Local Tragedy

I'm sure by now most of you are aware of the devastating incident that occurred at one of our member facilities. Two workers are missing and presumed dead at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant after an explosion on Monday.

The folks at the IAAP have been amongst the most active and involved members of the Exchange. Anyone who knows much about the place or the people who work there knows that safety is ingrained in everything that is done. Nothing is done without a written procedure, and every procedure is reviewed for safety. Construction, equipment, and tools must conform to exacting standards and are also reviewed. So how did this happen? Well, that is to be determined. But what we do know can be applied to all of us.

We do know that a highly energetic substance released its energy at an unexpected time and in an unexpected way. All of us have operations that involve large amounts of energy (or at least fatal amounts of energy). If we don't have adequate controls to separate our people from these energy sources, the results can be fatal. The energy of a moving forklift, a working height of eight feet, a truck backing into a dock, a brake press forming metal--all have a sufficient quantity of energy to take away life or limb. Our challenge as safety professionals is to lead efforts to ingrain a safety culture in our work place. People do the right thing even when no one is looking. Hazards are identified and controlled far upstream, before employees are exposed. These are the things let us sleep well at night. As Monday's events showed us, none of us should be resting too easy.