WARNING: I would like to warn all parents from Mississippi to Florida and from North Carolina to South to Florida to keep your children at safe distance from  the beaches. Please test the waters and read up on the chemical testing that is being done in those areas of the country. The Methane levels in these area maybe be extremely high and danger for your health. Please watch the video below and do more research. Please be aware of the potential dangers of Methane gas in the ocean waters after this BP oil Spill.

Life has no reset button, Think Safety!

~ Safety Grace

How do we transition our government from being a puppet dog to becoming a watch dog! How do we get Big Corporate executives to walk the walk instead of constantly talking the talk about Safety being their first priority. We have BP passing the fault of this gulf oil spill to Halliburton and Halliburton passing the buck to Deep Horizon and we the victims of their gross negligence left rolling our eyes watching the spin!

When we explore the outer space of the heavens or the inner space of the seas, there are many unknowns and risks associated with such discovery expeditions.  We humans use intuition and science to go beyond our known worlds. Our intuition, combined with science is used to produce beneficial discoveries along with safety practices. We endure accidents as a part of the risk of exploration. We understand acceptable risk instinctively. 

Yet there are no words in the English language that can accurately convey the utter devastation which the BP Gulf oil spill is having upon humans, animals, and the entire ecosystems of our planet! It has been well over a month since this preventable nightmare occurred. We still do not know when this gushing atrocity will be capped successfully so that we can begin to assess the necessary planning to begin the recovery process. Right now we are still fumbling with containment of the smothering, toxic oil, and the highly dangerous methane gases spewing from the core of our Earth. 

This catastrophe is more than the result of an accident from “vigorous” risk management. It is more than just a series of errors of omission. It epitomizes the short sighted greed of management concerned more with meeting hypothetical production schedules and timely returns on investment rather than placing primary emphasis on insuring the safety of the men who ran the drilling rig, the protection of the immediate  marine environment, and the larger picture of protecting the entire interacting  ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico and the entire planet.

A corporation provides a legal governmental charter which gives the newly created business entity the right to make as much profit as possible in the shortest amount of time for those people able to invest to become shareholders. 

Yet who is accountable within this corporation for this global catastrophe? Corporations are often chartered with the express purpose of creating multiple layers of accountability with no clear-cut decision making processes and lines of authority so that blame for bad judgment can often be difficult to ascertain.

Many corporations are born and bred upon a foundation of greed with no consideration for humanity or the planet. Throughout history, greed has been the basis for bribes, kickbacks and  payoffs to eliminate inherent checks or balances which mature judgment and good business practice would render necessary and desirable. 

Greed for profits, and greed to “save time” to increase profits, has led to purposeful neglect, deceit, malice and clouded judgment calls. I have for years advocated that SAFETY must become a part of our culture, not just an added cost to our business and living expenses. SAFETY should be like a religion. Religion meaning Philosophy with rituals. The rituals not only created to remind us of the philosophy but to make safe habits a part of our culture, a part of knowing who we are and who and what we are dealing with, and who and what we can trust. 

To place our trust in what is safe, or at least to reduce risk to an acceptable level, is a basic human need for both individuals and society to advance. Envisioning safety and creating safe procedures and processes can be seen as the creation of a ritual of trust.  Greed destroys this ritual of trust. 

To help understand the totality of consequences from  the continuing Gulf Oil eruption, I began viewing different video clips concerning the BP Corporation and its public response, proposed and current government regulations; oversight and the lax enforcement of safety standards by the Bureau of Minerals Management, and the human factor of  the crew of the Deep Water Horizon and the impact of this catastrophe upon our environment.

To produce the greatest operational avenue of safety as a student of “Best Practices” I break processes and procedures down into four categories of assessment. They are: Prevention, Preparedness, Response and Recovery. I have provided videos in this blog from the various news services to address each of these categories. These news clips related videos are in the following order. 

The first is about the propaganda BP issued regarding their position on Prevention, helping affected people cope with the disaster they created, and how they hope to somehow show that “they care” about the “small people.”

The 1990 Oil spill Pollution Act was signed by President George Bush because of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Yet why were the permits for BP drilling at this unprecedented depth of not first secured (as required by law) thru the Bureau of Minerals and Management?  Why were the required permits not applied for nor issued?

Current state of preparedness for the beaches in Florida and the preparedness plans there for this summer tourists.

BP’s Response:

Probably the most important video here:  Understanding the sequences of events that culminated in catastrophe as they were happening with an explanation by Mike Williams, Chief Electronics Technician, one of the few survivors of the Deep Water Horizon explosion, on “60 Minutes.” 

The Methane gas release is a subject which is being intensively researched – BP, The Deep Water Horizon oil rig and the dangers of a methane bubble.

Clip shows the methane disaster which happened in Africa in 1996, killing people and livestock as far as 16 miles away from the methane gas eruption.

And here is a video to remember and pay tribute to those men and their families who lost their lives on the day of the explosion on the Deep Water Horizon oil rig.  The consequences of ignoring safety always have a human face, and a human cost with ripples that continue for multiple generations.

Remembering that Life has no reset button, Think Safety!

~ Safety Grace

http://www.safetyissues.com/

As we continue in our summer safety series, we must consider poison ivy. Let’s take a closer look at what it is, prevention and treatment techniques.

There is a saying among campers and outdoorsmen that we should all pay head to, “leaves of three, let them be.” This refers to poison ivy. Poison Ivy has three leaves and contains oil called urushiol. This oil is found in the sap of poison ivy and is the cause of the break out of an itchy, painful rash that develops as a result of just brushing up against poison ivy.

Poison Ivy grows almost everywhere in the United States and nearly 85% of all people can and do develop allergies to it when they come in contact with the plant.

This brings up the question, with such a high percentage of people that have a reaction to poison ivy in addition to its vast presence in our nature, why doesn’t the National Forestry Division do something to get rid of it? Simply put, humans are the only living creatures that have this negative reaction to it. Contradictory, moose, elk, deer and birds seem to be immune to the urushiol in the plants and in fact use the plant as a good source of nutrition. Further, getting rid of poison ivy is very difficult. Trying to burn it only causes the urushiol to travel in smoke which in turn gets inside of peoples nostrils and lungs, thus causing the negative reactions. Finally, because of the vast presence of poison ivy in nature, people are forced to stay on paths. Environmentalists call this “protecting nature by keeping people on paths.” They believe this is important in contributing to help protect our delicate ecosystems.

Clearly the best course of action is to stay on paths and avoid coming into contact with poison ivy. Wear long sleeves and long pants tucked into your hiking boots when out in nature, wear leather gloves, avoid inhaling smoke from an outdoor fire if you suspect poison ivy may be in the area and wear a barrier cream.

If you do come into contact with poison ivy, however, in keeping with our goal of safety, I have included treatment techniques to help ease and relief you of the symptoms of poison ivy.

• If you believe you have inhaled smoke from burning poison ivy, see a doctor immediately. The allergic reaction can be very serious.
• If you come into contact with poison ivy, wash the area as soon as possible with lots and lots of cool water. The sooner you wash and the more water you use, the less likely you will be getting a rash.
• If you do develop a rash, apply calamine lotion to the rash or rub the rash with an ice cube. These remedies may or may not work, but they certainly are worth a try since they will not harm you.
• If the rash covers more than 20 percent of your body, or develops in sensitive areas like the eyes, mouth or genitals, see a doctor immediately. Physicians can prescribe steroids in either cream form or by injections that may decrease the allergic reaction. Extremely sensitive people may have to be hospitalized.

Summer is all about being outside and having fun. But we must always keep our safety in mind. Follow these guidelines and make this information a part of your knowledge bank; hopefully avoiding having to deal with the repercussions of an outbreak of poison ivy.

Safe living,
Safety Grace

Hi,

The Scary Truth about OUR Cell Phones. Most of us think our cell phone conversations are pretty secure, no one is listening. You feel with all the billions of phone calls “no one is going to bother hacking in to my phone”. Right?…Wrong! I am sure the two women on this video never thought anyone would be interested in their conversation. Watching the use of the off-the-shelf, readily available Phone Piracy technology in This video blew my mind:

After you’ve watched the video follow the link below to view what I have found to be the most organized and to the point safety tips about harassing phone calls:
Cell Phone SafetyTips
More Relevant Safety News
Cyber Crime Prevention

Yovette Mumford

SafetyIssues.com

I remember having to make arrangements to dispose of my Mother’s belongings after her sudden death at age 56 from an Aneurysm. Among the many items I had to get rid of was her Toyota Cresada. The Cresada was the predecessor of the Avalon, Toyota’s highend car in America before the Lexus. When I sat in the drivers seat of her car I was shocked to read the odometer  read my mother’s Cresada had 410,876 miles on it! Yes, she died before it did. She owned it for over 14 years. She loved her Toyota Cresada. My mind drifted into a swirl of memories; the many heart to heart conversations we had in the car, the many secret purchases we did not want my Dad to know about; the countless times we stopped for Dunkin Donuts coffee; the many times she waited and waved at us either delivering or picking us up from school; the many trips we took to the beach. I looked around the inside of the car and found on the floor behind the passenger seat an old box of Chees-it, her favorite snack. I heard the ghost of her laughter while saying all she had to do was change the oil and the tires on her reliable Cressie. Cressie, was a personality and part of our family. I remember sitting there with my forehead on Cressie’s stirring wheel while we both cried about my mother’s absence and felt like I had had a good cry with a living close friend.

I am not making light of the safety issues with regards to the recalls of the Toyota recently. I would like to remind many Americans to be aware of their car’s performance and take all precautions but let us not let the Press blow things out of proportions as it often does by sensationalizing faults of others. Let us not forget that it was Toyota who set the present American car industries standards for reliability and quality control. Remember to use common sense and appreciation seeking out facts, not speculative fiction about our particular brand, year, make and model Toyota. Rather than join in a mob of negative, irrational behavior keep your wits about you and remember to thank them for their innovations and quality controls. In the past twenty years I have owned three Toyotas and have never had any mechanical problems with them. No, I am not getting paid by Toyota to write this blog. I just felt compelled to. I believe that their cars have had a major part in this latest National Highway report saying that there have been fewer car deaths in the past decade then the decade before.
Further reading: Highway Deaths Down Sharply

~ Yovette Mumford