Commercial diving/Basic diving operation management and planning

Relevance: Scuba diving, Surface supplied diving, Surface oriented wet bell diving.

Required outcomes:

1. Discuss the role and importance of job descriptions and the specific duties and responsibilities of dive team members
2. Describe minimum personnel requirements for dive teams including training, experience, competence and team selection
3. Discuss dive planning and the assignment of tasks within the planning
4. Discuss the role of emergency evacuation procedures and their development
5. Discuss the purpose of safety meetings including job safety analysis (JSA) and Toolbox talks
6. Discuss the importance of and responsibilities in Tag out/Lock out and Permit to Work systems (PTW)

Job descriptions and duties of the dive team members

Job description

A job description is a written description of a specific job. It may be based on the findings of a job analysis, is usually in broad, general terms and usually includes the job's title, the duties, purpose, responsibilities, scope, and working conditions of the job, and the designation of the person to whom the employee reports.

Components:

Job title

The official title of the position in the organisation

Job summary

Responsibilities and duties

core responsibilities of the position

day-to-day activities of the position

how the position fits into the organization, and possible promotion and development routes

working conditions, hours etc.

Qualifications and skills required

education

certifications

technical skills

Core members of a commercial diving team

Working diver

Without a diver there would be no diving operation and no need for a diving team. The rest of the team is support for the diver who will do the necessary work.

Work in progress - Content must still be added to this section.

generic job description of the diver

Diver's attendant

The diver's attendant (or tender) assists the diver when out of the water, and manages the diver's umbilcal from the surface

Work in progress - Content must still be added to this section.

generic job description of the tender

Panel operator

The panel operator manages the surface supplied diver's breathing gas supply and communications. This function is often performed by the supervisor.

Standby diver

The standby diver is a fully competent diver who is available at all times during the dive to go to the assistance of the working diver if needed. This is a safety requirement based on the inherent hazards of diving, and is intended to mitigate the unavoidable residual risks associated with breathing and working underwater. If all goes according to plan, the standby diver does not need to dive. (see Diving regulations}

Work in progress - Content must still be added to this section.

generic job description of the standby diver

Diving supervisor

The diving supervisor is the person legally in control of the diving operation and responsible for safety. The supervisor must be present at the control area and in direct control of the operation at any time that there is a diver in the water. (See Diving regulations)

Work in progress - Content must still be added to this section.

generic job description of the supervisor

Minimum personnel requirements for the dive team

The regulations prescribe the minimum commercial diving team size to be four. Supervisor, diver, stand-by diver and tender. The diving project plan should address the requirement for diving team numbers and specify the team size necessary for a particular operation or task. Basic underwater tasks in controlled circumstances can be safely completed using a four man diving team, but as the complexity of the operation increases, the need for additional members of the dive team will generally also increase.

See annexure B to Diving regulations.

Annexure B: Minimum manning levels

Depth range	Scuba air/nitrox	Surface supplied air/nitrox	Surface supplied mixed gas	Saturation diving
0 - 15 m	1 x Diving supervisor 1 x Diver 1 x Standby diver 1 x Line attendant	1 x Diving supervisor 1 x Diver 1 x Standby diver 1 x Line attendant	1 x Diving supervisor 1 x Diver 1 x Standby diver 1 x Line attendant 1 x Dive technician	12 hour per day operations 1 x Saturation supervisor 4 x Life support technicians 2 x Systems technicians 2 x Saturation divers 2 x Saturation standby divers 2 x Mixed gas surface standby divers 24 hour per day operations 1 x Diving superintendent 2 x Saturation supervisors 4 x Life support technicians 2 x Systems technicians 4 x Saturation divers 2 x Saturation standby divers 2 x Mixed gas surface standby divers
15 - 30 m	1 x Diving supervisor 1 x Diver 1 x Standby diver 1 x Line attendant	1 x Diving supervisor 1 x Diver 1 x Standby diver 1 x Line attendant	1 x Diving supervisor 1 x Dive technician 1 x Diver 1 x Standby diver 1 x Line attendant
30 - 50 m	1 x Diving supervisor 2 x Divers (buddied up) 1 x Standby diver 1 x Line attendant	1 x Diving supervisor 1 x Diver 1 x Standby diver 2 x Line attendants	1 x Diving supervisor 1 x Dive technician 1 x Diver 1 x Standby diver 2 x Line attendants
50 - 70 m	No diving allowed	No diving allowed	1 x Diving supervisor 1 x Dive technician 1 x Diver 1 x Standby diver 2 x Line attendants
70 - 300 m	No diving allowed	No diving allowed	No diving allowed

Work in progress - Content must still be added to this section.

when new regs gazetted, 2018?

Dive planning and assignment of tasks

The diving contractor will decide on the code of practice to be used for the project or specific operations within the project, and is responsible for ensuring that the scope of work to be done is within the scope of the code of practice authorised for that work. The codes of practice and the operations for which they are authorised should be specified in the diving project plan.

The supervisor appointed for each diving operation is responsible for ensuring that the operation complies with the diving regulations and the requirements of the diving contractor’s operations manual. The code of practice authorised for the operation may be referred to for guidance.

The planning of a diving operation may be simple or complex. In some cases the processes may have to be repeated several times before a satisfactory plan is achieved, and even then the plan may have to be modified on site to suit changed circumstances. Try to keep the plan flexible and simple, but consider all the likely contingencies and plan to deal with them appropriately and efficiently. Never assume that the client has planned for contingencies or that their knowledge of the site conditions or work to be done is accurate.

The diving contractor is responsible for safety and provision of appropriate equipment, and the supervisor is an agent of the diving contractor. A diving project may consist of a number of diving operations. Each operation is under the control of the supervisor for that operation.

Communicate with the client regarding the job requirements

The diving contractor will develop specifications for the operation in cooperation with client. The client will generally specify what work is to be done, and the diving contractor will deal with the logistics of how to do it. It will be necessary to specify the following:

• Work to be done
• Equipment needed
• Procedures to be used
• Personnel required
• Places
• Times

Evaluate tasks and schedule dives

• Break the operation down into smaller tasks.
• Allocate tasks to dives according to amount of time required and logical order.
• Estimate run time of each dive in sequence, allowing for any required decompression.
• Estimate preparation time for each dive.
• Draw up an estimated schedule allowing a realistic time for each part of the operation.

Select equipment to be used which is appropriate to the task

• Identify and source suitable tools and equipment for each task.
• List equipment and produce checklists for equipment. The checklist should indicate that the required equipment is present and has been checked to be legal and in good functional condition.

Research the site

Get information on topography/layout of site, including depths, access, tide and currents, etc

Conduct HIRA appropriate to the planned operations and site

• Use worksheet, site data and hazard list to produce HIRA report about the site.
• Use work specifications and hazard list to extend HIRA report to include proposed operations.
• Use HIRA to re-assess plans.

Allocate appropriate dive teams to suit skills of available personnel

Check that dive team members will be available on the planned days. Check that divers are in date and suitably qualified. Allocate teams taking into account competence, special skills, experience of the divers and equipment to be used. Provide alternative/additional personnel if a cost/benefit analysis indicates this would be appropriate.

Ensure that all necessary operation-specific training is done

• Consult dive team members to find out if they are familiar with equipment and procedures needed for the job.
• Arrange training where necessary.

Ensure that dive platform is suitable, boat is seaworthy, skipper is competent for diving operations

Check that the dive platform is suitable for the operation

Check that the platform/vessel has the following features:

• A suitable work area. This must provide enough space for the diving team to safely operate equipment, and should provide sufficient shelter for sensitive equipment and materials.
• Secure storage for equipment during transit and during operations. This includes facilities for fixing heavy equipment in place in case of rough weather.
• Suitable transit facilities for personnel.
• Suitable access to the water and safe means of re-boarding for divers (make allowance for the equipment to be used – helmeted divers require a ladder or diving stage, masked divers may be able to scramble over the gunwales or onto a platform)
• Means of recovering a disabled or unconscious diver from the water.
• Sufficient and accessible space to manage a casualty on the vessel.
• The skipper can see the working area or can communicate by 2-way voice communications with the supervisor at the working area.
• The vessel is adequately stable for the load to be carried and operational requirements ( This may require consultation with an expert. Ski-boat skippers are not required to be able to calculate stability.) Calculation of stability may require reliable values for weight and size of equipment. The skipper is responsible for safety of the vessel but can not be expected to ensure this if not provided with valid information on the load to be carried. The diving contractor is responsible for supplying such information when it relates to diving equipment and personnel.
• Additional anchors and lines if required for positioning.
• Adequate lifting gear if required for loading equipment and operational requirements.

The platform/vessel has the following equipment or it will be supplied by the diving contractor:

• Diving flag and if required other diving signals. (lights for night operations, shapes for day operations if the size of vessel is appropriate)
• First Aid equipment required by the operations manual and code of practice authorised. (the vessel must also have the first aid equipment required by SAMSA for the class of vessel, but this is generally a lesser requirement than for diving operations.
• Oxygen and administration equipment as required by the operations manual and code of practice authorised.
• Shot-lines, markers, drift lines and grab lines as may be required.
• GPS receiver, Depth measuring equipment (echo sounder, fish-finder, sonar etc. as required)
• Power supply for required equipment if applicable.

Check certification required for the boat (small craft)

• The boat must have a Small Vessel Seaworthiness Certificate of Fitness and in-date license disc which corresponds to the vessel’s registration number.
• The boat must have an in date Local General Safety Certificate
• The boat must have a flotation/buoyancy certificate.
• The boat’s radio equipment should have a radio licence which is in date

Check certification required for the skipper: The skipper must hold a certificate of competence which:

• is valid for the class of vessel
• is valid for the operational range
• includes a Diving endorsement
• includes a Surf Launch endorsement if applicable

The skipper or a crew member should hold a radio operators licence suitable for the radio equipment on board

Plan dive profiles and calculate gas requirements for the dives

• Plan dive profiles taking into account the work to be done and decompression requirements for the depth and time.
• Calculate gas requirements based on realistic consumption and safe practices allowed by the operations manual and authorised code of practice. Select cylinder configurations and specify critical pressures.

Plan for contingencies as indicated by HIRA

Ensure that response plans are in place for all reasonably foreseeable emergencies

Many of these will be standardised procedures laid out in the operations manual. Occasionally an operation may be planned where an unfamiliar hazard poses the threat of an emergency that has not yet been planned for, in which case this becomes a necessary part of the dive planning.

Ensure that appropriate first aid equipment will be available on site

• First aid equipment is specified by SAMSA for the various classes of boat. The presence of this equipment is the responsibility of the skipper.
• The Diving Regulations require that appropriate first aid equipment for the diving operation must be available on site, but do not specify anywhere what equipment is appropriate. The codes of practice also do not give any useful guidance.
• The Operations Manual should provide guidance for most situations.
• Where appropriate, the supervisor should refer to the company Level 2 Designated Medical Practitioner, who is expected to provide guidance on a case by case basis. This guidance should be appended to the operations manual for future reference in similar circumstances.

Ensure that adequate oxygen equipment will be available on site

Sufficient oxygen should be available to provide 15 litres per minute to two casualties for the time required to reach a place where more oxygen is available and/or appropriate professional medical care is available.

Ensure that a hyperbaric chamber will be available as required

The chamber may be on site or within the allowed travelling time from site depending on the planned operation. See the Diving Regulations, Operations Manual and Code of Practice in use for details.

Plan for technical contingencies

Make arrangements for alternative equipment, spares, alternative boat etc as may be appropriate. The level of contingency planning will depend on the project, and the importance of the task.

Plan for adverse conditions

Plan for alternative dates if appropriate to the project.

Prepare an evacuation plan

Make any necessary arrangements for evacuation of possible casualties. Ensure that contact facilities are available for any rescue services that may be needed. List contact numbers, call codes and frequencies for these services and include these in the operations plan for easy access. Also record the nearest suitable emergency medical facility and how to reach it from the site. A road map and/or list of directions is recommended, in case the driver is unfamiliar with the route.

Allocation of tasks to the members of the dive team

Work in progress - Content must still be added to this section.

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Emergency evacuation plans

An emergency is a situation that conforms to one or more of the following criteria:

• It poses an immediate threat to life, health, property, or environment
• It has already caused loss of life, health detriments, property damage, and environmental damage
• It has a high probability of escalating to cause immediate danger to life, health, property, or environment

In a diving related accident, the contractor's Level 2 Diving Medical Practitioner should be consulted as early as reasonably practicable.

There are three core emergency services:

• Police – who deal with security of person and property, which can cover all three categories of emergency.
• Fire service – who deal with potentially harmful fires, but also often rescue operations such as dealing with road traffic collisions. Their actions help to prevent loss of life, damage to health and damage to or loss of property.
• Emergency Medical Service (EMS) (Ambulance / Paramedic service) – These services attempt to reduce loss of life or damage to health. This service is likely to be decisive in attempts to prevent loss of life and damage to health. .

There may also be a number of secondary emergency services, which may be a part of one of the core agencies, or may be separate entities who assist the main agencies. This can include services providing specialist rescue such as sea rescue, mountain rescue or mine rescue, bomb disposal or search and rescue. The Divers Alert Network (DAN) operates a 24-hour helpline that provided medical advice for diving accidents and co-ordinated medical evacuation and treatment for their members

Summoning emergency services

Most countries have an emergency telephone number, also known as the universal emergency number, which can be used to summon the emergency services to any incident. This number varies from country to country (and in some cases by region within a country), but in most cases, they are in a short number format, such as 911

The majority of mobile phones also dial the emergency services, even if the phone keyboard is locked, or if the phone has an expired or missing SIM card.

Emergency evacuation may be necessary for injured personnel, or for the whole team in the event of an emergency threatening the heath and safety of the personnel. Contingencies that only threaten materials are not necessarily emergencies but it is good practice to allow for them occurring and have a plan to deal with them.

The operations manual or the operations plan must include a listing of emergency contact details for the relevant emergency services in the operational area, and for the consulting Level 2 DPM.

Medical emergency evacuation

Medical evacuation plan

The supervisor must assess the situation in consultation with the DMP and use the most appropriate transport available Where there is an increased probability of decompression problems in remote areas the supervisor should make prior arrangements to access air transport Contact details and routes will depend on the site and possibly other circumstances, like road works or weather.

• Render immediate First Aid (HHHABC) For most diving accidents high concentration oxygen therapy is indicated.
• For a diving accident phone the company Level 2 DMP, or if this is not possible, DAN hotline (Ph 0800 020 111)
• If required summons ambulance.
• Use air evacuation if necessary. If at sea the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) may be appropriate.
• Take casualty to nearest clinic, provincial hospital or hyperbaric facility as required.

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Imminent unacceptable risk to life, health or safety

Where known hazards exist, there should be an evacuation plan based on the reasonably foreseeable consequences of these hazards activating. This level of planning is very specific to circumstances, and should be guided by the HIRA and operations manual. If the hazards are outside of company experience, it may be necessary to consult experts.

Evacuation of site

(In case of an emergency such as fire, flood, dangerous weather, earthquake, hazardous material spill etc)

• The supervisor is responsible for ensuring that a site evacuation plan is provided where the HIRA for the specific diving operation indicates it is necessary.
• In such cases the site evacuation plan must be drawn up and appended to the diving operations plan, and the dive team must be briefed on it before commencing the diving operation. Alternative routes should be considered where appropriate.
• If a site is used frequently and it is useful to make the site evacuation plan a standard procedure, it should be submitted to the diving superintendent for inclusion in the operations manual.
• Recall of divers should be an early response to any emergency that might require site evacuation.

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Safety meetings, job safety analysis and toolbox talks

Safety meetings

Safety meetings provide important reminders about safety, and updates on safety matters which may have changed. These may include changes in regulations, codes of practice or the operations manual, safety procedures, equipment, personal protective equipment (PPE), and job assignments and responsibilities. Refresher training is also sometimes required by law, and having a pre-planned periodic meeting can be a convenient way to go over the necessary training.

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Job safety analysis

A job safety analysis (JSA) is a procedure which helps integrate accepted safety and health principles and practices into a particular task. In a JSA, each basic step of the job is analysed to identify potential hazards and to recommend the safest way to do the job.

The terms "job" and "task" are commonly used interchangeably to mean a specific work assignment, such as "operating a grinder," "using a pressurized water extinguisher" or "changing a flat tire." JSAs are not suitable for jobs defined too broadly, for example, "overhauling an engine"; or too narrowly, for example, "positioning car jack."

Hazard controls

Controls are the barriers between people and/or assets and the hazards.

• A hard control provides a physical barrier between the person and the hazard. Hard controls include machine guards, restraint equipment, fencing/barricading.
• A soft control does not provide a physical barrier between the person and the hazard. Soft controls include signage, procedures, permits, verbal instructions etc.

Hierarchy of control

The hierarchy of hazard controls is a system that describes the effectiveness of classes of hazard control to minimize or eliminate exposure to hazards.

Hazard control classes are, in descending order of effectiveness:

• Elimination,
• Substitution,
• Isolation,
• Engineering,
• Administration and
• Personal Protective Equipment.

Control effectiveness criteria

The effectiveness of a control is measured by its ability to reduce the likelihood of a hazard causing injury or damage. A control is either effective or not.

To gauge this effectiveness several control criteria are used, which:

• Address the relevant aspects of PEPE,
• Reduce likelihood to as low as reasonably possible (ALARP),
• Selected hard controls in preference to soft controls, and
• Contain a "doing word".

There is no commonly used way in which multiple controls for a single hazard can be combined to give a reliable score for risk level. In instances where the residual risk is greater than the organisation's acceptable risk level, consultation with the organisation's relevant risk authority should occur.

Scope of application

A JSA is a documented risk assessment developed when company policy directs employees to do so. Workplace hazard identification and an assessment of those hazards may be required before every job.

JSAs are usually developed when directed to do so by a supervisor, when indicated by a first tier risk assessment and when a hazard associated with a task has a likelihood rating of at least 'possible'. Generally, high consequence, high likelihood task hazards are addressed by way of a JSA.

These may include, but are not limited to, those with:

A history of, or potential for, injury, harm or damage such as those involving:

1. Fire, chemicals or a toxic or oxygen deficient atmosphere.
2. Tasks carried out in new environments.
3. Rarely performed tasks.
4. Tasks that may impact on the integrity or output of a processing system.

It is important that employees understand that it is not the JSA form that will keep them safe on the job, but rather the process it represents. It is of little value to identify hazards and devise controls if the controls are not put in place. Workers should never be tempted to "sign on" the bottom of a JSA without first reading and understanding it.

JSAs are quasi-legal documents, and can be used used in incident investigations, contractual disputes, and court cases.

Structure of a JSA

The JSA or JHA is usually be created by the work group who will perform the task. The more minds and experience applied to analysing the hazards in a job, the more successful the work group is likely to be in controlling them. Sometimes it is expedient to review a JSA that was prepared when the same task was performed on a previous occasion, but care should be taken to ensure that all of the hazards for the job are controlled for the new occasion. The JSA is usually recorded in a standardised tabular format with three to as many as five or six columns. The headings of the three basic columns are: Job step, Hazard and Controls. A hazard is any factor that can cause injury to personnel or damage to property or the environment, and may include loss of production (downtime) in the definition. A control is any process for controlling a hazard. The job is broken down into its component steps. Then, for each step, hazards are identified. Finally, for each hazard identified, controls are listed. In the example below, the hazards are analyzed for the task of erecting scaffolding and welding lifting lugs:

Job step	Hazard	Control
Erect scaffolding	Falling scaffolding components	Barricade work area while erecting and dismantling scaffolding
	Working at height	Verify scaffolder competence Inspect scaffold components and structure Tag scaffolding after approval Wear appropriate PPE (harness, hard hats, safety footwaer etc) Tether tools
Weld lugs	Electrical current	Wear insulated gloves Inspect cables, connections and tools before use
	Welding fumes	Ventilate using intrinsically safe fume extraction fans Wear respiratory protection when appropriate
	Welding arc	Wear welding helmet with eye protection, fire resistant overalls, welding gloves and apron Erect welding screens if appropriate
	Hot weld metal, sparks and slag	Remove all combustibles from work area Lay out fireproof drop cloths. Set up appropriate fire fighting equipment in work area Maintain a fire watch during task plus 30 minutes.
Housekeeping	Obstacles in work area	Maintain a clear path work area Remove unnecessary and vulnerable equipment Display warning signage Barricade danger areas

Assessing risk levels

Some organisations add columns for risk levels. The risk rating of the hazard prior to applying the control is known as the 'inherent risk rating'. The risk rating of the hazard with the control in place is known as the 'residual' risk rating.

Risk, can be defined as the "effect of uncertainties on objectives". In the context of rating a risk, it is the correlation of "likelihood" and "consequence", where likelihood is a quantitative evaluation of frequency of occurrences over time, and consequence is a qualitative evaluation of both the "Mechanism of Injury" and the reasonable and realistic estimate of "Severity of Injury".

Example:

There is historical precedent to reasonably and realistically evaluate that the likelihood of an adverse event occurring while operating a hot particle producing tool, (grinder), is "possible", therefore the activity of grinding meets the workplace hazard criteria.

It would also be reasonable and realistic to assume that the mechanism of injury of an eye being struck at high speed with hot metal particles may result in a permanent disability, whether it be the eye of the grinder operator, a crew member or any person passing or working adjacent to, above or below the grinding operation.

The severity of reasonably and realistically expected injury may be blindness. Therefore, grinding warrants a high severity rating.

Wearing eye protection while in the vicinity of grinding operations reduces the likelihood of this adverse event occurring.

If the eye protection was momentarily not used, not fitted correctly or failed and hot high speed particles struck an eye, the expected mechanism of injury (adverse event) has still occurred, hence the consequence rating remains the same for both the inherent and residual consequence rating.

It is accepted that the control may affect the severity of injury, however, the rated consequence remains the same as the effect is not predictable.

One of the known risk rating anomalies is that likelihood and the severity of injury can be scaled, but mechanism of injury cannot be scaled. This is the reason why the mechanism of injury is bundled with severity, to allow a rating to be given. The MoI is an important factor as it suggests the obvious controls.

Identifying responsibilities

Another column that is often added to a JSA form or worksheet is the Responsible column. This is for the name of the person who will put the particular control in place. Defining who is responsible for actually putting the controls in place that have been identified on the JSA worksheet ensures that an individual is accountable for doing so.

Application of the JSA

After the JSA worksheet is completed, the work group that is about to perform the task would have a toolbox talk, to discuss the hazards and controls, delegate responsibilities, ensure that all equipment and personal protective equipment described in the JSA are available, that contingencies such as fire fighting are understood, communication channels and hand signals are agreed etc. Then, if everybody in the work group agrees that it is safe to proceed with the task, work can commence.

If at any time during the task circumstances change, then work should be stopped (sometimes called a "time-out for safety"), and the hazards and controls described in the JSA should be reassessed and additional controls used or alternative methods devised. Again, work should only continue when every member of the work group agrees it is safe to do so.

When the task is complete it is often of benefit to have a close-out or "tailgate" meeting, to discuss any lessons learned so that they may be incorporated into the JSA the next time the task is undertaken.

Terminology and definitions

Workplace hazard categories

Workplace hazards can be allocated to three categories:

Types,

Groups, and

Families.

Workplace hazard types

There are two hazard types. They are:

Hazards to safety - anything assessed as "possible", or more likely, to cause an immediate injury

Hazards to health - anything assessed as "possible", or more likely, to cause harm by repeated exposure over time.

Workplace hazard groups

There are three hazard groups. They are:

Physical object hazard – touch or inhale it.

Hazardous work type – requires a permit, qualification etc.

Duty of care breaches - Legislative and/or company contraventions.

Hazard families

There are many hazard families. The following list is not exhaustive. Many hazards will fit into more than one family.

Physical, chemical, electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, biological, magnetic, thermal, gravitational, environmental, ergonomic, psychological, invisible, visible, and developing.

Workplace hazard criteria

These criteria are a set of tests to help identify genuine workplace hazards related to a task.

"Clearly identifiable" means that the hazard type, group and family are clearly linked to a hazard.

"A scenario is not required for its articulation" - It can be clearly described in few (generally five, or less, words). If this is not possible, it is probably not a hazard.

It has an inherent likelihood of "possible" or greater - If the hazard under consideration is not inherently at least "possible", then it does not present a risk.

The description is without "judgmental adjectives" - Judgmental adjectives are negative and sometimes overlap with "descriptions of absence". Adjectives such as poor, deficient, defective, scant, weak, unsound, or faulty, are not used in the hazard column.

The description contains no "descriptions of absence" - Descriptions of absence are usually negative and sometimes overlap with judgmental adjectives. They include: Without, lack of, minimal, unsuitable, unavailable, inadequate, missing, non-existent.

Mechanism of Injury (MoI)

Mechanism of injury (MoI) is how an injury occurs. It is important because in the absence of an MoI there is no hazard.

Common MoIs are "slips, trips and falls", for example:

Hazard = Tool bag (in walkway)

MoI = Trip (over tool bag)

Injury = Bone fracture

Other common mechanisms of injury include:

• Struck against or by
• Contact with or by
• Caught in, on, by or between
• Exposure to
• Fall to same or lower level

Likelihood

Likelihood is how often an event is reasonably and realistically expected to occur in a given time, and may be expressed as a probability, frequency or percentage.

Consequence

Consequence is the outcome of an event expressed qualitatively or quantitatively, being a loss, injury, disadvantage or gain. There may be a range of possible outcomes associated with an event.

Consequence is the severity of the injury or harm that can be reasonably and realistically expected from exposure to the mechanism of injury of the hazard being rated.

An implemented control may affect the severity of the injury, but it has no effect on the way the injury occurred. Therefore, when rating risk, the consequence remains the same for both the initial rating and the residual rating.

People inherently tend to overestimate severity of consequence when rating risk, but the rating should be both reasonable and realistic.

Risk

Risk is the combination of likelihood and consequence.

Risk Authority

The organisational level of the person authorised to accept a specified level of risk, for example:

Risk Level	Risk Authority
Low risk	Supervisor
Moderate risk	Superintendent
Significant risk	Manager
High risk	Unacceptable without mitigation

ALARP

ALARP is an acronym for "As Low As Reasonably Practicable".

When applied to JSA, this means that it is not necessary to reduce risk beyond the point where the cost of further control becomes disproportionate to any achievable safety benefit.

Reasonably Practicable

Reasonably practicable, in relation to a duty to ensure health and safety, means that which is, or was at a particular time, reasonably able to be done to ensure health and safety, taking into account and weighing up all relevant matters including:

• the likelihood of the hazard or the risk concerned occurring;
• the degree of harm that might result from the hazard or the risk;
• what the person concerned knows, or ought reasonably to know, about the hazard or risk, and about the ways of eliminating or minimising the risk;
• the availability and suitability of ways to eliminate or minimise the risk; and
• after assessing the extent of the risk and the available ways of eliminating or minimising the risk, the cost associated with available ways of eliminating or minimising the risk, including whether the cost is grossly disproportionate to the expected reduction of risk.

Work Process

The way in which work is performed is called the "Work Process".

PEPE

Acronym for the four elements that are present in every task of the work process:

• Process,
• Environment,
• People,
• EMT, which is itself an acronym for 'equipment, materials and tools'.

PEPE is used to assist in identifying hazards.

Process

In this context, process is about procedures, standards, legislation, safe work instructions, permits and permit systems, risk assessments and policies.

Key factors for effective process are that the relevant components are in place, easy to follow and regularly reviewed and updated.

Environment

People may be exposed to issues related to:

• Access & Egress.
• Obstructions.
• Weather.
• Dust, heat, cold, noise.
• Darkness.
• Contaminants.
• Isolated workers.
• Other Workers.

People

To assist people to be safe in their workplace they need to be provided with sufficient information, training, instructions and supervision.

People may be:

• Untrained.
• Not yet competent.
• Uncertified.
• Inexperienced.
• Unsupervised.
• Affected by alcohol or other drugs.
• Fatigued.
• Inadequately instructed.
• Suffering from stress from home life or workplace harassment.
• Have a poor attitude to, or refuse to follow procedures.

Equipment, Material and Tools (EMT)

The right EMT must be selected for the task. Incorrect EMT selections may be hazardous in themselves.

• The EMT may be hazardous, e.g.: sharp, hot, vibrating, heavy, fragile, contain pinch points, a hazardous substance containing hydrocarbons, acids, alkalis, glues, solvents, asbestos etc.
• There may be a need for isolating personnel from energy sources such as electricity, hydraulic, pneumatic, radiation and gravitational sources.
• Is the EMT in date? Does it require certification and/or calibration, tested and tagged?
• Obstructions should be kept out of walkways and leads and hoses suspended?

Toolbox talks

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Permit to work and lockout/tagout procedures

Permit to work

Permit To Work (PTW) refers to management systems used to ensure that work is done safely and efficiently. These are used in hazardous industries and involve procedures to request, review, authorise, document and most importantly, deconflict tasks to be carried out by frontline workers.

PTW is a core element of integrated safe systems of work, that along with risk assessment, enable as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP) reduction of unsafe activities in non-trivial work environments.

Instructions or procedures are often adequate for most work activities, but some require extra care. A permit to work system is a formal system stating exactly what work is to be done, where, and when. A responsible person should assess the work and check safety at each stage. The people doing the job sign the permit to show that they understand the risks and precautions necessary.

Permits are effectively a means of communication between site management, plant supervisors and operators, and those who carry out the work. Examples of high-risk jobs where a written permit to work procedure may need to be used include hot work such as welding, work in confined spaces, cutting into pipes carrying hazardous substances, diving in the vicinity of intake openings, and work that requires electrical or mechanical isolation. It is also a means of coordinating different work activities to avoid conflicts.

A permit to work is not a replacement for robust risk assessment, but can help offer context for the risk of work to be done. Health Safety Executive UK studies show that, for example, one-third of all accidents in the UK chemical industry were maintenance related, and the single largest cause was a lack of (or deficiency in) permit to work systems. Common failures in control of work systems are a failure to follow the permit to work or isolation management procedures, risk assessments that are not suitable and sufficient to identify the risks, and/or the control measures and a combination of the two.

Implementation

Permit to work implementations are usually based on matrices of incompatible operations. For example, to prevent one workgroup from welding or grinding in the vicinity of another group venting explosive or flammable gases. The permit to work system is for work being performed in accordance with pre-approved procedures and that has been scheduled approximately, the purpose is to prevent conflicting short term activities of different workgroups to prevent hazardous interference.

Once a permit to work has been issued to a workgroup, a lock-out tag-out system is used to restrict changes of equipment state such as valve operations until the work specified in the permit is complete. Since the permit to work is the primary tool to avoid conflicts of incompatible work, all work activities in high risk environments should have a permit to work, specific hazardous operations will then have a second permit for activities such as confined space or hot work. Here the hot work permit is minimising the risk of the individual task, the permit to work is minimising the risk of simultaneous incompatible activities.

Permit to work systems should permit authorisation and its traceability. Ideally one person should be delegated with this responsibility at any one time and all workers at the facility should be fully aware of who that person is and when the responsibility is transferred.

A permit to work form typically specifies these items:

• The work to be done, the equipment to be used and personnel involved
• Precautions to be taken when performing the task
• Other workgroups to be informed of work being performed in their area
• Authorisation for work to commence
• Duration that the permit is valid
• Method to extend the permit for an additional period
• Witness mechanism that all work has been complete and the worksite restored to a clean, safe condition
• Actions to be taken in an emergency

Lockout/tagout

Folding lockout hasp, allowing six padlocks to lock out one device.

When working on or near some types of machinery and equipment one may be exposed to injuries from the energization, startup of the machinery or equipment, or release of stored energy in the equipment. The lockout/tagout (LOTO) system is a safety procedure to shut down equipment, isolate it from its energy sources, and prevent the release of potentially hazardous energy while activities are taking place in the hazard zone. It requires that hazardous energy sources be "isolated and rendered inoperative" before work is started on the equipment in question. The isolated power sources are then locked and a tag is placed on the lock identifying the worker who has placed it. The worker then holds the key for the lock ensuring that only he or she can unlock the machine and make it possible to start it.

A lockout device applied to a hoist brake. This prevents unintended movement of the hoist. The lockout hasp is secured with two padlocks.

When two or more people are working on the same or different parts of a larger overall system, there must be multiple holes to lock the device. To expand the number of available holes, the locked-out device is secured with a folding scissors clamp that has many pairs of padlock holes capable of keeping it closed. Each worker applies their own padlock to the clamp. The locked-out device cannot be activated until all workers have removed their padlocks from the clamp. A person's lock and tag must only be removed by the person who installed them unless removal is accomplished under the direction of the employer. When each person has finished working in the danger zone, they must remove their personal lock and tag. The last lock and tag to be removed should be those of the person who inspects the work for completion.

During diving operations when the diver is the person who would be exposed to an underwater hazard, the supervisor may do a lockout as proxy for the whole dive team, as the supervisor will know when the operation is finished and all team personnel and equipment are out of the danger zone.

Hazardous energy and its isolation

Machinery can contain many hazards to workers, some of the most common hazards are:

• Electricity
• Hydraulic pressure
• Compressed gas
• Toxic, asphyxiant or inflammable gas or liquid
• Steam
• Thermal energy (heat)
• Gravity
• Spring tension
• Radiation hazards

Disconnecting or making the equipment safe involves the removal of all energy sources and is known as isolation. The steps necessary to isolate equipment are often documented in an isolation procedure or a lockout tagout procedure. The isolation procedure generally includes the following tasks:

1. Announce shut off
2. Identify the energy source(s)
3. Isolate the energy source(s)
4. Lock and Tag the energy source(s)
5. Prove that the equipment isolation is effective

The locking and tagging of the isolation point lets others know not to re-connect the device.

Safety equipment manufacturers provide a range of isolation devices specifically designed to fit various switches, valves and effectors. For example, most circuit-breakers have a provision to have a small padlock attached to prevent their activation. For other devices such as ball or gate valves, plastic pieces which either fit against the pipe and prevent movement, or clam-shell style objects, which completely surround the valve and prevent its manipulation are used.

A common feature of these devices is their bright color, usually red to increase visibility and allow workers to readily see if a device is isolated. Also, the devices are usually of such a design and construction to prevent them being removed without significant force. An isolation device does not have to stand up to a bolt-cutter, but if someone forcibly removes it, it should be immediately visible that it has been tampered with.

The tag should have identification showing the name of the person owning the lock and tag.