Reviews of SafeSteel

Steel Industry video training programme

 

The sight of steel workers being injured after their colleagues fail to stop them from acting unsafely is used to good effect to highlight the importance of employees taking responsibility for other people's health and safety in 'SafeSteel', a new high-quality video training programme for the steel industry.

 

The programme - which has been devised by the steel contracting company MultiServ - is designed to encourage steel workers to take action to prevent accidents at work. It features a 23-minute-long video containing dramatised scenes of workers being injured after a colleague fails to stop them from undertaking an unsafe working practice.

In particular, the video opens with a worker being struck by a fork lift while standing on a ladder. This scene - which shows one of the injured man's colleagues failing to warn him of the impending danger - is followed by another scene illustrating how the accident could have been prevented. In this scene, the worker, is shown intervening to halt the lift truck before it strikes the ladder, ordering the man on the ladder to erect a safety barrier around his working area.

 

This is followed by further scenes showing another worker slipping on an oil spillage after one of his colleagues fails to warn him of the danger, and a man falling from a mobile elevating work platform because another worker forgets to remind him to wear a safety harness.

 

An ideal tool for improving the safety attitudes of steel workers, the programme comes supplied with a comprehensive trainer's manual - including photographs of unsafe working practices that can be used as part of a staff training session. The programme is also available in seven languages - including English, French, German, Italian and Spanish - while Arabic and African language versions are due to be launched in the near future.

Safety Management - February 2001 - Page 53

Safe Action for Everyone in the Steel Industry

 

This video is based on a cross-section of actual accidents that have occurred in the steel industry worldwide.  While it avoids being sensational or gory, SafeSteel punches home the point in no uncertain manner that these incidents were preventable.

 

Aimed at influencing the behaviour of those at the "sharp end" - the manual workforce - the video portrays a number of scenarios in which personnel, while happening upon or observing potentially hazardous situation, have two options (now available in 19 languages - 2005).

 

The first option is that of taking No Action, whereby the accident occurs.  The second option is to take Safe Action and therefore break the chain of accident causation. The message is put across in a simple and accessible manner, and with one exception - concerning the hazards associated with hot slag - the cases are universally applicable and not confined to the steel industry.

 

The video begins with a scene in which one of the lead characters ensures, as a matter of course, that his children are "belted up" in the back of the car before going to school, thus establishing the basic theme - taking personal responsibility for safety.  The production swiftly moves on to look at the workplace.  The theme is maintained throughout the various workplace settings depicted, the point being made in each case that the behaviour and approach of individuals can make the difference between an accident occurring (by taking No Action) and being prevented (by taking Safe Action).  The message that Safe Action is the responsibility of all employees, and not just those with "safety" in their job titles, is thus driven home.

 

It is now taken as axiomatic that affecting the behaviour of individuals - the inculcating of a safety culture - is vital if improvements in safety performance are to be found.  SafeSteel - the safe being an acronym of Safe Action for Everyone - squarely addresses this area in a direct and no-nonsense manner.

 

Not at all technical in nature (as mentioned earlier, there is only one wholly steel-related scenario), the video reduces the problem to its essentials and gets the message over in unequivocal terms that accidents are preventable and action is taken to prevent them.  More importantly perhaps, given the target audience, is the message that everyone and anyone can, and should contribute to this.

 

Although not ground-breaking in itself, this video is nevertheless an effective addition to the "toolkit" of those who seek to maintain a cultural change with regard to safety in the steel industry.

Health & Safety at Work - March 2001 - Page 40