Does Safety Have A Home In Your Maintenance Shop? By Carmen Daecher

We have all heard and talked about the serious bus accidents that have occurred during the past few years. We see them on the news; we talk about them at gatherings - they gain much attention. How many times have you heard about serious injuries occurring in the maintenance shop of your fellow bus operator? Probably not very often, if at all.

During my years of consulting with bus operations, I can tell you that serious accidents have occurred regularly to shop employees of bus operators. Broken bones, crushed feet, severed fingers, and serious head injuries have occurred to shop employees throughout the country. Many, many more minor injuries have occurred to employees that are never heard about; yet, even these injuries can affect both the individual employee and the company.

Our analysis of worker compensation claims for our customers indicates that shop employees are injured more frequently per capita than drivers. In many cases, worker compensation claims for shop employees are greater than for drivers in an absolute sense.

The trauma associated with injuries is never trivial. And the cost for medical attention, recovery, and rehabilitation continue to increase.

How safe is your shop? Safety in the shop must begin with company commitment. Accountability and responsibility for creating and maintaining a safe environment and safe work practices must come from the top. The commitment should be embodied in actions of management to its employees with regard to acceptable and unacceptable behaviors and acceptable and unacceptable work environments. Actions always speak louder than words.

An immediate understanding of circumstances regarding injuries and an investigation of actions and conditions that resulted in the injury is fundamental to this commitment. Workplace injuries are not treated with the same intensity for knowledge of what happened and determination of preventability as are vehicular accidents. Yet, there is no logical reason as to why the same process should not be applied. If the primary objective is to prevent future events and injuries, it is essential that we understand clearly what happened and how it occurred in order to direct changes that hopefully will prevent reoccurrence.

From what I have seen and studied, the key issues related to shop safety are the following:

• Shop environment - is your maintenance facility a dungeon or a castle? In other words, is it dark and dingy, greasy, and dirty? Or is it kept neat and clean with occasional fresh coats of paint, and a floor that is cleaned regularly? While you may think that this should not matter, it does. The work environment provides a strong psychological message to those within it.
  
  Cleanliness is the first order of business. It includes neatness. It requires persistence in a shop to clean up after oneself, and for management to ensure that regular overall cleaning of the workplace is accomplished. Persistence in keeping the workplace neat and clean sends a message of commitment for a healthy and safe environment in which to work.
  
  It also sets a tone for expected behaviors of shop employees. The "old time" mechanic with grease-encrusted hands and clothes no longer fits as well in an environment that is kept consistently neat and clean. The attitude of "getting the job done" and worrying about the shop later gives way to an understanding that the condition of the shop leads to getting the job done safely and well.
• Training and safe work practices - a knowledgeable employee is a safe employee. Having the skills to perform the job is always important, but having knowledge related to the tools and other items used to accomplish the job is equally important.
  
  This is where many of the OSHA standards that are applicable to bus companies are very important. The knowledge of chemicals that are used in the workplace, their possible effects, and how to mitigate those effects is important to the health and safety of your employees. The importance of labeling any container with a chemical in it, as well as understanding how to read labels is far more important to the safety of your employees than you may think. I can tell you of at least two different events where employees drank from Gatorade or soft drink bottles that had dangerous chemical in them.
  
  Defining and training employees on safe work procedures is also fundamentally important. How to lift heavy equipment, or use hoists properly and safely in lifting heavy equipment, should not be assumed to be known by employees. The safe use of all tools and equipment should be explained and demonstrated, not assumed.
  
  Possible hazards during any work process in the shop should be explained and made known to employees so that they can perform their tasks safely. Sprained/strained shoulders, backs, and knees, and crushed fingers and toes occur all too frequently in bus shops throughout the country.
• Personal protective equipment - after you have created a healthier environment and provided knowledge to your employees, give them personal protective equipment for their safety and health. The use of latex gloves during almost any service operation is very worthwhile; in some cases, a heavier work glove is appropriate. Steel-toed shoes can minimize and, in some cases, eliminate toe and foot injuries resulting from contact with heavy objects. Safety glasses should be mandatory whenever performing any shop operation. Appropriate masks and aprons should be available for welding operations depending upon the particular process employed. Breathing filters and masks are necessary in painting and body shop operations.
  
  The company should provide most personal protective equipment for all employees and consider offering assistance in acquiring certain "all day wear" personal protective equipment such as steel-toed shoes. But what is most important is that none of the personal protective equipment should be optional for use. Part of the commitment to safety in the shop is to modify behavior of shop employees to use personal protective equipment at all times. Provide or specify the equipment to be used, provide training and information in its use and benefits, and then require its use.

Management has an advantage in achieving safe shop employee performance as compared to safe driver performance. Once a driver departs with his/her bus, it is difficult to know how he/she is performing. But, management can walk through the shop at any time of the day and observe performance of shop employees. Management's presence, coaching, and insistence on keeping the shop neat and clean, performing work as prescribed, and using personal protective equipment can create a safer work culture in the shop.

From where I am sitting, it is to your benefit to improve and maintain a clean and safe shop environment, to train employees in safe shop operations and hold them responsible for doing so. Even more importantly, it will be to their benefit, too.

*** Click here to visit the NADME training web site ***