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A risk is determined by whether a hazard will actually cause harm. How probable is exposure to the hazard? How severe could a resulting injury be? How frequently is a worker exposed to the hazard?
Hazardsfifirstmustbeidentififiedandinventoriedbefore risks can be assessed, scored and prioritized, creating a work environment’s risk profile.
Visual literacy uncovers hazards both obvious and hidden. It is a concept from art education. It’s important for employees to develop and deploy visually literate competencies because they are bombarded by visual stimuli every day in today’s complex, fast-paced, technologically-driven workplace.
In manufacturing, employees are routinely exposed to machinery of different ages, makes, operations and capacities; energized equipment and electrical components such as wiring, cords and conductors; material handling lines and vehicles; hazardous materials; walking/working surfaces of different gradients and textures; housekeeping storage areas and welding, cutting and brazing work.
Error Traps
Workers become habituated to these hazards. They see machinery, equipment, materials, work tasks and the behaviors of co-workers so often, every day, at times they will not see a hazard right in front of them. Remember, we see as little as 10 percent of what we think we are seeing. This results in incomplete, inaccurate and at times,
superfificial hazard identifification activities. We need to be conscious of this “brain trick” before searching out hazards. It’s also useful to use visual literacy elements from art education. Make note of colors, lines, shapes, spaces and texture to deconstruct a task or a work environment.
Stress, time pressure, poor communication and performing first time or infrequent hazard identification efforts can result in missing hazards and not really seeing the reality of the work. To de-stress an assessment team, make the hazard hunt fun like a game. Who can find the most hazards? Who does the best job describing the hazards they find? To ease the time pressure, it is important to slow down, even for a few seconds, to make more precise observations. If we fail to see the hazards present, the resulting hazard inventory can be dangerously misleading. Critical precursors to serious injuries and fatalities can be missed.
Challenge yourself to use innovative tools and techniques to help you see your work environment more completely. The result: more accurate identification of hazards and assessment of risks creating a safer workplace.
Doug Pontsler serves as Chairman and Managing Director for COVE, and is dedicated to the application of Visual Literacy for in- dustrial and service applications with an emphasis on safety. Prior to his current role, Doug was the former vice president of operations sustainability and EHS for Owens Corning (retired).
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