Issue 24

ISSUE 24

Here we are moving rapidly through 2014, last week I heard someone blurt out “Are we in April already?”. Yes we are here and in some cases it has been painful. To date we have had a number of work-related accidents and fatalities including those associated with road crashes.

In this issue we look at Safety Culture which is a major contributor to why people get hurt at work. The simplest definition of Safety Culture I’ve heard is “Making sure people are not harmed is how we do things around here”. This was from an organisation that operates and manages processes with the potential to adversely affect human life. Since the Chernobyl disaster and the subsequent report on the findings, the term Safety Culture has taken on a whole new meaning. In our region our culture as a people is tied directly into our work culture.

As in other issues you are presented with well researched articles on the topic. I draw your attention to our feature story written by Mr. Leo Knights, in which he explores the challenges and benefits of a positive Safety Culture. Other writers explore the concept of Safety Culture in specific work environments such as the article by Dr. Balladin and Professor Stoute, on the Safety Culture in an Environmental Toxicology Laboratory.

This issue again highlights Road Safety challenges which are so much a part of our daily reality, as every day we read about the senseless carnage on our roads. In a very informative article by Mr. Eric Kipps, he delves into the business case for Road Safety and role that business organisations can play in crash reduction by integrating Road Safety into other management systems. This quarter, our featured HSE Professional is Mr. Alphonso Grennell, a champion of Road Safety Awareness in Jamaica as well as across the Caribbean.

I again take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support as we work towards a more HSE conscious Caribbean.

April 2014

Contents

7. Safety Culture: Its Challenges and Benefits

11. The Problems of Industrial Pollution in Trinidad and Tobago

20. Laboratory Safety Culture:

A case study of an Environmental Toxicology Laboratory

25. The Prevention and Control of

Traffic Crashes using Integrated Management Systems & Continuing Improvement Strategies

32. Working in Confined Spaces 37. Harm in Care Organisations

PUBLISHER PUBLISHER Jaric Environment, Safety and Health Services Jaric Environment, Safety and Health Services Limited.

Limited.

EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITOR IN CHIEF Janice Smith Janice Smith EDITOR EDITOR Appleloniah Kipps Appleloniah Kipps EDITORIAL BOARD EDITORIAL BOARD Kandiss Edwards Kandiss Edwards Dr. Anthony J. Joseph Dr. Anthony Eric Kipps J. Joseph Eric Kipps Devitra Maharaj-Dash Devitra Maharaj-Dash Magdalene Robin Magdalene Robin WRITERS WRITERS Derrick Balladin Derrick Balladin Benjamin De La Rosa Benjamin De La Rosa Kemba Jaramogi Kemba Jaramogi Eric Kipps Eric Knights Kipps Leo Leo Knights Sheena A. Mohammed SheenaSmith A. Mohammed Amelia Amelia Smith Cherma St. Clair ChermaStoute St. Clair Valerie Valerie Stoute CREATIVE DIRECTOR CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kenneth Henry Kenneth Henry GRAPHIC DESIGNER GRAPHIC DESIGNER Stefan Francis Stefan Francis PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY Flickr Flickr Pieanimation Pieanimation Shutterstock Shutterstock BUSINESS ADDRESS BUSINESS ADDRESS The HSE Quarterly The5B HSE Quarterly Lot Trincity Industrial Estate, Lot 5B Trincity Industrial Estate, Trinicity Trinicity Email: thehsequarterly@jaricesh.com Email: thehsequarterly@jaricesh.com Website: www.jaricesh.com Website: www.jaricesh.com The opinions expressed in the HSE Quarterly do not The opinions expressed Quarterly do not necessarily reflect those inofthe theHSE editor, publishers or necessarily their agents.reflect those of the editor, publishers or their agents.

SAFETY ITS CULTURE CHALLENGES

By Leo Knights BSc Occupational Health, Safety and Environment MSc Occupational Hygiene Graduate member – Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Lecturer- School of Business and Computer Science Scholars have long argued that culture is a complex phenomenon which requires extensive research and debate so that a common thread could be established. This is viewed as a significant challenge when one considers how the rate of globalisation has disrupted the concept of time and space, and has increased the level of trans-national migration of people. Undoubtedly, these actions have resulted in the inertia of organisational culture that hobbles along, bearing the burden of modern age behavioural patterns, which were once considered useful, but have now lost their effectiveness (Couldry 2000; Daalmans 2013). While this article is intended to address the issue of safety culture, other cultural dimensions will be explored with a view to promote a healthier understanding of the topic.

THE VARIED PERSPECTIVE OF CULTURE The line of reasoning presented on the varied definitions of culture has succinctly summarised this phenomenon as the sum total of the learnt behaviour of a group and/or people. It is generally considered to be traditions which are transmitted cross-generationally through formal or informal social interaction. Some of these cultural traditions include but are not limited to attitudes, beliefs, values, religion, possessions, material objects, notions of time and perceptions of the universe. Other facets of culture such as, cultural relativism and ethnocentrism which have surfaced in the work of social scientists like Edgar Schein and Frank Boas, will be briefly explored.

The theory of cultural relativism implies that different cultural groups think, feel and act differently and that no scientific standards exist for considering one group as intrinsically superior or inferior to another. The theory embodies the philosophical viewpoint that all cultural beliefs are equally valid and that truth, ethical and moral standards are relative, depending on the societal or cultural environment.

Finally, there is also the theory of ethnocentrism which was coined within the bowels of anthropology. That theory implies that one social group is superior to another.

Such a concept has the propensity to engender ethnic and cultural biases and when viewed from a global context, one may be inclined to focus only on achieving objectives related to home or country. This may result in the loss of effectiveness of a company or an individual in terms of international competitiveness.

core values in the support of health, safety and well-being at work.

Zwetsloot et al. (2013) reviewed the work of learned scholars like McGregor (1960); Reason (1997); Beer (2009) and identified a common thread that linked employees’ health, safety and well-being to the image and success of an organisation. The emerging consensus reinforced the views that the core values that support health, safety and well-being at work (HSW), can also function as organisational resources. The studies also noted that shared values for a successful HSW environment have to be lived by individuals and should be confirmed in social interactions, before they can be internalised as shared values.

Employees, who are aligned to this participative process, are intrinsically motivated and over the long term, will contribute to building up and maintaining innovative human wealth.

The diagram presented by Zwetsloot et al. (figure 1 below) represents three value clusters which are important in maintaining an organisation’s health, safety and well-being at work.

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE- THE CRUCIAL IMPORTANCE OF CORE VALUES The different perspectives/understandings of organisational culture has resulted in many paradigms; but it is perhaps best defined as the values and behaviours that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organisation. Deeply interwoven in the fabric of an organisation’s culture are its core values (moral and ethical codes). Experts view them as the foundation and guiding principles, through which the self-image and inner workings are manifested. “They are the building blocks that construct the image and the driving force behind the organisation’s success.”

It is prudent at this juncture, to discuss a recent study that examined the relevance of

Figure 1: A framework of core values, value factors and value clusters that support health, safety and well-being.

Source: Zwetsloot et al. 2013

OVERVIEW OF SAFETY CULTURE In recent years, the global community has witnessed an upsurge of major accidents which have occurred in renowned industrial organisations. Disasters such as the Bhopal accident in 1984, Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986, Piper Alpha explosion in 1988, Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill in 2010 and the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, have triggered a growing interest among scientists, to more mindfully examine the concept of safety culture.

Interestingly, the term safety culture can be traced back to the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986. Investigations revealed that a poor safety culture was one of the major root causes that resulted in the accident. Since then, safety culture has appeared in the summons of investigative reports of many of the major industrial accidents. It is fitting at this point to explore the scholastic perspective of safety culture from the myriad of scientific literature.

Many of the scholars Reason (2000); Zhang et al. (2002); The Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (2012) investigated the concept of safety culture and noted that it can be best described as the way in which safety is managed in the workplace, and often reflects the attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, and values that employees share in relation to safety.

Despite the international acceptance of this definition, The Confederation of British Industry (CBI, 1991) introduced a concept that has stirred interest within the scientific community. Safety culture was

viewed as the “product” of individual and group values, attitudes, competencies, and patterns of behaviour.

Cooper (2000) elaborated on the importance and value of defining the “product” since it could help to clarify and provide guidance as to the framework of an organisation’s safety culture. Additionally, Cooper also views this “product” as an outcome measure to assess the degree to which organisations might or might not possess a “good” safety culture. This is certainly a noteworthy breakthrough when one considers the arguments that have questioned whether a reduction of accident/incident rate, is a reliable outcome measure to evaluate safety culture. Given the present emphasis placed on safety culture, continual research with a view to develop this “product” will enrich the current scientific database.

CANARY IN A COAL MINE

behavioural practices, which may neglect security precautions that lead to individuals being less sensitive to recommended measures of prevention. In like manner, attempting to impose punitive actions against persons who may have contributed to accidents, may not MAINTAINING A POSITIVE SAFETY CULTURE lead to the elimination/reduction of accidents. Further to the above, Shi and The concept of human error continues to be a Shiichero (2001) noted that the causation frequently debated topic in the health and factor which resulted in an accident, can be safety environment. Safety science research often traced way beyond the boundaries has argued whether ascribing human error as of human error. the root cause for many of the major accidents is indeed justifiable. Reinman and Rollenhagen Figure 2 below illustrates the second (2011) challenged the rationale behind this paradigm in the causation of accidentsfactors. Traditionally, concept, since human behaviour may be organisational studies on human factors have identified dictated by operational pressures and organisational norms existing at the time. that in a number of accidents, flaws within the Furthermore, “human error” does not explain administrative organisational system would have been past accidents or predict the future any better than the term “technical failure” explains or the contributory factor. The consenting views suggest that improving the safety prevents breakdowns. management system will ultimately An interesting perspective which concurred redound to an enriched safety culture with the above assumption emerged from an where risks are more effectively managed. earlier study.

Shi and Shiichero (2001) identified two misguided notions relating to human error, which can negatively impact on the safety culture of an organisation:

Although the scientific community is divided on whether accidents serve as an effective measuring tool to determine the safety culture of an organisation, the practice is still widely employed. Reason (1990) postulated that accidents are low-frequency events triggered by unintentional errors (lapses and/or mistakes). They are the result of pre-existing hazards that have made the system vulnerable to failure. Although the trend of thinking suggests a possible link between behaviour and accidents, a more accurate predictor would be to observe the relationship at the group level rather than at the individual level.

In fact, some of the studies (Reason 1990; Cabrera et al. 2006) underscored that the development of a safety culture implies a change from individual to group level involvement. Interestingly, Neal and Griffin (2006) were able to detect a relationship between changes in behaviour and changes in accidents from a group perspective. This can be a plausible assumption, given that culture in itself is considered to have many symbolic and cognitive layers, which is better expressed through group interaction. These groups which are not individual focused, whose safety behaviour is collectively practiced, will inevitably have a more positive impact on an organisation’s accident statistics. The aspiration to learn from the major industrial accidents of the past and to implement preventable solutions, demonstrate the commitment of an organisation to the management of change process.

 The fatalism about a human error - a concept that suggests that humans are error-prone beings; and  Responsibilism – an idea based on short-sighted response which attempts to hold an individual responsible who may have caused an error and subsequently punishing them Both concepts, although zealously debated by the health and safety gurus, have the propensity to erode the fabric of a positive safety culture. Empirical data within the scientific database (Kouabenan 1997; Lerner 1966; Leaner 1971; Shi and Shiichero 2001) have all concurred that fatalism can lead to a certain degree of passivity resulting in a false perception of the risk. This can result in unsafe

Figure 2: Perspective of safety management. Source: Shi and Shiichero 2001

CONCLUSION Reviewing the various studies, the underlying theory is one that promotes the transformation of a positive safety culture through group participation. This intervention strategy however, must be adopted by all strata of the organisation. Creating better safety interactive initiatives will promote opportunities and avenues for new cultural patterns to emerge; but such changes are not without challenges. Since culture is considered the glue that holds an organisation together and for others, the compass that provides directions; continued studies in the field, offers a rich conceptual framework through which new ideas and theories can be developed.

REFERENCES Cooper, M., D. 2000. Towards a model of safety culture. Safety Science 36; 111-136.

M.J. Lerner. 1971. “Observer’s Evaluation of a Victim: Justice, Guilt, and Veridical Perception,” J. Person. SOC. Psychol. 20: 127-135.

M.J. Lerner and C. H. Simmons. 1966. “The Observer’s Reaction to the lnnocent Victim: Compassion or Rejection?” J. Person. SOC. Psychol. 4: 203-210.

Neal, A., Griffin, M., A. 2006. A Study of the Lagged Relationships Among Safety Climate, Safety Motivation, Safety Behavior, and Accidents at the Individual. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 91, No. 4, 946–953.

Reason, J., T. 1990. Human error. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Reiman, T. and Rollenhagen, C. 2011. Human and organizational biases affecting the management of safety. Reliability Engineering and System Safety. vol. 96:10, 1263-1274.

Couldry, N. 2000. Inside Culture: Re-Imagining the Method of Cultural Studies. London: Sage.

Shi, G., and Shiichiro, I. 2012. Study on the Strategies for Developing a Safety Culture in Industrial Organizations Procedia Engineering.

43: 535 – 541.

Diaz-Cabrera, D. 2007. Hernandez-Fernaud, E., Isla-Diaz, R. An evaluation of a new instrument to measure organisational safety culture values and practices. Accident Analysis and Prevention 39: 1202–1211.

Tharp B., M. n.d. Defining “Culture” and “Organizational Culture”: From Anthropology to the Office, 1-5.

Glendon, A.I., and Stanton, N.A. 2000. Perspectives on safety culture. Saf. Sci. 34: 193–214.

Guldenmund, F.W. 2000. The nature of safety culture: a review of theory and research. Saf. Sci. 34: 215–257.

The Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. 2012. Promoting a Positive Safety Culture, 1-14.

Kouaben, D., R. 1998. Beliefs and the Perception of Risks and Accidents. Risk Analysis, Vol. 18: (3) 243-252.

Wilpert, B. 2001. The relevance of safety culture for nuclear power operations. In: Wilpert, B., Itoigawa, N. (Eds.), Safety Culture in Nuclear Power Plant. Taylor & Francis, London, 5–18.

Zwetsloot, G., I.J., M. Van Scheppingen, A., R. Bos, E., H. Dijkman, A., and Starren, A. 2013. The Core Values that Support Health, Safety, and Well-being at Work. Safety and Health at Work.

4: 187e196.

Zhang, H., Wiegmann, A., von Thaden, D., T., L. Sharma, G., and Mitchell, A., A. 2002. Safety culture: a concept in chaos? Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Environmental degradation in Trinidad and Tobago has historical roots and is attributed largely to economic growth and development and growth of the human population. The quest for economic growth and development have led the two sister islands along different paths. Trinidad is heavily industrialised and therefore suffers the attendant environmental problems associated with the production of petroleum products, nitrogen, sugar, ammonia, urea and fertilizer in addition to rum, soap, paint and wood products. Whereas Tobago depends largely on tourism and therefore suffers from the associated problems of large-scale construction, pollution of waterways, etc. In a nutshell what the country has been experiencing has been described as “Resource exploitation characterised by the search for short-term economic gain with little attention paid to long term sustainability” (Agard, 2000).

Resource exploitation characterised by the search for short-term economic gain with little attention paid to long term sustainability

Industrial environmental degradation started with the agricultural industry on both islands. Deforestation, over-cultivation and other forms of agricultural land abuse have created enhanced susceptibility to floods and landslides in both islands. Other problems associated with the agricultural industry are agricultural runoff (pesticides and fertilizers) that contaminate both groundwater and surface water. With the discovery of crude oil, Trinidad and Tobago moved into the exploration of petroleum resources and later, heavy industrialisation.

Inorganic a. Toxic; for example Cyanide, Chlorine, Sulphur Dioxide, Hydrogen Sulphide and Lead. b. PH Shifting; Sulphuric, Hydrochloric or Nitric Acids and Bleach. c. Oxygen Consuming; Gases such as hydrogen sulphide, sulphur dioxide or ammonia.

In 2001, Trinidad alone had more than 800 industrial locations, which generate large volumes of hazardous waste into the environment. These industries are everywhere and whilst there is no strict industrial zone; most of these industries are located on the western side of the island of Trinidad. They are located in the west mainly due to the close proximity to transport links; highways and

d. Nutrient Enriching; Phosphates and nitrates from fertilizer runoff.

harbours or they may have their own port facility. Most of these coastal industries and those industrial estates located inland are grouped into districts, which almost invariably drain into a river.

The major river systems are to the north and west of the country and drain westerly. Therefore coastal waters off the western side of the country, from Port-of-Spain to La Brea, receive the major impact from industrial waste.

Insoluble Waste

Classification of Industrial Waste

Suspended Solids

The industrial waste can be classified into two broad headings;

a. Inorganic Suspended Solids; colloidal suspensions, clay, silica, small particles suspended in the water column creating problems such as death of corals.

Soluble Waste, and Insoluble Waste.

Soluble Waste Organic

Immiscible Liquids a. Colloidal Suspensions; for example waste from paint industries b. Surface Films; Petroleum products, grease or oil from fish and meat processing.

b. Organic Suspended Solids; colloidal suspensions example protein substances used as dispersants.

a. Toxic e.g. Polychlorinated Biphenol (PCB), Phenol

In addition to these two broad headings there are two other forms of industrial waste:

b. Oxygen Consuming; waste from pulp mills, canneries, breweries etc.

a. Solid Waste – All solid waste streams that are disposed at landfills.

c. Nutrient Enriching; waste from canneries and fertilizer industries.

b. Smoke and Soot – Bye products of burning substances.

d. Foaming; waste from soap factories, which are non-biodegradable detergents.

An industrial pollutant, which by its nature is not classified as waste, is noise which will be discussed later. Each industry generates different types of waste. However some types of waste are common to most industries.

Environmental Impacts from Industrial Waste

Air Pollution

The environmental impacts from the waste generated are mainly: water pollution, air pollution, and oil pollution.

The main industries that contribute to air pollution are sugar, petroleum, petrochemicals, cement and bauxite. The main pollutants include carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, hydrocarbons, iron oxide, cement dust, alumina and lead. Data generated by Faribi and McGaw (1991) show that localised sources of air pollution in Trinidad are found mainly on the west coast in the following areas:

Water Pollution As stated before, because of the location and drainage of the country’s major river systems, the coasts off the western side of the country receive the major impact from industrial waste. However, coastal areas around Trinidad and Tobago are relatively well flushed by north and northwesterly flowing streams of the Guyana current; therefore, effluent discharges into coastal waters are quickly diluted and dispersed. As a result, accumulations of water are found only close to discharge sources and around the major rivers and streams emptying into the Gulf of Paria and in the vicinities of effluent discharges directly into the sea.

The impact of water pollution is toxic chemical bioaccumulation in vegetables grown under these conditions, fish and shrimp found in these areas and oysters harvested in swamps.

The most serious effect of water pollution is the depletion of dissolved (free) oxygen. This contributes to a decrease in aquatic life; the types and numbers of species change drastically downstream from the point of gross pollution. Another effect of water pollution is the increase in turbidity (due to suspended solids) and settled solid matter, which also contributes to a decrease in aquatic life.

all stages of production: drilling, exploration, refining in the industrial use of petroleum products and during transportation.

Within the Gulf of Paria there are forty-two (42) marine platforms, 161 km of pipelines and large tanker traffic. Oil pollution in this area is very likely and can result in mortality of aquatic organisms and birds at high concentrations. A land based oil spill can affect ground dwelling creatures and plants.

These have tremendous human health implications. Also, it is possible that exhaust emissions from the Point Lisas iron smelting plant could cause acid rain, although no technical reports regarding this are available.

Oil is composed of both aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, which are carcinogenic and mutagenic. When contaminants do not exhibit acute toxicity, chronic toxicity may be occurring

Oil Pollution

where mortality or reduced life expectancy of the contaminated organism occurs over a period of time. Land based pollution is a constant threat to the environment since there is at least one spill yearly.

Petroleum products and petroleum pollution are classified separately because of their tremendous potential for pollution. Sources of oil pollution occur at

Noise Pollution Another form of pollution not directly related to industrial waste is noise pollution. Virtually all industries contribute to noise pollution, which has its effect either within the compound of the company, or it may extend to outside of the perimeter.

The effect of noise on the compound of the company is often related to human health and hearing loss whereas outside the perimeter extends to the terrestrial ecosystems.

Attempted Strategies to Curb Industrial Pollution Environmental Standards in Trinidad and Tobago The Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards is the body with the authority to produce environmental standards. As a result they have developed pollution control standards that focus on point sources such as effluent and emission standards and those that look at ambient conditions. They have adopted the ISO 14000 series of standards that focus on environmental management within an organisation. The ISO series can be viewed as more proactive in that they afford companies a greater measure of monitoring and control before the negatives are created. These ISO standards are Environmental Management Standards.

The national environmental standards established by the Bureau of Standards include the following: • TTS 558: 2001 Motor Vehicles- Exhaust Emissions- Specification and associated fuel standards, • TTS 547: 1998 Specification for the effluent from industrial processes discharged into the environment,

the design of construction septic tanks and associated secondary treatment and disposal systems, • TTS 76 Part 16 Labeling of substances utilizing ozone depleting substances and their derivatives, and • Adoption of ISO Environmental Management Standards.

With the exception of TTS 417:1994, these standards are all voluntary standards, which means they can just be ignored or companies may choose to implement them. There is however no enforcement of these voluntary standards.

While some of the industries in Trinidad and Tobago take recognition of these national standards and try to meet the requirements, the large majority ignore the standards and others do not even know they exist. The Environmental Management Authority (EMA) Water Pollution Rules of 2001, used the parameters set in the Industrial Effluent standard TTS 547: 1998. Industries are now more prone to adhere to the requirements of this standard since the creation of the water pollution rules.

• TTS 537:1997 Code of practice for prevention of damage to hearing from noise at work,

Environmental Legislation in Trinidad and Tobago

• TTS 417: 1994 Specification for the liquid effluent from domestic wastewater treatment plants into the environment,

In Trinidad and Tobago protection of the environment is done largely by what is known as the command-and-control approach. In this approach the government mandates in law, the socially

• TTS 16 80 400:1991 Code of practice for

desirable behaviour, then uses whatever

enforcement machinery necessary to get the law obeyed. The law/statute is expected to regulate the activities that impact on the environment. In these statutes there are over one hundred and twenty (120) pieces of legislation impacting on different aspects of the environment.

However, before examining the legislative structure it is important to note that the majority of the environmental legislation was developed forty to fifty years ago during a period when it would have been extremely difficult to foresee the subsequent industrialisation of the country, the magnitude of waste management problems caused by population increases and the large-scale requirement for natural resources. While there is legislation that addresses to some extent environmental protection, the chaos begins when it comes to the authority for enforcement of the legislation.

Deficiencies in the legislation prior to the establishment of the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) Regulatory Authority There are approximately fifty (50) government related agencies that have been provided with the power to impact on the protection of the environment.

These agencies can be placed into several broad categories.

Firstly, there are government ministries that are directly responsible for taking action pertaining to the environment as specified by legislation. Secondly, there are departments of government with authority derived again from pieces of legislation. Thirdly, there are statutory

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bodies and incorporated companies whose shareholdings are owned by government.

Finally, there are municipal corporations that also perform certain functions under several laws.

Associated with the multiplicity of enforcement agencies is an overlap of jurisdiction. While theoretically this overlap should result in greater environmental protection the reality is a general lack of co-ordination, which results in neglect of statutory responsibility towards environmental protection by most agencies and other agencies behave overly aggressive.

This lack of co-ordination has further resulted in continued disregard for legislation and the environment by most industries.

Vagueness of the legislation and absence of specific standards Various pieces of environmental legislation are worded in a general manner with the clear intent that the passage of regulations to lend support to the legislation would provide the required specificity. Unfortunately in some cases the supporting regulations were either never written or in other instances the regulations are outdated and irrelevant. The

end result is most of the environmental legislation are largely unenforceable.

Punitive fines Another setback faced by enforcement agencies is based on the absence of sanctions at a level that would render breaches of environmental laws quite undesirable. It appears to be more cost effective to break the law and pay a fine than take steps to desist from breaking laws applicable to environmental protection. These low financial penalties for breaches of the law have contributed to a lack of enthusiasm on the part of the enforcement agencies. In most instances the fines ranged between TTD60.00 to TTD1000.00.

Insufficient Resources Perhaps the most incapacitating problem confronting enforcement agencies with environmental responsibility is the lack of access to sufficient resources, the most being financial resources. This has resulted in damaging prioritisation practices.

Insufficient financial resources have also resulted in staffing problems in most of the agencies environmental. There is insufficient staff at the field level, which obviously impacts the enforcement of environmental laws.

The New Legal Regime In 1995 an attempt was made to address the chaotic environmental legislation by the establishment of the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) as a central authority responsible for environmental management. The EMA was governed by the Environmental Management Act of 1995 now repealed and replaced with the Environmental Management Act of 2000.

Since its establishment, the EMA was vested with the responsibility for the development of subsidiary legislation in the following areas: • Planning • Protection of Sensitive Areas and Sensitive Species • Record Keeping and Monitoring

• Air and Noise Pollution • Water Pollution • Waste Management • Hazardous Substances • Notification of Spills, Releases and other Incidents One of the previous areas of concern was enforcement in the field by regulatory officers. There was a lack of human resource in this area, therefore in the past, visits to companies have been linked to incidents rather than a prepared monitoring program. With the new legislation that was passed since the establishment of the EMA, namely the noise pollution rules and the anticipated air and water pollution rules there would be added monitoring responsibility by both industry and the enforcing bodies. At the EMA there has been some increase in the availability and improvement of the technical levels of field officers but this has not been consistent among the over fifty 50 other agencies with jurisdiction for enforcement.

Another problem with increased monitoring is the absence of adequate testing laboratories. While there are laboratories that are technically capable to do the desired testing these labs are few and cannot accommodate the volume of testing required from the increased monitoring.

Although many of the causes of past environmental legislative failure have been and are being addressed, some of the major causes of weak enforcement still exist while some have been added by the new legislation.

The new legal regime for environmental protection in Trinidad and Tobago will no doubt create a difference in the way industry traditionally approaches environmental management as part of corporate activities. There can be no doubt that the “business as usual” approach may carry adverse consequences and a revolutionary approach to statutory compliance would have to be adopted.

The failure to adapt may unfortunately place industry on a collision path with enforcement agencies and may ultimately impact on the survival of the industry in question.

Conclusion

References

Command and control strategies were the first option to reducing environmental degradation in Trinidad and Tobago. The country has gone through over fourteen decades of this approach with little or no environmental improvement. It is important to take a look into the establishment of these standards (where a standard is simply a mandated level of performance) to analyse the reason for the lack of effectiveness.

Most of the environmental legislation of Trinidad and Tobago utilises the approach of emission standards where the parameters included were set either by individuals or committees based on some form of research. So they are merely an adoption of parameters set by either developed countries or countries considered having a similar environmental condition. The main four countries that our legislation and standards are modeled after are United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada and Australia.

Agard, J. 2000. “Environmental Policy and Legislative Change.” Trinidad. University of the West Indies. School of Continuing Studies.

This approach to development of standards goes against what has been thought as the effective approach to standards development using the equimarginal principle. Based on this equimarginal principle which states that in order to get the greatest reductions in total emissions for a given total abatement cost (cost to the firm of reducing pollution), the different sources of emission must be controlled in such a way that they have the same marginal abatement cost. Whilst this has been regarded as a difficult approach, since these policy makers must know the marginal abatement cost for each source no considerations of the cost of reducing pollution are taken into account.

Command and control approaches are all or nothing, they are either met or not, and they depend largely on enforcement. As discussed earlier there is a lack of resources for enforcement. Another major disadvantage of command and control approaches is the lack of incentives for further improvement once these standards are met.

This flaw has been used as an underlying notion of the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System in the concept of continual improvement. The ISO 14001 standard allows for continual improvement even when regulatory requirements and best industrial practices are met.

Environmental Management Authority. 1999. “ State of the Environment Report 1999: The Legislative and Institutional Landscape for Protection of the Environment in Trinidad and Tobago.” Trinidad. Environmental Management Authority.

Farabi, H., D.R. McGaw.1991. “Perspectives in Industrial Waste Management in the Caribbean: Part II – Industrial.” Trinidad, University of the West Indies. Faculty of Engineering.

Fields, C.B. 1997. “Environmental Economics, An Introduction.” United States of America. McGraw-Hill.

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International Organisation for Standardization. 1998. “Environmental Management and ISO 14000, ISO Development Manual 10.” Geneva.

Kalpee, T.2001. “The limitations of Environmental Legislation as a tool used to promote positive environmental changes.” Paper presented at the 2001 American Chamber of Commerce Safety, Health and Environment Conference.

Montabon, F., et al. 2000. “Assessing its perceived impact on corporate performance.” Journal of Supply Chain Management 2, 4 – 16.

Ramlogan, R. 2001. “The New Environmental Legal System of Trinidad and Tobago: Challenges for Industry.” Paper presented at the 2001 American Chamber of Commerce Safety, Health and Environment Conference, June 2001.

Ramnarine, K. C.2001. “ EHS Legislation in Trinidad and Tobago.” Paper presented at the 2001 American Chamber of Commerce Safety, Health and Environment Conference, June 2001.

World Bank Group. 1998.“ Pollution Prevention and Abatement Handbook: Towards Cleaner Production.”

Tips HSE Tips – How To Foster A Positive Safety Culture In Your Organisation 1. Top Management must demonstrate visible Safety Leadership.

2. The organisation must have an active Safety Management System developed using best-practice standards such as OHSAS 18001 or HSG65.

3. In general company business meetings, safety should be a topic for discussion.

4. You should have a Safety Coordinator, someone that’s leading the charge, day in and day out, coordinating the efforts.

5. Employee involvement is extremely important. You can’t have a positive safety culture, if you don’t have a safety program that involves the employees.

6. Give employees the ability to make suggestions and have group discussions within a safety meeting.

7. Communicating what the organisation is doing to manage safety is extremely important. If you’re not communicating and people don’t know what’s happening, you’re going to have a hard time instilling that safety culture.

8. Safety training is extremely important, from new hire orientation training to ongoing safety training.

9. Recordkeeping and analysis of incidents will show the organisation whether it is trending positively or negatively.

10. Develop safety incentive programs. Recognition of employees and what they’re doing well is extremely important to instilling that sense of safety.

Source: KPA Environment and Safety

Laboratory

Safety

Culture

A Case Study of an Environmental Toxicology Laboratory

By Professor Valerie Stoute and Dr. Derrick Balladin The University of Trinidad and Tobago O’Meara Campus, Arima

ABSTRACT Recent devastating incidents in academic and commercial/industrial laboratories suggest that some laboratory technicians do not have strong safety skills, once they have become “experts” in their routine activities. Calls for attitude changes within the laboratory safety educational process and by extension, in safety culture, are becoming increasingly vociferous both within and outside of the industry.This report explores the requirements of a Safety Culture in general and of Laboratory Safety Culture, in particular, referencing this latter with a case study of a local Environmental Toxicology Laboratory.

Key Words: Safety culture, Environmental Toxicology Laboratory

A weak Safety Culture within an organisation Laboratory facilities for toxicological analysis CASE STUDY- BioResearch is usually the result of one or more factors, should meet an international conventional Laboratory Limited (BRLL) including, but not limited to: standard. Access to the laboratory should be limited to authorised persons. In addition to History • No clear assurance of upper management’s allowing satisfactory detection, active support for a safety culture at all levels identification, and quantification of toxins, BioResearch Laboratory Limited (BRLL) is (weak or deficient leadership in safety).

Laboratory facilities and procedures should a privately owned, local company based in • Failure to institute accountability for a Safety provide for the safe handling of potentially San Fernando. They started in 2000, Culture among the laboratory’s personnel. toxic samples and should bedesigned to offering toxicology testing services to • Lack of interest in spending significant time minimise both contamination of the sample importers of industrial chemicals used in or financial resources on the promotion of a and exposure of the personnel to toxins the oil industry. BRLL is one of the three safety culture. whether air, water, or sediment borne. registered Environmental Toxicology • Poor or absent safety and risk management Laboratories, authorised by the Ministry of systems.

The Environmental Toxicology Laboratory Energy and Energy Affairs in Trinidad and • Inadequate safety education of all laboratory should be directed by an appropriately Tobago The toxicology assays are done on personnel. qualified person, preferably with a Ph.D., or water, wastewater and industrial • Poor incident/accident investigation. comparable university degree, in one of the chemicals using the Metamysidopsis • Failure to examine periodically all laboratory Natural Sciences, along with additional ad insularis –a tropical Mysid Shrimp personnel’s safety knowledge and skill sets. hoc training and experience. Each technical Brattegard (Mees, 2013). staff member should have a professional education adequate to his/her special roles ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY and responsibilities within the laboratory.

The laboratory head must be capable of Environmental Toxicology is a multidisciplinary ensuring that: field of science which investigates the harmful effects of various chemical, biological and • Laboratory personnel are sufficiently physical agents on living organisms. A layout trained and experienced to conduct the work of this field is given by the schematic in Figure of the laboratory.

1. Ecotoxicology, a sub-discipline of Environmental Toxicology, focuses on the • The competency of laboratory personnel is Figure 2: Metamysidopsis insularis– harmful effects of toxicants at the population periodically validated by monitoring their a tropical Mysid Shrimp Brattegard and ecosystem levels. work performance. Competency to act as Source: Florence Garib- BRLL expert witnesses for the purposes of giving Organisms may be subjected to different evidence in a court of law is often a toxins at various stages of their life cycle. The requirement for staff in laboratories of this extent of toxicity depends on the toxin’s kind. concentration and on where the organism is found within its food web. Bioaccumulation occurs when molecular compounds are stored in an organism's fatty tissues so that the levels of the toxins in the organism exceed those of the same toxins in the organism’s local environment. Over time, biomagnification of a toxin, movement up the trophic levels, can occur and humans become impaired.

Toxicological analysis involves the detection, identification, and quantification of toxicologically relevant substances and the interpretation of the results. In order to obtain reliable results, guidelines of quality must be applied. Two main areas impact on the Safety Culture within any Laboratory, namely the infrastructure of the laboratory and the personnel. Depending on the type of laboratory, however, the nature, type, and level of impact will all differ. In this paper, we detail some of the specific requirements for infrastructure and personnel which should promote an optimum Safety Culture in an Figure 1. The Environmental Toxicology Interdisciplinary Core Environmental Toxicology Laboratory.

Source:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Environmental_Toxi cology1.png

21

Toxicology Tests One static bioassay procedure involves the exposure of a known number of Metamysidopsis insularis (mysid shrimp) for a test duration of 96-hours. The observed mortalities at the various toxicity test concentrations are used to calculate the LC50 value (concentration of toxin required to cause mortality of 50% of the shrimp test population) for the effluent in accordance with USEPA 600/4-901027F August 1993. The lower the value of the LC50 the more toxic is the substance tested.

The company is contemplating an alternative aquatic toxicity test to the Metamysidopsis insularis (mysid shrimp) 96-hours toxicological assay. This is the Microtox® test which uses bioluminescent bacteria as environmental toxicity biosensors. The luminescent marine organisms, Vibrio fischeri ( Figure 3),taken from the gut of the Euprymnascolopes (Figure 4) are exposed to a range of toxin concentrations, causing commensurate reductions in the bioluminescent intensity response. The change in light output and concentration of the toxin provide the data for determining a dose / response relationship.

The EC50 (concentration producing a 50% reduction in light) is calculated.

This assay reduces the exposure of the technicians to the toxin under investigation, thereby providing a better safety culture in conducting toxicology assays in an Environmental Toxicology Laboratory (There are over 2500 citations using the Microtox assay with many applications in food, chemical, environmental, and petrochemical analyses, among others). The design of the BRLL infrastructure is able to accommodate, without retrofitting the facility, this type of toxicology testing.

Safety Culture at BioResearch Laboratory Limited (BRLL) The Environmental Toxicology Laboratory is supervised by the Laboratory Director and has a dedicated laboratory supervisor.

All technical staff are certified. All toxicological assays are conducted in accordance with USEPA Method EPA-600/4-90-027: U.S.EPA. Methods for measuring the acute Toxicity of Effluents and Receiving Waters to Freshwater and Marine Organisms, Fifth Edition, October 1993. Section 4 of this method highlights the international guidelines by which BRLL conducts all the toxicological assays.

These measures – trained staff and best practice methods – are the backbone of a good Safety Culture. In addition, some general steps taken are outlined below and specific applications are given in Table 1.

• Precautions are taken to ensure that the stocks of the mysid shrimp are never in contact with any chemicals.

• The test area is completely isolated from the preparation and stock holding areas.

• All test samples and all washings are returned to the client, thereby ensuring proper disposal of all spent chemicals.

• There is no sample retention period and, thus, no unnecessary chemical storage in the toxicology laboratory.

• All Personal Protective Equipment- Safety glasses/ face shields, face masks with the appropriate cartridges, laboratory coats, and gloves are used during the toxicological assays.

• Technical Staff are required by the company to undergo annual medical examinations.

Table 1: Environmental Toxicology Safety Measures at BRLL Toxicology

Activities

Test/Nature of the

Safety

Safety Precautions/Controls

Threats/Hazards

Infrastructure

Personnel

sample

Figure 3: Before and after bioluminescenceLight produced by a chemical reaction within an organism- Vibrio fischeri Source: www.devbio.biology.gatech.edu

Design

Training

1. Fume Hood

1.Safety

sample

2.Xpelair roof

Training

containers

mounted systems

2.PPE

Mysid Shrimp 96-

Opening

hour assay(OR ®

Microtox test, if

the Exposure to toxin

implemented)-

used to remove all

Samples could be: • Highly toxic chemical • Highly corrosive • Carcinogenic • Flammable

the fugitive fumes generated 3. separate air conditioning /air systems employed for assay areas of the laboratory Dilutions

Exposure to Toxin

1.Technical As Above

Training 2.PPE

Figure 4: Euprymnascolopes

Toxicological

Exposure to

assays

Toxin

1.Technical As Above

Training 2.PPE

Source: www.devbio.biology.gatech.edu (M. J. McFall-Ngai and E. G. Ruby, University of Hawaii; National Science Foundation)

22

RECOMMENDATIONS A vibrant, strong Laboratory Safety Culture requires some elements and is enhanced by others. Below are recommendations in both categories: • Clear lines of authority for safety must be set up.

• A safety policy must be implemented. This should describe the safety responsibilities in the job descriptions and performance plans of all employees, including the upper management.

• A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) Manual must be written to articulate efficient safety management systems for each activity in the laboratory.

• All laboratory technicians must have excellent technical skills and be exposed to additional workshops, training programs, and performance assessments to ensure that their skills are kept current.

• A ‘Safety Mission Statement’ should be adopted. This is essentially a collection of value affirmations such as the values for “total safety, the ability to work safely, to avoid at-risk behavior, to be ready always to promote safety, and to accept responsibility for safety” (The ACS Committee on Chemical Safety, 2012).

• Accident Investigation and Incident/ Accident reporting log systems as well as an Incident Database must be established.

These must be reviewed quarterly by the HSE Department and report summaries submitted to upper management.

• Root cause analyses must be conducted for all incidents, even for near miss circumstances. The HSE Department, in consultation with all stakeholders and, if necessary, with a risk assessment expert should recommend corrective actions after all incident/accident investigations.

• The facility’s intranet, newsletters, HSE bulletin boards should be used to report, while disguising identities where possible, all incidents/accidents and the lessons learned to all employees (The exercise here is to build the safety culture within the laboratory, not to humiliate any employee).

• Safety councils and safety committees should be created with members from the upper management to the technician level.

• Associations should be established with local emergency responders – Fire and EHS, in particular, so that they are prepared to respond to laboratory emergencies.

• Periodic safety drills should be carried out and the results documented by the HSE Department.

• Safety seminars or events should be conducted periodically by external HSE professionals, who can bring new perspectives into the Safety Culture.

• An annual recognition system for good safety performance could be implemented.

• Upper management must provide a safety activities budget on an annual basis. This will actually save the laboratory money in the long term, since it will provide the necessary funds to foster a very strong safety culture – thereby promoting less incidents or accidents, injuries or fatalities.

REFERENCES American Chemical Society. 2012. Creating Safety Cultures in Academic Institutions: A Report of the Safety Culture Task Force of the ACS Committee on Chemical Safety, First Edition, American Chemical Society, Washington, DC Mees, J. 2013.

Metamysidopsis insularisBrattegard. World. http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=2 26549 on 2014-02-23.

The HSE Executive, U.K. n.d. http://www.hse.gov.uk.

U.S.EPA 1993. Methods for Measuring the acute Toxicity of Effluents and Receiving Waters to Freshwater and Marine Organisms. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Cincinnati, Ohio. 4th Edition Edited by Weber, C. I., EPA-600/4-90-027, pp 293.

U.S.EPA. 1991. Ecological Monitoring Research Division, Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory, Cininnati, Ohio.

THE

N O I T N E V E PR

HES S A R C AFFIC MENT R T F O AGE ROL T N N A O M C D AND RATE G E T N I USING S NT E M E V M O SYSTE INUING IMPR & CONT GIES STRATE

By Eric Kipps

Road Safety is a crucial public policy issue and is important because of the vitality of road transport to development. Roads are used for the transportation of people and goods, for improvement of access to education, health care facilities, employment and economic markets.

There are several contributing factors influencing both exposures to risk and crash involvement of traffic accidents. Some of those common factors include vehicle design, speed of vehicle operation, economic, demographic and road related factors, driver related factors like driver’s skill and driver’s fatigue/ health, impaired driving and mobile phone usage. All of these factors play an integral role in the severity of road traffic crashes.

RISING CONCERN OF TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS WORLDWIDE “Nearly 3,400 people die on the world’s roads every day. Children, pedestrians, cyclists and the elderly are among the most vulnerable of road users” (World Health Organisation, nd). Over the years, the incidence of road accidents continues to rise worldwide. The Minister of Transport of Trinidad and Tobago, Chandresh Sharma stated that "This small island has seen 35,000 motor vehicle accidents a year and more than 2000 road deaths over the last ten years. That is too many. It means that we are not doing something right and we are doing too many things wrong. Among those fatalities are children…”. The Minister gave these harsh statistics on January 3rd 2013 at Hyatt Regency Trinidad in Port of Spain, during the National Road Safety Campaign Breakfast Meeting, hosted by the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of National Security.

Recently, it has been agreed that the problem of Road Traffic Injuries has been advancing worldwide. Leaders throughout the globe have all been conveying their concerns about the rising levels of Traffic Accidents. On the 19th and 20th of November 2009, the UN General Assembly held the first Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety. This conference hosted by the Russian Federation government, was the initial attempt made by the United Nations (UN) to address the recent rising issue of Traffic Accidents to all World Leaders.

OBSTACLES TO THE PREVENTION OF ROAD CRASHES The World Health Organisation (WHO) through research has found the major gaps in Road Traffic Injury (RTI) Prevention. Two main areas are: 1.Inaccurate data on the degree of the problem, risk factors and economic consequences.

2.Inadequate evaluation of prevention efforts in lower and middle income countries.

TERMINOLOGY

Causes of accidents

Another major handicap to Road Safety is the terminology used. Words have power that conveys impressions as well as meanings. These meanings most times result in sub-optimal approaches to prevention for example, ‘Road Safety’.

Road Safety recognises that crashes, and their consequences, are multifactor events. Ogden (1996) indicates “An approach based in notions of cause and blame is simplistic in the extreme”. In short, crashes have factors not causes.

The term ‘Road Safety’ through time has conveyed that in this field, the activities need to concentrate on items that belong to roads and, by extension, to the road authorities, keeping a reduced scope of activities in a number of different areas, in spite of their potentially significant contributions. For example, in the United Kingdom, studies indicate that only one-third of the target reduction will be delivered by road safety engineering measures, while another study indicates for some well performing countries, the contribution of local road engineering to the fatality reductions between 1980 and 2000 were estimated to be 4% for Sweden, 10% for Britain, and 5% for the Netherlands. Whereas, research from the Imperial College, London indicates that the progress in medical technology and care made a significant contribution to the 45% fall of fatalities during the last 20 years, and account for 700 lives saved annually in the UK, and further puts forward that the lack of consideration of the benefits coming from the medical area, suggest that road safety is probably less effective than thought. It is remarkable that implicitly the author of the research doesn’t consider medical activities as a component of a road safety management system.

Problem-solving

It reflects confusion between the space where this phenomenon occurs (mainly roads) and the design of the Management Systems to control it, where “Roads” is only 11% of the activities.

Accident What about the use of the word “accident” with its connotations of being an unavoidable event, it weakens the resolve to intervene in order to reduce crashes and the resulting harm. Evans (1991) argues that the word “crash” indicates in a simple factual way what is observed, while “accident” seems to suggest in addition a general explanation of why it occurred.

Old approaches emphasise the concept of problem-solving in road safety, but it is more correct to recognise that road safety activities don’t solve problems. For instance, when a safer road design is implemented, hopefully the number of crashes, or their seriousness, will go down, but they will not disappear. It is more correct to say the implementation of correct policies, programs and measures will reduce numbers or consequences of crashes, but they will not be solved.

This realisation is important, because it changes the focus from a problem that will go away if we devote enough resources to it, to a situation requiring on-going management. This management in turn requires the development of scientifically based techniques, which will enable us to predict with confidence that safety resources are well-spent and likely to be effective.

THE BUSINESS CASE FOR ROAD SAFETY Safety on the road is such a wide topic and business can benefit from integrating road safety into other management systems.

Improving work-related road safety (WRRS) will also contribute to improving road safety as a whole in our region. A large number of the 30,100 lives lost on European roads in 2011, were related to driving for work or commuting. Road traffic collisions accounted for nearly 40% of incidents at work resulting in death. This is one of the strongest areas for explaining synergies between Road Safety and another policy area.

Few organisations know what road accidents are costing them. The true costs of road accidents to organisations are nearly always significantly higher than the resulting insurance claims. While organisations may be able to recover vehicle damage costs through insurance, many other costs may not be recoverable. These include: lost time in wages and salaries; lost orders and output; administrative costs; legal fees; and costs due to other kinds of business interruption.

Cost of Work Related Vehicle Crashes Work related vehicle crashes drive up the cost of benefits such as workers' compensation, Social Security, and private health and disability insurance. In addition, they increase the company’s overhead involved in administering these programs.

The average crash costs an employer US$16,500. When a worker has an on-the-job crash that results in an injury, the cost to their employer is US$74,000. Costs can exceed US$500,000 when a fatality is involved.

Off-the-job crashes are costly to employers as well.

The real tragedy is that these crashes are largely preventable.

Recognising the opportunity that employers have to save lives, a growing number of employers have established traffic safety programs in their companies. No organisation can afford to ignore a major problem that has such a serious impact on both their personnel and the company budget.

CURRENT COMPANY ROAD SAFETY PROGRAMS Fleet Safety Programs In response to an increasing awareness of the role of work-related driving in crashes and the related costs, many private and government organisations have developed programs to improve fleet safety. While many of these programs have focused on the management and driving of company vehicles, some have taken a broader approach. These programs have sought to prevent road trauma and the associated costs of absence from work resulting from non-work-related crashes. There are numerous claims of likely or possible crash savings resulting from fleet safety programs.

However, the number of initiatives which can be evaluated are few.

From research done it can be concluded that the fleet safety initiatives which have potential to be effective are: • Selecting safer vehicles • Some particular driver training and education programs • Incentives (not rewards) • Safety programs in companies with an overall safety emphasis The 10-Step Program The 10-Step Program provides guidelines for what an employer can do to improve traffic safety performance and minimise the risk of motor vehicle crashes.

Following these steps helps to ensure that you hire capable drivers, only allow eligible drivers to drive on company business, train them, supervise them, and maintain company vehicles properly. Adherence to these 10 steps can also help to keep your motor vehicle insurance costs as low as possible: • Senior Management Commitment and Employee Involvement • Written Policies and Procedures • Driver Agreements • Motor Vehicle Record (MVR) Checks • Crash Reporting and Investigation • Vehicle Selection, Maintenance and Inspection • Disciplinary Action System • Reward/Incentive Program • Driver Training/Communication • Regulatory Compliance The Safe System Approach Systems for the management of road safety have evolved over the last few decades in developed countries. Today, the Safe System Approach is seen as the most appropriate approach in guiding the management of road safety. It is recommended that low and middle-income countries adopt this approach.

The Safe System Approach recognises that humans as road users are fallible and will make mistakes. There are also limits to the kinetic energy exchange which humans can tolerate (e.g. during the rapid deceleration associated with a crash) before serious injury or death occurs. A key part of the Safe System Approach requires that the road system be designed to take account of these errors and vulnerabilities so that road users are able to avoid serious injury or death on the road. A Safe System Approach has the following characteristics: • It recognises that prevention efforts not with standing, road users will remain fallible and crashes will occur.

• It stresses that those involved in the design of the road transport system need to accept and share responsibility for the safety of the system, and those that use the system need to accept responsibility for complying with the rules and constraints of the system.

• It aligns safety management decisions with broader transport and planning decisions that meet wider economic, human and environmental goals.

• It shapes interventions to meet the long term goal, rather than relying on “traditional” interventions to set the limits of any long term targets.

The Management System Approach This paper sets out the business case for the integration of road safety into other management systems like ISO 9001 Quality, BS 18001 Safety and ISO 14001 Environment. The benefits of integrating road safety into other areas are various.

Employment, environment and health are highlighted for closer attention as they are the three areas which are most obviously associated with road safety.

For example, sustainable development, with its three pillars of environment, economics and social could have been selected. However the approach was taken to choose policy areas which clearly and currently overlap with road safety.

The main value of integrating road safety into other policy areas is the co-benefits that can be achieved using shared objectives. One example explored in this paper is speeding, where the introduction of speed limits, speed enforcement and controls in an organisation’s transport policy also brings environmental benefits of reduced greenhouse gases and reduces fuel costs. The co-benefits achieved strengthen the business case for these interventions.

Integrating road safety into other policy areas can also help in pooling resources to realise shared objectives. There is also a clear business case to be made in integrating Road Safety measures into driving for work. Real savings can be derived from preventing the loss of life or serious injury as well as in wear and tear of vehicles and fuel consumption.

Integrated Management Systems An Integrated Management System (IMS) is a management system which integrates all components of a business into one coherent system so as to enable the achievement of its purpose and mission. Anything which has an effect on business results must be part of the management system. Therefore, an IMS should integrate all currently formalised systems focusing on quality, health and safety, environment, personnel, finance, security etc. What this means is that all the processes and the documents that describe them would be integrated. In many organisations safety on the road is never considered and so its effects are never fully analysed.

Integration of road safety into other policy areas means systematically taking the issue and mainstreaming it. Road safety can help meet other objectives. This also means however, identifying potential conflicts and looking at ways to overcome them. This paper argues that useful synergies can be created and achieved and certain objectives can be met through integrating safety into other areas.

Moreover, that in line with the Safe System Approach these can contribute to other societal goals such as improved health and a cleaner environment.

THE NEW ISO 39001 STANDARD The ISO 39001 Standard establishes a Road Safety Management tool that will assist organisations, across both public sector and commercial fields, in taking significant steps towards the reduction and ultimate elimination of road deaths and serious injuries.

The ISO 39001 standard aims to stimulate a much sharper management focus on road safety amongst businesses. This calls for robust leadership and better coordination of the wide variety of traffic safety related functions that many organisations undertake, to result in wider and more cost-effective stewardship of our road traffic systems. ISO 39001 sets out to establish a global recognition standard for Road Safety Management good practice, which will enable accredited organisations to attain their road safety objectives at levels exceeding those that might normally be achieved.

ISO 39001 challenges organisations of all types and sizes whose business activities, products and services (as well as the locations they deliver them to and the conditions under which they function including the effectiveness of their Road Safety Management Systems) impact on road traffic safety.

The new standard also offers governments, institutions, societies and associations an opportunity to raise the profile of traffic safety performance, even during these harsh economic times, to levels of performance above those that simple adherence to national laws and standards would attain. Similarly, corporations, companies, partnerships and businesses can both secure and demonstrate robust traffic safety standards whilst, at the same time, meeting their own commercial objectives and sympathetic societal goals.

Experience from across the world has shown that large reductions in road deaths and serious injuries can be achieved through the adoption of a holistic Safe System Approach to road safety. Such an approach calls for a clear and unequivocal focus on the achievement of road traffic safety results through targeted, evidence-based traffic safety management actions, sufficiently supported by appropriate organisational capacity.

IN THE MARKETING

MIX

see and be

SEEN

INDOOR - OUTDOOR - LARGE FORMAT AND P.O.P. DISPLAYS THE ONLY WAY TO BUILD BRAND AWARENESS IS THROUGH

VISIBILITY SCRI P -J

The scope of ISO 39001 is clearly global. Even though some of the organisations covered by the standard may only have a small number of processes linked to road safety issues, some of these can be very important in reducing road deaths and serious injuries. An ISO 39001 compliant Road Safety Management System can easily be integrated into, or made compatible with, other business management systems such as ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, as well as established quality management processes within the organisation.

The new standard promotes the development of an iterative, continuous improvement process based on the Plan – Do – Check – Act cycle which is a four–step model for carrying out change. Just as a circle has no end, the PDCA cycle should be repeated again and again for continual improvement and will guide organisations towards delivery of their RTS results. ISO 39001 offers a helpful organisational quality management model for Road Safety Management.

Above all, the new ISO 39001 standard asserts that a high level of commitment, cascaded down through organisations by senior management, is critical to the success of Road

Safety Management. Robust leadership will motivate and empower key personnel to contribute to the effectiveness of the organisation’s management system and reinforce accountability for road safety results.

CASE STUDIES Both Sompo Japan and Nipponkoa support the objectives of the ISO 39001, international standard for Road Traffic Safety Management Systems. With the aim of ensuring that the experience both companies possess in road incident prevention measures could be used in model case studies by many companies around the world, they participated in a pilot program that was implemented while ISO 39001 was still in the draft preparation stage.

Mark Group is the first company within the United Kingdom to be independently assessed and certified by BSI to the internationally-recognised standard, BS ISO 39001. The award recognises business excellence in achieving the stringent requirements of the road traffic safety

29

(RTS) management system standard and a commitment to on-going business improvement. With over 2,000 employees and a fleet of over 1,000 vehicles, BS ISO 39001 has provided Mark Group with a platform and structure to deliver and demonstrate a staunch commitment to road safety and mitigating business risk.

CONCLUSION Overall, Road Safety has been shown to have significant impact on organisational performance, outside of the direct costs associated with an accident. The hidden costs such as increased insurance costs and administration are most often overlooked. Integrating Road Safety into existing Management Systems is an effective way to manage Quality, Safety, Finance or the Environment therefore effectively reducing the incidence of Road Traffic Accidents. Therefore the introduction of the ISO 39001 Road Traffic Safety Management Standard offer some hope that we can take the right steps to tackle the leading cause of death while at work – Road Traffic Accidents.

HSE COMPLIANCE MADE EASY

THE SMALL BUSINESS MODEL Small businesses in Trinidad and Tobago face numerous challenges when attempting to manage the safety considerations in their workplaces. According to the Trinidad and Tobago Central Statistical Office, Business Surveys Establishment Register of 2009, 59.6% of all business in the sixteen major industries, are small business, with 75% of all small business employing less than five employees. In 2010, the then Minister of Labour and Small and Micro Enterprise Development, estimated that small businesses make up 90% of all businesses in Trinidad and Tobago. Given the scale of small business in Trinidad and Tobago the implications of insufficient occupational safety and health management are far reaching. The management of occupational health and safety is daunting for most small businesses. To treat with this situation, Jaric Environment Safety and Health Services Limited has developed a Small Business Starter Pack. This Starter Pack contains all the elements of a safety management system that a small business needs to become compliant with the Occupational Safety and Health Act No.1 of 2004.

Starter Packs are flexible and can be tweaked to suit individual organisational needs.

A Confined Space is a space large enough that an employee can enter and perform assigned work however there is limited or restricted means for entry or exit.

A 342-foot barge was undergoing maintenance in New Westminster. Workers were carrying out a variety of repairs on the barge, including repairs to manhole covers that access void compartments in the hull. The compartments are considered "confined spaces". A supervisor went missing and another worker located him in the bottom of a compartment within the hull. Three other workers, one by one, entered the compartment to rescue their colleagues and lost consciousness. Ultimately four workers died from oxygen deprivation and one suffered injuries. A fire-fighter was also injured in a rescue attempt.

INTRODUCTION All hazards found in a regular workspace can also be found in a confined space however, they can be even more perilous in a confined space than in a regular worksite. Accidents in confined spaces have long been a cause of serious injury and fatality. The vast majority of jobs in confined spaces are carried out efficiently, safely and devoid of any undesirable effects on workers, but the small fraction that do not meet the requirements very often have dire consequences. Many workers are injured and killed while working in confined spaces. Those killed include people working in the confined space and those who try to rescue them without proper training and equipment.

The Trinidad and Tobago Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) No.1 of 2004 (as amended), places a responsibility upon employers to ensure the safety of their employees and others. In this article the provisions of the OSH Act with regards to confined spaces will be looked at and compared with the legislation of the United Kingdom.

DEFINITION OF A CONFINED SPACE A confined space according to Worksafebc (2013) is a space large enough that an employee can enter and perform assigned work however, there is limited or restricted means for entry or exit. HSEUK (2013) has defined it as a place which is substantially enclosed though not always entirely and where serious injury can occur from hazardous substances or conditions within the space or nearby.

Some confined spaces are rather easy to identify such as silos, storage tanks, enclosed drains, sewers, pipes, crawl spaces, manholes, manure pits and storage bins. Others may be less obvious, but can be just as dangerous, for instance vats, unventilated or poorly ventilated rooms and ventilation ducts.

Ditches and trenches can also be a confined space when access is limited.

The OSH Act has defined a confined space as a space in which, because of its construction, location or contents, or of work activity therein, the accumulation of a dangerous dust or fumes or the creation of oxygen-deficient atmosphere may occur.

HAZARDS OF CONFINED SPACES Entry into confined spaces can be very hazardous and unless proper training, equipment, and procedures are in place, workers ought not to be allowed to enter such spaces. A worker is considered to have entered a confined space just by putting his or her head across the plane of the opening (WorksafeBc, 2008).

In confined spaces there may be toxic and explosive atmospheres, exposure to extreme heat or cold temperature, poor visibility, restricted escape routes, falling objects, noise, risk of drowning or risk of electrocution. All of which, can lead to almost instant death or if not, are followed by significant permanent impairment of some vital bodily function.

COMPARING PROVISIONS FOR CONFINED SPACES IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO LEGISLATION WITH THAT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM The OSH Act is the piece of legislation covering health and safety in Trinidad and Tobago. Part IV, Section 25 Dangerous fumes and lack of oxygen in confined space speaks about confined spaces and what is required of employees and employers at the workplace. Established to support the OSH Act is the Trinidad and Tobago OSH Authority and Agency. The OSH Agency is committed to the process of enforcement and compliance of OSH ACT and the OSH Authority has the primary function of policy formulation for occupational safety and health in Trinidad and Tobago.

In the United Kingdom, employers are liable under the Confined Spaces Regulations, 1997, Statutory Instrument No 1713 of the Health and Safety at Work ect Act 1974, for ensuring the health and safety of their employees and of others. Legal requirements for working in confined spaces are also contained in the associated Code of Practice. HSEUK’s second publication of “Safe work in confined spaces Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 Approved Code of Practice, Regulations and guidance” contains an Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) and Guidance on the duties stated in the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997. This guidance however applies to all industry sectors with the exception of diving operations and below ground in a mine. It also gives guidance on the duties in other regulations where they apply to work in confined spaces.

Trinidad and Tobago’s OSH Act is deduced to be reactive as it emphasises on what measures ought to be in place prior to entering confined spaces, or under what conditions they are not to be entered, while United Kingdom law was found to be proactive and places a focus on the importance of not entering the confined space to carry out work for any purpose unless it is not reasonably practicable to achieve that purpose without such entry.

Even so, if entry into a confined space is inevitable, a safe system of work must be in place and be followed and adequate emergency arrangements must be in place before the work starts. The OSH Act however has no such provisions. In the United Kingdom, for the purpose of deciding what measures are necessary for safety, the legal requirement is that a suitable and sufficient assessment of every one of the risks for all work

activities is done. For work in confined spaces, this means identifying the hazards present or likely to arise, assessing the risks and determining the precautions to take. It includes as well the provision and maintenance of resuscitation equipment in the event that such is needed.

Regulation 3 of the Confined Spaces Regulation 1997 states that the employer and self employed persons shall ensure compliance with the provisions of the said act. The only comparable part in the OSH Act is found in Part 2 General Duties, section 6 and 7, which speaks about duties of the employer to employees and to persons other than their employees and about risk assessment.

The OSH Act speaks of a competent person who is to evaluate and test the confined space. According to the guidelines in the Approved Code of Practice; the risk assessment for the safe system of work is also to be done by a competent person. A detailed description of what this “competent person” should be like is specified in both countries’ legislations.

As evident in UK’s Guidelines, particular attention is advised to be given, where there are temporary workers who are likely to have limited knowledge of the conditions and dangers in the confined space, as the unfamiliarity of the work environment increases the risk for injuries. Also, where it is reasonably practicable to undertake the work without entering the space, employers have a duty to prevent employees, or others from entering or working inside a confined space. The work practices can be altered to prevent the need for entry. The OSH Act has no provisions for these.

In the OSH ACT Section 25 subsection 3, mention is made about a confined space and under what conditions it shall be entered, where there exists or is likely to exist a hazardous gas, vapour, dust or fume or an oxygen content of less than eighteen per cent or more than twenty-three per cent at atmospheric pressure.

The Approved COP guidelines however, goes a step further and states that the general condition of the confined space to be identified and any records should be checked and considerations are made with regards to previous types of hazard present and

that preventative measures are to be taken. This includes information about any substances previously held, that might give an indication of what kind of hazard may be expected in the confined space. Whether any chemical residue, or contamination (such as gases and liquids) that may have leaked into the confined space from an adjacent plant. Oxygen deficiency and oxygen enrichment are investigated and the risk assessed, and appropriate measures would be taken in the light of the risk.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Safety and Health Act mentions that cold work may be performed in a confined space that contains or is likely to contain an explosive or flammable gas or vapour where the concentration does not, and is not likely to exceed ten per cent of the lower explosive limit of the gas or vapour. No mention however, is made in the United Kingdom law regarding this, other than that the hazards that occur directly from the work undertaken in the confined space to be are to be assessed.

The OSH Act only states that the space is to be entered once mechanical equipment in the confined space is disconnected from its power source and locked out. However, United Kingdom legislation only if there is a risk of ingress of substances, caused by the inadvertent operation of machinery, is the power to such equipment disconnected and measures are taken to ensure that it cannot be reconnected until it is safe to do so.

For a safe system of work, legislation in the United Kingdom speaks about supervision of the work being done within the confined space. This supervision is based on the risk assessment findings. The only comparable provision in the OSH Act is where there ought to be an employee equipped with an alarm who is to keep watch outside the confined space.

It is also this supervisor’s role to ensure that the permit-to-work system, where applicable, operates properly and that the necessary safety precautions are taken. The Entry Permit system is an example of an administrative control used in confined spaces.

The OSH Act doesn’t mention that the person doing work in a confined space needs to be competent. However competence for confined spaces working is mentioned in United Kingdom law. It calls for adequate training and experience in the particular work involved.

Below the usual level of oxygen of about 20.9%, people become less able to function properly and eventually lose consciousness. As a result of purging with an inert gas may be necessary. Gas purging is spoken about in both legislation. The United Kingdom regulations state that continuous testing and monitoring of the atmosphere is to be done and that purging is to be done when the risk assessment has identified the presence or possible presence of flammable or toxic gases or vapor, whereas the OSH Act merely states a confined space in which there exists or is likely to exist a hazardous gas, vapour, dust or fume or an oxygen content of less than eighteen per cent or more than twenty-three per cent at atmospheric pressure, shall only be entered when the space is purged and ventilated to provide a safe atmosphere.

The OSH Act states that the employee entering the confined space where there exists or is likely to exist, a hazardous gas, vapour, dust or fume or an oxygen content of less than eighteen per cent or more than twenty-three per cent at atmospheric pressure, and cannot be purged and ventilated, is to use a suitable breathing apparatus and a safety harness or other similar equipment to which is securely attached a rope, the free end of which is attached to rescue equipment operated by an employee equipped with an alarm.

Personal protective equipment and respiratory apparatus, according to United Kingdom legislation, should be the last resort. If necessary, the type of PPE provided also is dependent on the hazards identified.

Trinidad and Tobago’s OSH Act is not very clear with regards to emergency procedures within the confined space. According to the Approved COP, the rescue equipment provided should be appropriate to the emergencies identified in the risk assessment, and may include lifelines and lifting equipment .

Any control strategy for entry into or work within a confined space will amount to restricted access to the confined space. If access is not justifiable, the work should be done remotely. The number of people exposed to the risks should be reduced and it should be ensured that those who do enter are properly trained and/or supervised. Last but not least, the atmosphere should be tested and monitored for the presence of contaminants.

CONCLUSION In comparing the provisions of both countries legislation for confined spaces, it can be concluded that the United Kingdom is more proactive in its approach to safety whereas Trinidad and Tobago is reactive. The United Kingdom has their Regulations, their Approved Code of Practice as well as the Guidelines for working in confined spaces; all this makes it more comprehensible for the employers as well as the employees to understand their role in prevention of accidents and fatalities in confined spaces.

A breach of the regulations is a crime throughout the United Kingdom. The same is true in Trinidad and Tobago nevertheless the OSH Act is taken very flippantly. It is only when an accident or fatality has occurred, or when one party suffers a loss, and wishes to sue the other, that the Occupational Health and Safety Act is deemed significant.

Workers have a tendency to put their faith in most indoor or confined atmospheres, thinking someone else has checked for safety. But that is one workplace where safety must never be taken for granted. Also, the instinct to help a trapped colleague, however noble, is equally hazardous and must be avoided at all costs unless proper precautions are taken.

REFERENCES Fishwick, T., 2012. Recurring Accidents: confined spaces, <http://www.icheme.org/sitecore/shell/Controls/Rich% 20Text%20Editor/~/media/Documents/TCE/lessons-lea rned-pdfs/854fishwick.pdf > 854fishwick.pdf >(accessed November, 2013).

Health and Safety Executive, 2013. Confined Spaces A brief guide to working safely <http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg258.pdf >(accessed November,2013).

Health and Safety Executive. 2009. Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) on confined spaces < http:// www.hse.gov.uk/press/2009/e09015.htm > (accessed December, 2013).

Health and Safety Executive.2009. Safe work in confined spaces Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 Approved Code of Practice, Regulations and guidance < http:// www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/l101.pdf > (accessed December, 2013).

Health and Safety Executive, nd. Confined Spaces http://www.hse.gov.uk/confinedspace/ >(accessed November,2013).

WorkCover NSW Government. 2013. Codes of Practice, http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/lawpolicy/codes-ofpractice/Pages/default.aspx > accessed November,2013).

WorkSafeBC.2008. Hazards of Confined Spaces <http://www.worksafebc.com/publications/health_and _safety/by_topic/assets/pdf/bk80.pdf> (accessed December , 2013).

N

Context

Harm in Care Organisations

Relatives and friends often relay stories about their loved ones developing “bed sores” (pressure ulcers), sustaining injuries from falls, getting “water infection from the tube” (catheter associated Urinary Tract Infection[UTI]) or having “a clot” (thrombolitic event) whilst in hospital or other care setting. Those events are classified as ‘Harms’, and in some countries are considered reportable incidents. This is because for most, these harms or incidents are avoidable (Power Stewart and Brotherton 2012). As a result of these harms patients endure significant suffering from pain and discomfort and isolation due to a lengthened stay away from families and their social network. For some, the outcome is premature death. Are health professionals doing enough to provide “harm-free care” to those they are paid to look after?

Harm-free care is a new mindset in patient safety improvement, which requires thecare organisation to measure, assess, learn and improve the safety of care they provide (Power Stewart and Brotherton,

2012). Embracing and embedding a positive safety and caring culture is characterised by communication founded on mutual trust, shared perception of the importance of safety and confidence in the efficacy of measures to prevent harms (HSE, 1993). Safety culture is also reliant on the key overlapping factors of staff attitudes, competencies and operational systems to assure that policies and procedures are adhered to (The Health Foundation, 2011).

Focusing on one of the four harms; a Pressure Ulcer (PU) is defined as a degenerative change caused by skin and underlying tissue being exposed to pressure and shearing forces. The pressure restricts blood from circulating properly; causing cell death, tissue necrosis and the development of ulcers (Harrison T., Kindred J. and Marks-Maran D., 2013). Reducing or preventing avoidable harms caused by PU must be imperative in all care settings.

Table 1. above lists measures to prevent PU’s.

If implemented effectively we will hear less of these accounts:

When care is provided in your own home, the measures above should also be implemented as they will prove fruitful.

“ ...ma went hospital with her leg… her leg.. not eating or drinking much….they sent her home on the Friday …after four days. When she got here she was in a lot of pain .. not from the leg… Ah went to change her pampers. When we turn the lady.. if you see the lady bottom .. a big black bed sore.. the bed sore was the pain.. they didn’t tell us…”

References

Friends and relatives, be polite yet fearless in asking for evidence of the care that your loved ones are receiving to prevent avoidable harms.

Harrison T., Kindred J. and Marks-Maran D. 2013.

Reducing Avoidable Harm caused by Pressure Ulcers. British Journal of Nursing Vol. 22, No. 6, pS4-14.

Health and Safety Executive .1993. Safety Culture. www.hse.gov.uk/invsetigation-safety-performane . (accessed December 10, 2013).

Power M., Stewart K. and Brotherton A. 2012.

What is a Safety Thermometer / Harm Free Care? http:// cri.sagepub.com/content/18/5/163. (accessed December 29, 2013).

The Health Foundation .2012. Measuring Safety Culture. www.health.org.uk/publications/measuring-safey -culture. (accessed December 29, 2013).

Introduction Fondes Amandes Community Reforestation Project held its annual fire prevention gayap this year on Friday the 21st and Satruday 22nd or March, 2014. What is a GAYAP? Gayap is a word which means people coming together to work for a positive cause. In the case of FACRP we are working on forest fire prevention activities. Persons usual contribute with manual labour. Those who can't bring food, provide entertainment and other types of support. In this Gayap everyone can make a positive contribution to getting the task at hand completed.

Friday GAYAP Segment FACRP Director Akilah Jaramogi, Officer Jones of the Fire Services School of Trinidad and Tobago, Mr, Abdullah Ibrahim of the Green Fund Executing Unit and Ms. Joan Paterson of CARDI were on site to give the youth audience inspiring messages of environmental conservation. To entertain the crowd was the ever so vibrant Rapso Artist Curious Ringo, Brother Resistance father of Rapso and the Athenians Pre-Secondary School with their “We Go Green” song. This event was well attended.

Over 400 students participated in the Friday event. Schools included Bishops Anstey College, St. Francois College, Eastern Boys Primary School, Final Generation Mission Academy, International School of Port of Spain, Servol Sangre Gande, Servol Barataria, Servol El Secoro, COSTAATT and St. Joseph’s Convent POS.

Four of the schools present were presented with awards to acknowledge their hard work and consistency over the years at FACRP. The Athenians Pre-Secondary School received the Wangari Maathai Award which was sponsored by Sustain T&T. Bishops Anstey College received the Tacuma Jaramogi Award, sponsored by the Dynamic Youth Foundation. The International School of Port of Spain (ISPS) received the Earth Water Woman Award, sponsored by Akilah's Jewelry. Lastly, COSTAATT received the Professor Julian Kenny Award which was sponsored by Turtle Island Children.

Tour Guide Graduation On Gayap Friday, FACRP also took the opportunity to present the team of community eco-tour guides. Schools were then broken up into groups and assigned tour guides and assistant guides to experience an educational tour as well as some field activities in the Fondes Amandes Valley.

Gayap Saturday 22nd March, 2014 Over 200 persons participated on Saturday. There were a few supporting groups, Caribbean Youth Environmental Network – Trinidad and Tobago Chapter, Trinidad Youth Council, Young Women Christian Association and BPTT Environmental club who used their club earnings to purchase some tools and materials to be used for field activities at FACRP. Groups participated in Fire Trace clearing and River Line clean up, followed by a relaxing evening in the river. After enjoying the river participants took part in the late evening entertainment of drumming and Rapso music at the FACRP Resource Centre.

FACRP extends thanks to all those who supported our Gayap in cash and in kind, special thanks to the National Carnival Commission (NCC) for bleachers to accommodate students, Angostura Museum and Barcant Butterfly Collection for Gayap t-shirts, Guardian Holdings and Moses. Supporting Organisations include the Cropper Foundation, Institute of Marine Affairs, Water Resource Agengy (WRA), Office of Disaster and Preparedness and Management, Global Water Partnership Caribbean, Turtle Island Children, Sustain T&T and Dynamic Youth Foundation. We also thank the Rapso Movement of Trinidad and Tobago who provided all the entertainment for the two day event, Brother Resistance, Brother Erasto, FACRP employees and volunteers, the Fondes Amandes Community members, the Jaramogi family and friends.

We Look forward to a bigger and better Gayap in 2015.

For more photos please see our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/facrp

Alphonso O. Grennell Managing Director Grennell's Driver Safety Training Services Ltd.

Alphonso O. Grennell, is the founder and Managing Director of Grennell's Driver Safety Training Services Ltd. based in Jamaica. He is an innovative and resultoriented individual with over 16 years of experience in the business of Defensive Driving and Driving Instruction.

A detail-oriented and goal-focused businessman, he has prepared and conducted defensive and driver assessment courses for top Jamaican companies including Digicel Jamaica, Noranda Bauxite, LIME Jamaica, the University of the West Indies and PETROJAM Ltd. Mr. Grennell's passion for Safety especially in the area of driving and his concern about the increase in road fatalities led him to conceptualise the Jamaica Driver & Safety Exposition, now in its 6th year and the Road Safety 5K, now in its 3rd year.

His creative thinking skills also led him to coordinate the annual 'On the Road, on the Job' Safety Workshop which brings together safety experts including facilitators from the USA, to examine best practices in the areas of Environment, Health and Safety.

Mr. Grennell is a seasoned presenter/communicator who has appeared on Television and Radio Stations, schools and Universities giving expert advice on Defensive Driving and other related topics. In addition, he has authored several articles for the Gleaner, Jamaica Observer (media houses), Jamaica Gasoline Retailers Association and the HSE Quarterly magazine.

Mr.Grennell, a former Executive Training Officer and Motor Vehicle Repairs Supervisor for Cable & Wireless (now LIME) holds the following qualifications: • 2005 - Security Driving Instruction, BSR, West Virginia, USA • 2004 - Defensive Driving (Trainer of Trainers), Safety Systems & Services Ltd. Trinidad • 1998 - Defensive Driving Instruction, Safety Systems & Services Ltd. Trinidad& Tobago • 1997 - Diploma, Auto Service Management, Jamaican- German Automotive School • 2003 - Public Speaking and Presentation Skills for Managers, Management Institute for National Development (MIND) Mr. Grennell keeps abreast with industry trends by constantly improving his skills and knowledge by attending the National Safety Council Annual Congress and Expo in the USA. His contribution to the field has not gone unnoticed and he has been acknowledged with the following: • 2013 - FIA Americas Award for Mobility (Defensive Driving and Road Safety Programmes) • 2008 - National Safety Council (USA), The Honorary Mention Award for Defensive Driving Although career focused, he has a philanthropic nature and has provided monetary incentives and other awards to students at the primary school levels.

Proceeds from the Road Safety 5K, “Run, Walk and Roll for the cause” are donated to two organisations – the Percy Junior Hospital and the Jamaican Fire Brigade.

E

ffective leadership is dependant, to a great extent, on the level of collaboration that is engendered by leaders. This is evident when different people from varying levels within an organisation are persuaded to work together to achieve the same goal. Excellence in health and safety performance is one of the goals of an organisation that will have far reaching consequences for overall success and relies heavily on the extent of the engagement of the workforce.

Collaboration offers leaders two important opportunities; the first is to broaden the quality and diversity of content that goes into making organisational decisions, the second, to build engagement into the decision making process and resulting decisions. This can be especially advantageous in safety where engaging employees at every level is critical to creating an injury-free culture (HSE, 2004).

The successful management of any organisation is inextricably linked to a number of factors that impact reputation. One of the most critical of these factors is health and safety management since failure in this area will have a negative impact on the key performance indicators of the organisation. This effect will produce a significantly increased impact in an organisation that is involved in offshore oil and gas exploration and production due to the high level of risk normally associated with these types of activities. In Trinidad and Tobago the oil and gas industry employs more than 20,000 people in a range of activities. Although there have been improvements in health and safety offshore since the Piper Alpha disaster in 1988, the risks are ever present - fire, explosion, release of gas and structural failure all have the potential to cause major loss of life (Health and Safety Executive, 2004).

Efforts that are geared towards managing costs within an organisation must include strategies that address the risks presented by issues related to health and safety. Failure to adequately mitigate these risks will result in incidents that necessitate significant financial expenditure in order to initiate corrective action. Where an organisation’s risks are properly identified it is critical that risk mitigation measures are not only implemented, but that they are so designed to provide the assurance that they will result in risk reduction to a level that is reasonably practicable. The high costs associated with corrective action when accidents occur as a result of poor health and safety practices will significantly affect the organisation performance.

Successful safety management can lead to substantial cost savings, as well as a good accident record (Holt, 2003: 7).

The role of leadership must also be linked to the management driven elements of policy, organisation, procedures, monitoring and review, in conjunction with the assurance process of auditing for compliance. The Investigation Process Research Roundtable points out that this is the model of a system for health and safety management that was developed by the Health and Safety Executive and formed the basis of methods that were subsequently developed. This assures that continual improvement in the strategies employed to address health and safety issues will be possible since the organisation’s management will be afforded the opportunity to develop and initiate appropriate corrective measures based on the findings of periodic audits of the system. At every stage of the management process leadership and its influence on people will be shown to be the critical input for ensuring success since there can be no achieved benefits without the support of the organisation’s employees. Key to this success is the efficiency with which the organisation’s management treats with factors such as its health and safety culture.

The way in which an organisation implements the elements of a health and safety management system will depend on a number of factors, such as the size of the organisation, the nature of the risks involved, the resources available and the maturity of the health and safety culture (University of Leicester, Module 2; p 2-28).

Health and safety performance is heavily dependent on the appropriate culture within an organisation and careful consideration must be paid to human behaviour since solutions to health and safety issues require the active participation of people at every stage of the developmental process. More importantly, people will be expected to carry out the necessary actions in support of these solutions.

In order to achieve this people must be empowered to deliver on the expectations that underpin these initiatives.

In all control measures, reliance is placed on human behaviour to carry out the solutions, so a major task of health and safety management is to assure safe behaviour by motivation, education, training, and creation of work patterns and structures which enable safe behaviour to be practiced (Holt, 2003: 10).

It must be noted that the embedding of the desired health and safety culture is consistent with the course of leadership within the organisation. Employees’ behaviour will be influenced by the qualities displayed by the management of the organisation and any management initiative will only be as beneficial and deserving of employee support as the attitude and the amount of resources that management is willing to expend on it.

Supervisors’ and workers’ attitudes to safety generally reflect their perception of the attitudes of their employer ( Holt, 2003:10).

The key outcomes of effective leadership demonstrate that: 1. When members of leadership of the organisation visit the work site regularly and engage in safety conversations health and safety performance improves.

2. When employees are recognised and rewarded for good safety behaviours performance is positively impacted.

3. Management trending of safety data and feedback to the workforce assists in influencing employees’ behaviour and improving performance.

4. When employees perceive that leaders are genuinely committed to the requirements of the health and safety management system they in turn give their full support.

5. The manner in which the management structure facilitates interaction through the different levels within the organisation has a direct impact on how employees view health and safety initiatives.

Effective Leadership facilitates a strong Safety Culture Health and safety performance follows a trend that is aligned to the level of involvement by leadership beginning at the highest level and permeating throughout the organisation. Adams (1995, p214) advises that it is the behaviour of others and the behaviour of nature that constitute people’s risk environment. He further points out that safety interventions that do not cause people to change their behaviours regarding their propensity to take risks will result in them reverting to their original position of comfort where the tendency was towards a high level of risk acceptance. Where this is the case the employees’ own inclination to initiate and support risk mitigation measures are also adversely affected eventually leading to poor health and safety performance.

Perceptions and beliefs, behaviour and management systems are the elements which combine to form an organisation's 'safety culture' (Cooper, 1997).

In this model safety climate is defined as the shared perceptions and beliefs that employees hold regarding safety in the workplace. It also establishes a clear distinction between behaviour and attitude in suggesting how unsafe behaviour and poor safety attitudes could be changed. Dr. Cooper argues that the best way to address unsafe behaviour and poor safety attitudes to bring about the desired change is to focus solely on safety behaviour, not safety attitudes. This, he points out is due to the fact that attitudinal change automatically follows behaviour change, whereas behavioural change does not necessarily follow attitude change. He further indicates that the development of a management system should be seen as a practical way of creating the awareness, understanding, motivation and commitment

of all personnel, while also optimising an organisation’s health and safety performance.

This model emphasises a link between safety climate and safety behaviours that is strongly influenced by the context provided by the organisation’s safety management system. It adopts the findings of researchers that organisations with a good safety climate tend to have fewer accidents. Safety behaviour, it cites, should be adopted as the unit of measurement that will allow organisations to achieve sustained and significant improvements in their safety culture through established management techniques. It further states that when management and the workforce collaborate in arriving at options to identify unsafe behaviours mutually agreed processes for monitoring safety behaviours could be developed where work groups set their own safety improvement targets. The result of all of this is that organisations that adopt this approach, regardless of the industrial sector, become proactive safety managers and are rewarded by less accidents, consistent safety management, better communications and greater team-work.

References Adams, J. 1995. Risk, London, Routledge, 1st edn.

Behavioral ScienceTechnology, Inc. 2004. Article Resources, http://www.bstsolutions.com/Article-Leadership -Executives.html, (accessed December 10, 2004).

Cooper, D. Dr .1997. Measuring and Improving Safety Culture, The ESH Handbook for the Public Sector – 1997,http://www.b-safe.net/articles/safcu lt.htm, (accessed November 30, 2004).

Health and Safety Executive (2004) Health and Safety in the Offshore Industry, http://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/, (accessed 29th December, 2004).

Holt, A. St J. 2003. Principles of Health and Safety at Work, Leicestershire, IOSH Services Limited, 6th edn.

Research Roundtable and Library, http://www.iprr.org/3PROJ/Heading1, (accessed November 30, 2004).

University of Leicester.2003. The Principles of Managing Health and Safety Risks.

Leicester: Scarman Centre.