COMMITMENT TO SAFETY & HEALTH
Providing safe and healthful working conditions and implementing safe work
practices that protect employees and others at our work locations is a value that is
very important to all of us. No task or work process that we perform is so important that
we cannot devote the necessary time and resources to do it safely.
We recognize that accident prevention, productivity and quality of performance go
hand in hand, and that safety is an integral part of all activities. All employees,
regardless of the capacity in which they work, assume responsibility for safety awareness
and consciousness. This responsibility is met by maintaining safe conditions and
performing duties in accordance with safe work practices. We all play a significant role
in looking out for ourselves and others.
The safety & health of employees and others at our work locations are of paramount
importance. Working safely and preventing accidents are key indicators that we use to
measure our performance. No one wants to be injured!
All supervisors and crew leaders need to continue to understand and accept their
responsibility for supporting and ensuring that all policies, procedures and rules
related to employee safety & health and compliance are consistently followed. We
must communicate effectively and lead by example. Leadership at all levels play an
important role in these efforts.
All employees need to continue to accept responsibility to work safely always and to
extend this concern to fellow workers in a helpful and caring manner. We are
responsible for our own actions on the job and we are all part of the team, actively
participating in a program designed for continuously improving safety performance
and maintaining a safe work environment. We all need to maintain safe actions and
continue to build upon positive safety attitudes.
All employees are encouraged to continue to develop and maintain safety awareness
and safe actions both on and off the job. Your safety and health is a full time
responsibility.
All employees are encouraged to communicate their recommendations for
improving safety & health to their supervisor, crew leader, or local safety team
members. Improving the accident prevention process with new or fresh initiatives
helps make safety work for all of us!
Ongoing personal commitment to the prevention of accidents and injuries is
important to the safety of everyone at our work sites.
Pre job planning, effective job briefings, and consistently looking out for yourself
and each other are effective methods for preventing accidents.
A Job Briefing is required to be performed before work starts and when significant
changes occur. It can be a brief discussion for routine jobs, and a more detailed
discussion for complicated jobs. The briefing shall be conducted by the person
responsible for the job, and involve others in the discussion who are participating on the
crew. The Job Briefing needs to be a discussion that includes the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Hazards of the job.
Procedures involved.
Precautions.
Hazardous Energy Control (LOTO).
Personal Protective Equipment required.
It also makes sense to discuss the tools and equipment necessary to perform the job, and
ensure that they are in safe and proper working condition prior to using them.
Job briefings are required by OSHA and are also a condition of employment. They also
make sense as a practical part of always working safely. Job briefings help get the crew
thinking about the job at hand, and elevates the value of job safety in the minds and
actions of all employees involved. A maintenance crew for example, can perform
the briefing when they receive the job ticket or get to the work site.
Even folks working alone should perform a job briefing by thinking through the
requirements before performing the task.
Operational or utility crews can even perform job briefings at the beginning of each
shift or when significant changes occur that warrants a brief discussion. At the
beginning of the shift for example, the operational or utility crew could discuss what
work is planned for the shift, areas that may potentially present a higher level of hazard
or be more dangerous than normal because of certain work activities or operational
problems that are occurring, expected chemical or other deliveries anticipated during the
shift, etc. These operational briefings are an opportunity to get everyone thinking safety
at the beginning of the shift and when significant changes occur. This hopefully helps to
fosters ongoing safe practices throughout the shift.
REMEMBER: Your Safety IS NO ACCIDENT!