16 hours ago
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Man down. Do you save him? Tough question.
We had a safety meeting recently to go over our current Lock Out Tag Out procedure and Confined Space procedures due to our upcoming shutdown. Pulp mill to shut for upgrades. Years back we had an operator become overwhelmed by I think chlorine gas fumes and he passed out in a tank. Another operator went in the tank without safety gear and pulled him to safety, saving his life, but he endangered himself. The hero was publicly reprimanded, and Louisiana Pacific subjected all the workers to a funky corny video of workers passing out in a tank and then fellow workers passing out one by one trying to save them. That is just a tough situation to be in. There is a risk analysis assessment that has to be faced within seconds. I just hope and pray all 500 plus workers will be safe this shutdown.
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3 comments:
As SG1 says, we never leave our people behind.
If LP reprimanded him today, a carefully placed link on a social networking site leading to a news report would elicit angry comments from around the world and net that fellow a few national TV appearances, maybe a job offer.
A congrats that the hero is still alive, and saved someone would be in order. However a stern reprimand is also in order and deserved.
Where was the air quality monitors? Fans to bring in fresh air? How far away was the safety gear? Was the original operator wearing safety gear?
Probably an OSHA violation to go in after someone without safety gear.
Sorry, but luck will not save you every time. In this case it did.
What is the long term effects these people will have?
In the military, during a NBC attack, you are trained to get your own MOPP gear on 1st(<9sec for mask) then help your buddy. You can't save anybody if your dead.
What would you of blogged if they both died? Or more? How would the families feel?
LP was right. Bad habits are hard to break. By doing it pubicly, it taught the workers how to do things right.
The problem could be solved by shutting it down forever. Yeah!!!!
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