Hotline of power engineering specialists:
OSH specialists of IDGC of Centre and IDGC of Centre and Volga Region took part in the seminar "Good driving, safe transportation of personnel and cargo in winter conditions by IDGC of Centre’s drivers. Increased discipline and stability of attention to risk factors" and the meeting "Experience of DVR use by operating staff at IDGC of Centre - Yarenergo division".
The event was held with the aim of improving the work on injury prevention and control among the company’s staff. During it the participants discussed the issues of road safety and also studied the experience of the use of video recorders by operating personnel of IDGC of Centre - Yarenergo division.
The first day of the event in Yaroslavl was dedicated to a workshop to ensure accident-free traffic of IDGC of Centre’s drivers. It was attended by heads of mechanization and transportation services, deputy chief engineers for industrial safety and production control. Invited experts from a driver training centre conducted training and a practical class in defensive driving. In their course they analyzed the main factors that can cause an accident, drew attention to the importance of the prediction of dangerous driving situations and the development of drivers’ skills in response to them in order to prevent possible accidents, considered the main errors made by professional drivers.
On the second day on the site of City Distribution Zone (the town of Rostov) with the participation of heads of grid control centres of IDGC of Centre’s branches, heads of industrial safety and production control offices of IDGC of Centre, IDGC of Centre and Volga Region, a meeting was held on the use of video recorders in the work of the company’s personnel.
Representatives of IDGC of Centre - Yarenergo division shared experience of using DVRs to fix routine switching, rounds and clerances, performed by staff of operating mobile crews. Several years ago, in a group of maintenance of substations of the branch a surveillance system for the work of the personnel using a video recorder was installed. On the helmets of employees cameras were installed that recorded their actions during the operational maintenance of electric grid facilities.
"Video surveillance, along with a record of operational talks, is one of the most effective methods of objective control over work of first responding mobile personnel. We can see how the staff works, what errors they make, analyze them, and develop corrective measures to avoid such errors in the future. The presence of the recorder, in most cases, disciplines employees, contributes to the execution of their duties in strict compliance with the rules. Also, the video records allow to assess the defects found during inspections, to decide on necessary forces and means to address them. There were times when the videos helped us in the investigation of incidents, emergencies," explained First Deputy Director - Chief Engineer of IDGC of Centre - Yarenergo division Ruslan Trubin.
At the moment the branch has accumulated considerable experience in the use of video recorders, developed and approved their application, conducted practical testing of a number of samples with the identification of their positive and negative sides, created a system of storage and use of video files. The immediate effect of the use of video surveillance was to obtain reliable information about the actions of the operating personnel while performing operational maintenance of 35-110 kV substations; to identify the most common mistakes and increase the level of professional discipline. In addition, it managed to create a publicly available database of videos for use by various services of the company for training, analysis of identified errors and their correction.
In addition to "Yarenergo", the experience on the use of video recording was presented at the meeting by representatives of branches of IDGC of Centre and Volga Region, in particular, by "Ryazanenergo", which also actively performs similar work. Following the meeting it was decided to further expand the system of video recording of performed actions for preparation of workplaces, targeted briefings prior to admission of crews to work, inspection of electric grid facilities, and video recording of the process of eliminating faults in all branches of IDGC of Centre.
"Our priorities are the development of measures to prevent injuries and improve working conditions, safety, prevention of erroneous actions of personnel, preventing accidents. The seminar held on traffic safety and the meeting on the use of DVRs by the company’s staff just contribute to achieving these goals. We, together with our colleagues from IDGC of Centre and Volga Region, discussed these issues and studied the positive experience that we can use in the future, paid attention to the "pitfalls" and the difficulties that can be faced with a number of projects implementation in these areas," stressed Head of Occupational Safety Office of IDGC of Centre Elena Kalinina.