Case study
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Gus – my job
Transcript
Hi, I'm Gus. I work in a hardwood sawmill as the safety and training officer. One of my responsibilities is to make sure that we've got safe operating procedures for all machines and hazardous work processes. I also monitor everyone's compliance with the SOPs to check that they're doing the right thing. And I review the SOPs periodically to make sure that they're up-to-date with the way we're doing things. -
Forklift SOP
Transcript
We've got an SOP to cover forklift operation in the factory. Before anyone is allowed to drive a forklift, they need to get a WorkCover forklift licence, and then be taken through our worksite SOP. I assess them separately in their understanding of the SOP, and then they sign off as the operator and I sign off as the on-site trainer and assessor. -
Observation
Transcript
I monitor the safe operation of the forklifts on-site in several ways. Firstly, I keep an eye on the operators when I'm walking around the site. If I see them doing anything unsafe, I chip them about it on the spot. But sometimes I find that the SOP itself needs to be amended to specifically deal with an unsafe practice, or to spell out a particular way of doing something properly. -
Discussion
Transcript
We have a several ways of monitoring the SOP through verbal reports and discussions. There's a toolbox meeting once a week where the operators and their supervisor have the chance to discuss forklift issues. There's also a safety committee meeting once a month, where matters can be raised at a more formal level. And of course, anyone on-site can give me a verbal report at any time about the way the forkies are behaving, or about particular procedures that might need tightening up. -
Written Reports
Transcript
I used various types of written reports for monitoring forklift safety. The forkies themselves complete a pre-start checklist every day when they start work. There's also a maintenance schedule that's updated whenever the forklift is serviced or repaired. I use both of these documents to check that everything looks routine, and that no unusual patterns or wear and tear are developing. And I also carefully examine any incident reports that involve a forklift, to see what went wrong and how we can stop that sort of thing from happening again. Sometimes our follow-up actions include revising the SOP and re-training the forkies.