Personal injuries and accidents affect all of us directly and indirectly every day. My initial understanding of the hazards we face every day surfaced at a very young age.
In 1967, my father lost his left eye in a workplace accident, and my life changed forever. He was nailing a concrete brick mortar joint when the nail broke and destroyed his left eye. I followed in my father's footsteps at the age of 18, joining a carpenter's apprentice/journeyman program before transitioning to a licensed tug boat pilot and then into industrial services. Over the past 27 years working in the safety field, safety has become a "way of life." Working for United States Environmental Services (USES) for the past five years has been the most fulfilling achievement of my career.
USES continues its transformation, integrating a diverse workforce to engage in industrial, environmental, emergency response and specialty services.
USES has never compromised our commitment to safety, our environment or the protection of our employees. We work safe. We work hard. We work smart.
All accidents are preventable. We recognize that each employee's active participation in continuously improving safety performance is the fundamental ingredient in developing a safety culture that prevents accidents and incidents.
USES has a TRIR of 0.05, with over 3.5 million man-hours worked. We have also maintained a TRIR of 0 for more than two years. What differentiates us from the competition is our behavior-based safety program. USES' safety record validates our corporate and individual commitment to these behavior- based programs.
The foundation of our success is 100-percent commitment from all levels of the organization. Safety is not only the responsibility of every employee, but a condition of employment at USES. Our commitment is supported through education, training, understanding risks, identifying hazards and taking corrective action to complete the cycle to zero injuries.
Safety is the priority at the core of employee orientation. Our training focuses on the implementation of our Stop Work Authority program. The Stop Work Authority program establishes that all individuals have the authority and obligation to suspend individual work tasks or group operations when the control of health, safety and environmental risks is not clearly defined, established or managed. The shift of training to our safety professionals has allowed USES' training to cover policies and protections while still focusing on safety as the core of our training. In doing so, we elevated the safety culture to reaffirm the expectations of an injury- and incident-free workplace.
Our safety program's key components are our Job Hazard and Risk Analyses (JHRAs) and Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) audits. The JHRA is utilized anytime anyone is preparing to do a job. It is a process by which job tasks are identified and sequenced, hazards of each are identified, a risk assessment is made, and actions are determined to work injury-free. The nature of human beings is one of "multitasking," which is the friend of productivity but not necessarily the friend of safety. In most circumstances, injuries occur during multitasked activities or while distracted. As JHRAs are developed to safely do the work, we view tasks and hazards individually and apply risk ratings on an individual basis, which is helpful in dissecting the job.
USES also instills our "3Ws" program in all employees. This program asks the following questions prior to any task:
- What are we about to do?
- What can go wrong?
- What can we do to prevent the worst from occurring?
SHARP is used for all observations. SHARP observations are utilized at all levels of the organization, from top management to "boots on the ground" employees. These programs have become the cornerstone of the development and maintenance of a strong safety culture within USES.
The future goal of USES' safety program is to continue moving in the direction that we established over five years ago by embracing behavior-based programs that have continually worked for our organization. We strive for "Goal Zero," which can be attained once everyone embraces the philosophy that "safety is no accident -- it's an attitude."
For more information, visit www.usesgroup.com or call (888) 279-9930.
