As part of TMT-Portia’s continuous improvement programme, we have identified the need to better protect the welfare of our employees and educate them on safety-critical training. Working safely at height is an issue all over the world, but particularly in South East Asia. Health and safety management is growing in importance in Myanmar and improvements are continuously being made.
Working safely at height was identified as a key area for improvement, unlocking the 4th and 5th height containers on deck was seen as a major risk. The use of safety harnesses needed to be improved in order to encourage workers not to put themselves at risk and at the same time speed up the unlocking process.
TMT-Portia identified that a retractable lanyard together with the safety harness would be the solution to give personnel more flexibility whilst working on the 4th and 5th height and ultimately reduce the risk of falling and injury.
The Terminal Manager (Peter Rothwell) and the Health & Safety/Training Manager (Aung Aung Chit) developed and delivered a Training Programme for Working at Safely at Height and produced a process/procedure for working at height which is now used across all vessel operations.
TMT-Portia are proud of their safety record and to date there have been (0) zero injuries since October 2018. A common sense approach to health and safety has been adopted with toolbox talks taking place within the workforce before every vessel commences operations. In addition, in 2019, TMT-Portia implemented the following improvements:
- Provided improved PPE
- Provided ladders to prevent workers climbing
- Improved tools for removing damaged twist locks
- Introduced a “buddy system” to prevent lone working
- Improved load/discharge processes above and below deck to remove temptation for workers to climb.
