CO2
Powder
Foam
Wet Chemical
Water
Hi I’m CLAUDETTE, and I’m new at our plant in Antibes, France. I already know about our Working Together for Safety culture but now I’d like to know more about the specific safety challenges of working in higher enviroments and how to stay safe and keep my colleagues safe. I’m hoping you and Steve can help me.
STEVE
CLAUDETTE
I’m going to a shipyard today to look at some retrofit work. I’m a project engineer. I’ve checked the requirements of this shipyard and sent my occupational safety card and my health insurance documents in advance. I’ve saved the shipyard emergency number in my phone, just in case. Last by not least, I’ve checked the PPE I need from Evac PPE requirements and made sure it is in good condition. It’s packed and now I’m ready to go.
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I’m in the car park and I notice someone who’s parked quite badly. When they get out the car, they look a bit tired and untidy. I follow them to the gate – do I smell a bit of alcohol? They show their ID and pass through the gate. This doesn’t seem right so I tell the guard that I think the other employee might be under the influence of alcohol and that he needs to do something straight away. He sends the other guard to catch up with the other employee and bring him back to the gate. I wait to check that this happens. The other employee is brought back, and we contact his supervisor, who arrives soon after.The employee is sent home and we report the incident.
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I’m in the shipyard now. So much going on here! Traffic everywhere and I’ve got to really pay attention. I spot a worker walking across the tarmac looking at her phone. A forklift is heading in her direction, I don’t think the driver has seen her! I shout across to her to get watch out and she stops just in time as the forklift misses her by a couple of metres. That was close. The forklift driver stops to check that she’s OK. She thanks me and they are both about to continue on, but I stop them and first remind her that she needs to stay off her phone and pay attention. I tell them both that we need to report this as a near miss. We do it there and then to make sure we get all the details right.
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I get to the ship and go up on deck. As I start to walk across the deck, I notice some packing material lying on the deck. This is a definite fire hazard with the welding going on, and what’s this? The cardboard is covering a hole in the deck! This is extremly careless.I stop everyone from moving around and I carefully move the material away from the hole. I call someone to come and cordon off the hole and cover it properly before we start work again. While we’re waiting, I report this as a safety observation. I’m really late for my inspection work now but that’s how it is. Safety comes first.
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I’m finally where I need to be, and the supervisor looks a bit stressed. I explain why I’m late and he understands but says we really need to get on with the work because we’re on a tight schedule. seems to be going well and the basic welding is finished. Now it’s time for the final welding. This job needs people with qualified welder certificates, so I ask the supervisor if I can see them before we start. He says that only one of the workers has it. The other two do not but he plans to use all three for the task, so it goes more quickly. I tell him that that is not acceptable. He says that if inly one worker does the task it will take a long time and we’ll be further behind schedule. I tell him that I understand but we have to follow the safety rules. I tell him that I will explain why we will be late.
I’m off to lunch...