Dealing with Risk Preventing Accidents BEFORE They Happen by Dave Brown When it comes to safety in the workplace, the buck needs to stop everywhere. Safety is a shared responsibility. We watch out for our fellow workers and they watch out for us. But we cannot abdicate our safety entirely onto someone else. After all, the person best placed to understand the risks inherent in any job is the worker doing it. If we can learn more about the hazards that we routinely deal with and the steps to control those hazards, we can take more command of our own destiny instead of relying on others. When it comes to our own safety, knowledge becomes more than simply empowerment; it becomes a necessity. While there are hazards in every workplace, the film industry may be unique in the range of hazards that we encounter every day, not to mention the long hours and often frantic pace. The fact that we experience so few accidents is a majour credit to the expertise and professionalism of our crews. Unfortunately, accidents still happen. Compounding the tragedy is the fact that accidents happen disproportionately to the youngest or newest workers. It's easy to say that all accidents are preventable but when examined after-the-fact, most are characterized by the lack of a single distinct cause. Most involve a series of seemingly minor but important contributing factors. We need to better enhance the safety culture of our workplaces. We need a systematic approach that can identify and break this chain of cumulative errors before they lead to an accident. One useful tool is the Three-step Model of Risk Assessment. Whether used for formal reports or fast judgment calls on the set, this model can help guide our decisions on how to deal with the risks that we encounter. The term "risk assessment" refers to the process used to recognize hazards in the workplace, assess each potential risk in a meaningful way, and then find means to control them. Risk assessment does not stop at simply knowing about the various hazards; it includes the steps necessary to address them. Just as important, it allows us to properly judge the actions of others. Step #1 - Recognize the Hazards Workplace hazards can typically be divided into three categories: - Activities - the places we work, such as heights or water, and the actions of those we work with involving hazards such as stunts, special effects, explosions, animals, car chases, firearms and aircraft. - Environments - the physical, chemical and biological hazards in our workplaces, climate conditions, fire hazards, scaffolding and rigging, lighting and proximity to first aid. - Materials - such as chemicals, fumes, dust, smoke, fog, paint, make-up, glues, flammable materials and carbon monoxide emitted from machinery and vehicles. Many hazards may not be obvious at first glance. A construction shop, for example, typically contains machinery and tools, but also chemicals that can cause long-term effects. These include formaldehyde gas from plywood and particleboard, arsenic from pressure-treated wood products, latex fumes from newly laid carpet, and acetic acid found in many caulking compounds. Lead and asbestos used in older construction are particularly insidious because they not only cause long-term harm if disturbed but their effects are also cumulative. The human body has a great deal of difficulty in expelling these substances once exposed. A costume shop is another example of a workplace that may contain hazards such as machinery, flammable fabrics and costumes, fumes from dyes and bleaches, fiber dust, and of course numerous sharp objects that can become both a physical and a biological hazard. Step # 2 - Assess the Risks We will never be able to control every single hazard that can befall us at work, but we can certainly attempt to deal with the most dangerous ones first. A methodical approach is to assess each risk as identified in step #1 and prioritize them in order of: - Consequences - what is the seriousness of the risk - Likelihood- how likely is it to happen For example, the potential risk of a meteorite landing on our heads may have high consequences but almost negligible likelihood. We would focus our efforts more effectively by dealing with the risks that have a high combinations of both consequence and likelihood. No one expects every worker to have the knowledge to assess every risk they are exposed to, and this is where assessments must be made by a competent person. This is defined as a person whose specialist training, knowledge, experience or combination of the three allows them to know how to identify and control hazards properly. Assessing risk is not performed in a vacuum. Workplace legislation often minimizes the need to make judgment calls. Such legislation typically includes regulations on: personal protective equipment and respiratory protection, electrical safety, proximity to first aid, working in confined or enclosed spaces, working alone, working on ladders, scaffolding or industrial lifts, working in noisy environments, and dealing with hazardous materials. Step #3 - Control the hazards There are three tools that can be used to control hazards: - Eliminate the hazard completely - Reduce the hazard - Substitute something else Eliminating the hazard is the best solution where practical. For example, if a production is filming an action movie, it may be too expensive to create every single gunshot in post-production using computer-generated imagery. Normally, the scene can be broken up and filmed from different angles, removing the need to ever have 'shooter' and 'target' in the same frame at the same time. This is certainly the easiest and most popular way to film gunshots. CGI can be reserved for situations that would be dangerous or impossible to achieve any other way. Reducing the hazard requires a good understanding of the level of risk and what is necessary to effectively reduce that risk to acceptable levels. This is usually how we deal with most of our 'routine' risk. Personal protective equipment, detailed safety procedures, machinery guards, safety meetings and Call Sheet safety notes are all examples of steps taken to reduce hazards. Reduction should also account for the human factor, and take into consideration that human beings make mistakes. This is a why we should aspire to a double or triple redundancy in safety steps. I call this a "fail-safe" approach to safety; such that if anything (or anyone) fails, everyone still stays safe. If the hazard cannot be eliminated or reduced to acceptable levels, something else should be substituted in its place. Caution should be taken to ensure the substitution does not bring with it even more hazards. Safer Workplaces Our workplaces may often be hazardous but they should never be unsafe. We all need to reinforce the message that no one can pass the buck for our safety anymore.
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