Article

Pushing too hard

Ignoring safety procedures to do the job faster causes accidents

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has caused quite a stir.

From the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Florida Keys to the east Atlantic shores, oil is winding an ugly and costly path of economic and environmental havoc. The costs of containment, cleanup and liability will certainly be outrageously expensive. The long-term costs to our ecosystem could be devastating.

Offshore oil operations have a low frequency of drilling accidents. However, when they do happen, they can be catastrophic.

Low frequency and high severity of offshore oil exposures matches the same risk profile of the propane industry. Accidents rarely happen, but when they do, they can be significant.

There have been past accidents at Deepwater Horizon, including one incident involving an employee overfilling a crane with diesel that resulted in fire. That incident was contained at a cost of about $60,000.

If a propane accident involves no bodily injury or death and limited property damage, it is considered a minor incident. In reality, it was a near-miss tragedy waiting to happen, and this time we were lucky. Fire damage totaling $60,000 could have been a $6 million settlement for burns, pain and suffering.

Pushing too hard
I believe a majority of all accidents are related to the human error of pushing too hard.

In the case of Deepwater Horizon, there are allegations of supervisors pushing too hard and ignoring safety procedures to get the job done faster. Those allegations will be investigated.

That familiar story is the cause of most accidents. From construction companies to propane companies and all companies in between, there are deadlines to meet, operations goals to achieve, downtime to make up and other excuses for cutting corners.

Years ago at a propane safety meeting in New Jersey, a union employee refused to do leak checks on out-of-gas deliveries because they took too much time. My friend, the safety director, got in his face; serious threats were made by both parties. The safety director won and the union backed off.

This propane company had recently experienced a serious accident related to an employee failing to do a leak check in another state. A woman and her children were severely burned. The purpose of our safety meetings was to find out who else in the company did not understand the importance of performing leak checks on out-of-gas deliveries.

Weakest link
A company is only as strong as its weakest link. That weak link could be a driver pushing too hard to meet the demands of his schedule. It could be an employee who fails to observe code, follow procedure or ask for help. It could be a manager who is pushing too hard and ignoring safety standards to achieve a deadline or operations goal. It could be a consumer who works on his own propane system to save money. It could be you or me. It’s not always easy to do the right thing.

Employees who confront management about fellow employees, or supervisors who fail to adhere to codes, standards and company policies, are usually considered whistle-blowers and often lose their jobs over such concerns for safety integrity. That is a very sad fact.

Years ago, a propane company manager wanting to avoid towing costs told an employee to drive a truck with bad brakes to the repair shop. When the employee refused, the manager boldly drove it himself – luckily without incident. He then made the employee wash the truck in front of other employees to show what happens when you disobey an order.

There can be no allowable shortcuts when safety is involved. The gain isn’t worth the costly pain.
At your next safety meeting, I suggest you discuss human error and the ramifications of pushing too hard. Discuss the problem. Design solutions.

Safety is no accident and it starts at the top. From the top you can pull together to achieve safe results.