Let’s face it - for most people, taking their clothes off in front of their work colleagues would not be high on their to do list. Indeed, a common recurring nightmare for many people would be the thought of having to undress at work or some other public place and therefore compromising their privacy. “This fear of public nudity is embedded deep within our subconscious minds and the fact that there is a very strong social taboo against public nudity should not be underestimated when thinking about the psychological barriers of needing to use a safety shower,” says Ivan Zytynski, of Safety Shower People.
Good practice, in the event of a chemical spill, is to remove all contaminated clothing and that really means all clothing. If someone is in absolute agony from a serious acid spill, then it is likely that social taboos will be swiftly put aside, but most acid spills are not that extreme or at least do not appear to be initially. “The psychological barrier to not strip down naked is strong enough to make most people not
do so, even in the event of contamination with substances they know full well are very dangerous,” Zytynski adds. “The logical part of the brain that understands the risks and dangers is all too easily overridden by the emotional, illogical part of us. Unfortunately, failure to remove all clothing can result in substantially worsening the damage sustained by a contaminated individual.”
No blame culture
Most accidents with dangerous materials will be down to handling errors. Either the correct protective equipment was not used in the first place or some other procedure was not followed.
Everyone knows this is the case and it is inevitable that a certain amount of blame will be attached to the person who has an accident. “This is particularly true of highly efficient and well-run work places that have a culture that prides itself on excellence,” he says. “Whilst this type of culture is excellent at preventing accidents from happening in the first place, it can sometimes create a barrier to correct action being undertaken when they do.
“Furthermore, safety showers can be messy, disruptive devices. When operated, they can often dump water over a nice clean laboratory onto the floor and potentially soak though to the floor below. If used, the safety shower will often cause disruption to other workers, bringing unwelcome attention to a potential error, and possibly causing annoyance to co-workers and managers who will have their work disrupted. Again, this problem can be exaggerated in efficient and well-run work places, as well as those running on very tight manufacturing deadlines.”
The perception of blame and the potential wrath or scorn of management and co-workers results in a psychological barrier to using safety equipment. If the spill seems minor, then it may be strong enough for the person to try to wash out the spill in the sink or simply to remove the contaminated over-garments and steadfastly soldier on. Clearly, this lack of correct procedure can be highly dangerous to the person concerned and possibly to others.
Seeing the safety shower as non-essential
Safety showers are one of those pieces of equipment we hope are rarely used, if at all. Despite any amount of good training to the contrary, staff will inevitably see that the safety shower is something that is just sitting there, taking up space. “Over time, the perception can be that the shower is a bit of a waste of space or, worse, it simply isn’t even noticed,” Zytynski says. “This attitude can lead to potentially dangerous actions over time.
“The space underneath a shower needs to be kept clear, for obvious reasons. If the shower is viewed as essentially useless, then this space may become cluttered. Matters are worse with tank showers, as the enclosed nature of the shower lends itself nicely to becoming a makeshift storage area.”
Such ad-hoc re-purposing of safety showers could be disastrous, if an accident did happen. Not only would there be an increased risk of harm due to delays in treatment, but also the litigation risk would increase, as it is the employer’s responsibility to ensure the shower is accessible.
What can be done?
Good training is always the key to overcoming these barriers, but more than that a genuine culture of safety should be adopted. By this it is meant that safety concerns are paramount within the working culture of the business, so that it becomes more of a taboo to breach safety protocol than to, say, strip down completely when entering a safety shower. Achieving this cultural change is often very difficult and health and safety professionals struggle to do so. It is often the lofty goal that is never quite reached. So are there other more immediate, easier to achieve solutions?
Indeed there are. Rather than working to overcome deep rooted psychological barriers there are steps that can be taken to work within the constraints of these barriers. It may seem a bit of a luxury to enclose a safety shower in panels to give privacy, but, given the above analysis, it could prevent injury. Then a catchment sump under the shower or eye bath will help to prevent run-off liquid from causing disruption to other workers.
A simple solution to the re-purposing of showers as a storage area or a tea room is to include platform activation. With these systems, as soon as any weight is placed on the panel under the shower, it activates. Showers fitted with such activation systems will thus always remain clear from debris, as the temptation to use them for other purposes is removed.
“The key to making a health and safety policy actually work is always creating the correct culture,” Zytynski concludes. “However, creating a culture where safety is the primary focus of all workers is often difficult. Human psychology is an odd thing and it often means that, even with good, regular safety training, the message is ignored. The psychological barriers and oddities of human behaviour discussed above are very real and it is a dangerous deception to think that no one would be so silly and thus ignore them.
“A little bit of thought on adding the product features highlighted above can ensure that the product works with the existing psychology of workers and thus creates a safer environment for all staff.”