How Seed Companies Can Prevent and Control Safety Risks
Recently, safety accidents have occurred frequently in various regions, and seed companies also have production stages such as the storage of hazardous materials and high-risk operations. On August 18, a reporter came to China Seed Group, hoping that China Seed's experience can provide everyone with a reference.
Walking into China Seed Group and arriving at the department responsible for safety work, the nameplate reads “HSE and Engineering Management Department.” The department head, Zhu Cancan, told the reporter: “H, S, and E are the abbreviations of the English words for health, safety, and environment. Within the group, these three are managed as a systematic project, continuously improving the safety level through risk identification, safety training, and systematic management.”
Risk Identification
Only when you know where the risks are can you carry out targeted prevention and control
Risk identification and analysis is the first step of HSE work. “Only when you know where the risks are can you carry out targeted prevention and control.” Zhu Cancan said that the production and processing of seed companies includes cleaning, fine selection, packaging, warehousing, and other stages. The main hazardous and harmful factors include mechanical injury, electrical hazards, fire, falling from heights, poisoning, and others. If “HSE risks” get out of control during production and operation, there may be serious consequences causing personal injury and property loss.
The exposed transmission parts of rotating machinery (such as gears, belts, shafts, and others) and reciprocating motion parts may cause injuries such as pinching, abrasion, shearing, entanglement, winding, crushing, cutting, and puncturing.
Various electrical equipment, wires, cables, distribution boxes, switches, sockets, and other metal parts that are not energized under normal conditions may cause electric shock and electrical injury to the human body; electrical overload heating, electrical short circuits, or lightning strikes may cause ignition and lead to fire.
The seeds, packaging bags, and other materials in processing and production are all combustible substances. The presence of large amounts of combustible substances, if encountering ignition sources, including unauthorized hot work, electrical faults, lightning strikes, and others, may all cause fire. “The ‘5.31 fire accident at the Lindian Directly Subordinate Depot of Sinograin Heilongjiang Branch’ sounded the alarm for the fire safety management of seed companies.” Zhu Cancan said.
During production and processing and equipment maintenance, when conducting work at heights on platforms, racks, ladders, steps, and roofs of equipment and facilities such as threshers, due to reasons such as missing guardrails or guardrails not meeting standards, failure to use individual protective measures such as safety belts, and operational errors, there is a hazard of falling from heights, causing casualties and equipment damage.
Seed fumigation uses the highly toxic agent aluminum phosphide. If the fumigation operation process is poorly managed, it can easily cause personnel poisoning. At the same time, aluminum phosphide has the property of spontaneously igniting when exposed to moisture, which may lead to fire. Seed coating involves toxic and harmful substances. If seed coating agent management and personnel protection are not in place, it can also cause certain harm to the human body.
Safety Training
Personnel in specific positions must pass the corresponding national qualification examinations
Training is the main work of risk prevention and control. New employees, personnel in specific work stages, department heads, and others are the focus of training. China Seed's training is mainly divided into levels such as onboarding, group company, branch company, workshop, and team, and it has formulated the “China Seed HSE Training Matrix.”
For example, for special operations personnel and special equipment operators, it clearly identifies that the company has electricians, on-site motor vehicle drivers, welders, cutters, pressure boiler operators, and others, and clarifies the training cycle, training hours, level of mastery required, training methods, as well as training content and resources. “In the training matrix, whether leaders or ordinary employees, whether office administrative personnel or personnel in specific work positions, everyone can clearly see what training they need to receive.” Zhu Cancan said.
According to the training matrix, China Seed Group carries out various forms of training activities. New employees collectively go to the fire training center for concentrated study, and personnel in specific positions must pass the corresponding national qualification examinations. “The company posts position risk identification tables, safe operating procedures, emergency operation cards, and others on the wall for everyone's convenience, and also distributes an HSE knowledge manual to each employee.” Zhu Cancan said.
Zhu Cancan showed the reporter an online classroom made according to the training matrix. All branch companies can find training content on the website according to their own needs and employee needs, and can conduct online training simply by following the guide.
Systematic Management
Achieve the zero-accident goal of zero injuries, zero occupational diseases, and zero pollution
Opening China Seed Group's HSE management system, one can clearly see real-time content such as each company's existing risk status, responsible persons, inspection time, rectification status, and rectification deadlines.
“Through the online system, we can understand in real time the rectification status of safety issues by branch companies.” Zhu Cancan said, but the online system is only one part. In terms of inspections, regular comprehensive inspections, special inspections, and surprise inspections are carried out every year, and problems found in inspections are promptly incorporated into online supervision and tracked in real time.
In order to make the responsible entities clear, China Seed Group signs an HSE responsibility letter with the main responsible persons of each branch company every year, decomposing and implementing HSE work responsibilities and management indicators level by level down to each production and operation unit.
China Seed considers safety work from the height of corporate culture. “In order to clarify the importance of safety work, the company's HSE culture has been condensed with the safety production complaint hotline ‘12350’ as its code name.” Zhu Cancan said that a management system centered on risk management should be established. Through the two-wheel drive of management according to relevant standards and standardized construction of safety production, targeting the three elements of intrinsic safety, behavior orientation, and management improvement, and implementing the five HSE mechanisms of visible leadership, comprehensive governance, continuous management improvement, incentive assessment, and all-staff responsibility system, the company ultimately achieves the zero-accident goal of zero injuries, zero occupational diseases, and zero pollution.