Safety Innovation

Overview

What is safety for workers or product user? From many years of experience, from management side, it is a heart feeling that something catastrophic won't happen. From worker's perspective, they don't get harm from this product. More often than not, is is a feeling. My innovation is to factor in all related factor in my decision making.

Eliminate Risk / Minimize Risk

Can complete elimination of safety risk possible? Probably not. There are always accidents. Walking in the street has a safety risk of heat stroke, using transportation has safety risk of vehicle collision, even living at home can have fire risk. On the other hand, there are always workers that will go out of their ways to expose themselves with danger, climbing meters tall without protective equipment, not wearing PPE even after extensive safety training. I think as a management, we have to accept the fact that safety risk can only be "managed" or minimized rather than a complete elimination.

Factual Side

Can management always find ways to not let worker expose to height, not expose to chemical, not expose to fast moving machineries? So we have to resort to making safety decision based on appropriate risk assessments, something more factual, something from different standards, something from past experience or something of relevant. Staying factual is one key item in safety.

Feeling Side

Can vehicle vibration makes you feel unsafe? Certainly for a lot of people. Can Standing at high place feel unsafe? Of course. Can smell weird things feel unsafe? Can eye closed feel unsafe? Can sudden burst of sound feel unsafe? All these can certainly feel unsafe, even if they have standards governing them, a feeling of unsafe is a valid feeling. This is something very critical to be taken care of.

Strategy

My strategy is to take into account of various safety risk, whether factual side or feeling side. Then make appropriate technical decision to make it as "safe" as possible, and employ appropriate measures to make sure it is safe from management perspective and also form the worker's perspective.