What is a Safety Moment?
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 10:39 pm
A safety moment is based on a concept originating from BP which they have passed on through the oil and gas industry in an attempt to increase health, safety and environmental awareness.
A safety moment is quite simply when you stop and think about the task or act you are about to perform and ask yourself if it really is safe to carry on. It can be something that happened to you which makes you think.....'if I had only taken a moment to...'
It doesn't necessarily need to be in relation to work either, which is the beauty of it. We all should take a moment, even at home with things like climbing the roof using dodgy ladders with no fall protection, or when we go to overtake the car in front when in a hurry even though we know it's risky and will only save a few seconds at best.
My workplace starts every meeting with a safety moment from anybody in the room, for example.......
A manager was on holiday in America when he was driving somewhere with his family, including young children. They were involved in a low impact shunt at traffic lights. The manager pulled over to the side of the road out of the way of traffic, but the other driver sped off. The manager began to take matters into his own hands and started to chase the other driver, but instantly took a moment to think of the consequences of his actions - his family were in the car!
Some safety moments could actually be a lesson learnt as well, for example...
A worker splashed a substance in his eye and immediately wanted to rinse his eye. He reached for the bottle of drinking water close by to him which he had noticed after starting his shift. The bottle didn't contain fresh drinking water, it contained an acidic substance with a pH of 1.5! The casualty was rushed to hospital with sever burns to his eye. This is a true event and has been used to highlight the dangers of not properly labelling and storing hazardous substances.
Post your safety moments in here whenever you feel like it, and maybe you could also introduce the concept of a safety moment to start each and every meeting at your workplace. Management commitment is a must for it to work!
A safety moment is quite simply when you stop and think about the task or act you are about to perform and ask yourself if it really is safe to carry on. It can be something that happened to you which makes you think.....'if I had only taken a moment to...'
It doesn't necessarily need to be in relation to work either, which is the beauty of it. We all should take a moment, even at home with things like climbing the roof using dodgy ladders with no fall protection, or when we go to overtake the car in front when in a hurry even though we know it's risky and will only save a few seconds at best.
My workplace starts every meeting with a safety moment from anybody in the room, for example.......
A manager was on holiday in America when he was driving somewhere with his family, including young children. They were involved in a low impact shunt at traffic lights. The manager pulled over to the side of the road out of the way of traffic, but the other driver sped off. The manager began to take matters into his own hands and started to chase the other driver, but instantly took a moment to think of the consequences of his actions - his family were in the car!
Some safety moments could actually be a lesson learnt as well, for example...
A worker splashed a substance in his eye and immediately wanted to rinse his eye. He reached for the bottle of drinking water close by to him which he had noticed after starting his shift. The bottle didn't contain fresh drinking water, it contained an acidic substance with a pH of 1.5! The casualty was rushed to hospital with sever burns to his eye. This is a true event and has been used to highlight the dangers of not properly labelling and storing hazardous substances.
Post your safety moments in here whenever you feel like it, and maybe you could also introduce the concept of a safety moment to start each and every meeting at your workplace. Management commitment is a must for it to work!