Are they Prepared for an Emergency? - Mining Man's Weekly Safety Topic

Hello everyone at Work Safety Forum!! I'm Jamie Ross and I write a little blog called MiningMan.com. I cover all sorts of things that are important for managers in the mining industry, and one of these is a weekly post with a safety topic for people to use in the workplace. I've reprinted this week's topic post here, and would love to get your feedback!!:

Welcome to Mining Man’s weekly safety topic. Each week we cover a topic for you to use in your safe work observations, including specific things to look for and discuss.

This week we are looking at on-the-job Emergency Preparedness. We are focusing on how well people are prepared for if something goes wrong on their job. We want to discuss their knowledge of the nearest communications, fire fighting and first aid equipment.

This topic has always been my sure-fire fall back safety observation, because the questions we’ll ask apply to basically every single job being done on a mine site. I pull it out when I’ve observed a job and found everything in order, or when I come across someone doing a simple job but working in an out-of-the-way place (although I could use our Working Along safety topic).

There are three reasons I like discussing emergency preparedness with people while they are on the job:

1. It always applies and so is a great all-purpose safety observation.

2. It’s something not usually covered in a “Take-5” or other pre-job hazard identification

3. It is a good habit-forming thought process for people to use every day, to think about where they’d go
and what they would do if something went wrong.

Safety Observation

We will commence our safety observation just the same as any other, by finding and observing the job, and then engaging the guys on the job in a conversation about safety. The most important thing we can discuss is particular hazards on the job and what the guys are doing to control them (Mining Man’s got a whole range of safety topics for different types of jobs here).

Then as an addition to our discussion on the job hazards, or in place of them if we come across a person doing a simple task or just completing a task, we want to this week discuss their emergency preparedness, or basically – do they know where the emergency equipment is around them right now.

Emergency Preparedness Discussion

As we always suggest for safety observations, we will drive the discussion through the use of questions to get the person we are observing to talk to us about the hazards they face. For this particular topic, try the following questions:

“Where is the nearest communications from here (i.e. phones, radio)?”

“What is the number to call or procedure to use if you have an emergency to report?”

“Where is the nearest fire fighting equipment (including extinguishers and fire water hydrants)?”

“Where is the nearest first aid equipment?”

“Where is your escape route from here and where would you head to if told there was an emergency (muster point)?”

Other areas we might discuss along the same lines include:

“Do you know what’s in the first aid kits?”

“Where is the nearest trauma or rescue equipment cache? Who
has access to that?”

“Do you know if there’s a defibrillator on site and who’s allowed to use it?”

“Do you know how to shut off the electricity in this area if you need to?”

Our aim is to discuss the knowledge the person has of what to do and where to go to get assistance in the event that something goes wrong on their job, or in their area. Use the questions above to prompt the conversation, and make sure to tailor the discussion to the specifics of your site and any recent incidents that may have occurred.

Good luck with your safety observations this week, keep in mind the important safety thinking habits you are helping create that will help people prevent injuries on every job. Stay safe and productive.

- Jamie Ross