Lack of Safety Awareness

Other day I was travelling in a Auto Rickshaw and was delighted to see that There are provisions made to keep the fire extinguishers ,that can be used in case of eventualities.But this moment of delight was temporary.I saw that the news paper was stuffed in the place that was meant for fire extinguisher.Just asked the Driver for this Great(??) action of him,the reply was "I do not require this and there cannot be any fire in his auto".He also informed me that the manufacturing company has made such provisions just to make the auto to look good.....
God save our country!

Updates on Swine flu available at Health Ministry Website

I am sure most of you are tracking our Indian Ministry for Health and family Welfare Website.This website has a separate dedicated link for Swine Flu updates.
Do track this website regularly to obtain information on various aspects,measures taken by the ministry and also Daily Press releases.
You can use the informations in the website and specifically in the Draft plan for Pandemic preparedness and response to prepare a plan that would suit your community or office

Very good and updated informations are available in this website.Hope this information is helpful

Pandemic Phases : Phase 1 to Phase 6

The World Health Organization(WHO) has raised the Pandemic alert for H1N1 Influenza A(Swine Flu) to Level 6.This has caused 'situation of panic' among many countires.However,what we fail to understand is the meaning of this!!.The alert level has been raised on the basis of spread and certainly not on the basis of severity.
It is important to understand what does different phases.There are actually 1-6 phases and each of these are described as follows:

• Phase 1 : Low risk of human cases
• Phase 2 : Higher risk of human cases
• Phase 3 : No or very limited human to human transmission
• Phase 4 : Evidence of increased human to Human transmissions
• Phase 5 : Evidence of significant Human to Human transmission
• Phase 6 : Efficient and sustained Human to Human transmission

I hope this information helps in better understanding!

Have a Influenza-free life!!!!!!

EHS- Head of Department required

One of the reputed company in Bangalore is looking for a person to head the EHS function.Interested candidates can send in your resume to
sunny@abcconsultants.net
Requirements:

• 10-15 years of experience
• Good knowledge of EHS practices,Policies,Legal requirement

So,wishing you all the best!

Asst EHS Manager required

One of the reputed company is looking for an Asst Manager-EHS.The candidate must be a BE degree holder and must have proficiency in Local language Kannada.

For more information contact veena@imsysindia.com

Best of luck!

Watch out - Color to your eyes,Poison to your health

I just thought of sharing this with you,after my visit to a vegetable shop yesterday.Just look at the photo carefully.The GREEN peas.This is what attracted me.I just took few peas and rubbed it with water.The color of the water changed to green.This means that the peas are smeared with some chemicals,to give it a fresh look!!!

I asked the shop owner about this.He politely told me "this is not for "You".Go for something else."...Well if this is not for me certainly it must not be for "You" right???

This is what we mean when we say"Color to your eyes,Poison to your health"..

So WATCH OUT!!!!!!!!!

Yahoo Groups -Environmental Health & Safety

There are lot of Yahoo groups related to EHS.But the following are the groups I found very active,in which all informations related to EHS are exchanged and discussed.These groups have EHS professionals across various industries.You may like to join

• India Safety Professionals Click here to join
• Universal Safety Professionals Click here to join

I am already a member of these two groups and has tasted the usefulness of these groups.So thought of informing you

Earth Hour Campaign -Participate in it

This years Earth Hour will be on 28th March.All the building lights will be switched off from 8.30pm-9.30pm.
Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour.
This year it is estimated that more than 1 billion people will participate in this campaign,by switching off the lights..both at home and at office.
You can visit this website to know more about Earth Hour campaign.
Participate in this program and also spread this message in your community/friends......Let us do our bit for the environment
After all let us not forget "Little drops of water makes a mighty ocean".

One tip for energy saving

The buzz word currently making rounds is the Cost reduction.In a company like atmosphere,it is very important for everyone to contribute for Cost reduction.
One area which each and every individual can contribute is in energy saving.Just give a thought on the following tip

• The AC temperatures in most of the offices are set in the range of 21-23oC.Just think whether this range ia actually required.Try to change it to 24-26oC.Out body may take some time to adjust,but sure this will not be uncomfortable,as we get used to it.

You will surely contribute to energy saving......Hope that you will give it a try....What say you???

New Rules - Hazardous waste

Many of my friends have been asking me about the new rules related to Hazardous waste Management.Well....its easy to find Click here to find the new rule ..The Hazardous Wastes (Management,Handling and Transboundary Movement) Rules,2008.
Hope this helps!!

Environmental engineers required

Hi All
Bangalore based MNC requires environmental engineers for its new project.The requirements are as follows:

• 2 Years of minimum experience in environmental field
• Good knowledge of legislations
• EMS and ISO 14001

You may send your resume to this Id

If interested,you may want to apply.Freshers need not apply for this post.

Regards

Conducting Safety Quizes :Awareness increasing tool for sure

Conducting the safety quiz :This is the method used by many and specially the EHS professionals to keep the knowledge and awareness current.Safety quizes are conducted in Schools,Colleges and Companies and the general response to this is always good.This also gives an opportunity to the quiz master to updates his knowledge and skills.
Browsing through the internet ...google search,I found the following websites very useful

• Environmental quiz
• Electrical safety quiz
• Chemical safety quiz
• Kid's quiz
• Home safety

Of course,if you search through the web,you will find a lot of websites related to EHS quizes.Hope this information helps.Also do not forget to read about the safety quiz which I had hosted on this blog

Parking ethics - Park vehicles properly without troubling others

This was my observations yesterday,when I visited a famous shopping mall.Look at the photo,which is self explainatory.

I do not know who parked first ,but it will be really interesting to see who will take out the car first!!!!

We all must understand the mirthy proverb of the world-:"Live and let live".We do not have rights to trouble others.If you do not get a parking slot,or do not know how to park,then just get out of the mall do not trouble other users.

Language converter :Useful tool for Preparing training material

All professionals will agree,that most effective way of training,is to present to the trainees in the language they understand.It is often found that,majority of the trainers use English as the medium of training.

Just imagine that,you are training a group of contractors on construction safety and they only understand languages like Kannada,Tamil etc.Then to make the session more interesting,prepare the training material in trainees langauge.

Here is a tool.When you click on this,you get a typing space and choose the language you want and type the pronounciation in english.Corresponding local language letters will appear.After this it is easy to cut and paste this on a poerpoint or word training material

It really helps.Try this out and give me your feedback

Celebrate Diwali Safely

It is the festival of lights and is celebrated with lot of enthu from people of all ages.I wish you alla happy and prosperous Diwali.Yes....In this enthu kindly do not forget

• To ensure your's and your family's safety while bursting crackers


• Never allow children to burst crackers without you being around


• Always keep the first aid like plasters/band aid,Ointments ,so that they are readily avaiable


• Ensire that you do not inhale too much of a smoke .that generated after bursting of the crackers


• Never allow the sparks to get into your eyes


• As far as possible burst low decibel crackers...If you cannot than atleast ensure that the children and Old aged persons are at safe distance.


• Keep the contact number of the nearby hospital ready.

Wishing you a Happy Diwali again and thanks a lot for reading this safety message on my blog

Check Expiry Dates before you purchase medicines

Just a small reminder for all.....when you intend to buy medicines next time in a medical store,do not forget to check the expiry date on it

Do remember that the medicines are inaffective after the expiry date and may result in serious side effects.

The other day,when I visited a medicine shop,I saw a person purchasing the medicines.Out of curiosity ,I asked him whether he has checked the expiry date.The reply I got was a shock.He said that he only checked the price and not the expiry date.

Many of us,as a result of our hectic schedule.may forget to check this....But always remember that ,this cannot be an excuse!!!

Emergency Escape route :Keep it clear and clean

Just thought of writing this post after my return from an audit.
We must always ensure that the emergency escape routes/staircases are free of obstructions.Kindly ensure that you do not store any materials in this path,as it would proove detrimental in case of real emergency.
The route/path must be free,so that people can easily run out and evacuate as early as possible.
I think below are the few measures you can take to ensure this:

• Include checking the emergency escape route/path as a check-point in your Housekeeping cheklist and let this be checked atleast once after the end of the shift(No problem,if your housekeeping persons wants to check this every hour/frequently)
• Educate all employees on the importance of following this very important rule
• Display good visual controls,to inform all that it is not a good practice to block emergency escape routes

Pollution Pollution every where! no place to spare

I have been always telling people proudly about my native district Uttara Kannada's(Karwar) greenary and the way people are preserving the environment.

But this time around when I travelled to my native place Kumta,I decided to give a try and confirm whether my understanding was correct.

While driving I observed lot of plastic waste being thrown all the way.The above photoes I took at a small canal in karki ,a place near Honnavar says the story.You can find lot of plastic wastes just thrown around all places including the small canals,rivers(including the famous river Sharavathi).

I hope commonsense prevails and the people become aware of these issues.I am confident that the people of uttarakannada will surely understand the importance of saying "No to Plastics"

Parking ethics - Do not block fire fighting equipments

This is what I found ,when I visited Ginger Hotel at Pantnagar,during my visit this time.The hotel had fire hydrant posts near the parking area.The hotel authorities had designated the area infront of this hydrant post as a No parking area.During my observation,I saw a car being parked in this no -parking area,right infront of hydrant post.I tried talking to the driver of this car and tried to educate him on this to which initially he said that,he does not care.But when the importance of the hydrant post was told to him,he oblized and removed the car and parked in a different location.

I had the pleasure of atleast educating a person!

Save Water - Do not waste the resource

This is the common scenario.Many of us speak a lot on natural resource conservation.But what about actually practising it?

Leaking taps,leaking water supply pipes are common scenes in our house,our localities.Whenever you observe this,kindly take immediate countermeasure-calling the plumber,or immediately informing the water supply board.

Kindly do not neglect the water resource.If I remember correctly,I had read an article on internet that the third world war will be fought on the issue of water.

Remember:

• Use water carefully,do not waste water


• Ensure that the tap is closed when you are applying soap/handwash.Turn the tap on only when you finish rubbing your hand with soap solution


• Adopt rainwater harvesting


• Do not unnecessarily water plants during rainy season


• Spread the message to your family,friends and network