Safety Committees working in Customer Supply & Group Services
SAFETY FORUM - 26 September, 2005
- Meeting of Safety Committees with Senior Management
The theme of the half-day Safety Forum, held on 26th September was "Individual Worker Safety". The forum, hosted by Sean Wyse, Executive Director, was attended by representatives of all safety committees and managers in Customer Supply & Group Services. Dr. Tom Garavan of University of Limerick also attended.
Each Safety Committees presented their views on a specific safety topic ( see panel), representing the work of their own committee and that of other committees in Customer Supply & Group Services. Each presentation was followed with a short open forum session for questions and observations.
Selected Safety Topics:
| Topic No. | Safety Topic | Safety Committee | Presenters |
| Managing Contractor Safety, with particular focus on access control arrangements. | Property & Facilities Mgt | Phillip Darcy, Dave Dowling & Christy Doran | |
| Making Safety Statements Relevant, particularly in relation to business change. | ESB Retail | Nevin Cody & Helena O'Dowd | |
| Making Safety Statements Relevant, with particular focus in relation to traffic management. | ESB Contracts | Fergus Doyle & Dave Ussher | |
| Improving Safety Awareness, particularly in relation to office safety. | ESB Supply | Bob Gibbs, Michael McCann & Ronan Collier | |
| Getting Near Miss Reporting to Work. | ESB Training | Alan Kelly & Tom Mulvaney | |
| Learning from Audits & Incidents, particularly in relation to slips, trips & falls. | Unitised Activities | Catherine McCann & Jim Dollard |
The material covered in each presentation clearly demonstrated the depth of knowledge and degree of shared understanding which the committees brought to bear on their selected topic; a comment re-enforced by Dr. Garavan during his own address.
Some interesting observations and suggestions highlighted in the various presentations by Safety Committees included:
The benefit in reducing the volume of small service contracts, having greater staff involvement in audits, realising the importance of adjusting your own working position at workstations, 50% of collisions involve reversing, encouraging near miss reporting by including hazards as well as near misses and by communicating learning outcomes faster.
Arising from the recommendations contained in the various presentations, actions in specific areas will follow.
Safety Committees were also asked to help with developing an effective means to communicate the implications of the new Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 2005.
The theme of Dr. Garavan's address was on how we can become more safety conscious. In this regard, he referred to the significance of values, attitudes and beliefs in relation to safety. He noted that most workplace accidents are multi-causal and often are a function of the inter-connection between the environment and the person. Safety awareness, he concluded was, therefore, a key issue. He explained that research on this topic of safety consciousness highlights training as being useful in changing attitudes and increasing safety awareness and that management attitudes are significant in providing both positive and negative role models for employees.
In conclusion, he re-iterated the importance of behaviour and other human factors in achieving an injury free workplace.
In closing the meeting, Sean Wyse expressed his thanks to all the Safety Committees for their on-going commitment and was particularly appreciative of the sharing of information and ideas which marked each safety topic presentation. In noting the improvement in safety performance he reminded everyone present of the goal of an injury free workplace and that Customer Supply and Group Services was within sight of achieving it. Getting value from near misses, audits and being safety consciousness at all times were now more important than ever.
Attendees at seminar
Phillip Darcy,
Christy Doran,
Dave Dowling,
Norman Conway,
Benny Counihan,
Sean Wyse,
Fergus Doyle,
Dave Ussher,
John Keating,
Catherine McCann,
Jim Dollard,
Helena O'Dowd,
Nevin Cody,
Patrick Cassidy,
Bob Gibbs,
Michael McCann,
Ronan Collier,
Oliver Brogan,
Alan Kelly,
Tom Mulvaney,
Willie O'Dwyer,
Arthur Byrne,
Dr. Tom Garavan.
Safety Week (24 to 28 October) - Customer Supply & Group Services
The following are examples of how to utilise the focus of Safety Week to increase awareness of safety and safety consciousness in Customer Supply & Group Services:
Local initiatives in relation to manual handling and housekeeping.
EU Safety Week Theme - "Stop that Noise"
- Can cause noise induced hearing loss
- Can contribute to accidents
- Review risk assessments
- Review PPE (ear defenders/availability of ear plugs) - Incorporate into audits
