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/

Is your home safe from burglars? You probably thought so until you saw this video. Bump keys are things most of us have never heard of before. If you have heard of these before you may have had a hobby breaking into places, or you are probably a police officer. Believe it or not, this burglar tool has been proven to work for over 50 years. So much for feeling your home is secure when you leave. The Bump Key burglar tool could be made by a 3rd grader with a file, thanks to the simple directions made available by sites such as YouTube. The question now is how safe are you and your material possessions considering how easy it is to acquire and make the bump keys. Bumpkey.us sells keys as cheap as $3.50 while offering bigger packages. Everything the burglar ever wanted to enter your home. Are you scared? Maybe, we all should be a little scared knowing how easily a burglar can enter our houses.

There is only one bit of knowledge a burglar needs to enter your house when they use a bump key, and that would be, how many tumblers are actually in your lock. That knowledge is required to get the key to work. But, the truth of the matter is that most keys are cut from standard formats, giving the “bump key burglar” a quick and easy guess of which bump key to use on your lock.

BayAreaLocks.com recommends buying secure locking systems that combine digital and mechanical keying. But are they any safer? Will they provide you with a better sense of security? Medeco™ and Abloy™ are companies that sell secure locking systems that combine digital and mechanical keying. They show a key that appears unique. It looks special, and you know immediately from looking at it the bump key burglar tool won’t work. You may feel more secure, but now you have a key that’s warranty will end in two years. As if that isn’t bad enough, you must remember that this is hybrid technology mechanical and digital technologies combined. This places a limit on temperatures within which the technology is useable. For most people, -22° to 122 ° F would be considered normal living temperatures. For someone in Texas or Nevada or, other hot places such as Bahrain, it is possible this technology wouldn’t come close to working correctly. People who live in the Northern regions of the USA and other places in the world, would find the cold temperature margin a big issue. Even in New York State, they close schools for temperatures that go below -20° F.

The only other safety measures you could add to keep thieves out of your house would be a burglar alarm system or a rather viscous dog with a bad reputation.

So are you safe considering how easily accessible this information is for the up and coming burglar? The answer to this has to come in the form of additional questions. Do you trust your neighbors? Do you feel your neighborhood is secure? Do you believe your neighbors are looking out for you? Feeling safe at home has to be founded on these issues, not the ability to keep the burglar out of your home.

Safe living,
Yovette Mumford

Hi,

When we bump our toes into a hard object on the ground, this may be the only time we remember how important our feet are. We all need to take care of our feet, and even more so when we are at work.

Personal protective footwear help protect feet against injuries that may result from falling objects, rolling objects, or accidental contact with edged tools, sharp objects, or sharp-edged sheet metal. Safety-toe shoes and boots are part of protective footwear, especially in the construction industry and many industrial settings.

Safety toes in footwear protect your toes by incorporating a steel toe box or equivalent material. In the Thorogood Men’s Commando II Deuce Safety Toe Boots, the safety toe is made of non-metallic material. It is a very important safety feature yet, the toe box adds little to the weight or cost of the shoe. The Thorogood safety toe boots are made of black leather, for durability and versatile functionality, and with nylon uppers, for lightness.

A good safety shoe should include instep guards, for arch support and also for ventilation. The Thorogood Men’s Commando II Deuce Safety Toe Boots are fitted with a removable poly-shock zone insole insert and air flow vents. This feature assures good ventilation while you’re wearing the boots. Being removable, the instep guards can be cleaned regularly. Wicking mesh lining in the shoe also adds air flow and overall comfort to the design.

These Thorogood work boots come in both men’s and women’s designs, as well as in safety toe and soft toe versions. Their worry-free design allows you to focus only on your work while the Thorogood safety toe boots take care of your feet. And for as long as the feet are comfortable, you can work longer, too! Life has no reset button, think safety!

Safe living,
Safety Issues

Hi,

How safe is it for immigrants to work in the United States? Perhaps someone who is reading this can comment first hand, and we encourage you to do so in the comment section below. It is imperative that we not just look at statistics but that we listen and learn. Safety is crucial for all workers in this country.

In 1970, the Occupational Safety and Health Act was enacted; placing the responsibility “to protect all working men and women in this Nation” upon the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) shoulders. The question today, over 37 years later, is has OSHA frankly, done their job and lived up to their responsibility required in this Act?

In February of 2002, the subcommittee of OSHA, in charge of this Act, meet to focus on statistics from 1992-2002. These statistics had revealed alarming fatalities and workplace injury rates among Hispanic/Latino population. Specifically, the statistics revealed that the overall injury/illness incident rate had dropped by 31% and the overall fatal workplace injury rate had additionally declined by 2%. From this data, however, it was revealed that the rate within the Hispanic/Latino worker population of injury and fatalities had actually increased by 11.6%. This percentage specifically reflects Hispanic/Latino workers (see the charts below for additional race statistics). Additionally, of the overall rate, the Hispanic/Latino worker population accounted for an extremely disproportionate number of workplace fatalities in 2000–13.8% compared with their proportion of employment–which was 10.7 percent.

When the subcommittee looked more closely, they realized that the vast majority of all foreign born immigrant workers in this country, not just the Hispanic/Latino population, were employed in the dangerous industries. For example, the construction industry in 2002 accounted for 7% of all immigrant employment and accounted for 20% of the fatalities. Clearly, the issue had to be addressed. The question is, has it? Let’s go on.

As a result of this meeting in 2002, it was determined that a broad range of employment related services must be put into place for all non-English speaking and/or immigrant workers in the United States. These services included; workplace to include mining health safety training and information provided in the languages and native tongues that workers speak (Spanish, Italian, Arabic..), enforcement of wage and hour laws on employers, pension and retirement information–again, provided in the worker’s native language and employment training (included teaching of the English language). The ultimate goal of these services was to reach immigrant and non-English speaking workers enabling them to have more employment opportunities and less injuries and fatalities on the job.

So how has providing these services, enforcing these services, worked and helped since the enacting of the Act in 1970 and the reconvening of the subcommittee in 2002? Easy answer to this question, it has not.

Under the Bush administration, regulatory activity at OSHA has ground to a halt; meaning continually delayed or closed. Immigrant workers are now at risk of on the job injury or fatality more so than ever. Safety manuals are not interpreted for workers, wages are not even at the minimal mark, communication among English speaking co-workers is extremely limited and opportunities for varying employment are extremely limited.

The most recent job fatality data released (2005) shows 5,734 fatal workplace injuries with the most significant increases to be within the Black or African-American, foreign-born and young worker populations (see chart below for additional race statistics). It must be taken into consideration, additionally, that this number is probably not totally “pure” as underreporting of foreign-born worker injury is considered rampant due to immigrants not knowing how or whom to report the injury. Many also fear being fired or harassed or being reported to the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Clearly, just as the economy, the workforce and workplace hazards are changing. As a country, we are falling further and further behind in our efforts to protect workers from both new and existing problems. So what needs to be done? Very simply, protect our workers–all workers. This sadly, however will only happen with an administration that believes in and supports real reforms and improvements and will put them into law. Only then will the promise of ample employment opportunities and safe jobs for all America’s workers finally be fulfilled.

Your comments are welcome!

Since life has no reset button….tune into this blog and to our website daily. Safe Living, Yovette Mumford