REPORT ON SAFETY MEASURES AND CONDITION OF THE FACTORY

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INTRODUCTION Industrial factory is a place full of noise, heavy duty, hazardous and also have high exposure to danger. In Material and Handling Department, it involves diverse operations such as hoisting steels with cranes, driving a truck full with stocks and manually carrying materials. Through all of these operations, it can contribute to greater number of accident rates including fatalities. Everything that is taboo in the safety practitioners book can be found in the factory working area. For example, employees are easily exposed to hazardous substances, accidental collide or fires. Hence, safety control must be taken into action to avoid those incidents from happening. Managing safety and health is not only good for safety reasons; it also makes good business sense. Ignoring safety can result in accident and ill health that not only consume into the profits but can also go to the extent of crippling the whole company. In order to increase efficiency and reduce accidents, there should be consistent safety standards for our company.

Purpose of the report

The purpose of this document is to acknowledge and to inform the Managing Director regarding the current situation of the safety in the Material and Handling Department. It is a great concern and responsibility as an Occupational Health Manager of the factory to issue on this matter after a tour and inspection around the factory had been done. The abandon of the safety rules by the workers need to be restrained immediately before any unwanted incidents occurs.

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FINDINGS Situation 1: A young new employed worker was found driving an 8000 - pound capacity forklift truck into the yard of the factory without wearing seat belt. He picked up thousands pound bag of bulk material from the storage area and drove back towards the factorys main manufacturing building. Worsening the situation, the yard where the worker is dealing with the materials was poorly lit and did not have systematic traffic lanes for any vehicles to move by. By referring to the situation described above, we can view it through many perspectives. Firstly is regarding the negligence of wearing seat belt during the operation of the forklift. As we know, wearing seat belt is very crucial in ensuring safety of any vehicle user. Seat belt can help to lower the impact of injuries if any accident or collision happens. In this case, the forklift driver did not think of the importance of it because in their opinion, that they are not going to be in the forklift for a long period, as they need to get off from the forklift and undertake other task. Our factorys forklift drivers are not on and off the vehicle frequently. They find it is just not practical to keep fastening and unfastening a seat belt.

To curb this undesirable habit among the workers, our company must make familiar all of our employees, especially the ones who are dealing a lot in the hazardous area about the Safety and Health at work. They must be make clear and aware of every regulations set. We also must give extra training to the forklift drivers and other kind of machinery equipment such as conveyors, cranes and slings about the proper use and limitations of the equipment they operate. Two weeks of training given to new operator that have been practiced by our company is not well enough. May be we need to increase the duration of training so that they are eligible and well trained in handling the equipment. All lift truck drivers should be trained in safe operations, especially young drivers. This is due to the youthful enthusiasm inside them and lack of practical experience which can be a deadly combination. Instead of developing and extending training program, employers must also evaluate the operators performance in the

workplace and certify that each operator has successfully received the training needed. . Instead of giving training to the new employee, evaluation of the long serviced workers also must be done at least once every 3 years. The evaluation as well as refresher training must be done if the operator is observed operating the vehicle in unsafe manner and involved in an accident or near miss incident. To make sure the training programs went well and effective, management must take active role in its development. An ongoing safety and health management system can motivate employees and give them awareness on appropriate practice during working. In the other hand, we as employers also must permit only thoroughly trained and competent workers to operate the forklift. With the described needs for changes, our company needs to spend extra time and money on training programs. In the end, the training programs will actually save money for our company because well trained drivers will cost less in accidents, repairs and downtime.

Second view for the situation stated above is about the lit of the yard. This flaw cannot be put on the blame of the operators, as this is the responsibility of the management to handle it. It is very dangerous to operating in a poorly lit condition. Any incident could happen anytime due to limitation of the eyesight. Giving an example of situation that could happen. While the forklift driver is doing his chores, come a driver of a dump truck, started reversing without noticing the existence of the forklift at the back thus bump into the forklift, making it tipped over. The forklift driver might trap underneath the forklift thus causing severe injury. Hence, in avoidance to this scenario, our company should spend up an amount to brighten the condition of the yard. More lamps should be put around the area.

Next aspect to be concerned is about the traffic lanes for vehicles to move in and out. Our routine operations on the site involved the transport of bulk material to the main production building by forklift. Other than that, large industrial dump trucks functions to collect solid, rock like waste to be gathered at the specific place for waste product. Hence, the traffic at the site will be packed and overcrowding with those vehicles. There are times when our workplace is crowded with pallets and sometimes there are no clear, open lanes for the forklifts. So, I am thinking of designing forklift lanes within our area

by marking out the floor with taping or, maybe through the usage of warning systems such as sirens of flashing lights should be set to alert employees when there is an oncoming forklift.

Situation 2: An operator nearly being hit by a bus after he took the shortest route to the main entrance of the factory, which meant crossing the bus lane instead of using the pedestrian footpath provided. Incident happened when he turned to call good night to a colleague after he ended his working shift. Not knowing the operator was in walking in front, the bus driver nearly hit the operator who is just few meters away from the bus. However, the bus driver managed to make an emergency brake after the bus passengers started shouting at him to stop. Referring to the incident mentioned above, it could be classified into incident caused by human. We can clearly see the fault of the incident is on the operator who intentionally took a short route by crossing the bus lane. Normally, at the end of every working shift, the parking area as well as the route in the factory area will be packed with many vehicles. This is because all of the workers are flocked to go back to respective home after tired working. The need for changes to this problem can be done with few options as follows. Firstly, clearly marked designated footpath with signs can be set up to reinforce its usage. All workers will be aware of the footpath and will never forget to use the accommodation prepared for them. Other than that, barriers separating the footpath from the bus routes also can be done. For an instance, the iron rod barriers can be used to separate those two routes. Next option will be, warning signs for both drivers and pedestrians. However, the most crucial suggestion for improvement is the lighting in the area to improve visibility for drivers and pedestrians. If possible, extra lighting can be utilized especially in the most essential area involved.

Situation 3: After inspecting the whole area of the factory, I can detected frayed wiring, dangling wires which are not properly fixed and also broken plug sockets in many places. However, the sockets are still being used condoning its poor condition.

As we know, electricity is used in all workplaces and, if used properly, it is a safe and efficient form of energy. However, if it used improperly, it can be a huge source of danger. It does not only bring danger of electric shock and electrocution, there is also possibility of starting a fire in the factory if these electrical appliances were not repaired or replaced. In order to ensure electrical safety in our factory, we must make sure that all plugs, sockets and fittings are sufficiently strong for factory use and all cables and wires are in good condition. The technicians should make sure that there should never be any exposed wiring. All power cables to machines should be reinforced and covered in thick flexible rubber or PVC. The wiring should be run across the ceiling and drop down to individual machines, not be made run across the floor where it is likely to cause trips and falls. I would suggested if the wiring be firmly fixed to walls or benches. But the most important thing to do first is replacing all damaged or frayed cables completely.

In addition, there must also be a switch or isolator near each fixed machine to cut off the power in an emergency. The switches should be clearly labeled and within easy reach. The supervisors and leaders should aware all workers about the positions of these switches and trained them in what to do in case of any emergency. Moreover, all circuits should be protected with circuit breakers, as it is essential that these circuit breakers are correctly rated for the circuit they protect. One more important safety aspect to be taken into account is that all equipment should be earthed and a separate earthling wire should run from the machine to an independent earthling rod. Enough socket outlets must be provided in order to avoid multiple adaptors and loose extension leads. Overloading sockets can create fire. If possible, we should use a fused multi plug socket block.

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CONCLUSION Aspects of occupational safety and health are very important and should be taken seriously by the company management. Performance and company productivity will decline if workers always get an industrial accident or health problems. Besides, company's image as a caring employer will be affected. Thus, employee motivation will decrease if the management does not take their welfare seriously. Health and safety in the workplace does not stop and start with employer, workers, safety associations, educators and the government. It is indeed everyones responsibility. By working together to promote safe and healthy workplaces, our company will continue to reduce injuries and workplace fatalities as well as keeping the workplace safe for all of us.