Dowas Albano shares three-step process for prioritizing safety
Anyone working in the building and contracting industry knows safety should be a top priority, as every company strives for the lowest possible total recordable injury rate (TRIR) in their business. But according to Michael Albano, lead director of EHS for Dowâs Louisiana Hub, a low TRIR is not all a contractor should strive for, nor is it the ultimate measure of safety performance.
âI went back and took a look at last yearâs Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance safety record, and the contractorsâ TRIR was 0.37 for 2015,â Albano said to attendees of the ABC Pelican Chapterâs quarterly Industrial Contractors Council Breakfast and Annual Safety Training Evaluation Process (STEP) Awards Presentation held recently in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. âYou really should be proud of what youâve done there, because what it means is 400 people were not injured that would have been if we had the average U.S. TRIR of 3.0. But that 0.37 is still 50 injuries, and 50 is still too many.â
Albano personalized his contention that even one injury is too many by sharing an anecdote about his youngest child. âAbout two years ago, my wife and I wound up having another child, Genevieve,â he explained. âJust after she turned 2, one day I got a call at work from my wife. She said, âMike, Genevieve just said her first complete sentence: âI want my daddy to come home right now.ââ Well let me tell you, you grow in wisdom as you get older. When I was a young man, I would have said, âThereâs a lot of stuff Iâve got to finish today.â But as an old man, I packed up my bags and safely headed home, because if Genevieve wanted her daddy right now, thatâs where I was headed.
âUnfortunately, as good as weâve done with our injury rate in our industry, there are still days when Genevieveâs daddy doesnât come home. Itâs still here and it still happens too often â because once is too often â that somebody cuts into the wrong pipe, or somebody asphyxiates because we didnât get a confined space right, or somebody falls from an elevation. And that day, a 2-year-old has a dad or a mom that doesnât come home. If you talk about the importance of safety and zero injuries, thatâs the importance of zero. The importance of safety is that every Genevieve has a dad and mom who come home every single day.â
Albano recommended a three-step safety checklist for anyone who wants to go above and beyond to make sure they get home safely to their loved ones every night. âJust being motivated to be safe isnât the hard part,â he said. âIf I really care, I donât just say, âBe safeâ; I get specific. I think getting Genevieveâs dad home safely every night is a three-step process: 1. Know the rules; donât just count on your own knowledge. 2. Follow the rules. 3. If the risks donât seem to add up in that case, ask questions.
âIf you know the rules, follow the rules and ask questions, I guarantee you Genevieveâs dad will come home every single night, because in every one of those situations I talked about where we lose someone in our industry, in every investigation you ever see, at some point you look and say, âMy gosh, there was a rule there, and it wasnât followed.â The outcome is tragic.
âBut hereâs the thing about rules: Theyâre not just about the standards. When youâre taught your craft, youâre taught the things you need to keep yourself safe. And when people get in trouble is when we vary from the things we learned in our training. So if we want everyone to go home safely every day, what we really need to do is keep the core of training ever-alive. Never be satisfied that you know your craft well enough; always challenge yourself to grow further.â
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