Recently, there was one man killed and several others seriously hurt when a tank they were cleaning exploded. The article describing this accident talked about how high the injury and death rates are in Wyoming, in the oil industry, due to lacking a “culture of safety.”
There is no doubt that work in the oil and gas industry is tough and dangerous, but that is no excuse for disregarding the health and safety of the workers. Almost all the deaths occurred when safety procedures were not followed. There is plenty of safety information available relating to tank cleaning. Have we not learned the lessons of improper confined space/vessel entry?
But, the demands for production are high. People are pushed to do things faster and quicker so corners are cut and procedures are modified to make the work quicker and easier. Communications are difficult because the people are dispersed across many working units. Do we just say that this is the way it is and bad stuff happens or do we take the responsibility to create a culture of safety? I think that supervisors and managers need to step up to the problem and solve them like they have shown that they can solve other tough problems.
My mantra, as a Plant Manager, was:
“I don’t have a right to make my living at a place where it was okay for you to get hurt. Now we need to make money so let’s figure out how to do that safely.”
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