World Cement - November 2018

Employees were interviewed about the effectiveness

of the courses provided by the subcontractor. The

consensus was that the content was long, not presented

in an interesting manner, and was not specific to

the workplace. Course content was generic and only

covered the basic topics required by law. Based on this

feedback, the goal was to create a course that was

stimulating, met MSHA requirements, and was specific

to Rillito’s work environment.

Over the next three months the company gathered

information and took pictures of different hazards

throughout the site, for use in the presentation. Each

training module was tailored specifically to the hazards

associated with the Rillito plant and incorporated the

most prominent sites from the previous year’s injuries,

using MSHA citations as references. The completed

course totalled eight hours of presented content,

comprising ten training modules ranging from 30 min. to

1.5 hours.

Training with the new material began in April 2017

and was conducted onsite during regular work hours.

This made it easier for employees to attend, as it did

not require them to change their work schedules. In

all, over 150 employees went through the new course,

including our visiting onsite contractors. The new format

and content was well received by the employees, who

provided overwhelmingly positive feedback. Most

notable remarks mentioned how much more interesting

it was because it was specific to their work environment.

It was obvious that the workforce appreciated the

change, but how well was it working to reduce hazards

in the workplace?

Step 3: follow up

To measure this, the company conducted audits that

were based on the inspection and hazard recognition

techniques that were taught in the refresher classes. Only

this time, employees were invited to attend (alternating

with each inspection) with our safety personnel, to see

firsthand how they would examine the areas. Over the

next few weeks and within around a dozen inspections,

it was noticed that the employees were finding hazards

that had not been identified before. They seemed

genuinely interested in the process and had many ideas

on how to improve the safety of the specific process or

area. The fact that employees were developing solutions

meant that they already had buy-in.

During a six-month period, CalPortland’s safety team

logged inspection findings on an Action Item list, which

would be discussed with Rillito management in the

morning production meetings (Figure 2). This provided the

opportunity to discuss common issues that needed to be

addressed and to communicate some of the hazards with

employees. Over time, potential hazards declined from an

average of eight per inspection to sometimes surpassing

two or three inspections without a single finding. On the

surface, it seemed like the process was not only successful

but working better than expected. To really be successful,

though, the programme needed to show a notable

decrease in employee injuries and MSHA citations.

Results: recordable incident rate and

MSHA citations

At the time of writing this, the Rillito plant was on track to

reach two years since the last reportable injury, with only

two minor first aids during that time. If the trend continues,

the plant will have reached this goal at the end of June.

This was an amazing improvement to the previous peak

average of one reportable injury every two months.

MSHA citations during this time dropped an average

of 75%. In fact, the last MSHA inspection concluded with

the fewest number of citations ever received. During

the assessment, the inspectors noted the improved plant

housekeeping compared to previous inspections and the

success of the new workplace exam programme.

Conclusion: a successful programme

It is hard to place a number on something as complicated

as measuring a safety programme, but a good start is

whether fewer hazards are created and fewer people are

injured than before implementation. The programme

put into place must mould the culture, through the

inclusion of the workforce in the decision-making

process. Keep in mind that it is very difficult to sell safety:

you can only provide the tools to accomplish it and, if

successful, the employees are the ones that should and

will drive the programme.

About the author

Sam Ayun is the Safety Manager at CalPortland’s Rillito plant.

He has over 15 years of safety programme experience, with

seven of those years specifically spent in mining. He holds a

BA in management and safety from Embry Riddle Aeronautical

University.

Learn more at

info.pavilion8mpc.com/cement

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