‘Complacency’: self-satisfaction, especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers of deficiencies (Merriam Webster dictionary). When applied to safety in the workplace, it’s probably more relevant to define it as the workers numbed perception of risk through habit and after a long period free from incidents. Complacency ultimately causes workers to lower their guard and cut corners affecting their safety and that of their peers. There are two key characteristics that I believe … [Read more...] about Complacency: how to address it
Fire Alarm at International Airport
I had to go to a conference in Sao Paulo last year in October, and I flew via one of the largest international hubs in the world. Allow me not to say the name, but you know, that really big one ;-)... During the four-hour stopover at the airport the fire alarm was triggered in the international transit zone. This is what happened: At approximately 10pm local time, the PA system went off buzzing and a recorded message started to play. It went something like ‘Attention, attention. … [Read more...] about Fire Alarm at International Airport
Emergency Drill Frequency
The other day I was audited on our Emergency Management Plan. During the session, the auditor and I discussed about the frequency to conduct evacuation drills. At our site we do one exercise yearly as a minimum, but I didn’t recall where the requirement came from other than the Emergency Management Plan itself. The discussion ended in that at least one drill yearly is in general good practice. I kept thinking about this issue and decided to start a conversation (Emergency drills: how … [Read more...] about Emergency Drill Frequency
Learning from an emergency exercise on site
A couple of years ago we conducted an emergency exercise on site where we simulated a chlorine gas leak. Chlorine is a toxic gas that is widely used for water treatment across a number of industries. When a leak occurs it is important to notify all site occupants and also direct them to a safe assembly area or evacuation point. In an open site like ours, this safe area may be different to the standard safe areas in the evacuation plan given the fact that the wind can direct the toxic gas plume … [Read more...] about Learning from an emergency exercise on site
Welcome to our emergency coordination and management blog
Welcome to the EVA blog, we hope this space can serve you to better manage emergencies in the workplace. As a matter of introduction, ASSISTEM have developed EVA Emergency to allow you to better conduct emergency exercises (e.g. fire drills) and assist in the management of real emergencies. As emergency coordinators in an industrial plant we realized that the traditional alarm and roll call systems could really benefit from using new technologies. We took the decision to develop a system … [Read more...] about Welcome to our emergency coordination and management blog