After two fatalities due to accidents in the large foundry in which I was working, fines and WSIB (OSHA) rulings made it imperative that we address the need for a detailed plan to combat health and safety issues. Our factory was as large as six football fields, with over 1200 employees working three shifts at our peak. The manufacture of locomotive frames and other assorted rail products is a dangerous business to begin with; couple that with finishing these steel castings through processes such as grinding, welding, melting, and machining, and there are thousands of things that can go wrong... and often did. The majority of the injuries and accidents could be attributed to workers failing to adhere to standard operating procedures and not wearing the prescribed Personal Protective Equipment --a fire resistant leather jacket, chaps, a hardhat, steel boots, goggles, and ear protection. Our biggest problem was people removing their goggles and getting grit, or metal shards, in their eye. This was called FBE's -- Foreign Body to the Eye.
The foundry had a concrete floor that was covered in sand -- sand is the medium into which castings are poured. A locomotive mold consists of 80-90,000 pounds of sand; we made seven or eight molds per day, along with thousands of other items. Most workstations had a great deal of sand on the floor, which made walking difficult. Castings weighing anywhere from two hundred to 24,500 pounds were moved via chain or magnet and dropped. Castings could also be moved via carts on rail tracks that snaked through the facility.
At our worst we would have nine to ten visits to the aid station in a day; but through an aggressive plan we were down to one or two. Each morning there was a meeting with department heads in which we would review the previous day's visits to the nurse and discuss how those injuries could be prevented. The nurses (one per shift) prepared a report summarizing all visits to the aid station, including a code that would indicate what sort of injury occurred and how it was dealt with. Each injury was listed separately on the report. The majority were coded as FBE; some other common occurrences were small burns, repetitive strain injuries, and backaches.
In the meetings we rotated who would read the injury report, prepare the action plan to prevent further occurrences, and, if necessary, report to HR any people requiring discipline for safety infractions.
On this particular day it was my turn to read the injury report. We received it just as the meeting began so we didn't have time to prepare for any unusual circumstance. I sat down and looked at the sheet. Instead of the usual codes, I was greeted by three question marks -- an uncoded injury.
The uncoded injury happened when one of our welders experienced a case of gastrointestinal distress.
He began running to the facilities when he tripped on a rail line. Falling on the floor, he injured his arm.
While falling, he opened his mouth and his dentures fell into the sand.
But, being that he had to go very bad, he got up and continued running without his dentures. As I mentioned earlier, there is a great deal of clothing that must be shed once the toilet is reached. Unfortunately for this gentleman, he was unable to shed his clothing or even reach the facilities in time; he shat himself terribly.
He proceeded to the washroom and cleaned up as best he could, but he was still filthy. Before reporting to the nurse he went back to get his dentures; unfortunately they had been destroyed by a casting dropped near where he fell.
After quickly reading this to myself and seeing the hilarity involved, I now had the task of summarizing the event and making it sound respectful. Bear in mind that these meetings were attended by the CEO and all senior management -- a professional approach was required.
"We had a gentleman," I began by saying, "with a severe case of diarrhea who did not make it to the washroom. While attempting to reach the washroom he tripped and fell and hurt his arm and lost his dentures."
The whole room erupted in laughter. "Okay," the plant manager said. "Enough joking. What's the injury report say?"
By now everyone thought I'd been joking. With as straight a face as I could, I said, "This really happened. Yesterday, afternoon shift, welding department."
Now everybody was laughing except the health and safety manager. He said to me, "What should we do to prevent this?"
Everyone calmed down. "Firstly," I replied, "the walkway should always be free of sand so anybody rushing is less likely to trip. Secondly, anybody wearing dentures should be aware of the risk they take by wearing them on the job. Thirdly, we should make Depends or similar products available from stores so anybody suffering a similar malady is adequately protected."
As soon as I said "Depends" the entire room erupted. The really funny thing is we did purchase Depends and stock them. We also issued a memo, posted on all bulletin boards, that they were available for anyone needing them. Three years later, not one pair had been requested.
