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Director (Human Resources) Partex Group
   Cost effectiveness is the be all and end all of competitive survival. We are all aware that to control costs we must reduce wastage of all resources. In the production environment the 3M; Men, Materials and Money are the most valuable identified resources that needs to be controlled. We hear a lot about wastage of materials and money. Whenever we hear of wastage of men or manpower we think in terms of over- employment and reduction in manpower as the usual problem. In our all out effort to eliminate manpower wastage, we tend to overlook industrial accidents as a major source of manpower related waste! Accidents are a major cause of manpower lost that may even result in damage to equipment, materials or death and disability of work person. Industrial safety in Bangladesh is unfortunately not recognised as one of the major elements of waste in the production process.
   Study and research elsewhere has established that any safety programme irrespective of the type of industrial operation has a member of basic elements which cut down man hour loss. From this it was concluded that we could make out a check list of key items and arrange various levels of compliance for these. The lists include over seventy items, divided, under five main headings. These heading are detailed out in the following paragraphs, which could be applicable to all industrial establishments, to contain man hour losses both directly and indirectly which are generally not considered in the cost equation.
   
   Premises & House keeping
   Well maintained, properly painted walls in (eye-friendly) light colours; like white or cream. Non skid floors, free from cracks, damages and dirt; Kept clean and orderly on a regular basis.
   Walls, roof, skylight and vent out lets of the building to be kept clean by regular removal of dust, cobwebs and even birds nests! These should be carried out without fail whenever the working activities are stopped for weekly or other shut downs. Cleaning of wall and roofs also involves cleaning of the machinery as the overhead dust and dirt falls over equipment which has to be covered up when cleaning of walls and roof is done. Finally all the dust and dirt comes to the floor which needs thorough cleaning. To sum up this is a major clean up job that needs to be done carefully, protecting all equipment.
   
   Machine Guarding
   This is a mandatory safety requirement and exposed chains, sprockets, pulleys and belts need to be protected and covered with robust guards. The object is to prevent any part of a person or his clothes from coming into contact with exposed moving machine elements or drive and cause a serious accident.
   
   Fire Prevention
   Fire prevention in industries can be of three distinct types each with its own needs. One is for operations that handle inflammable or explosive liquids, solids or gases. Manufacture of dissolved acetylene, oxygen and hydrogen are some common examples. The other type is process that handles materials which can ignite easily and may cause auto-ignition. Wood processing industries are a common example where dry wood dust and fines are a prime by product that can cause rapid ignition. The last type is any industry that can cause a fire during work. Foundries, metal fabrication industries are prime examples of this type of activity.
   
   Accident & Incident Recording
   Factory safety rules make it mandatory for the factory owners to record and report all lost time accidents. Every accident and incident where somehow or the other even if no serious damage or loss has occurred needs to be recorded and reported. The accident or incident needs to be fully investigated. Based on these investigations pragmatic preventive measures have to evolved, these need to be implemented to insure that such incidents do not happen again. This is the major area of weakness in the Bangladesh scenario where both the owners and the factory inspection authorities are at fault. Usually the factory owner tends to avoid reporting any accident unless he is hemmed in because of events beyond his area of influence and control, and the facts are public knowledge.
   
   Safety Setup
   Depending on the type of operation and man power employed in the process, the safety set up needs to be organised and established. Who ever is heading the safety set up must have easy and free access to top management to ensure that safety considerations are brought to notice and taken seriously. It should be independent of production and operational function.
   Quite often Human Resources Department personnel head the safety group, with support of process and technically competent officials and rotating periodic safety committee members from operating functions as the apex safety set up. This group should visit all factory areas on a regular base to see for themselves potential danger zones. This is a regular safety audit function and the observations of the audit team and recommendations are sent to top management as well as the persons responsible where unsafe practices or similar shortcoming are noted. The Human Resources function has an important and responsible role in implementing workplace safety, and following it up on a routine basis, ensuring at all times that safety and safe practices are not taken for granted.
   In more developed industrial society, safety is a very important and mandatory production function. Safety lapses are serious matters and the authorities concerned are harshly punished by the safety regulatory authorities for any acts of omission and commission. The financial liabilities are also sizeable and cannot be ignored. These factors ensure a work discipline that makes the work environment intrinsically safe.
   Unfortunately in Bangladesh, state safety regulation and intervention is a non starter! Like everything else, it is also relegated more to a routine than any prevention or inspection function based only on the whims and desires of the factory owner. The writer in his industrial work experience over decades has not seen any worthwhile safety audit, investigation or positive measures from our factory owners or inspection authorities who are primarily responsible for safety in the work place. The only positive approach was shown by multinationals or overseas project authorities nurtured in a safety work culture, and which was an eye opener to the writer, during his career with multinationals.