Hazard recognition is the most important tool to protect workers from workplace hazards; help avoid injuries, illnesses, and incidents; minimize or eliminate safety and health risks; and help employers provide workers with safe and healthful working conditions.

We must look out for each other regardless of work group, department, or company. Look for safety hazards, plant status control, and ECO tagged equipment. This can be accomplished by always being aware of your surroundings as well as your teammates.

One of the Human Performance tools the station uses for hazard recognition is “Take a Minute”. The intent of this tool is safety in any work environment; keeping safety as the number one priority.  It is intended to aid the worker in evaluating the work area for hazards. The process is to pause prior to entering the area for enough time to fully evaluate the work area for hazards.

Mitigating actions will be taken for each identified hazard. It is not sufficient to use recognition and avoidance as mitigation, because a lapse in avoidance could result in an incident.

Proper use of “Take a Minute” will guard teammates from inattention, being unaware and making assumptions that the area is safe.

For team discussions:

Give examples of a time when you identified a hazard because you stopped and used “Take a Minute.”

• Describe what mitigating actions were taken to address the identified hazards.
• Discuss what could have potentially happened, had the hazard not been identified and mitigated.