saves Money, Saves Lives’. All NI businesses carry out maintenance, but the risks involved and how they are managed can vary considerably. Safe Maintenance not only prevents injury and ill health, but has positive business benefits in the shape of less downtime and fewer quality failures. However, accident statistics indicate that adequate planning to control risks in maintenance work, particularly non routine or emergency repairs, is simply overlooked. Successful businesses use well thought-out health and safety management systems. By giving serious consideration to the health and safety needs of maintenance activities, businesses really can save time, money and, most importantly, lives. This campaign aims primarily to reduce the number of workers who are being seriously injured or killed as a result of unsafe maintenance activities. However, it also aims to benefit businesses by way of less lost time incidents and quality failures. The concept behind the campaign can be summarised as ‘Plan Work and Work as Planned’. This applies to all things a successful business does, so why not manage maintenance tasks the same way? It is useful to think of maintenance in two categories. Firstly, repairs are carried out following a sudden breakage, blockage or failure (Corrective Maintenance). This work is usually more hazardous than scheduled maintenance because problems are often unforeseen, interrupt productivity, and cause an overriding desire to ‘get it fixed’, rather than to plan the repair by considering the hazards and minimizing them in order to do the job safely (e.g. considering how must a machine be isolated before starting to work on it). Sometimes in these situations the correct equipment may not be immediately available resulting in other inappropriate equipment being used instead and thereby increasing the risk level. In these situations it may only take a couple of minutes to think about those hazards and plan accordingly, but failing to do this could cost someone their life. For example, an employee was killed when he fell four metres from a pallet balanced on forklift forks when repairing electrical wiring in a shed, rather than waiting until an elevated work platform could be hired in. Tragically, with the aim of getting the work done quickly, this person died while attempting to get it fixed. This is a sad reality in maintenance activities. The second type of maintenance is usually scheduled or planned (Preventive Maintenance) and includes activities such as cleaning, lubrication, periodic checks, inspection and testing. Regular preventive maintenance helps ensure continuous productivity and reduces the likelihood of sudden and unexpected failure. How do you know that maintenance is carried out safely in your workplace? Donít forget, under health and safety law, managers are responsible for this. Active promotion of Safe Maintenance within a workplace means checking maintenance work in your business is done safely and according to how it was planned. Simply asking for paper work or copies of risk assessments is not enough; your visible leadership is required. Why not once in a while try selecting a particular maintenance task and actively going to observe it, talk to those involved and compare it to written documentation. Then ask yourself and others: is the work being done safely? This HSENI/Council campaign will deliver a wide range of practical information to employers in the form of website materials (including training tools), seminars and events, workplace inspections and distribution of guidance materials. The campaign website summarises previous NI accidents to show the personal consequences, why the accident happened, and to give vital information on how you can avoid the same accident occurring in your workplace. The campaign encourages employers to adopt better risk management techniques and recommends following five basic rules, which are: – Planning the work – Making the work area safe – Using the appropriate equipment – Working as planned – Final check It further focuses on three key areas of concern which are responsible for the loss of people’s lives in workplaces in NI – specifically asbestos awareness, issues to be considered when working at heights and the importance of isolation i.e. keeping workers separate from the hazards. This campaign could help you protect your employees and your bottom line – for further details, visit www.hseni.gov. uk/safemaintenance or contact HSENI on 0800 0320 121.