It has been a while since my last safety blog. I have a lot going on in the last few months and have been remiss in submitting a blog (no excuse but it made me feel better to say that).

I am sure that most of you if not all of you have had a Homer Simpson moment where something comes to light and all that you can say is  DDDDOOOOOOOPPPP sometimes  you just can't see the forest for the trees.

Living and working in Norfolk County the country side is full of orchards where trees are neatly planted in rows and trimmed every spring of dead growth and off shoot branches that hinder the quality of fruit that grows on the trees. Especially during the winter months you can look down the rows of trees for a very long distance when the leaves are not on the trees. It is very hard for a deer or raccoon to hide in an orchard. Beside  every fruit farm is a stand of bush that the trees are growing scattered throughout and very dense. The bush lots are thick and even without the leaves you cannot see very far into the bush maybe 50 feet maximum, but the deer and raccoons and wild turkeys are still there you cannot see them until they run out onto the road in front of you to cause a potential accident.

Just like your factory floor if the 5-S team has been working hard and the Joint Heath and Safety Team have been working hard all the machinery will be spotless, lines drawn on the floor to mark aisles. It is very easy to see where the fire extinguishers and first aid kits are located. A company that has been in a safety group program for a number of years boasts loudly that everything has a place and everything is in it's place, machine guards, caution signs, WHIMIS books etc.

BUT along comes an audit whether it is from the ISO auditor or the Ministry of Labour or the Joint Heath and Safety Committee and guess what, a Homer Simpson moment.

We recently have added a new member to our Joint Health and Safety Committee and during the monthly walk about after many years of diligent hard work  guess what happened.

 We entered a lab area and the new member asked "Where is the emergency light pack?"  The other members on the Health and Safety Committee (one member works in the lab every day) looked at each other and went  DDDDOOOOOPPPPP, why didn't we see that. If the new member had not joined the committee it may have gone on for another three years without an emergency light in the lab area which will get very dark in the event of a power failure. I doubt that any one does a safety walk about with all the lights out each month.

Over the last five years the MOL, ISO Auditors, IAPA, Senior Managers of the company have toured the facility numerous times and NO ONE saw this deficiency.

The point that I am trying to make is that from now on the lesson was learned and regularly  guests will be invited to join the Health and Safety Committee to tour the facility to help find the overlooked potential hazards.  Also the sting of hearing that an inspector is at the door to tour your facility is not always a bad thing, it helps you make continuous improvements to your safe work place even safer.

HAVE A SAFE DAY