Marathon Petroleum Co.'s Galveston Bay Refinery Safety Supervisor Sam Windom.
The message is simple, yet astute: "You have to have a plan."
If plants sincerely want to up their game in achieving and sustaining success in their safety programs, it all starts with a well-conceived, consistent plan.
"What's your plan? Have your plan and work your plan," said Sam Windom, safety supervisor at Marathon Petroleum Co.'s Galveston Bay Refinery. "You can't have a 'flavor of the day' [attitude] of 'hey, somebody tripped in the parking lot over a curb, so it looks like it's going to be a recordable, and we've got to change our entire safety program.'"
"It doesn't have to be my plan, and you don't have to copy anybody else's plan. You just cannot be swayed by what's going on out there," Windom said in a presentation titled "Raising the Bar on Safety" at the 32nd Annual Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) Seminar held recently in Galveston, Texas.
Windom encouraged seminar participants to "focus on what matters, and investigate and fix what matters."
"Build meaningful KPIs (key performance indicators)," he continued. "And share that information."
Windom said it is also essential to define and share "the why" of the safety plan to focus on what matters. He pointed to the example of the threat of dropped tools, especially when workers neglect to wear PPE -- in this case, hard hats.
"For whatever reason, in welding, they didn't have their hard hats on," Windom said. "They thought they were sort of covered up and you couldn't see them. So when you focus on dropped objects as one of the major things, people understand why: 'If something falls, I now know why I need to wear my hard hat. I'm going to pay attention to that.'"
Continuing the dropped objects example, Windom noted "the why" of having complete, four-sided barricades in place at strategic locations.
"What matters is, if something does drop, it drops in an area where it's going to be safe," he said.
Further, he said, there's a reason why walkways must be clear and free of impediments in the surrounding areas of dropped objects.
"We know if an area is going to be barricaded, we need to keep areas clear so people can walk through. Housekeeping gets addressed," he said. "When we begin to understand 'the why,' we focus and begin to address the small things."
'Game-ify' engagement
Windom said he's found technology can be utilized to connect with and engage a plant's workforce, which promotes safety in turn.
"QR codes opened so many doors," he said. "We started using them for all kinds of different things. They just work."
In one case, audits were conducted by giving contractors "a two-sided card full of QR codes" in a turnaround.
"That was it -- no paper, no nothing. That was all they needed," Windom said. "It sort of 'game-ified' their jobs. They loved it. It's fun; it's different. So find ways to use technology to get that engagement."
Windom noted that addressing smaller, less impactful events can often prevent high-potential injury events.
"Twenty percent of things that get reported could ultimately lead to that 1-A event. Those are the things that can change people's lives and end up with hospitalizations," he observed. "Focus on potential, not just the numbers. Get it fixed. Figure it out. Get it addressed.
"I do not want a high-potential item happening on my site. That's where I'm going to address my time and efforts."
Windom also stressed the importance of managers going beyond their comfort zones in safety meetings and other interactions.
"You can't just keep things the same," he concluded. "Step out; do something different. Try something new that's not 'flavor of the month.' Stick to your plan, but that doesn't mean you can't tweak what you're doing and make it fresh and new."
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