Two Minute Drill

Abstract 

The two minute drill is a safety strategy which aims to promote safer working habits by ensuring worker’s active participation in the identification of potential hazards. This approach helps to ensure the workers are accountable for their own safety and the safety of their fellow workers. The implementation of the two minute drill at the work place further requires the cooperation of the management. The management’s role lies in the effective resolution of issues observed and raised by the workers during conducting the exercise. 

The study was conducted on 200 employees from the production, logistics and repairs and maintenance departments. The workers were provided with wallet cards with check points. They were supposed to use the check points as references during conducting the two minute drill exercise. Potential hazards were to be reported to the immediate supervisor and addressed prior to the commencement of the examined task. There were also three sets of questionnaires to be filled at various stages of the two week exercise. These questionnaires were to be used to provide the base line position and progressive results observed from the implementation of the exercise. 

There was an observable improvement in the safety of the workers which was evidenced by the reduction of accidents. Furthermore there was an increased level of efficiency and productivity in the sections which were selected for the study. This was considered to be as a result of the improved approach to handling tasks through the implementation of the 2 minute drill exercise as well as its motivational effect to the workers. 

Memo 

From: Benjamin Button 

To: Manager, Human Resource 

Cc: Managers; Production, Logistics and Repairs & Maintenance Departments 

Date: Oct 20 th, 2017 

Subject: Pilot Project Implementation of “2-minute Drill” Safety Plan 

The aim of drafting this notice is to notify you of the implementation of the 2-minute drill safety plan in the production, logistics and repairs & maintenance departments. As pointed out in the Memo dated October 7, 2017 the importance of safety at the work place cannot stressed on enough. The 2-minute drill has been established to be an innovative strategy to attain higher standards of safety at the work place. It would thus in effect be a good approach to facilitating the improvement of worker safety at the workplace. 

The focus of this exercise is centred on the 3 mentioned departments. The selected departments possess the highest risk levels in the company and so would be the best place to start gauging the efficiency of the strategy. The implementation will take place over a two week period where the workers and supervisors of these departments will be expected to exhibit full cooperation. 

The project implementation team would like to seek further the indulgence of the management of these respective departments. Since it is a new exercise, the employees will be expected to attend training sessions so as to get acquainted with the project methods and to provide the necessary information required to gauge the baseline and establish the progress which the project will experience. 

Introduction 

Safety in the work place is essential for the optimal production of the employees. Harm to the employees may arise from multiple sources such as accidents, injuries or illnesses resulting from ill health. Setbacks in the office arising from accidents or injuries as well as illnesses have been shown to result in declines in output levels as well as marked monetary costs. All members of a company should benefit from initiatives to ensure the reduction or elimination of potential causes of accidents (Industry Safe, n.d.) . The successful implementation of safety and health procedures on the company employees works to ensure fewer cases of injuries in the workplace as well as the reduction stress and illnesses and the boosting of worker morale. These effects generally translate to increased productivity and profits as a result of the reduction of turnover, costs per unit and worker compensations as a result of accidents and injuries ( Healthy Working Lives, n.d.). 

The two minute drill. This is an operational health and safety strategy that aims at the identification and elimination of safety hazards at the work place so as to ensure event-free and error-free performance. The monotony of work can result in the desensitization of the workers as well as supervisors to potential hazards at the work place ( Hughes, P., & Ferrett, E. 2011). The two minute drill helps in the re-establishment of active safety observation of the workplace by the working staff. This enables them to become aware of their immediate work environment through the detection of conditions that may be unanticipated during the work planning. The 2 minute drill possesses a set of standards that guide the workers in the implementation process. 

In this version of the two minute drill, each worker will be provided with a “Two Minute Drill” wallet card. The wallet cards will contain bullet point which the holder is supposed to go through prior to the beginning of any work task. This is done so as to properly assess the potential hazards or possible points of danger which they may be exposed to during the work process. They will be expected to adhere to the standards of the exercise which involve looking through the work area and the adjacent surrounding with the aim of identifying various conditions such as; sensitive equipment in the area, the critical metrics and steps required for the success of the task, consistency of the work area in accordance to the listed procedures as well as industrial safety standards and potential environmental hazards ( Human Performance Tools., n.d.) . The workers will also be needed to communicate their observations to fellow workers and supervisors. The communication should entail the identified issues and the necessary precautions to be taken. The final step in the exercise should be the elimination of the hazards and the development of contingencies prior to the commencement of the work. 

These exercises will be gauged through the collection of data from the workers through the filling of a general work area safety report which will cover reported hazards and the remedies taken to address the observations. Individual workers will also be required to fill questionnaire on their experience with the exercise and the improvements that the exercise has provided their daily work routines. The exercise will be conducted in a the span of a whole work week and the results obtained will be analyzed and compared to past records of safety incidences at the work place. Other metrics that will be of interest will be the work efficiency levels based on the time taken to complete tasks. This comparison will be used to gauge the potential benefits of using the 2 minute drill approach over the current system. Conducting this exercise, the accurate collection of data and the utilization of statistical tools in the organization and analysis of the data will provide us with a better comprehension of the need for the 2 minute drill at the workplace 

Project Design 

The project aims at studying the effect of the implementation of the 2 minute drill at the work place. The exercise will be done on the production, repairs and maintenance and logistics unit workers. These sections were selected due to the potentially high risk involved in their day to day activities as opposed to workers in other departments at the beginning of each task throughout the work day. The total sample size consists of 150 men and 50 women making it a total of 200 workers. The pilot study is to be conducted in a span of two weeks starting on the 17 th of October and running up till the 28 th of October 2017. The workers will be expected to implement the 2 minute drill at the beginning of the work day and before the commencement of any new work task. They will be provided with individual wallet cards containing a check list of what to look out for. 

The immediate supervisors of the in all the work units in the study will be provided with a report log book to capture all the potential hazards reported during the exercise and the rectifying steps taken. All workers will also be expected to fill 3 sets of questionnaires during the 2 week exercise. The first questionnaire will be used to establish the base levels of safety and security in the selected work unit, the second questionnaire will be filled at the beginning of the second week to establish the progress made in the implementation and to identify potential points of improvements. The third and final questionnaire will be filled at the last day of the exercise. It is aimed at gauging the success of the pilot study and to provide a general outlook on whether or not to adopt the 2 minute drill permanently into the day to day activities of the organizations. It will also seek to establish point of improvements. 

As earlier indicated the 2 minute drill is an exercise aimed at promoting and reinforcing safer working habits. The 200 workers will be required to commit two minutes of their individual times stretched out across the work day to observe another worker so as to ascertain whether or not they are safe. In the primary variation of the study, each worker will be assigned an individual who they are supposed to inspect for 2 minutes so as to check on whether they are using the right safety tools and equipment. Their observation will also extend to the immediate work environment and the adjacent surroundings. Key areas of focus may include; sensitivity of the equipment being used in the area, the consistency of work area conditions with those listed in safety procedures, critical meters required for the successful and safe completion of tasks and most importantly an outlook in the industrial safety and environmental hazards ( Human Performance Tools. n.d.). 

Once these observations have been made the workers will be expected to communicate their observations with fellow co-workers and with the supervisor. The observation will be on the unexpected or potential hazards or conditions present and the necessary precautions that need to be taken for mitigation purposes. The observations whether positive or negative will serve to the enhancement of general safety assessment in the organization. Negative observations may call for constructive criticism and call for reinforcement where the employee will be advised to rectify and follow appropriate safety protocols already in place ( Ridley, J., & Channing, J. (Eds.), 2008). These hazards and the effected remedies should be logged by the immediate supervisor. Most importantly the worker in conjunction with the supervisors and appropriate management bodies should ensure the elimination of the hazards and the development of necessary contingencies before proceeding the tasks at hand. By the end of the study we will review the number of hazards addressed and the number of incidences that occur. We will also view the necessary contingencies adopted as a result of the implementation of the 2 minute drill. 

Implementation of the study protocol 

The workers are supposed to provide their observations for the logging in the general safety report log by the supervisor and fill their individual questionnaires at the appropriate time. At the beginning of the study week each worker will be provided with a wallet card containing the following information; 

What hazards are in the area? 

How can the person I am observing get hurt? 

Do they have proper PPE? 

Are they in the correct Unit/Compartment? 

What else could go wrong during the task? 

Are there appropriate safety barriers in place? 

Does the plan/approach to the work need to be changed? 

Are there any line of fire or body position risks for the task being performed? 

Since our variation of the 2 minute drill involves the observation of another person so as to ascertain their safety, the workers can utilise the check list in an objective manner to gauge adherence levels of the person they have been preselected to observe ( Exelon Safety Line, n.d.). 

Since the study is aimed at covering all worker in the selected departments, the reference data to be used to gauge the success of the study will be obtained from past records and the base line study questionnaire filled during the beginning of the exercise. The selection of the large sample size will help in the estimation of the true position of the impact of the study. Potential setbacks in the study could be the an increase in the downtime as a result of workers taking too much time on the 2 minute drill exercise or even worse, being distracted from their main roles by the exercise. This can resolved through efforts by the immediate supervisors to ensure that they get prompt reports from the observing workers in order to make the necessary adjustments prior to the commencement of the work. 

Other problems that may arise during our study is the general lack of commitment to the exercise by the workers due to their fore established perceptions on the nature of work being done. This could result in non-responsiveness in the submission of their observations supervisors and even the lack of commitment during the answering of the questionnaires. We plan on mitigating this problem through conducting safety and security training in the first day of the exercise so as to engage the working staff in the process. This training will also contribute to improving the working relationship between the workers and their supervisors. A safety champion can be selected among the workers to cater for the incidences where there might be communication barriers between the workers and the supervisors. We believe that the engagement of the workers actively during the implementation process will help provide a more accurate approach in their filling of the questionnaires and thus provide us with a more accurate position of the whole exercise (Industry Safe, n.d.). 

Data Summary 

In the 2 minute drill exercise, the metric being used are the number of incidences reported, the number of incidences that occurred and productivity levels. The questionnaires filled by the supervisors and the previous accident report logs were to be used as the reference points for comparative analysis. In order to obtain sufficient data for analysis, the data presented would have to represent the information obtained from the whole first week. This would then have to be compared by the average weekly occurrence of accidents in the past and the second week’s data so as to view whether there are any shifts in trends. 

There were 56 reported hazards throughout the 2 week period of the study. 42% of the incidences were reported from the repairs and maintenance teams with the production and logistics units representing 30% and 28% respectively. There was a 90% level of rectification of the hazards detected as well as the proper upholding of the respective safety standards. The supervisor’s accident and hazard report log provided a comparative analysis pointing to a steady decline in the mean rate of accident occurring in the two weeks by a 40%. Where the average weekly number of accidents was gauged against the base line study conducted during the answering of the initial questionnaire. There was an increase in the production output by a factor of 4% and 6% increasingly in the first and second week of the exercise. 

Discussion and Analysis Plan 

The results obtained from the study point towards the improvement of the overall work process of the organization during the implementation of the 2 minute drill. We get the base line position of the organization with regards to the safety and security units from the first questionnaire. The observations made from the base line study is although safety procedures were observed, the workers approached the matter in a more passive manner. There were no well-established measures taken to actively observe the work place for potential hazards and to report them prior to the 2 minute drill study. This by itself pointed towards the need for a clear hazard identification and reporting system. The 2 minute drill exercise resulted in the reporting of a total of 56 cases of potential hazards in the work place for the two week which the study was conducted. These brought to light the number of incidences that would be of potential harm to the workers over the period and through drawing a comparison to previous incidences reported as obtained from the questionnaire filled by the section supervisors, this number was observed to average as the highest number of incidences reported in any two week period. 

The commitment towards the addressing of these reported hazards proved to be a motivator to the workers. This was observed through the increased output levels and efficiency in the sections where the 2 minute drill exercise was being implemented. Although the increase in production levels in the production department can be attributed to multiple factors, we believe that the implementation of the 2 minute drill contributed to the overall results in the two week period. A major contributor to the improvement was the reduction of down time in the production department through ensuring the safety and security of the workers and through ensuring all requirements necessary for the successful implementation the task were provided before the commencement of the task. 

Furthermore the enhancement of the efficiency of the complementary departments, repairs and maintenance as well as logistics, further contributed to the overall increase in the production levels. This was through the 2 minute drill exercise ensuring all repairs and maintenance procedures were done on time and efficiently. The utilization of a report log by the supervisors also helped to keep track of issues raised and in the ensuring of their prompt resolutions. As evidenced by the analysis of the results obtained from the second and third questionnaires, we observe a gradual trend of improvement. 80% of the responses from the questionnaires exhibited worker satisfaction in with the 2 minute drill exercise. There were some instances where the responses issued through the questionnaire did not reflect a positive outlook about the implementation of the new safety exercise. This prompted us to conduct further evaluation of these incidences through follow up meetings with the department heads and supervisors. The findings from these meeting brought to light the need for improvement in the provision of safety and protective equipment. 

The 2 minute drill offers a wide range of benefits to multiple levels of the organization. The results indicate a motivational aspect towards the employees which translates into increased production, reduction in down time and enhanced efficiency. The management also stand to benefit from it with regards to minimization of costs incurred in the treatment of workers injured during working as well as potential litigations that may arise from such cases ( Menoid, E. J, 2015). It is however important to note the need for more training sessions for the workers. This will enable them to provide their insight on areas that may need improvement. Although accidents in the work place tend to happen in the most unusual of ways, it is the responsibility of the management to ensure the minimization of potential hazards that may build up to these occurrences. The 2 minute drill has proved to be beneficial to the respective sections for the two weeks and we recommend the full implementation of the program. 

References 

Exelon Safety Line. (n.d.).  Two Minute Drill Card . Retrieved from http://www.esafetyline.com/eei/conference%20pdf%20files/2015fall/infotrans_exelon.pdf 

Healthy Working Lives. (n.d.).  Health & safety legislation | Workplace regulations | Healthy Working Lives . Retrieved from http://www.healthyworkinglives.com/advice/Legislation-and-policy/Workplace-Health-and-Safety/health-safety-legislation 

Hughes, P., & Ferrett, E. (2011).  Introduction to health and safety at work . Routledge. 

Human Performance Tools. (n.d.).  Human Performance Tool Box . Retrieved from http://multi.tva.gov/contractor/instructors/ATIS00076300/HU_Tools_Student_Handout.pdf 

Industry Safe. (n.d.).  "Improve Tackling of Workplace Injuries and Illness" . Retrieved from https://www.industrysafe.com/IS_Global/Documents/industrysafe_osha_electronic_submittal_wp.pdf?utm_source=October%202017%20OHS%20Online%20Advertising&utm_medium=October%202017%20OHS%20Online%20Advertising&utm_campaign=October%202017%20OHS%20Online%20Advertising&utm_content=info_center_whitepaper 

Menoid, E. J. (2015, September 3). "Two MInute Drill" Safety Initiative. Retrieved from https://www.menold.com/single-post/2015/09/02/Two-Minute-Drill-Safety-Initiative 

Ridley, J., & Channing, J. (Eds.). (2008).  Safety at work . Routledge. 

Safety Info. (n.d.). 2 Minute Safety Talks - SafetyInfo. Retrieved from https://www.safetyinfo.com/2-minute-talks-technical-topics-safety-index/