Electricity and Control July 2021

COMMENT

INDUSTRY 4.0 + IIOT

Safety matters A s always, the magazine is packed with a range of topics, but the one that stands out for me as we grapple with the realities of a patently deteriorating energy security scenario (notwithstanding the welcome announcement from President Ramaphosa on lifting the threshold allowing companies to develop embedded generation without a licence – to 100 MW) and the laborious rollout of the vaccination programme, is safety. Safety can apply to our equipment, our plant and our infrastructure; and, of course, it can apply to human safety – the safety of our people. I’d like to focus on the latter for this comment. Safety at our plants is critical, and yet one still sees mere lip service being paid to this in many situations. Often that is simply people being expedient – trying to get the task done as quickly and effectively as possible. The trouble only really starts when an accident occurs. Perhaps it is because I have supervised many, many young engineers, but I am exceptionally sensitive to the fact that, often, the concept of an ‘accident’ is not properly understood. Until after the fact, of course. Safety procedures are put in place to protect people. These are usually (hopefully) carefully thought through and institutionalised in a number of ways. If safety becomes a tick-box exercise, or if safety regulations are bypassed for convenience, then we have a problem. Safety is an attitude of everyone on the plant; and the safety rules that we put in place must support and encourage behaviour that keeps people out of harm’s way.

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Accidents are unexpected events. No one sets out to have an accident. Although this sounds obvious, the point I want to go back to is the often-encountered view that the accident will not happen! “I will do it this way, not because it is safe, but because I know nothing will go wrong.” Inherently this view is the one suggesting accidents do not happen. (Having learned a lot from a fellow who was quite happy to scratch test (in those days) 380 V with the back of a finger, I know full well what can go wrong…) The tendency to take the risk is often driven by the sense that the task can be completed more quickly by cutting the safety corner. It may be driven by the sense that the safety rules are ‘silly’ or unnecessary. This is a dangerous attitude – and one we often neglect to consider. The simple message I want to get across here is this: do not cut corners; do not take chances. While you may well be safe 99% of the time, it’s that 1% when you are not that matters. I had a fascinating chat to someone just the other day about a particular safety regimen at a site. “Why”, he asked, “must we follow this rule? It wastes our time.” Probing a bit further it turned out that the person had spoken with many who had violated the rule – and lived to tell the tale. They had met no one who had not. Well, exactly! Be safe, stay safe, and take responsibility for your own safety, and that of others at your site.

Celebrating 100 years in the spirit of creativity, KROHNE is today an interna- tional company with a broad portfolio of instruments in process measurement technology. (Read more on page 3.)

Editor: Leigh Darroll Design & Layout: Darryl James Advertising Manager: Heidi Jandrell Circulation: Karen Smith Editorial Technical Director: Ian Jandrell Publisher: Karen Grant Deputy Publisher: Wilhelm du Plessis

Audited circulation: Quarter 1 (January-March) 2021 Total print and e-editions: 9559

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Electricity+Control is supported by

Ian Jandrell PrEng IntPE(SA), BSc(Eng) GDE PhD, FSAAE FSAIEE SMIEEE

Electricity + Control JULY 2021

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The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher, the editor, SAAEs, SAEE, CESA or the Copper Development Association Africa