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N E W S Kajal Lachhani Project Manager MEMgt graduate www.engineeringnews.co.nz 15 These things waste time, money, and productivity. Worse, in many cases they can actually expose us to greater risk. A common example of increased risk is the wearing of safety glasses. Safety glasses detract from our natural vision and senses in several ways - fogging, limiting or obscuring of peripheral vision and immediate upper and lower frontal vision, irritation and pressure). By wearing safety glasses, we are imposing additional risks on the wearer – so we had better have a really excellent reason for forcing this increased risk on all our staff in our industrial plants. It is infinitely better to simply wear safety glasses where there is an actual risk to the eyes. When worn under earmuffs the glasses prevent the earmuffs from doing their job, thereby exposing us to real hearing damage over time, whilst looking like we are ‘being safe’. You get the idea?’ Everything here has happened to me. Don’t get me wrong, at MESNZ, we are all for keeping people in plants safe and healthy – but we achieve far better results by using simple logic and keeping it real. So, in the test and tag example, portable appliance testing (PAT) can be done in-house, and it does not have to be carried out by a registered electrician. PAT testers do need to be competent and trained, there needs to be a good standard of record keeping, and if faults are identified during testing or when undertaking pre-use checks, any un-safe appliances need to be taken out of service immediately. This is the standard, simple, basic stuff. It is a little bit like a pilot checking the aircraft before flight – just because the plane was checked yesterday doesn’t mean it is safe to fly today. An extension lead unknowingly damaged this morning (but still with a current tag on it) could kill you this afternoon if the user does not give it a five-second check for obvious damage before use. A company that just gets its gear tested and tagged every six months looks like it is doing a great job of Health & Safety, but unless it also has RCD’s and does pre-use checks, the users are lulled into a false sense of security. It is just lip service with no staff engagement in real health and safety. Come to the MESNZ’s National Maintenance Engineering Conference in Hamilton this November 15 & 16, and learn of many other things that you don't have to waste your precious resources on (www.nmec.co.nz). Have your eyes opened by the enlightening presentation ‘The Emperor is wearing Fluoro Clothes’. Take the learnings back to your plant and benefit from immediate increases in staff health and safety engagement and workplace safety. Detection is prevention Industrial Scientific, a larger player in gas detection, has announced the release of iNet Now Live Monitoring Software. iNet Now enables real-time monitoring of worker location, environment, and status. Should a worker encounter a gas hazard, be immobilised, or have the need to escalate a condition through a panic alarm, text and email alerts, including a map of the area, are sent to designated contacts. By using iNet Now, workers can have peace of mind that potentially dangerous conditions or situations will be escalated to someone able to take action. iNet Now Live Monitoring Software provides several advantages that lead to better overall safety and productivity and includes a live map displays the status and location of workers, eliminating the cost and time it takes to complete manual check-in processes as well as automated alerts are activated when emergency situations occur, triggering responders and equipping them with a detailed understanding of the situation. Lead the next generation of engineering companies The Master of Engineering Management is a flexible, interdisciplinary programme, which offers practical business perspective required in engineering and tech-based organisations. Learn more at engineering.auckland.ac.nz/memgt ENGINEERING EN245


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