POWER May 2012 - 28

sons for workplace injuries, and the means of controlling them
is trained employees who will " find and fix " them. Employees
trained in the importance of situational hazard recognition (SHR)
are less likely to become complacent about hazards.
Employees responsible for planning work may walk to a job
location and pass hazards such as spills, hoses across walkways,
or damaged equipment because they are focused on the hazards
to be assessed for the next job, not the current situation (Figures
4 and 5). When employees practice SHR in the workplace, they
understand that hazards change with every task.
In the past, safety training was focused on teaching employees
to look for pinch points, rotating equipment, sharp edges, and other
such potential hazards. A different training approach is needed
to sharpen workers' ability to see the hazards, enable them to take
action when they see them, and teach them the fundamentals of
making the workplace safe. This simple, straightforward approach
can be applied by everyone at the job site.
Four Simple Categories of Hazards
Many methods exist to identify hazards. Some are quite complex.
Four simple categories are presented below.
Employee (EM). Employees become a hazard when they fail
to follow safety procedures and fail to wear personal protective
equipment. Poorly trained employees are also a hazard. Training
has become a target of the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health
Administration, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and
other regulating bodies. For example, the NRC requires on-time
training attendance and high levels of participation, with management
and employees held accountable.
New employees pose a different hazard, as they are often unaware
of what can hurt them. An in-depth experiential orientation focused
on educating new employees on known hazards is essential.
Equipment (EQ). Equipment introduces recognized and unrecognized
hazards. Safety engineers and professionals work to
identify and train users in safe handling of equipment and often
the operational hazards such as rotating equipment, pinchpoints,
and hot parts are included on job briefing forms. Other
factors create additional equipment hazards.
Equipment that is poorly maintained in the workplace is a
hazard. Such equipment is not only a physical hazard but also a
mental one. Operators who have inspected the equipment, found
it unsafe, and reported it-only to be told, " go ahead and run it
this time " -tend to just check the boxes on the inspection form.
Equipment operators then begin to have the attitude that their
organizations are not serious about safety. The result is a declining
safety culture.
When equipment is purposely operated outside of the manufacturer's
specifications, another hazard is introduced.
Environment (EV). Standard environmental hazards such as
rain, snow, ice, heat, cold, and wind are obvious and easy to
identify but are not always recognized as the compounding factors
to injuries. When combined with employees or equipment,
this category becomes important.
Energy (EN). Energy sources such as electricity, steam, pressure,
and hydraulic and stored energy are readily recognized by workers
in the utility industry. An often unrecognized source of energy is a
moving piece of equipment being operated in adverse environmental
conditions.
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POWER May 2012

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