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Every year, fires, explosions and other industrial
accidents result in many deaths and
cases of serious injury. Damage to property
often incurs hundreds of millions in costs.
Shifting the focus of the problem by having
insurance cover which pays up in the event
of damage or loss cannot be regarded as a
fully satisfactory solution.
The total costs generated by a major accident
exceed the compensation which can
be expected from the insurance companies,
and threaten the company's very survival:
the consequential damage caused by the
interruption to production in the company
in question can easily surpass the direct
damage. |
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Table 1 shows the costs of production
downtime (lost output) in selected industries
in Germany, while Table 2 lists the
repair costs and lost revenues incurred
by tunnel fires in recent years. |
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In many companies, the level of in-house
vertical integration has dropped to 15 percent,
i.e. companies are involved in a complicated
network of supply and delivery
relationships. Long-term supply agreements
concluded in order to secure favourable
purchasing costs and conditions on the one
hand, and customer orders won in the face
of increasingly tough competition on the
other, are forcing companies to ensure they
meet their obligations.
Given the growing globalization of all economic
processes, any extended period of
production downtime can mean the end of
a company.
On the other hand, companies can enhance
their competitive position if they are able to
guarantee a continuous output and delivery
capability. Companies therefore have to realize that it
is in their own interests to ensure the functionality
of their production processes by
implementing a holistic system of safety
management. In many companies, however,
safety is still seen as a tiresome "duty"
which – apparently – does not contribute
to value adding for the company. |
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Safety management is regulated
In Germany, safety management in industry
is regulated by |
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- laws and regulations (Occupational Health
and Safety Act, Fire Prevention Act etc.)
- Workplace guidelines
- Rules and regulations issued by the
professional associations
- Requirements of property insurance
companies
- The Law on Corporate Control and
Transparency, which has been in force
since 1998 (KonTraG).
§ 91 Subsection 2 of the AktG (Share Act),
for example, states: "The Executive Board
shall take suitable measures, establishing
in particular a monitoring system, to ensure
early recognition of any developments which
could threaten the survival of the company“.
The risk management system to be installed
in the company must be designed following
a holistic, complete and integrated approach. |
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Advantages
Besides their duty to comply with laws,
workplace guidelines etc., both professional
associations and property insurers offer
companies opportunities to secure financial
benefits for themselves by implementing a
system of total safety management: |
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1. A company may qualify to be classified
as a lower risk by professional associations
if the accident risk is significantly
lower than in other companies of the
same industry; |
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the company's working practices
significantly from those of other companies
in the same industry; |
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the reduced accident risk is achieved as
a result of changed working practices. |
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2. Cost savings in property insurance
premiums may be achieved because
property insurers assess the following
criteria, among others: |
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the general state of the company; |
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safety of buildings and fire prevention
measures in buildings; |
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organizational measures in the area of
safety management. |
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A holistic system of safety management can
positively influence the way a company is
evaluated by analysts or may have a favourable
effect when the company needs to apply
for a loan, e.g. to expand its production
capacities, especially in companies which employ complex production processes or
use hazardous substances etc. |
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To limit the consequences
There is of course no fail proof method
offering one hundred percent protection
against fires, accidents, explosions or
terrorist attacks.
It is therefore interesting to examine what
can be done to limit the consequences of
a fire, accident, explosion or indeed the
effects of a terrorist attack, to reduce the
number of victims and the extent of damage
to property, and in so doing to minimize
any lost output due to production downtime.
When an emergency occurs, there is a
"reaction delay" before the emergency
services, e.g. police, fire brigade etc., are able to take action (not before they
arrive on the scene!). During this time, the
incident may escalate if action is not taken
immediately to control the situation.
In future, this reaction delay is likely to
become even longer, given current demographic
trends such as the increasing ageing
of the population: there are simply
fewer and fewer young, capable emergency
personnel available (who can work with
respirators), e.g. to provide wide-area hazard
prevention by voluntary fire brigades. This
process will force countries like Austria and
Germany in particular, which have a very
large number of voluntary fire brigades, to
rethink their approach to hazard prevention
as conducted by organizations other than
the police. |
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Besides new technology for equipping hazard
prevention personnel and for early fire recognition systems, and fire prevention
measures which encompass all strata of the
population and all age groups, the emphasis
in future must be placed above all on a
total system of safety management and
on hazard prevention in companies. |
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Who is available?
Generally speaking, a company's staff and
managers are on site long before the professional
emergency services arrive at the
scene, and could take efficient initial action
to control the incident; this would be the
ideal preparation for the work of the fire
brigade and police.
However, such personnel are not trained
to respond in a rapid and concentrated
manner to fires, accidents, explosions or
terrorist attacks. Because they will not
regularly face genuine emergencies under
extreme conditions, there is no chance of
them "learning by doing".
Furthermore, they normally have very limited
knowledge of potential hazard sources and
scenarios, and of the procedures followed
by the professional emergency services.
Companies rarely review their hazard prevention
programmes in a practical or realistic
manner. |
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When emergencies occur in sports and leisure
centres, hotels and restaurants, shopping
centres, public transportation, hospitals,
or old people's and nursing homes, the best
hope for visitors, patients, passengers etc.
are often the staff and managers of the facility
in question, who assume responsibility
for the lives and health of those in danger.
A detailed analysis of different hazard situations
shows that it may be necessary to
have expert knowledge of hazard prevention
measures, but that this is not in itself
enough to ensure a correct response: the
key is to have the ability to access this
expert knowledge under conditions of
psychological and physical stress.
To efficiently carry out hazard prevention
measures, staff and managers must familiarize
themselves with the relevant safety
regulations and learn how to recognize
hazard situations, assess possible developments, initiate the necessary immediate
response measures (taking their own safety
into account) and develop new response
patterns in the event of danger. |
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A company's management must be in a
position to decide within the shortest time
possible on all the measures necessary to
restore business continuity, initiate these
measures and monitor that they are properly
implemented. It is worth establishing
Crisis Management Groups and giving them
realistic training before an incident occurs.
An important element of the work of Crisis
Management Groups is to pursue an offensive
information policy towards staff, the
local population, the media and the company's
management. Any damage to the
company's image which arises from an inappropriate
information policy will have a
negative impact on the company's success
and can only be corrected by time-consuming
and costly measures. |
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Training programmes
Dräger Safety has developed and made
available a series of training programmes
which have specific goals with regard to
hazard prevention measures (see list at
the end of this article): |
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1. To teach participants how to respond
appropriately under conditions of extreme
stress and in unfamiliar and unusual work
situations. |
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2. To develop management skills, e.g.
teaching participants how to collect, process
and communicate the information
needed to decide on a course of action,
how to take decisions and ensure that
these decisions are properly carried out. |
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3. To teach participants how to remain in
control of a situation even when performing
unfamiliar tasks in hazard situations. |
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4. To teach participants about the procedures
followed by professional emergency
service personnel and what to do in preparation
for their work. |
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One of the training programmes on offer
is an eco-friendly course in how to handle
portable fire extinguishers – this is a quick
and low-cost way to give all the employees
of a company practical experience in how
to fight incipient fires.
Courses for training fire prevention and
evacuation helpers teach participants about
the legal requirements with respect to fire
prevention and occupational safety and
health, about the immediate action which
needs to be taken (e.g. sounding the alarm),
and about the initial action which can be
taken to fight the fire and evacuate those
areas affected until such time as the police
and fire crews arrive.
For companies which do not have their own
works fire brigade, Dräger Safety trains
safety teams which take initial action to
control the incident using the emergency
equipment available in the company and, in
so doing, shorten any production downtime.
The course entitled "Training in how to behave
in hazard situations" is targeted mainly
at management staff. Participants experience
genuine stress situations under the
guidance of experienced behavioural instructors,
and are supervised by specially
trained safety experts.
The "Crisis management and communication"
seminar is intended for management
staff of companies, authorities and administrative
departments. |
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Seminar participants analyse the potential
for crises and incidents and the effects
these will have on the media and the public,
carry out case studies and investigate industry-
typical crises which have taken place in
the past, and are taught how to plan, implement
and monitor measures designed to get
the company "back to normal" as
quickly as possible. |
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Other areas covered by the seminar include:
– crisis management and media training for
managers and press liaison personnel;
– specific training for press relations, crisis
management and hotline staff;
– company-specific planning and role play
activities;
– realistic case exercises, simulation of
incidents;
– media intensive training/individual coaching. |
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Dräger Safety Star
Dräger Safety AG & Co. KGaA has created
a "Dräger Safety Star" which is awarded to companies which not only comply with all
safety requirements, but also implement
specific hazard prevention measures and
therefore maintain high safety standards for
their guests, visitors, customers and staff. |
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Growing demands for safety worldwide mean
that the Dräger Safety Star is becoming
more and more important. |
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Conclusion
There are risks which can threaten a company's
survival, yet these risks can be prevented
if a company's safety department
establishes a system of total safety management
and organizes, prepares and implements
appropriate hazard prevention
measures. |
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Company safety has become a key production
factor which can secure the company's
long-term success and increase the attractiveness
of its production site. |
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Services offered by Dräger Safety
– Creation of documents and review of
company's hazard prevention system
– Training in how to behave in hazard
situations
– Training in crisis management and
communication
– How to handle portable fire extinguishers
– Evacuation exercises
– Training of fire prevention and evacuation
helpers and company safety teams
– Work in confined spaces for supervisors,
operations managers and staff
– Work and rescue using ropes at workplaces
which at times are at high altitudes
– Hazardous substance management |
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Dr. Peter Schmiedtchen
Dräger Safety AG & Co. KGaA
Further information available at
www.draeger.com |
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