Another safety alert went out this week from the industry safety association for the oil and gas industry in Canada informing its members of another fatality.

This particular case involved a worker being in the drum area of the draw works and getting caught up in the line when the lever control was accidentally engaged.  Every incident like this is due to a different set of circumstances, but the contributing factors are consistent.  There are almost always the following problems with the company's safety management system:

• "No implementation of work procedures to control work activities"
• "The procedures for conducting the work were insufficient to prevent the incident"
• "Personnel on location did not recognize the dangers associated with the task"

What the investigators are trying to say is that employers should invest more time and effort in developing safe work procedures and communicating them to their employees.

Very rarely do customers sign up for SafetySync for the Safe Operating Procedure module, but it is the component that will likely have the most dramatic improvement to safety at the company.  This is especially true if you record videos of competent employees explaining what could go wrong with the task, and how to complete every step correctly.

Having safe work procedures and a system like SafetySync to deliver them to your workers will go a long way toward reducing the likelihood of an incident at your workplace.  Sign up today and roll out the procedures you have ASAP; the basic system we offer is absolutely free.