Common Hazards associated with "routine" jobs cause most incidents in industry. However, these hazards are the ones most often overlooked.
The S.O.S. 10 Point System©
guides employees to look for hazards using the "10 Situations of Potential Accidents."
Simply put, employees learn the pictorial memory system and it guides them to look for "types" of hazards much like a pilot uses a pre-flight checklist.
PRE-JOB SAFETY MEETING: Prior to the job, initiate a discussion with employees about the task at hand, and visit each of the ten pictures and insure that no hazards of that type are present.
JOB SAFETY ANALYSIS: Rather than randomly searching for Hazards use the pictures similar to the way a pilot uses a pre-flight checklist. For each step of the job review the ten pictures with each picture suggesting a type of hazard to search for. In this manner, more hazards are recognized and routine hazards are not overlooked.
SITE SPECIFIC: If a pre-printed JSA is being utilized for this task, a site specific must be done. The JSA was prepared with certain assumptions being made about the work location, terrain, weather, types of people present, etc. The site-specific guides us in identifying the hazards specific to this work location.
The contributing causes of most incidents are contained in a list of only ten situations. We refer to this list as the "10 Situations of Potential Accidents." They provide us with a targeted direction for finding workplace hazards.
The S.O.S. 10 point System© assigns a symbol to represent each on of these 10 causes. A symbol works best for many reasons.
Easier to remember than a word or phrase
Works equally well in any language
Allows the employee to understand the underlying message even if reading is a challenge
Allows the employee to search for a type or category of hazards
The S.O.S. 10 Point System© works with any job in any industry because it simply represents a category of potential hazards. The ten symbols are taught using a memory system because it helps to provide instant recall for the "10 Situations of Potential Accidents."
