World Safety at Work Day, which falls on April 28, is an occasion to check whether everything is under control. How do leading organizations solve the security issue? What measures allow you to avoid emergencies and arouse the interest and involvement of staff? addressed these questions toSergei Boyko, Country Health and Safety Manager Coca-Cola Hellenic in Russia.
He told us who exactly, in addition to employees, should be the focus of safety issues, what is the most reliable belt for working at heights and how much should be counted so that stress disappears.
- Sergey, please tell us about the main areas of work in the company in the field of labor protection?
The company's work in the field of labor protection is regulated in several important areas, incl. in accordance with the requirements of Russian legislation, the international standard OHSAS 18000, as well as the requirements of the Coca-Cola Hellenic Group. All these areas include a whole range of activities and measures, the main task of which is to ensure occupational safety and health. Moreover, our focus is not only on company employees, but also on contractors and third parties.
In more detail, I can highlight the following main aspects that we pay attention to: this is preventive work to prevent injuries at work, occupational diseases or diseases that may be caused by various production factors, ensuring safe working conditions in the workplace, organizing the implementation of and informing workers and their managers about measures to ensure labor safety, etc. I would especially highlight our work to obtain new knowledge and best practices in the field of labor protection and its promotion among employees.
What are the most striking projects or initiatives you could highlight in this direction? How do you evaluate their effectiveness?
The first and largest project that I would like to focus on is improving the culture of safety and labor protection. We launched a pilot project within the framework of this initiative at the Coca-Cola Hellenic plant in Istra in 2014. It consists of the following elements: management leadership on occupational safety issues, conducting behavioral safety audits, supervisors, managers and occupational safety specialists conducting conversations with employees on various occupational safety topics, identifying and closing potentially hazardous Near Miss events, a motivational program for the most active workers in the field of labor protection, who comply with all requirements and care about their safety and the safety of their colleagues.
Within a year, we realized that the implementation of this project is extremely important for the company, and, starting in 2015, we continued its implementation at all 12 of the company’s factories in Russia.
How do we generally define the concept of “labor safety culture” for ourselves? This is when every employee works safely, knowing that no one is watching them. Understanding at the same time that compliance with all standards in the field of labor protection is not his responsibility, but responsibility, first of all, to himself and his loved ones. When we were just starting this project, I read somewhere an interesting statement that a culture of occupational safety and health cannot be imposed or implemented, it is cultivated over the years, now I absolutely agree with this.
This year, as a continuation of the overall occupational safety initiative, we also launched the Reinforce subproject, or “strengthening”, “bringing more attention.” Now it is important for us to track those shortcomings that, for example, have not yet occurred, but, nevertheless, could lead to a violation of labor safety. Employees have the opportunity to leave a message about an accomplished or potential violation on special sheets on information boards that are located throughout the company. For each of these requests, we are obliged to provide feedback, so that the employee understands that his contribution to the common cause is really very important.
I also wanted to talk about another initiative within the project - Walk the Talk, which is essentially a behavioral security audit. When the manager goes to the workshop, to production, observes the work process, and then begins a conversation with the employee about how he should properly organize the safety of his work. We have a whole program on how to properly organize such a conversation, but the main task of the manager is to reduce it to the point that the employee independently, logically comes to the conclusion about what he did wrong.
Overall, thanks to the implementation of initiatives in the field of occupational safety and health, we were able to reduce the number of accidents by more than a third. This is a very good result for us.
- What other initiatives in the field of labor protection would you like to highlight?
At the end of last year, we developed a system for managing the work of contractors. The level of work safety of our contractors and even their subcontractors, especially those working on our territory, is also a very important issue for us. Already during tenders and subsequent conclusion of contracts, we stipulate all aspects of safety compliance, which are extremely important to us, for example: conducting a risk assessment before performing work, mandatory use of personal protective equipment, mandatory availability of all necessary labor protection training, confirmed by relevant certificates, appointment of a person responsible for the safe performance of work on the part of the contractor and many other aspects, including a mandatory safety assessment of the contractor after completion of the work.
I can give a seemingly simple, but at the same time very illustrative example: when working at height, according to Russian legislation, an employee must work in a special belt; our corporate policies say that this belt should be five-point, so as to cover not only the belt a person, but also all the main parts of the body - it is this coverage in the event of a fall that will avoid injuries or even fractures. For us, such nuances are very important.
Thus, we can say that thanks to our requirements we are improving the culture of occupational safety not only at the company’s enterprises, but also among our contractors.
- Car parkCoca- ColaHellenicis one of the largest in Russia. Please tell us what projectsVare you implementing in this direction?
Since last year, all new company cars have been equipped with a special Mobil Eye GPS system, which allows you to monitor the level of safe driving in real time. Both the system operator and the driver himself receive a signal about the violation. We immediately saw the effectiveness of this project, with the number of violations and emergency situations reduced by more than 38% in 2015.
What are the directions for implementing measures in the field of labor protection in the company? Is there a division for office, production, etc. employees, what does it consist of?
If we are talking about employees of blue-collar professions, then in accordance with legal requirements and company requirements, we make sure to familiarize the new employee with safety policies, risk assessments that we have defined for each workplace and the vast majority of production processes, and provide in-depth briefing. If the law tells us that we must instruct employees at least once every six months about dangerous and harmful production factors that can have a negative impact on their health, then in our company this period has been reduced to three months.
As for office workers, they, of course, have much fewer harmful production factors. But at the same time, along with the mandatory introductory briefing, we also conduct other occupational safety training, which, incl. concerns fire and electrical safety.
In general, we can say that the company is doing a tremendous amount of work to ensure the safety of employees, contractors, and even third parties who may be on the company’s premises.
Completed by a 9th grade student
Soroka Alexey
Teacher: M. V. Kurilova
I'm graduating soon, I'll go to study at the railway technical school after 9th grade. And there, I am sure, I will have to come face to face with such a concept as “labor safety”. I can’t say that they didn’t tell us about this at school. We know that there are certain rules, laws, measures - and all this is aimed at protecting our educational work. We were given instructions, and everyone tried to follow safety precautions during the lessons.
But it seems to me that the very concept of “labor safety” is broader and more important, and in each production it is different, individual. I dream of becoming a train driver and traveling long distances. And listening to the news. I understand that the safety of passengers largely depends on the professionalism of the driver, on his compliance with safety rules, on the extent to which he observes all safety precautions. And this applies not only to passengers, but also to himself.
At school we are mainly introduced to safety precautions, and this, as I understand it, is only part of the larger concept of “occupational safety”.
The main thing in labor protection is to prevent risks associated with damage to health. And for this it is necessary to create such working conditions that would influence not only the safety of the employee’s health, but also his performance. My future specialty is closely related to safety standards for both workers and passengers. The safety of those I will serve depends on how I know and follow safety rules, and how well all labor safety standards will be observed in such a complex production.
In addition, compliance with labor protection rules also has social significance. If working conditions improve, then labor productivity will constantly increase: the level of injuries will decrease, and there will be no downtime due to illness. And if your health improves, your professional activity will also increase. As a result of all positive labor protection measures, workers will have an incentive to improve their skills.
The concept of “labor safety” can also be considered from an economic point of view. I see the economic importance of labor protection in the effectiveness of those measures that improve working conditions. At school, for example, the conditions for effective learning and work of teachers are warm, safe, bright...
In production, everything is also serious, complex and responsible. If the manager or those responsible for labor protection are able to create optimal conditions for safe work, then the quality itself or, as we say in physics, efficiency will be high. If I, as an employee, am satisfied with the working conditions, then I will not have to look for a new place. This means that staff turnover will decrease, because when hiring new employees, you have to train them again, organize internships, and this is an economic loss.
Thus, proper organization of labor protection ensures the social and economic development of any production. But the most important thing is that labor protection is not a “liability” of an enterprise, the financing of which results in only losses, but its “asset”, investments in which pay off handsomely in the shortest possible time. Healthy, self-confident personnel working in comfortable conditions produce higher quality products, get sick less, reduce non-production costs, and provide higher labor productivity.
COVERING LETTER
to participate in the review - competition for the best school essay on labor protection among educational institutions of the Arkharinsky district
Please register your student’s school essay for participation in the district review-competition.MOKU "OOSH s. Gribovka"
We are familiar with and agree with the procedure for holding a competition for the best school essay on labor protection among educational institutions in the region.
We attach a school essay to the cover letter in accordance with the Regulations on the review - competition for the best school essay on labor protection among educational institutions of the Arkharinsky district:
Name, postal address, telephone number of the institution | Municipal educational institution “Basic secondary school in the village. Gribovka", 676745, Amur region, Arkharinsky district, village. Gribovka, st. Central, 46, 1-18-36 |
Essay topic | “The time has come to know and understand...” |
Full name of the teacher | Kurilova Marina Valentinovna |
Full name of the student who wrote the essay, class | Soroka Alexey Alexandrovich, 9th grade |
His address, telephone | 676745, Amur region, Arkharinsky district, village. Gribovka, st. Novaya, 5, apt. 2, 8-924-142-20-01 |
Head of educational institution __________________________
(full name, signature, date)
In one of the issues of the newspaper, we wrote about the unusual approach of the Mine Construction Department to ensuring conditions of industrial safety and labor protection in the team. Mine builders drew posters on the topic of safe work, inventing an unlucky hero, the “teapot.” Such propaganda did not go unnoticed. People watch with a smile the misadventures of the drawn violator and worry about how not to behave in a mine.
Let's see how other UMMC enterprises manage to approach their work informally.
Don't get lost
At Svyatogor, tear-off coupons are responsible for labor protection.
Lyubov KURILINA, Krasnouralsk
In order to prevent accidents at work, JSC Svyatogor has developed a comprehensive action plan consisting of... points. Among the most effective measures is the introduction of warning cards. The system has been operational at the enterprise since February 2017 and has already achieved some success.
The essence of the innovation is this: in the hands of each employee of the enterprise there is a Book of registration of violations of labor safety requirements, says Leonid Tataurov, deputy chief engineer - head of the labor protection and industrial safety service of Svyatogor OJSC. - There are 5 tear-off coupons in the book. If an employee is caught violating safety rules, a ticket is torn from his book. The confiscation of each of them entails material and disciplinary punishment. The last, fifth, ticket may cost the violator his job.
The coupon can be withdrawn by both the chief specialists of the enterprise and heads of departments, and representatives of the labor protection service of OJSC Svyatogor. You can pay with a ticket for failure to use personal protective equipment, failure to comply with the rules for issuing a key tag, entering the line in a faulty vehicle, crossing railway tracks in an unspecified place, following the roadway, etc.
“The employees of Svyatogor know that all these violations are unacceptable, and the latest innovations really discipline,” Leonid Tataurov emphasized. - If last year there were 7 cases at work, of which 2 were fatal and 1 serious, then in less than 9 months of this year there was 1 work-related injury of a minor nature.
Oath of Security
At the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant they relied on the employee’s self-awareness.
Natalya VASILYEVA, Chelyabinsk
The implementation of the “Safe Work” system has begun at the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant. Each employee received a Book of Personal Commitments, where he signed a promise to comply with safety precautions.
We used the idea of the Swiss company Glencore; a similar system has already been implemented at Kazzinc,” says Viktor Shornikov, head of the labor and industrial safety department at CZP. - Of course, we adapted a lot to our realities. Thus, for some reason, the Kazakhs did not take into account the psychological factor; many risks and dangers were not reflected. We have come up with the main thing for ourselves: we need to radically change people’s worldview so that they do not rely on chance and abandon dangerous practices. Our goal is for people to come to work healthy and go home just as healthy.
The Personal Responsibility Books should create among factory workers a sense of personal responsibility for compliance with safety regulations. First of all, this is a short set of rules on how to act in certain situations. The workers liked the idea - many have already laminated the book.
The book itself is just a thing,” shares Alexander Tregubov, a worker in the control and automation department. “But if people take a responsible approach to their safety, read the book and not just put it in their pocket, then it will help not only reduce occupational injuries, but also save someone’s life.”
It's better to see once
At the Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant, newcomers will be introduced to safety rules using videos.
Elena SKRYNNIK, Serov
At the metallurgical plant, all employees are tested three times a year on industrial safety and labor protection. After answering the questions, the person receives a printout with the test results. It becomes a clear indicator of the knowledge in which area needs to be improved. After working out, the employee will come prepared for the next test
After nine months of the self-testing system, we see that the qualifications of our employees have noticeably increased,” notes leading occupational safety engineer Oksana Rychkova. - In addition, poor test results are a reason for us to invite the laggard to undergo an extraordinary assessment of his qualifications.
In the near future, the plant’s industrial safety and labor protection department plans to shoot short videos for introductory briefings.
New employees come to our plant, students get internships, auditors come for inspections,” Oksana Rychkova concludes the story about innovations. - A lecture about the risks that lie in wait in real production is often tedious and not always perceived. In videos with special computer graphics, we want to highlight the main points that people should remember when passing through the entrance of the plant. For example, we will show that you need to move around the territory of the enterprise strictly along designated paths. In the video, these places will flash green, and those where pedestrians should not walk will flash red.
According to Article 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, fines for lack of certification of workplaces: up to 5 thousand rubles for the responsible person and up to 50 thousand rubles - a fine that threatens an enterprise for lack of the necessary certification.
The certification process is just beginning to gain momentum. Considering that there are more than 8 million companies in Russia, we can conclude that the occupational safety and health business is becoming more and more profitable and productive.
To open a private organization that will conduct workplace certification and other additional services in this area, an entrepreneur must go through a certain procedure. For more detailed information, please read Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation dated April 1, 2010. No. 205.
Competition among companies providing certification services is constantly growing. This business is very profitable. Many enterprises from the same area and similar industries are actively selecting the most suitable company. In order to have a regular clientele and increase its list, most organizations resort to profitable master classes, tempting advertising and bright PR campaigns.
The right marketing approach can increase the demand for a company providing services related to occupational safety.
Basic services when doing business with occupational safety and health:
- development of instructions related to labor protection;
- certification of workplaces in accordance with all working conditions;
- conducting briefings and certification;
- audit of labor protection of the organization;
- training related to industrial safety and labor protection;
- contributes to the correct investigation of industrial accidents and occupational diseases.
In addition to accreditation, qualified personnel and a work plan, a company engaged in this type of business must have high-quality equipment appropriate for the type of activity. The main and necessary devices on this list are:
- A device that measures indoor air temperature and relative humidity is called a thermohygrometer.
- The brightness of extended objects and illumination within knowledge are measured by the Luminometer and Luxmeter.
- A set for measuring vehicle noise, as well as a portable noise meter of the second class. It is also necessary to measure vibration and other noise levels. The requirements for this equipment are regulated by GOST 12.4.012-75 “Measurements and vibration control at workplaces”.
- Industrial frequency electromagnetic field meter.
Each of the listed devices is professional and quite expensive. Company owners want to entrust it to professionals. The presence of these devices will be direct evidence of a serious and professional approach to work and a guarantee that regular customers will soon appear.
By choosing a favorable location, correctly drawing up a marketing policy and selecting qualified personnel, the organizer of a business on occupational safety and health will be able to see positive results in a very short time. The number of firms and enterprises is constantly growing, which entails the constant need for briefings, workplace certifications, drawing up instructions and much more.
The next stage in the development of this business is the organization of labor protection training and the issuance of state licenses to students.
Labor protection can rightfully be called one of the most important aspects of almost any activity. This area is associated with something traditional and conservative, deprived of the possibility of using innovative solutions and approaches. Nevertheless, technological progress with the accompanying tools managed to penetrate into this “closed” territory. The modern world has the opportunity to look at old problems with a new look.
A new debate on an old topic: hygiene or health?
Over the past 5-7 years, the labor protection system has undergone radical changes, the scale of which is amazing. A thorough analysis of the presented innovations allows us to properly evaluate current trends in this area. This is the only way to create new tasks, free of old errors and supplemented with relevant elements. Without a modern approach, neither the organization of a modern workspace nor the most effective control system at an enterprise is possible. Otherwise, there can be no question of the relevance of state policy.
The immediate idea of maintaining a safe production status and protecting the healthy work of workers appeared back in 1966. The beginning can be considered the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the Population, or, more precisely, its 7th article. Thanks to the presented pact, for the first time all workers' rights to favorable working conditions, laid down in the first part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, were deciphered. The ILO document already contained the term “Health”. This did not prevent the use of a modified definition for many years: hygiene or professional safety. It can be concluded that in many countries, including the Russian Federation, the term “health” was replaced by the concept “hygiene” for no apparent reason. English-speaking countries have managed to retain the original meaning: they still call the familiar “occupational safety and health” as “occupational safety and health.”
It's not about linguistics!
It may seem like this is just a linguistic debate, but it's not. After all, such a terminological replacement determined what exactly the employer must guarantee, along with safety, to the employee. So, hygiene or health? If we limit the system only to the safety and hygiene of the labor process, then the employer has the right to provide workers with requirements only within the framework of the labor process. And the starting point in this case is the immediate working conditions. When they meet existing standards, they can be considered completed. This is exactly how “labor safety” was positioned until recently.
But as soon as we talk about health or “professional health,” the need immediately arises for a set of responsible measures on the part of the employee. Here, a number of questions suddenly arise: what was the employee’s condition before starting work, did it become worse during active work, and will it worsen subsequently, including after the end of his professional career. The starting point in all cases is the employee himself - a specific person with specific abilities and characteristics.
Introduction of a new concept
Today, the new concept has become widespread everywhere. In many languages of the world, new trends have already been taken into account and terms have been changed: the key concept of “health” has appeared in the terminology of the labor protection system. The clarified term served as the basis for a radical renewal of the idea of occupational safety throughout the world. The presented approach most accurately corresponds to all modern interpretations of current problems.
History of global strategies
Following the endorsement of WHO's Comprehensive Global Strategy for Occupational Safety and Health in 1994, attention to occupational health impacts has increased significantly. The fact that the strategy was advisory in nature failed to stop future changes. The document generally described 10 priority goals in the field of labor protection. WHO emphasized that problems need to be solved both at the international and national levels. Among the objectives set in the strategy, the following should be highlighted:
-development of conceptual tools;
- focus on developing an exceptionally healthy working environment;
-implementation of measures to strengthen the system of maintaining professional health;
-providing up-to-date information to the general public;
-development of systems of social cooperation, we are talking about trade unions;
The ideas presented served as the forerunner of an innovative approach to labor protection. Each task was accompanied by a detailed description, justification and list of measures for its implementation, both international and national. Today WHO regularly plans its activities in this area. We can mention the professional safety plan of the early 2000s, which provides for a number of measures.