COURSE NO- MIE 475

SAFETY
Safety of a person may be defined as “the minimization of contact between human and hazard and
predominantly concerned with the prevention of physical harm to a person” Safety of a/the plant means
“safe operation of all equipment, safe activities of working persons, safe storage of raw materials and
products.” In broader aspect safety refers to guidelines and efforts to keep people unharmed, to secure
assets, to have uninterrupted productions and to protect the environment.

WHY SAFETY?
Safety program becomes an integral part and obligatory item of industrial operation now a day, because of
the following aspects:

a. Moral and ethical aspects: Entrepreneurs or the management people employ the employees for different
jobs of the company and ultimately they become integral part of the organization. Management feels the
moral obligation to safeguard her employees from hazards or accidents.

b. Legal obligation: Government has introduced certain laws and acts to protect her citizens working in
industries and enterprises. There are some government agencies who impose certain rules for safe operation
and monitor such activities. They also impose fines or restriction on unsafe activities.

c. Financial obligation: accident has various implications. Losses due to medical expenses, workers
compensation, degrading morality of workers, loss of materials, equipment and properties, downtime of
production etc. which incurs huge involvement of money. It is beyond doubt that it is less costly to establish
and run an effective safety program rather than to happen accidents frequently.

d. Corporate reputation: Reputation and goodwill of a company is valuable asset of an enterprise. Safe and
uninterrupted operation of a business ensures steadiness and peace in the organization and also confidence
to the consumers.

e. Buyers Requirement: Sometimes buyer imposes condition for safe work environment for manufacturing
their products to fulfill the desire of their products’ customers.

f. Safety promotes productivity: Safety is an important criterion for increasing productivity. Safety
promotes productivity because of:

# Uninterrupted production

# Keep people moral high

# No unplanned shut down and production loss

# Better labor management relationship.

SAFINA-E-TAHURA SIDDIQUI
LECTURER, DEPT. OF ME
 COURSE NO- MIE 475

Fig.: Safety vs. Productivity

THE SAFETY TRIANGLE

Several studies showed that there is a triangle relationship between the frequency of minor incidents and
major ones. In other words, for each major accidents there will be many minor accidents and even more
incidents which do not result in injury at all. Actually minor accidents informs or gives alarm for the major
accidents to come. It is therefore obvious that by preventing minor incidents occurring the chance of a major
accidents happening may be reduced. Franl. E Bird, made an analysis of 1,753,498 accident reported by
297 cooperative companies. He found a ratio of relationship between minor and major accident events.

Fig: Safety triangle

SAFINA-E-TAHURA SIDDIQUI
LECTURER, DEPT. OF ME
 COURSE NO- MIE 475

1 –serious or disabling injury

10-minor injuries
30-Property damage accident
600- Incident with no visible injury or damage

SAFINA-E-TAHURA SIDDIQUI
LECTURER, DEPT. OF ME