Strategies of containment: new global pressures call for shipyards and marine cargo handling firms to adopt safety culture as more dock workers suffer injuries sustained by container-handling equipment

Risk & Insurance, April 1, 2009 by Jimmy Burgin

CREATE A SAFETY CULTURE

There is an old axiom that says that "ff you let people do risky things, too many of them will." Creating a safety culture involves procedures that not only educate but also reward safe behavior and create accountability for unsafe practices.

Safety always starts with comprehensive, competent training, and every employee needs to be thoroughly trained in his or her job. For the most part, shipyards and marine cargo handling firms do a good job here. What should be added, however, is the additional training of supervisors, who in the heat of meeting production quotas may permit workers to take shortcuts that could compromise safety.

It never hurts to remind supervisors in a formal, consistent manner their role in promoting safety, how accidents cut into profits and that management stands behind its commitment to maintaining a safe workplace.

Aside from training, however, companies need to put in place procedures that encourage safety in both subtle and not-so-subtle ways.

Building a safe working environment cannot be accomplished overnight. It takes patience. It is human nature to be resistant to change, especially ff procedures have become lax over an extended period.

To start with, measure compliance participation, not just the incidence rate. Encourage participation even if initial results are less than perfect. Focus first on changing behaviors, then concentrate on producing the desired results.

Force supervisors to make safety a priority. One technique is to require, after every injury incident, the supervisor to explain to the company's chief financial officer, in person, what went wrong and how to prevent the incident again. Lastly, implement a financial reward program, in which supervisors and workers can benefit.

Safety and security need not work at cross purposes. Nevertheless, the two functions should operate separately and not under the same supervisor, as is the case at some facilities. Safety and security require full-time attention. Placing both under one supervisor invites divided priorities.

Improvements in safety can pay off in so many ways fewer accidents, less time lost, and greater productivity. Savings in insurance premium payouts can also be substantial, potentially into the hundreds of thousand of dollars. Our shipyards and marine cargo handling facilities are vital components in our economic engine, so keeping them as safe and productive as possible should be a top priority.

riskandinsurance.com

* Resources on the Longshoremen's Act.

* What we can learn about safety and loss control from healthcare.

JIMMY BURGIN is senior vice president and director of loss control for the American Equity Underwriters. He can be reached at riskletters@lrp.com.