EMERGENCIES Plan for the worst and expect the best

Fortunately, the severity and the frequency of accidents in the modern facility is something that has been declining over the last 200 years and will continue to do so, thanks to increasing literacy (and education level, including IQ), better management practices/awareness, and through some policies (not all) that governments have rolled out. 

Experience shows that talking about health and safety planning in amongst the people who will be affected by those policies is the best arrangement. Imposition of health and safety by external consultants, or someone high up in the management structure, is largely ignored or at the very least resented by the workforce. It is useful to know what typical emergencies beset factories and how they can be avoided.

 

Typical emergencies Hydrogen sulfide is one of the biggest killers in tanneries globally. The biggest culprit is sumps, pits, and concrete tanks that have allowed the heavier-than-air gas to accumulate in those areas. Sending a worker into the invisible gas, without a respirator, is highly dangerous. It kills more people in the tanning industry than any other accident. Other gasses like sulfur dioxide, ammonia, chlorine dioxide, carbon monoxide, and even carbon dioxide should be risk assessed. Tanneries that do dry cleaning can consider the effects of dry-cleaning fumes.

The next accident series that has the highest impact on factories is the category of trips and falls. Slippery hides, water on the floor, or hoses/packaging/or containers usually result in workers falling over. The consequences are low unless the worker drops from a height or cannot break their fall because of the angle they fell, or their hands were impeded. Missing barriers, drain covers, or guard rails are another reason for these falls.

Chemical burns, especially bulk burns, are another risk that tanneries should consider. A useful consideration for corrosive chemicals is to increase the risk assessment, the caution in handling, the discussion about the chemical. If the quantity that is being dealt with is over 100 kg the planning should be very detailed. 50 to 1000 kg of corrosive chemical should be supervised in a buddy system where two people work together to watch each other’s actions and steps.

Machine accidents do occur in tanneries, despite the guarding that most modern health and safety systems insist on. If a machine doesn’t have an emergency cut-off switch, cage guarding to protect a user from spinning belts, chains, gears, or to prevent a user from getting caught in closing parts, then it should be locked off to prevent use. Lockable isolation switches help to control non-permitted use, by untrained personnel, of dangerous machinery. Workers who for maintenance reasons climb into machinery like drums, should have the activity risk assessed, and should be supervised.

Poor traffic management that allows moving vehicles like forklifts to meet pedestrians, particularly on blind corners, is just down to poor planning of where you want people to walk and where you want vehicles to drive. Plan the layout and consider a strategy that allows moving vehicles to work whilst pedestrians stand clear. Plan the exercises and practice them with new and old workers alike.

Fire is common in finishing areas, but very uncommon in the wet processing of tanneries. Fires will occur in drying tunnels, spray booths, or in the ducting of buffing machines, when dust ignites. More commonly however are the fires seen in the chemical stores, due to incompatible storage of chemicals (often accompanied by explosion risk), to the storage of flammable chemicals in areas not designated for flammable storage. Smoking worker restrictions and naked flames suppression are vital to prevent these emergencies. Friction fires associated with rubbing machine parts, or poor lubrication can also be a source of fire, as is electrical short circuits that are prevented with good maintenance and checking. 

 

 

Fire planning must include the additional effects that chemical fires bring to an emergency. The smoke from that fire may cause serious problems if the workers or neighbouring factories inhale the smoke, so planning should detail not only the evacuation of the facility where the fire is, but also even of the area.

Natural disasters, be they earthquakes, floods, rockfalls, or fire, can be devastating usually to the facility site, the equipment, or the materials in storage. Sometimes a natural disaster does catch the workers on site and the chaos that follows needs to be thought through. In a natural disaster, stored chemicals are the greatest risk. Bulk quantities of chemicals can come crashing off shelves or can be swept away by water moving through a factory. How would a facility contain several thousand litres of spilled chemical? Scenario plan what would happen if the different types of disasters had to strike – obviously sticking to realistic region-specific considerations – it is unlikely for a volcano to erupt in Cape Town (or, hopefully, anywhere else in southern or eastern Africa - Ed).

In factories where water and electricity come into contact, the risk of electrocution goes together. Electric shock is inevitable if circuits are wet, or the chances that water will land on electric motors or supply. The emergency circuit breakers, that can immediately turn off power to the entire factory, or localised areas if needed. Knowledge of where these switches are and ensuring that all personnel know how to operate them is required. Emergency drill planning and practice is required, as is an induction for newly started personnel.

 

Planning for emergencies The heart of emergency planning is risk assessment. In risk assessment documents are written which consider the long list of potential risks and the severity and likelihood are tabulated. A matrix that scores the severity versus the likelihood will produce a risk score that allows the factory to decide if a mitigation is necessary. The mitigation is then planned for, and the risk matrix is redone to see if the risk score has been lowered

Along with the risk assessments, the layout of the factory is considered. The location of hazards and traffic management problems identified. The location of emergency exits, first aid points, and where appropriate fire extinguishers can be found are also usually marked on a layout diagram. Evacuation procedures, routes, and potential blocking points can be identified to ensure that no-one can get trapped. The key to good emergency drill planning is to consider frequency, potential what-ifs, and to make it enjoyable for the workers - it should not be something they detest.