http://www.ishn.com/Articles/Feature_Article/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000919171
Auditing can become mundane, especially when done by the same person or group of people every year, year after year. Your procedure and timing may be too predictable and you expect the same results. Perhaps it is time for a change in pace. Try doing your audit more spontaneous and with a different person or group. If you hire an outside source for your audits, check with them to see how they are changing their process or approach. At a minimum, there should be new safety rules and regulations that apply from the last audit.
The auditor can interview different people and change the questions. Sending out a survey in advance can provide the people being interviewed with time to think about the questions and write out comments. But it can also be important to plan surveys by reviewing the records available and incorporating some key points and statistics into the surveys. It shouldn't surprise you to find out people don't always know the happenings outside their own work area. A simple question about if they knew something that happened in the company from a different division or department will help you to know very quickly if there is some communication barriers.
If you think you are not considering the human factors, such as stress, trust, teamwork and leadership, why not phase your questions towards these factors? Or maybe try performing the interview portions of the audit as a group meeting. Brainstorming about safety in the workplace can be beneficial when a group discusses the issues. Getting people involved more with the process helps to create buy-in and accountability.
All too often the audit is looked at as a snapshot in time, while the goal for safety is longterm. Sharing the audit information and follow-up are ways to keep safety in the minds of everyone. In order to build the perception that the workplace is safe, there needs to not only be support in leadership but thinking about safety needs to be a continual behavior that involves all levels of the company.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Noise in Workplace related to Heart Problems
http://www.ishn.com/Articles/Industry_News/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000920175
This article about persistent, loud noise in the workplace being related to increased heart disease just makes common sense. How many times have we all experienced overhearing people arguing, kids screaming, or tools such as hammering that have distracted us and caused headaches? We become more anxious and irritable - stressed. We want to escape and go for a walk or find a quiet place to relax. Destressing from work may be trying to relax on the drive home. If we are driving along a noisy highway, we close the windows and turn on music to adjust the noise around us, making a more appealing listening environment.
Constant, loud noise can put a strain on your mental state that should be minimized at the source. There are numerous engineering controls to help decrease noise on machines or sound barriers to minimize noise in specific areas. However, engineering controls are only part of the correction. In some circumstances, the addition of PPE is needed. It is important to recognize that PPE can add something to that worker's quality of life. Convincing a worker who has been doing his job without PPE everyday for years may be necessary and for his best interest. If he has become content with the way he does his job because that is the way he has always done it, we may need to persuade him that there are always ways to improve what we are doing. Comfort and appearance should no longer be an issue as PPE has improved over the years and is more comfortable to wear and more aesthetic. And getting the employee involved with PPE selection may be advantageous in purchasing something they will use.
This article about persistent, loud noise in the workplace being related to increased heart disease just makes common sense. How many times have we all experienced overhearing people arguing, kids screaming, or tools such as hammering that have distracted us and caused headaches? We become more anxious and irritable - stressed. We want to escape and go for a walk or find a quiet place to relax. Destressing from work may be trying to relax on the drive home. If we are driving along a noisy highway, we close the windows and turn on music to adjust the noise around us, making a more appealing listening environment.
Constant, loud noise can put a strain on your mental state that should be minimized at the source. There are numerous engineering controls to help decrease noise on machines or sound barriers to minimize noise in specific areas. However, engineering controls are only part of the correction. In some circumstances, the addition of PPE is needed. It is important to recognize that PPE can add something to that worker's quality of life. Convincing a worker who has been doing his job without PPE everyday for years may be necessary and for his best interest. If he has become content with the way he does his job because that is the way he has always done it, we may need to persuade him that there are always ways to improve what we are doing. Comfort and appearance should no longer be an issue as PPE has improved over the years and is more comfortable to wear and more aesthetic. And getting the employee involved with PPE selection may be advantageous in purchasing something they will use.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
GAEPD USTMP New Report Templates
http://www.georgiaepd.com/Documents/epdforms_lpb.html#ust
The GAEPD Underground Storage Tank Management Program has provided new reporting templates for the Monitoring Only (MO) and Remediation Reports. These are available online. The new templates are very similar to the prior Progress Report templates from 2001, with the addition for remediation. The GAEPD has indicated that the MO template can be used if there is only one mobile vacuum event performed onsite, but if more than one event is performed then the remediation template would be necessary. Chemical remediation also requires using the remediation template, although this template appears to be best setup for discussing operation and maintenance (O&M) and remediation results on a full scale system. Only time will tell how user friendly these new forms will be. The main thing for now is getting everyone onboard with consistency of reporting.
The GAEPD Underground Storage Tank Management Program has provided new reporting templates for the Monitoring Only (MO) and Remediation Reports. These are available online. The new templates are very similar to the prior Progress Report templates from 2001, with the addition for remediation. The GAEPD has indicated that the MO template can be used if there is only one mobile vacuum event performed onsite, but if more than one event is performed then the remediation template would be necessary. Chemical remediation also requires using the remediation template, although this template appears to be best setup for discussing operation and maintenance (O&M) and remediation results on a full scale system. Only time will tell how user friendly these new forms will be. The main thing for now is getting everyone onboard with consistency of reporting.
NSC: OSHA, MSHA, NIOSH Leaders Discuss the State of Occupational Safety | EHS Today
NSC: OSHA, MSHA, NIOSH Leaders Discuss the State of Occupational Safety EHS Today
In an October 5 National Safety Council Conference, Keynote Speakers included OSHA Administrator David Michaels, NIOSH Director John Howard, and MSHA Administrator Joe Main. I2P2, Vaccination, and Black Lung are on the regulators minds these days. In his keynote speech, David Michaels indicated that OSHA cannot be everywhere at once so the agency "must think of creative ways to have a bigger impact. The key to workplace safety and health is working on prevention". Indead, one key to prevention is communication. For example, the Illness and Injury Prevention Program, called I2P2, proposes finding and fixing safety problems before they cause occurrences. To do this there must be a plan of action that is endorsed by those in charge and implemented by everyone from human resources, management, and employees. Getting key imput from those directly affected and getting support from those above is critical in making realistic safety goals, purchasing appropriate engineering controls and PPE, properly using these controls and equipment, etc. Finding and fixing by means of proper and thorough communication are challenges every company faces.
On a different note, John Howard spoke on vaccination and the timing of flu season on Oct 1. As companies continue to struggle with meeting production goals for the end of 2010, sick time runs out on some employees, stress of missing days when sick to only have to pick up the pace when one returns back to work cause other employees to come to work sick, while in other circumstance employees sometime miss work to care for their sick children. Besides vaccination, when was the last time your keyboard, mouse, and phone were cleaned? And, keeping a small hand sanitizer around is another way to minimize germs.
Joe Main's emphasis was also on prevention, that of keeping miners safe through re-education programs, improvements on dust respirators and engineering controls, and better evaluations of the mining situations during shift changes. Again, communication challenges must be overcome to plan, find and fix problems to minimize other incidents in the future.
In an October 5 National Safety Council Conference, Keynote Speakers included OSHA Administrator David Michaels, NIOSH Director John Howard, and MSHA Administrator Joe Main. I2P2, Vaccination, and Black Lung are on the regulators minds these days. In his keynote speech, David Michaels indicated that OSHA cannot be everywhere at once so the agency "must think of creative ways to have a bigger impact. The key to workplace safety and health is working on prevention". Indead, one key to prevention is communication. For example, the Illness and Injury Prevention Program, called I2P2, proposes finding and fixing safety problems before they cause occurrences. To do this there must be a plan of action that is endorsed by those in charge and implemented by everyone from human resources, management, and employees. Getting key imput from those directly affected and getting support from those above is critical in making realistic safety goals, purchasing appropriate engineering controls and PPE, properly using these controls and equipment, etc. Finding and fixing by means of proper and thorough communication are challenges every company faces.
On a different note, John Howard spoke on vaccination and the timing of flu season on Oct 1. As companies continue to struggle with meeting production goals for the end of 2010, sick time runs out on some employees, stress of missing days when sick to only have to pick up the pace when one returns back to work cause other employees to come to work sick, while in other circumstance employees sometime miss work to care for their sick children. Besides vaccination, when was the last time your keyboard, mouse, and phone were cleaned? And, keeping a small hand sanitizer around is another way to minimize germs.
Joe Main's emphasis was also on prevention, that of keeping miners safe through re-education programs, improvements on dust respirators and engineering controls, and better evaluations of the mining situations during shift changes. Again, communication challenges must be overcome to plan, find and fix problems to minimize other incidents in the future.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Dr. Michaels Emphasizes Priorities at NSC Summit in San Diego
Industrial Safety and Hygiene News sent out an article summarizing the summit session where Dr. Michaels spoke about OSHA's priority for the I2P2 Standard, or the Injury and Illness Prevention Program rule. In his discussion, Dr. Michaels indicates that changes required will address industries finding and fixing hazards before they can cause accidents. He emphasized that changes will require a close collaboration between mangers, team leaders, and employees. Many companies have already taken steps to train employees in accident prevention, where managers and employees watch out for others and report potential problems so they can be fixed before a major incident occurs. But there is the increased problem of sick or injured workers coming to work too soon because they don't have enough time off or are afraid of losing their jobs. Depending on the circumstances, they could be placing themselves and others at a higher risk. What changes has your company done to prevent injuries and illnesses?
For the proposed ruling, go to: osha.gov/FedReg_osha_pdf/FED20100504.pdf
Elements of the rule consist of:
1. Management duties such as establishing a policy, goal setting, planning and allocating resources, and assigning and communicating roles and responsibilities,
2. Employee participation such as involving employees in the establishment and implementation of the policies, providing access to employees for health and safety information, involving the employee in the incident investigation,
3. Hazard identification and assessment such as identifying hazards, gathering information, workplace inspections and incident investigations, hazard associations with workplace changes, determining priorities and identification tools,
4. Hazard prevention and control such as determining and priorizing what hazards must be controlled, and evaluating the effectiveness of controls,
5. Education and training, including content, effectivenss, relationship for training,
6. Program evaluation and improvement, with monitoring, evaluating performance, and determining deficiencies.
The rules require a continual plan to review and improve, after all, the workplace is continually changing. Communication will be essential in this plan. People are different in how they train, how they work with others, yet everyone can bring something of value into the program. Getting people to communicate requires team collaboration skills that have often been challenging. What challenges does your company face in meeting this proposed plan?
For the proposed ruling, go to: osha.gov/FedReg_osha_pdf/FED20100504.pdf
Elements of the rule consist of:
1. Management duties such as establishing a policy, goal setting, planning and allocating resources, and assigning and communicating roles and responsibilities,
2. Employee participation such as involving employees in the establishment and implementation of the policies, providing access to employees for health and safety information, involving the employee in the incident investigation,
3. Hazard identification and assessment such as identifying hazards, gathering information, workplace inspections and incident investigations, hazard associations with workplace changes, determining priorities and identification tools,
4. Hazard prevention and control such as determining and priorizing what hazards must be controlled, and evaluating the effectiveness of controls,
5. Education and training, including content, effectivenss, relationship for training,
6. Program evaluation and improvement, with monitoring, evaluating performance, and determining deficiencies.
The rules require a continual plan to review and improve, after all, the workplace is continually changing. Communication will be essential in this plan. People are different in how they train, how they work with others, yet everyone can bring something of value into the program. Getting people to communicate requires team collaboration skills that have often been challenging. What challenges does your company face in meeting this proposed plan?
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