Safety first

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Safety first

Safety first

We love our employees at De Watergroep. All 1,500. We put their safety first. Both on-site and in the office, we provide the necessary personal protective equipment. But we are also strongly committed to raising awareness of dangers and risks at work. Prevention is better than the cure!

introductie foto Safety first

Protect yourself, wear PPE!

Personal protective equipment or PPE can protect employees against all kinds of dangers. In 2019, De Watergroep focused once again on raising awareness on PPE.

PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT?

The term ‘personal protective equipment’ mainly refers to the following:

  • Safety glasses or a full face screen to protect the eyes and face from debris.
  • Helmets to protect against bangs or knocks.
  • Ear protectors in noisy environments.
  • Dust masks to prevent breathing in hazardous substances.
  • Gloves to protect against cuts, injuries, cold, heat, chemicals and much more.
  • High visibility clothing to remain easily visible in traffic.
  • Safety shoes to protect against falling objects, cuts, injuries, getting trapped and much more.

 

LOOKING OUT FOR EACH OTHER

The purpose of PPE is to protect employees against the dangers posed by the working environment. As such, wearing it is a must. “If we want to make real progress in terms of safety and well-being as an organisation, we need to look out for each other as well as look after ourselves”, Head of the Internal Service for Prevention and Protection at Work (IDPB) Rudi Hilven posits. “That’s why we are encouraging our employees and managers to respectfully hold each other accountable if anyone is not wearing the recommended PPE. That way, we can avoid serious injury and make sure everyone stays safe. Needless to say, we expect our managers to set the right example.”

Safety first = think, then act

“If only I had...” is often the first thought that occurs after an accident. Using the look-think-act rule, we’re preventing accidents caused by carelessness or negligence.

Most of our employees set out to do their jobs with the best of intentions, but an accident can easily occur. To prevent such accidents from happening, De Watergroep introduced its new ‘Safety first = think, then act’ theme in 2019.

In concrete terms, the look-think-act rule works as follows:

Look

  • Do I know my task properly?
  • Are there any hazards? For example: busy surroundings, chemicals, electricity, gas, danger of collapse etc.
  • Do I have everything I need? Do I have the necessary materials and tools as well as personal protective equipment?

Think

  • What could (still) go wrong?
  • Are there any hazards or combinations of things that could present a hazard, such as water and electricity?

Act

  • Remove any hazards where possible.
  • Isolate any hazards.
  • Use personal protective equipment.
function swipedetect(el, callback){ var touchsurface = el, swipedir, startX, startY, distX, distY, threshold = 200, //required min distance traveled to be considered swipe restraint = 100, // maximum distance allowed at the same time in perpendicular direction allowedTime = 300, // maximum time allowed to travel that distance elapsedTime, startTime, handleswipe = callback || function(swipedir){} touchsurface.addEventListener('touchstart', function(e){ var touchobj = e.changedTouches[0] swipedir = 'none' dist = 0 startX = touchobj.pageX startY = touchobj.pageY startTime = new Date().getTime() // record time when finger first makes contact with surface e.preventDefault() }, false) touchsurface.addEventListener('touchmove', function(e){ e.preventDefault() // prevent scrolling when inside DIV }, false) touchsurface.addEventListener('touchend', function(e){ var touchobj = e.changedTouches[0] distX = touchobj.pageX - startX // get horizontal dist traveled by finger while in contact with surface distY = touchobj.pageY - startY // get vertical dist traveled by finger while in contact with surface elapsedTime = new Date().getTime() - startTime // get time elapsed if (elapsedTime <= allowedTime){ // first condition for awipe met if (Math.abs(distX) >= threshold && Math.abs(distY) <= restraint){ // 2nd condition for horizontal swipe met swipedir = (distX < 0)? 'left' : 'right' // if dist traveled is negative, it indicates left swipe } else if (Math.abs(distY) >= threshold && Math.abs(distX) <= restraint){ // 2nd condition for vertical swipe met swipedir = (distY < 0)? 'up' : 'down' // if dist traveled is negative, it indicates up swipe } } handleswipe(swipedir) e.preventDefault() }, false) } window.addEventListener('load', function(){ var el = document.getElementById('prevnextbar') var nextpage = document.getElementById('nextpage') var prevpage = document.getElementById('prevpage') swipedetect(el, function(swipedir){ if (swipedir != 'right'){ prevpage.click() } if (swipedir != 'left'){ nextpage.click() } }) }, false)