SAFETY: PREVENTION OR REACTION

SAFETY: PREVENTION OR REACTION
Oftentimes, we ignore the words of wisdom of our elders to our detriment. Our elders saying in form of parables should be appreciated. Some adages are more direct than others in meaning and understanding. Such include:
A stitch in time saves nine.
Prevention is better than cure.
How true are these adages in our daily lives and activities? Everyday, from dawn to dusk, man is faced with numerous activities that exposes him/ her to desired and undesired events. For man to achieve his quest or dream, there should be little or accident. How possible is this, an active life with little or no accident?
A big question I would say, but it is possible, once we can appreciate the fact that accidents don’t just happen. They are caused, and accidents can be prevented. There is a tremendous need to prevent accidents, and this depends to a large extent on the desire of the people to work safely. Working safely starts with good planning and ends with a safe people, equipment and environment. Good planning calls for preventive measures to forestall the occurrence of accident.
Accident prevention is the protection against injury and safe guarding of life and property, it is the basic concept of safety, which is the control of the 3Ms (Man, Machine, Material) and the system of work. These are the two main concepts of accident prevention:
FLY-FIX-FLY CONCEPT: This concept believes accidents must occur before corrections can be made. “ A fire brigade style” I dare say, which is often the case in some parts of the world especially Africa. This is purely ACCIDENT REACTION and not ACCIDENT PREVENTION, a case of reactive safety management system.
FIRST TIME SAFE CONCEPT: It lays emphasis on identification and evaluation of hazards, and on corrective measures before the hazards lead to accident. This is what accident prevention is all about, to achieve the little or no accident level, a proactive safety management system, must be applied, to our daily activities, on the job, off the job, on the road and everywhere.
Statistical evidence shows a direct relationship between the number of hazards and the number of accidents. Since it is true that accident can be prevented, why should we opt for a reactive safety management system? Where we wait for accident to occur before we react by counting our loss and applying emergency measures.
We have our elders saying, “ Prevention is better than cure”. How we respond to this word of wisdom will determine the type of lives we would have. Remember, life is what we make of it. We should work as a team to ensure the protection of life and property.