Engineering Practice in Singapore

Workplace Safety and Health

Adapted from Prof Lim Mong King (2016)

Updated by Dr Lum Kit Meng (2018)

Engineering Practice in Singapore - WSH

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 About Singapore
LAND, POPULATION & EMPLOYMENT (2016)
Land Area: 719.7 km2
Total Population: 5.607 million
Employment: 3.673 million
Key Sectors (by % Employment)
• Manufacturing:14.1%
• Construction: 13.7%
• Services: 71.5%
• Others: 0.7%
KEY OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH DATA
Workplace Fatalities Rate:
• 2013: 2.1 per 100,000 workers employed
• 2016: 1.9 per 100,000 workers employed
Source:
http://stats.mom.gov.sg/Pages/Singapore-Yearbook-Of-Manpower-Statistics-2018.aspx
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 OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT
Extract from Business Times - 31 Aug 2006

THE Minister of Manpower (MOM) and the Workplace Safety and

Health Advisory Committee (WSHAC) issued reminders that the
Risk Management regulations under the Workplace Safety and
Health Act will take effect from 1 Sep 2006.
Under the regulations, employers, self-employed persons and
principals (including contractors and sub-contractors) are
responsible for identifying safety and health hazards at workplaces
and to take appropriate actions to eliminate or reduce the risks
associated with the hazards.
Under the rules, a first-time offender is liable to a fine not
exceeding $10,000 while a repeat offender could be fined up to
$20,000 or imprisoned for a term not exceeding six months or both.
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 OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT
In Mar 2005, the Government announced key reforms to
improve Singapore’s Occupational Safety and Health (OSH)
standards.
These reforms are based on the premise that accidents can only
be prevented if all involved in the workplace take personal
responsibility for achieving higher safety standards.
The new framework aimed at reducing deaths at workplaces by
one third in five years, and by half within a decade or sooner.

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 OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT
The WSHA is an essential part of the new framework to cultivate good safety
habits in all individuals at the workplace – from top management to the last
worker. It requires every person at the workplace to take reasonably
practicable steps to ensure the safety and health of every workplace and
worker.
The 3 principle of the new framework are:
1. Reducing risk at source by requiring all stakeholders to eliminate or
minimize the risk they create at the workplace;
2. Instilling greater industry ownership of OSH standards. The focus will
be shifted from complying with the prescriptive requirements to making
employers responsible for developing work and safety procedures suited
to their particular situations in order to achieve desired safety outcome;
3. Preventing accidents through higher penalties for poor safety and
health management.
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?

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7
 OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT
The Workplace Safety and Health Act replaces the Factories Act
from 1 March 2006.
Key changes include:
1. It specifies liabilities for a range of persons at the workplace
instead of focusing on the occupier.
2. It focuses on effective management of workplace safety and
health to achieve a safe outcome instead of prescribing rules
3. It stipulates greater penalties for compromising safety and
health.
The WSHA will continue to cover the high-risk industries previously
covered by the Factories Act, ie. factories, shipyards and
construction worksites.
This Act has been expanded to workplaces in all sectors.
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 Workplace Safety and Health Act
The primary tool to effect the new framework
First Reading: 17 Oct 2005
Second & Third Reading: 17 Jan 2006 (passed by Parliament)
Assented to by President: 06 Feb 2006
Came into force: 01 Mar 2006
Enforcement of Risk Management from 01 Sep 2006

The unveiling of the new WSH framework marked a new

phase of development for WSH in Singapore.

The WSH Act covers the following:

All workplaces, unless exempted.
• Responsibilities of stakeholders.
• Hazardous substances.
• Machinery and equipment.
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 WSH Act Coverage
The WSH initially covered the more high-risk industries
Six new sectors were covered in the expanded Workplace Safety and Health Act
in Mar 2008. They included:
• Services allied to the transport of goods, such as logistics, freight
forwarding and cargo surveying services;
• Landscape care and maintenance service activities, such as grass-cutting;
• Water supply, sewerage and waste management, such as refuse disposal;
• Hotels and restaurants;
• Healthcare activities such as hospitals; and
• Veterinary activities.

Workplaces in these new sectors are expected to follow the key principles of
the WSH Act that advocates reducing risks at source, increasing stakeholders’
ownership and adopting a performance-based approach.
The Act eventually covers all workplaces to ensure the safety and health of all
workers since 2010.
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 WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT

The following are exempted from the Act:

1. The Singapore Armed Forces
2. The Singapore Police Force
3. The Singapore Prison Service
4. The Internal Security Department
5. The Central Narcotics Bureau
6. The Immigration and Checkpoint Authority
7. The Singapore Civil Defence Force.

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New Principles: To Change Mindsets & Culture
1. Reduce risk at source by requiring all stakeholders to minimise or eliminate
risks which they create Occupiers, employers, suppliers, manufacturers,
designers and persons at work will have responsibility to identify & prevent or
mitigate risks at source
2. Industry will be required to take greater ownership of safety outcomes
From Prescription to Goal Setting for safety Standards and practices. Employers
must develop actionable plans to achieve OSH desired outcome.
3. Prevent accidents through higher penalties for poor safety management
Greater financial incentives, disincentives and penalties
The WSH Act has four Key Features:
• It places responsibilities on stakeholders who have it within their control
to ensure safety at the workplace.
• It focuses on workplace safety and health systems and outcomes, rather
than merely on compliance.
• It facilitates effective enforcement through the issuance of remedial orders.
• It imposes higher penalties for non-compliance and risky behaviour.
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Stakeholders
Employer
As an employer, you must protect the safety and health of your employees or
workers working under your direction, as well as persons who may be affected
by their work.
Principal
A principal is any person or organisation who engages another person or
organisation to supply labour or perform work under a contract for service.
Occupier
In workplaces registered or notified as a factory, the occupier is the person
who holds the certificate of registration. In all other workplaces, the occupier is
the person who has control of the premises, regardless of whether they are
the owner of those premises.
Manufacturer or supplier
As a manufacturer or supplier, you must ensure that any machinery and
equipment or hazardous substances you provide are safe.
Employee
Self-employed
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 Driving Mindset/Behavior Change
Desired Change
Guiding Principles
From To

Hold accountable those Identifying & Eliminating

who create risks to Managing Risk Risks Before they are
Reduce Risk @ Source Created

Ownership of Compliance with Proactive Planning to

Safety Outcome “Letter of the Law” Achieve a Safe Workplace

Prevent accidents through

Poor Safety Management
Higher Penalties for Poor Accidents are Costly
is Costlier
Safety Management

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Critical Area # 1 – Effective Governance and Enforcement
Reduce
(a) A Flexible and Practical Regulatory Framework Risk @
• Focus on reinforcing concept of ownership Source
• Placing responsibility for workplace safety on all stakeholders
WSH (Incident
Reporting) Regulations
was enacted on 1
March 2006

Work Injury
Compensation Act
(WICA) came into
The Workplace effect on 1 April
Safety and Health WSH (Risk 2008, replacing
Act (WSHA) came Management) the Workmen’s
into effect on 1 Regulations came Compensation Act
March 2006, into force on 1
replacing the September 2006
former Factories Act
How best to implement WSHA? 15
Critical Area # 1 – Effective Governance and Enforcement
(b) Delivering Practical Assistance

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Critical Area # 1 – Effective Governance and Enforcement
(c) Robust Inspection Framework
• ensure that basic safety standards are not compromised.

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Critical Area # 2 – Creating a Progressive and Pervasive WSH Culture
Safety
古灵精怪 Outcome

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Critical Area # 2 – Creating a Progressive and Pervasive WSH Culture

Target: < 1.0 by 2028

Achieved 1.2 instead!

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 Critical Area # 2 – Creating a Progressive and Pervasive WSH Culture
Say “No” to Risks at Work

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Critical Area # 2 – Creating a Progressive and Pervasive WSH Culture
Elevating awareness of WSH among new sectors
• A year-long engagement programme
for face-to-face outreach to new sector
employees and heartland employers
• HOW it is executed?
o Guerilla-style awareness building
o Performances in
companies/association events

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Critical Area # 3 – Embracing New Challenges in Safety and Health
Education

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Better Defined Liability Regime to Reduce Risks at Source
Factories Act imposed liability primarily on the registered factory
occupier.
The WSHA assigns legal responsibility to those who create and
have management and control over safety and health risks
Occupier / Employer / Principal / Employee / Manufacturer &
Supplier / Erectors & Installer

Legal Requirement Workplace Safety & Health Act

It requires every person at the workplace to take “reasonably
practicable” steps to ensure the safety and health of every
workplace and worker.

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What is considered as reasonably practicable?
An action is considered to be practicable when it is capable of
being done.
Whether it is also reasonable usually takes into account:
• The severity of any injury or harm to health that may occur;
• The degree of risk (or likelihood) of that injury or harm occurring;
• How much is known about the hazard and the ways of eliminating,
reducing or controlling it (what others’ practising, standards..); and
• The availability, suitability and cost of the safeguards.
Measures necessary to
eliminate the risk,
including the cost
Risk of Accident involved, etc

A balancing act …
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25
Hazardous substances are defined under the WSHA
• Carcinogens.
• Corrosive substances.
• Explosives.
• Flammable substances.
• Gases under pressure.
• Irritants.
• Mutagens.
• Organic peroxides.
• Oxidising substances.
• Pyrophoric substances.
• Self-heating substances.
• Self-reactive substances Sensitisers.
• Substances hazardous to the aquatic environment.
• Substances that emit flammable gases when in contact with water.
• Teratogens.
• Toxic substances.
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The following machinery and equipment are covered under the Act:
• Scaffolds and any materials or components used to erect them.
• Lifting equipment.
• Forklifts.
• Power presses.
• Bar-benders.
• Equipment or piping intended for use under pressure, including all
statutory pressure vessels.
• Equipment or piping containing corrosive, toxic or flammable
substances.
• Welding equipment, including any accessory, apparatus or fitting
necessary to enable its use.
• Materials or components used for the construction of support
structures.
• Explosive powered tools.
• Equipment used for abrasive blasting, including any accessory,
apparatus or fitting necessary to enable its use.
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From: Office of Health and Safety
Sent: 11 Sep 2014 09:13 AM
Subject: Experiments using thermal reactors will cease for 2 days starting 11 Sep 2014
Importance: High
Dear Deans, Chairs, Directors and Safety Reps
• We have had THREE incidences from the use of the thermal reactors in the past two months.
• Two of the incidents involved the over-pressurisation of the reactors (typically 7mm thick
stainless steel case) which were completely ripped/deformed. The reactors exploded with
significant energy that the oven and furnace were completely destroyed.
• The last incident occurred yesterday.
• In each case, the risk assessments and procedures were found to be either not done or vastly
inadequate. Training was also very lacking. Many precautions and control measures were not
followed.
• Provost was informed that all experiments using such thermal reactors university wide will cease
for 2 days starting today 11 September.
• All schools and research centres are directed to review the use of such reactors and ensure
specific procedures and risk assessments are approved and communicated before the
resumption of the experiments using these thermal reactors.
• Safety officers will conduct check to ensure all such experiments using thermal reactors had
ceased from today and can only resume when the SOPs and risk assessments are done and
signed off by the PI/Lab manager.
• The guideline on the use of this reactor is attached for your reference.
• Please disseminate the information with urgency.
Chief Health and Safety Office
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Some definitions

Safety A state of being away from physical harm

Risk: A possibility that something unpleasant or undesirable

might happen
Hazard: Something which could be dangerous to you, your
health or safety, or your plans or reputation
Threat: Something or someone that may harm a person, thing,
organisation or system

Possibility - Something that might be true or might happen

Probability - A mathematical measurement of how likely that an
event will happen, expressed in a ratio

Hazard Identification & Risk Assessment

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Risk
Any uncertainty about future events that impact and organisation’s ability to
achieve its objectives.
Risk is measures in terms of its impact and the likelihood that it will happen.

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 RISK ASSESSMENT
Assessment of risk of aircraft accidents may be carried out in
different ways, from highly intuitive to very formal and analytical
models. It can be divided into 3 sub-tasks:
• Risk determination the probability of occurrence of risky
events and the likely consequences;
• Risk evaluation may be further divided into risk avoidance and
risk outcome;
• Risk measurement usually involving complex quantitative
measures of risk.
Air accidents are often viewed in terms of fatal events with the
system’s output defined as aircraft-km, seat-km, pax-km or
aircraft departures over a given period.

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Example
Risk Assessment – Richard Feynman on NASA
During the investigation into the Space Shuttle Challenger crash,
Feynman asked the engineering team to assess the probability of
an incomplete launch due to engine failure?
The answers from four engineers:
• Engineer 1: “99.44/100 % pure” meaning about 1 in 200
• Engineer 2: Complex statistical formula - about 1 in 200
• Engineer 3: 1 in 300
• Engineer 4: Cannot quantify. Reliability is judged from past
experience, quality control in manufacturing & engineering
judgment.
When pressed for an answer, the figure “1 in 100,000” was given.
This is the standard figure quoted by NASA personnel, but nobody
could explain how the figure was derived.
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Risk Categories
Identified risk: That risk that has been determined to exist using
analytical tools. The time and costs of analysis efforts, the
quality of the risk management program, and the state of the
technology involved affect the amount of risk that can be
identified.
Unidentified risk: That risk that has not yet been identified.
Some risks are not identifiable or measurable, but are no less
important. Mishap investigations may reveal some previously
unidentified risks.
Total risk: The sum of identified and unidentified risks. Ideally,
identified risks will comprise the larger proportion of the two.

Total Risk = Identified Risk + Unidentified Risk

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Risk Categories
Acceptable risk: The part of identified risk that is allowed to
persist after controls are applied.
Risk can be determined acceptable when further efforts to
reduce it would cause degradation of the probability of success
of the operation, or when a point of diminishing returns has
been reached.
Unacceptable risk: That portion of Total
identified risk that cannot be tolerated, but
must be either eliminated or controlled. Identified Unidentified
Residual risk: The portion of total
risk that remains after management Unacceptable Acceptable
efforts have been employed.
Residual risk comprises acceptable Residual
risk and unidentified risk.
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Example of HIDDEN RISKS
Organisational Factors Associated with HUMAN RESOURCE
1. Staff Morale
2. Inadequate manpower
3. Insufficient training leading to incompetence
4. Industrial culture not conducive to promoting safety
5. Reporting Culture
6. Administrative Policy – Just Culture
7. Succession Planning

Just Culture: they are not blamed for

‘honest errors’, but are held accountable
for wilful violations and gross negligence.
• An atmosphere of trust in which people are encouraged, and even
rewarded, for providing essential safety-related issues
• Supports learning from unsafe acts and helps to develop conscious
articulation and sharing of safety information
• Serves as an enabler, and even indicator of a good safety culture 35
Benefits Defined
Benefits are not limited to reduce mishap rates or to decrease
injuries, but may also be realized as increases in efficiency or mission
effectiveness.
Benefits are realized through prudent risk-taking. Risk management
provides a reasoned and repeatable process that reduces the
reliance on intuition.
Acceptability of Risk
Risk management requires a clear understanding of what constitutes
unnecessary risk, i.e., when benefits actually outweigh costs.
There are cases where risks were taken with no tangible benefits at
all.
Accepting risk is a function of both risk assessment and risk
management, and is often complex with many variables to consider,
some of which has very high uncertainties.
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Types of Societal Risk
• Real risk to an individual – determined on the basis of future
circumstances
• Statistical risk – meant for other people, eg fatal accidents on
motorways
• Predicted risk – from models, e.g. global warming, volcanic ash,
asteroid, …
• Perceived risk – intuitively felt by individual – Fear of flying
Voluntary or Involuntary Risks
Traveling by air represents voluntary exposure of risk to death or injury.
Living near an airport or a nuclear plant represents involuntary risks.
Risk may involve objectively or subjectively, known or assumed exposure
probabilities in relation to space, population and time dependence.
Dependent exposure probability to risk may be continuous, periodic or
cumulative.
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The Safety Risk component can be divided into 3 areas:
1. Hazard identification processes.
2. Risk assessment and mitigation processes.
3. Internal safety investigation.
Risk Assessment and Mitigation Process
Following the identification of a hazard a form of analysis is
required to assess its potential for harm or damage. This involves
three considerations;
a) Probability: The probability of the hazard causing adverse
consequences.
b) Severity: The severity of the potential adverse consequences.
c) Exposure: The rate of exposure to the hazard.
Risk Assessment and Mitigation Processes analyse and eliminate
or mitigate to an acceptable level risks that could threaten the
capabilities of an organisation.
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Principle of Risk Management
Risk management can be defined as:
• The eradication or minimisation of the adverse effects of
risks to which an organisation is exposed.

Stages of Risk Management

1. Identifying Hazards
2. Assessing their implications
3. Deciding on a course of action
4. Evaluating the results.

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1. Identify Potential Hazards
The most important step in any Risk Assessment –
hazards can only be controlled if they are identified

Equipment Procedures Agents

People Environment

➢ Each step is analyzed for potential inherent hazards

➢ Decision on the relevance of any particular hazard
come later in the risk assessment processes

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Take 5 - A Simple Risk Assessment

1 Stop and Look

2 Think through the Task

3 Identify Hazards

4 Control + Communicate

5 Do the Activity Safely

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 Risk Assessment

Student Activities
Hall Activities
Society Activities Identify Hazards
Curriculum Activities
Quantify Risks
Official Overseas Travel

Control Risks/Plan B

Safe Event

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 2. Assessing their implications

Sources Implications

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 3. Deciding on a course of action
Risk Concepts
What can go Wrong?

How likely is it? What are the Impacts

Risk Level

MANAGE RISK

Risk management also includes control and monitoring of risks,

as well as communicating these risks
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Risk Assessment Process
• IDENTIFY the hazards Step 1
• ASSESS the risks and available control measures Step 2
• MANAGE the risk Step 3
o CONTROL the risks through implementation of appropriate
control measures
o MONITOR the controls to evaluate their effectiveness
o COMMUNICATION of Risks & Controls

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Risk Assessment Flowchart
Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

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 4. Evaluating the results
Risk Assessment Template

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 Risk Evaluation
Severity Categories & Description
Human (Impact to Environmental Property
Level Biological Impact
Physical Being) Damage Damage (S$)
May not cause human disease, if does,
No Injury or light injury
the disease is unlikely to spread to the
(1) requiring only first aid
community and there is usually Reversible Up to $5,000
Minor treatment (MC < 4
effective prophylaxis or treatment
days MC)
available;
Can cause severe human disease, not
Any injury/ill health
ordinarily spread by casual contact
leading to ≥ 4 days MC
(2) from one individual to another; it may Reversible but $5,001 to
or ≥ 1 day
Moderate spread to the community, but there is takes years $50,000
hospitalization or leads
usually effective prophylaxis or
to temporary disability
treatment available
Can cause lethal human disease, may
be readily transmitted from one
individual to another, or from animal
Fatality, permanent
(3) to human or vice-versa directly or More than
Disability or life Irreversible
Major indirectly, or casual contact, it may $50,000
threatening disease
spread to the community; usually no
effective prophylaxis or treatment
available
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 Risk Evaluation
Likelihood Categories & Description

Level Events Frequency

Undesired event which may occur but unlikely,
(1) Remote
once in 5 years
(2) Possible Undesired event which is probable, once in a year

Undesired event which probably occur in most

(3) Frequent
circumstances, once or more in a month

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 Risk Evaluation
Risk matrix to determine Risk Level
Likelihood
Severity
Remote Occasional Frequent
Major Medium Risk High Risk High Risk
Moderate Low Risk Medium Risk High Risk
Minor Low Risk Low Risk Medium Risk

Likelihood
Severity
Remote (1) Occasional (2) Frequent (3)
Minor (1) 1 2 3
Moderate (2) 2 4 6
Major (3) 3 6 9

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 Risk Evaluation
Acceptability of Risk
Risk Risk
Acceptability
Recommended Actions
Score Level of Risk
No additional risk control measures required. To
Low
<3 Acceptable continue to monitor to ensure risk do not escalate to
Risk higher level.
Acceptable to carry out the work activity; however,
task need to be reviewed to bring risk level to as low
Medium Moderately
3–4 as reasonably practicable. Interim control measures
Risk Acceptable such as administrative controls can be implemented.
Supervisory oversight required
Job must not be carried out until risk level is brought
to at least medium risk level.
Risk controls should not be overly dependent on
personal protective equipment. Controls measures
High Not
>4 should focus on elimination, substitution and
Risk Acceptable engineering controls.
Immediate Management intervention required to
ensure risk being brought down to at least medium
level before work can be commenced. 51
 HIGH CONSEQUENCE INDUSTRIES
Life is too short for anyone to learn from his own mistakes.
High consequence industries shared resources in risk management.
Traditionally, high consequence operations include Nuclear Power
Station, Aircraft Carrier, Aviation, Petrochemical Plant and Offshore
Oil Drilling Platform
Today: Pharmaceutical and GM products are also included.
Research and experience from catastrophic failures over the years
have helped to improve the safety level.
For these industries, Accident & Incident Reporting and
Investigation are essential to the total safety equation. For
example, the aviation industry has developed more rigorous risk
assessment system.

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53
 Aviation
Value Meaning
Definition
5 Catastrophic Equipment destroyed. Multiple deaths.
A large reduction in safety margins, physical distress or
a workload such that organisations cannot be relied
4 Hazardous upon to perform their tasks accurately or completely.
Serious injury of death to a number of people. Major
equipment damage.

A significant reduction in safety margins, a reduction in

the ability of organisations to cope with adverse
3 Major operating conditions as a result of an increase in
workload, or as a result of conditions impairing their
efficiency. Serious incident. Injury to persons.

Nuisance. Operating limitations. Use of emergency

2 Minor procedures. Minor incidents.
1 Negligible Little consequence.

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55
 (Risk
Score ≤ 4)

(4 < Risk
Score ≤ 9)

(10 < Risk

Score ≤ 25)

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Risk Assessment
Risk Assessment involves taking into account the probability and severity of any
adverse consequences resulting from an identified hazard. Mathematical models
may give credible results but typically these analyses are supplemented
qualitatively by subjective critical and logical analysis of the inter-related facts. A
Risk Matrix is useful for assessing hazard. While the severity of the consequences
can be defined, the probability of occurrence may be more subjective, based on
the maturity of the organisation’s operational activities. The assessment process
should be recorded at each stage to form a substantive record.
Risk Mitigation
Risks should be managed to be as low as reasonably practicable. Risk must be
balanced against the time, cost and difficulty of taking measures to reduce or
eliminate the risk. The level of risk can be lowered by reducing the severity of the
potential consequences, reducing the probability of occurrence or by reducing
exposure to that risk. Corrective action will take into account any existing
defences and their inability to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Corrective
action should be subject to further risk assessment in order to determine that
the risk is now acceptable and that no further risk has been introduced into
operational activities.
Risk = Occurrence x Severity
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Hierarchy of Risk Control Measures

*PPE: Personal Protective Equipment

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 Risk Control
What can be done to control risks in the workplace?
Some measures are: (from most to least preferred)
• Elimination – eliminate the hazard from the workplace
• Substitution – substituting a hazardous substance or
process with a less hazardous one.
• Engineering controls – e.g. installing machine guarding
or enclosing a noisy machine.
• Administrative controls – e.g. applying a permit-to-
work system or lock-out and tag-out procedures.
• PPE – provision and use of these equipment, and
• SWP – Safe Work Procedures
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 Engineering Controls

• Consist of substitution, isolation, ventilation, and equipment

modification.

• These controls focus on the source of the hazard, unlike

other types of controls that generally focus on the employee
exposed to the hazard.

• The basic concept behind engineering controls is that, to the

extent feasible, the work environment and the job itself
should be designed to eliminate hazards or reduce exposure
to hazards.

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 Management/Administrative Controls

• Management controls may result in a reduction of

exposure through such methods as changing work
habits, improving sanitation and hygiene practices,
or making other changes in the way the employee
performs the job.

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 Additional Controls

Responsible person and timeline

• Additional control for risk rated more than 3 (medium
& high risk)
o REDUCE the risks to as low as reasonably practicable

• Who and When?

o Responsible person to implement the identified control
measures and
o Timeline for completion  update the risk assessment
upon completion of the additional control measures

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 Three Components of Safety Interventions

Behaviors – change the bad behavior

SMS – cultural change and takes a longer time
Engineering Controls – change the equipment and etc

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 Safety Culture Trilogy

HFEM – Human Factors and Error Management

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 SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM INTERVENTION
7 Key Areas
1. Management leadership
• vision, values, commitment
• safety goals & objectives
• costs of safety performance
2. Responsibility & accountability
• defined for management & employees
• accountable for performance
3. Safety organization
• safety committees
• safety staff resource
• safety budget

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4. Safe work practices & procedures
• general & job specific
• housekeeping
• contractors
• Emergency
5. Safety review & improvement
• a Plan / Do / Check / Act process
• accident investigation process
• safety audit / inspection process
6. Safety training
• Based on needs assessments
• Designed & presented effectively
• For both management & employees
• Results in observable changes in behavior on the job
7. Safety communications
• Internal & external
• Appropriate for audience
• Effectiveness of communication methods 66
 Acceptable Risk
“A thing is safe if, were its risks fully known, those risks would be
judged acceptable by reasonable persons in light of their settled
value principles.”
William W. Lowrance, 1976

Consultant in health research ethics and policy

If I told you that the probability of a poisonous release occurring

from the laboratory in our campus in one year is 1 in 20,000 –
would you consider that acceptable risk?
If I told you that the annual probability of you dying from a
transport accident is 1 in 6,000, how would you feel about the 1
in 20,000 odds of the poisonous release in our laboratory ?
Finally – If I told you that the annual odds of you dying from a fall
is also 1 in 20,000, does that change the way you feel about the
poisonous release in our laboratory?
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SOME EXAMPLES OF EXTREMELY HIGH RISKS
1. LHC – Black hole swallowing up the Earth
2. First Nuclear Explosion – Edward Teller vs Hans Berthe
3. Space Shuttle Columbia – heat shield tile
4. Space Shuttle Challenger – O-ring
5. Petrobras -World Largest Offshore Oil Platform (Mar 2001)
6. Apollo-13 aborted mission to the moon (April 1970)
7. Pandemic - SARS and H1N1
8. Volcanic Ash impact on flying aircraft
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
is the largest and most powerful
Utility Theory of Risk Management – Risk Appetite particle collider. By carrying out
The Soviet Satellite Story…. the experiment, the whole
earth will disappear but the
1. USSR satellite weighed 5 tons, US satellite was 500 kg.
probability is very insignificant
2. Are Soviet engineers 10 times cleverer than US engineers? and proceeded to carry out the
experiment.
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