April Safety Tip

10 Leadership Principles to Deliver Safety Results

When a company lists safety first in its values, what do leaders have to do to back up that statement? 

GTI Group, a logistics company, says this about Safety on its webpage:

“We do the right thing. Period. The safety of our employees, clients and the public come above everything else. We operate within the letter and spirit of the law. Every team member is unconditionally empowered to call a safety time-out.”

At the National Safety Council’s fall 2021 conference, Brian Fielkow, CEO of GTI, said there are 10 principles he’s used to help deliver safety results that he’s proud of:

1. If you have a sign that says, “Safety is our No. 1 priority,” tear it down.Safety isn’t a priority; it’s a non-negotiable core value. Priorities can be rearranged. Values, on the other hand, are the adhesive that holds a company together. If safety isn’t in your values statement, put it there. Safety has to be the guardrail that guides every decision a company makes. Nothing can get in the way.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
2. Power vs. authority: Know the difference.Fielkow said he could send out an email that says so-and-so is the CEO. That bestows authority on the CEO. Authority is easy, but Fielkow says he can’t give anyone power. You can only earn power by the way you show up – the interactions you have with your co-workers.

   Fielkow says at GTI subsidiary Jetco, they asked drivers to elect a committee of their peers. This was a group that was elected to help govern the company. The group elected a chair who is involved in any decision in the life of a driver.

   This is a way to knock down the toxic silos between the frontlines and top management. If you capture the power of frontline workers in this way, they’re better able to help you make changes. There are opinion leaders among your employees. Are they working for you or against you? Bring them in. Help them become your change agenda. To do that, you have to identify the people who have power.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

3. Treatment, transparency, trust.A lot of us are trained to think about safety in our heads. Safety has to begin in the heart, according to Fielkow. The ultimate form of poor treatment is anonymity. Get to know a thing or two about people who work for you. Is there a little league game? Is someone sick at home? The more connection that’s built with employees, the more they will engage in safety. If the employee feels they matter to someone in the organization, they become engaged.

   Transparency is giving people the dignity of an explanation of why a change is being made. Those who are included tend to support change. Those who are excluded tend to oppose it.

   You can’t build a healthy safety program without trust. Work on building bridges with employees. Fielkow says one of their favorite ways to do this is, every couple of years, they send a box of crayons, blank paper and a letter to families, asking kids to draw what safety means to them. Their drawings become the company calendar which they send to their employees and customers.                      

4. Create a just culture.Get rid of progressive discipline. Fielkow says instead, create a just culture. When an employee makes a mistake, the question should be, was it an honest mistake or deliberate and reckless?
   If someone has made an honest mistake, GTI coaches, trains and makes systemic changes.

   If it’s reckless behavior – driving 50 mph in a school zone for example – that’s one strike and you’re out.

   Fielkow says they had a night driver who fell asleep and ran off the road. No one was hurt. They looked at the situation, including his tenure and previous performance and made a decision: He was going to stay with us. What he offered to do was remarkable. He made a five-minute video which was riveting. He said, “I didn’t rest. I thought I was invincible.” The video was made available to all employees. GTI didn’t force the driver to do this. Fielkow says you can’t put a price on the fact that he was willing to take his mistake and teach his peers. He’s not going to fall asleep at the wheel again.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

5. When you’re conducting root cause analysis, look at the organizational factorsas well as the individual behavior.

   A company can cause an incident as easily as a person, says Fielkow. How can a company cause an injury? Insufficient, unclear processes. Reward systems that incentivizes productivity over safety.

   When he retired as chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, Robert Samuel was asked what he had learned after being at the agency for 15 years. He said procedures are written for a reason. Studies show that once you deviate from standard operating procedures (SOPs), you’re more likely to have consequential errors.
   Professionals follow procedures. They do the right things when nobody’s watching. Sometimes people spend more time figuring out how to skirt the rules than actually complying with them. This is at the heart of so many safety failures – a lack of respect for process. Do you consider your frontline employees to be professionals? If you treat people like you want them to be, that’s who they will become. Treat people like children, and they’ll behave like children.                                                                                                            

6. If your processes aren’t understandable by the intended audience, then you don’t have processes.You just have words on paper.

   GTI asked its drivers to write their handbook, The Jetco Way. The company gathered four or five drivers who were good at a particular topic together with a writer who wrote up what they said. The drivers reviewed what the writer put together. All processes are a maximum of four or five sentences.

   Fielkow recommends the book, The Checklist Manifesto. It’s by a surgeon who noted that, even with lots of processes, there were still a lot of errors being made in operating rooms. The surgeon came up with checklists for everything related to surgery, including before and after.

   The lesson: Convert processes into checklists and use them. If you keep the checklists as simple as possible, you’ll get better results. People don’t need to be taught as much as they need to be reminded.

   Fielkow recommends developing your company’s life critical rules. These are rules where violations are more likely to kill or maim. It’s true that all rules are important. But some rules stand above others. If everything is important, then nothing is important.

   GTI called its life critical rules The Serious Six. The rules are printed in wallet card format. Now, “No one ever told me,” can’t be an excuse, according to Fielkow.                                                                                                                                                                            

7. Dismiss severity.Fielkow says the fact that an incident had a major or minor outcome isn’t the most important thing.

   Example: A driver tears up some grass. No big deal? No. The driver wasn’t situationally aware. It’s only luck that the driver didn’t hit a kid.
   To be good at prevention, don’t treat the behavior behind a minor incident any differently than a major one. Do root cause analysis 100% of the time. It doesn’t all have to take a long time and be formal.

   Fielkow says a lot of times we come to the table with our minds made up, and we form the analysis to meet our own conclusion. To counter that, bring in someone from another area to help with the analysis.

   In 1996, TWA Flight 800 exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. More than 200 people died. People thought it was terrorism. But a four-year NTSB investigation found an internal explosion in one of the plane’s fuel tanks was caused by a coated electric wire that ran through the tank. Why was an electric wire in the tank? It was conventional wisdom at the time that, if it was coated, it was safe. Once the coating wore off, the wire was exposed. Insufficient maintenance and design defect were the root causes.

   The lesson: Never stop asking questions until you get to the bottom line.                                                                                                            

8. Focus on leading indicators.Most indicators are a look in the rearview mirror. Leading indicators predict outcomes.

   The Accident Pyramid says for every 600 near misses, there are 30 accidents with property damage, 10 minor injury (first aid only) accidents and one serious injury accident. If you want to reduce serious injuries focus on the near misses, property damage accidents and minor injury accidents.

   Counting near misses is a leading indicator. Want to get more near misses reported? Stop calling them near misses. Instead, call them good catches. Make sure there’s a way to report good catches confidentially. Key: Employees should have no fear of retribution for reporting.                                                                                                                                                                                                       

9. Tear down silos.Companies need to have divisions. That’s OK. Silos are the kiss of death. What constitutes a silo? It’s a state of mind. If someone else is drowning, “too bad.” That’s a silo.

   Fielkow says once upon a time, he would have Operations meetings on Monday, and he would hear a lot about how the Safety team doesn’t get it. He’d have Safety meetings on Tuesdays, and he’d hear about Operations playing cat and mouse.

   On Tuesday night, Fielkow says he’d take two aspirin and try to figure out how to create harmony. Fielkow says he created his own silos – it was his own fault.

   We create silos by how we incentivize people and who we invite to the table at meetings. So Fielkow doesn’t have Operations or Safety meetings anymore. Now they’re in the room together. Every company has silos, and generally they’re there because the company built them.

   Here’s a story Fielkow heard about another company: They had an Operations Manager and a Safety Manager who were both great, but they hated each other. They couldn’t get along. So the company president told them they were going to switch jobs for two years. They couldn’t wait to get back to their old jobs, and they had a new respect for the other person and their challenges. Can all companies do that? No.
   But Fielkow says at GTI they have ride-alongs with their drivers. It helps others appreciate what goes into being a truck driver.

   When it comes to safety and silos, Fielkow says there’s one thing that has to be understood: Operations is responsible for the execution of Safety. Safety pros must teach, train, coach, mentor and ensure accountability. But companies can’t allow the safety department to become the receptacle for safety problems because that’s not teaching teams how to address the safety issues and practice prevention.

   Allowing people to think safety isn’t their responsibility is a dangerous silo. Why? Because it allows workers to think that safety is the responsibility of the Safety department, instead of being responsible for it themselves.                                                                                      

10. You can’t win them all, don’t try.Your employees have to be at the intersection of your company values and being technically excellent, according to Fielkow.

    When you have a person who is really aligned with your values but isn’t technically competent, you’re going to try to train that person, or else they can’t be at the company.

    But what about an employee who is technically proficient, but they think the rules don’t apply to them? Now you have a big problem.

    You might think, “We’re busy, I don’t have time to fire this person.” You don’t have to fire the person. Coach them. And then coach them some more. But at some point you have to come to the realization that some people are uncoachable.

    Here’s a mistake Fielkow says he made. They had a driver who was a real team player. His attitude: Where and when do you need me? I’m there. Common sense said he was able to do this because he was probably cutting corners.

    One day Fielkow was driving to work, and a truck passed him at 80 mph in a 50 mph zone. It was that driver. It was a wakeup call. The driver was fired.

    If you look the other way in these situations, you’re sending a horrible message to those working their tails off to get their jobs done and live up to your values. It tells them that they don’t matter.

    When you’re trying to enact change, Fielkow says you’ll have 20% who know where you’re going and why; 60% who are scared, and that’s OK; and 20% who have made up their minds and miss the good old days of the way we used to do things. You’re better off without the last 20%. The faster you lose those people, the faster you can make change.

Source:  www.SafetyNewsAlert.com

March Safety Tip

4 Tips to Help New Workers Stay Safe

Tip 1: Recognize Safe Practices!

Positive feedback is just as important as correction. As you walk your facility or job site, be sure to take a few extra minutes to observe the newbies doing their jobs. Give them a small reward, even if it’s just a “nice job!” when you see them following safety rules. Knowing they’re doing something right boosts their job confidence and reinforces good safety habits.

Tip 2: Have a formal check-in 30 days after they start.

New workers tend to pick up bad habits from others. They may have learned in training that they always need safety eyewear in the plant, but if they see their coworkers pushing safety glasses up for certain tasks, or forgoing them entirely, they’re more likely to do the same. Review the rules with them after a month on the job to prevent normalization of deviance.

Tip 3: Require in-house competency testing and schedule announced observances.

Before you let your newbies start working unsupervised, make them show you the right ways to follow their safety rules. In-house competency testing may be required by OSHA for certain jobs, but it’s a good idea to make it the rule for any safety protocol. Even when a worker demonstrates post-training competency, it’s important to schedule announced observances as they go through their first year and beyond. Watching them doing their job in what they believe is the safest way can give you crucial information about where they may need more training.

Tip 4: Follow up after a few months on the job.

New workers can be a valuable source of information to find any gaps you may have in your training program. Follow up at their 30-day check-in to ask what they’ve learned on the job and what they wish they’d been taught in their first weeks. Then add these lessons to new worker training to benefit the next group.

Keep your newbies injury-free on the job. Make sure they’re equipped, not just with the right gear, but with the right knowledge to stay safe!

Source:  https://www.magidglove.com/safety-matters/how-to-keep-new-employees-safer.aspx

February Safety Tip

TEN TOP TIPS TO CREATE AN EFFECTIVE SAFETY COMMITTEE

Most Safety Managers know that safety committees are a good idea, and many states actually require them by law. But is your committee doing all it can and should be doing? If you answered No, you’re not alone. A poll by Safety & Health Magazine found that only 32.6% of their readers said their safety committees were effective.

Here are our top 10 tips to start improving today!

1. Review Your Safety Committee Purpose

Committees should regularly bring workers together to communicate and promote workplace safety. Does everyone on your committee:

• Understand their role?
• Understand the importance of what they’re doing?
• Feel empowered to make recommendations for improvements?

Take some time at your next meeting to review and clarify your safety mission and goals.

2. Include the Right People

An effective safety committee should be a representation of your company, including a mix of salaried and hourly employees and stakeholders from different departments. Having a good mix of viewpoints can reveal different ideas and opinions and helps you anticipate any potential resistance.

3. Commit to the Committee

Don’t squeeze committee meetings into your schedule. Carve out time for safety meetings and commit to them. Whether it’s the first Monday of the month or the last Friday of the quarter, pick a day and stick to it!

4. Let Others Drive

As a safety expert, you may find it difficult to take a back seat in your safety meetings. Though it may sound a little strange, it’s important not to be too active. Instead, serve as a coach or as a resource to the group so members feel free to speak up and be creative. Your role here should be more about coordinating management and supporting employees.

5. Conduct an Audit

As a group, review your documented safety processes and procedures to determine if there’s a clearer way to communicate safety policies to front-line workers. If you don’t have documented safety procedures, start creating them!

6. Walk the Job

Ask your committee to walk the plant floor or jobsite and note safer, more efficient ways to get the job done including signage recommendations, PPE suggestions and lighting improvements.

7. Give Your Training a Trial Run

Use your safety committee as an audience to test your safety training materials and solicit suggestions. Periodic training reviews help keep your information timely and accurate.

8. Look for Blended Training Opportunities

As a group, brainstorm ways you might start to combine two or more forms of delivering information—for example, a combination of classroom instruction and an independent, self-paced online course. A University of Tennessee study showed that a blended learning program reduced both the time and the cost of training by more than 50%. The same study showed a 10% better result in learning outcomes compared with traditional training. You can even introduce short microlearning videos to help certain lessons stick.

9. Create a Safety Reward Program

Since you’ll have a mix of front-line workers and experienced managers in the same room, work together to create a rewards program that will motivate your people and spark enthusiasm while helping to reduce injuries. Rewards can range from free PPE gear to paid days off to gift cards and lottery tickets.

10. Keep Ideas Fresh

Once you’ve tapped the committee for their ideas and suggestions, consider rotating members. This opens your committee up for new viewpoints and experiences on an ongoing basis.

Remember to review this Top 10 periodically to avoid stagnation. Keeping ideas fresh is key to the kind of continued safety improvements that make your committee and your safety program effective now and for the long haul.

Source:  https://www.magidglove.com/safety-matters/effective-safety-committee.aspx

January Safety Tip

FEDERAL OSHA RECORDKEEPING

OSHA requires employers to record and report work-related fatalities, injuries, and illnesses.  This doesn’t mean that the employer or employee was at fault or that an OSHA rule was violated or that the employee(s) are eligible for worker’s compensation or other benefits. These records are used for several purposes including:

• Injury and illness statistics are used by OSHA to help direct it’s programs, measure it’s own performance and inspectors use the information to help direct their efforts.
• The information can be used by employers to implement safety & health programs and track progress
• It provides a data base for the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics – the Nation’s primary source of occupational injury and illness data)

Not all employers must keep records – if there were more than 10 employees at any time you must keep records (unless your establishment is classified as partially exempt.  But everyone must still report fatalities, loss of an eye, amputations, hospitalizations, including related to COVID-19.

So what is required of an employer?  In general employers must complete every year:

• OSHA Form 300 or “Log”
• OSHA Form 300A “Summary”
• OSHA Form 301 or equivalent
• Sharps Log (May not be applicable to all employers)
• COVID-19 log (Subpart U – ETS Healthcare)
• Electronic submission (may not be applicable to all Employers– effective 1/1/2017)

How about reporting items to OSHA?  The following must be reported to OSHA within the timeframe specified:

• Fatalities (within 8 hours)
• Hospitalization of 1 or more employee (within 24 hrs.)
• An amputation (within 24 hrs.)
• A loss of an eye (within 24 hrs.)
• Fatal heart attacks that occur in the work environment
• Healthcare (COVID-19 ETS):
  • COVID-19 fatality within 8 hours
  • Covid-19 inpatient hospitalization within 24 hours
• Mechanical power presses: POO (point of operation) injuries to operators/ other employees must be reported within 30 days of occurrence

Not every injury is recordable according to OSHA.  To become a recordable case it must meet at least one of the items listed below (at any time – not just at the initial injury onset):

• Death
• Days away from work
• Restricted work or transfer to another job
• Medical treatment beyond first aid
• Loss of consciousness
• Significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional

Also keep in mind that recordable cases may happen outside the workplace, too.  Injuries or incidents that fit the above criteria may be recordable even if it happened while the employee was working at home, traveling for work, or at another worksite because of work.  You may also have to record injuries or illnesses for contract workers (if you supervise their activities). 

Some other highlights of recordkeeping include:

• For work-related COVID-19 cases make sure these are recorded on the 300 Form as a “respiratory illness”
• Do ensure you readily have available the current year documents plus the prior five (5) years’ worth as well.
• There are also some special recordkeeping requirements for employers that fall under Subpart U – the healthcare emergency temporary standard.
• Although temporarily stopped Federal OSHA also has some requirements for COVID-19 cases.
• Make sure that all cases that meet the recording criteria are put on the 300 Form within 7 calendar days that you are notified of it.
• For days away from work and restricted/alternate work days count calendar days, not just the days the employee(s) were to work.
• You can stop counting or cap the total days away from work, or the total days of alternate duty, or combination of both if it totals 180 days. Put “180” or “180+” on the form.
• Make sure the highest ranking person at your establishment signs the 300A Summary!

Help is here!

ICE may help you save a lot of time with recordkeeping.  Not only can it produce the necessary documents but you also have the ability to make adjustments as a case changes.  One of the best features is the iCE Auditor which will review your OSHA Form 300 for potential errors or inaccuracies allowing you to make corrections before you post the 300A Summary.

Forms:  iCE can produce the OSHA Form 300 or log; the 300A Summary, 301’s, and the format necessary for electronic submission

Corrections:  iCE allows you to go back and make corrections, such as the numbers of days away from work or transitional duty, job titles, injury/illness classification and many more options.

Resources:  https://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping

https://ice.ccmsi.com/iCE/OSHA/OSHAForms.aspx

December Safety Tip

New Year’s Resolutions for Safety in the Workplace 2022

2022 is almost here! How is your New Year’s resolution list looking?

They say breaking down ambitious goals into small, actionable items is an effective strategy to accomplish them. In the world of health and safety, small actions such as displaying a warning sign or cleaning a dirty factory floor can have a significant impact on reducing the number of workplace incidents.

If your 2021 objective is to reduce the number of work-related injuries, here is a list of bite-sized best practices to remember for the upcoming year.

1. Educate on health & safety risks

Educate workers on identifying and controlling potential hazards is crucial when it comes to building a culture of safety within your organization. If employees engage in safety-conscious behavior, they can regulate their own safety and that of their teammates more effectively and consistently.

2. Wear PPE to suit the task

Over specifying or under specifying protective equipment for a given application can affect or even cancel out its protective abilities. PPE, whether it’s gloves or firefighter turnout gear, is specifically designed to offer protection for varying types of risk, in various scenarios. Fortunately, there are task-specific products to pick from; check with your PPE vendors.  Have you conducted a PPE Hazard Assessment yet?

3. Keep workspaces clutter-free

Housekeeping, namely keeping work areas neatly organized, helps control and sometimes eliminate workplace incidents such as slip-and-trip accidents or being struck by falling objects. These are two very common workplace hazards. Watch for bands, shrink-wrap, tools, cords, etc., that are left lying around – pick they up and put them where they belong.

4. Report violations and unsafe conditions

Everyone has the right to work in a safe environment. But truly exceptional safety happens when people go beyond the call of duty – to report hazards, as well as give feedback on unsafe behavior, and make recommendations for improvement.  If you find a hazard, correct it.  If you can’t fix it, report it immediately.

5. Store chemicals properly

Handling and storing chemicals properly requires diligence. But before rounding up bottles of chemicals, workers need PPE designed to withstand dangerous chemicals, such as chemical-resistant gloves, eye protection, and emergency eyewash stations. Labeling all chemical containers and providing them with adequate storage spaces is, of course, another essential part of keeping disasters at bay. Make sure chemicals are not stored with items that they could react with.

6. Ensure proper training for new equipment

Everyone using equipment at work should be trained with regards to methods, risks, guarding, and precautions to consider when using new machinery. Furthermore, multiple training programs, each designed to address a different risk, help workers continuously improve on all aspects of health, safety, and environment.

7. Train new hires

New employees are at a higher risk of injury than established ones. So, prioritize and optimize new hire safety, including that of seasonal workers. Training materials and in-class documentation are a great first step to help inexperienced workers adapt to the organization’s culture of safety and stay safe from day one. Check out the New Employee Orientation section of the WCTI Loss Control Manual on the website under Program Documents.

8. Provide first aid training

Don’t overlook first aid and CPR training, a potentially life-saving skillset all employees should have. Administering life-saving medical treatments and staying calm during an emergency is especially valuable when working alone.

9. Stay hydrated

Work under the scorching sun can be unbearable and potentially life-threatening. Heat hazards such as heat-induced illnesses, heat stress, heat exhaustion, and heat strokes are quite common.

10. Take regular breaks

Long working hours, night shifts, time-consuming commutes, and sleep disorders reduce a person’s ability to perform his/her job safely and effectively. Workplace fatigue translates to $136 billion in lost productivity and healthcare costs each year. So, prioritize rest.

11. Introduce Risk Reminders

Risk Reminders are a short, yet effective way to get your team talking about workplace hazards prior to a work shift. Keep it straightforward and simple, focus on only a few key points. Ten minutes per day will keep workers alert, improve team communication and remind them of their duties.

12. Treat all electrical circuits as live

Electrocutions accounted for all but one of the workplace electrical fatalities. Mishandled energized equipment remains a top cause for all electrical incidents. So, keep in mind to treat electrical circuits as live before performing any electrical work. Don’t forget Lockout/Tagout, if you are authorized or notify an authorized employee if you have a problem with the electricity.

13. Encourage a correct posture

There were 308,000 cases involving sprains, strains and tears in 2018. Manual handling of heavy equipment, tiring positions and repetitive tasks are the main causes of musculoskeletal disorders. Remember to educate workers on the importance of a correct posture, provide equipment they can use to help with manual material handling.

14. Keep emergency exits clear

Don’t clutter exit paths and report any obstructions to your supervisor. A blocked or partially blocked fire escape route can prove a real impediment for timely and safe evacuation.

15. Make regular inspections

Regular safety inspections are essential in maintaining a high-performing safety culture. They help identify potential hazards to prevent workplace accidents and illnesses. Schedule and carry inspections at regular intervals to make sure patterns or trends are identified before anything bad happens.

16. Switch to safety leading indicators

Many employers have long evaluated safety performance based on past failures. To gauge the effectiveness of your safety program, you need more than a rear-view mirror look. Safety leading indicators are proactive measures that measure prevention efforts and can be observed and recorded prior to an injury. Safety lagging indicators are reactive measures that track only negative outcomes, such as an injury, once it has already occurred.

17. Clean and maintain PPE

The effectiveness and proper functioning of PPE also depend on how well it is cleaned and maintained.  If PPE is dirty, it could be broken, cracked, etc., and not be able to protect as it is designed to.  Ear muff ear cushions should be cleaned regularly and replaced at least annually.  Chemical resistant gloves stained with chemicals could have cuts in the material that you can’t see. PPE is vital on the job and it has to be in its best condition to protect employees.

18. Stay up to date with industry standards

Compliance is a hot topic for any safety manager, so make a habit to regularly visit sites for updated standards, subscribe to newsletters, participate in seminars and webinars. Check out the list of training WCTI is offering this year. Don’t forget to inform all the staff on any new legal requirements and refresh their knowledge, too.

19. Stay alert and aware of your surroundings

Distractions, such as your mobile phone, make it very difficult to stay aware of your surroundings. Be present and focus on the task you are doing to avoid the risk of injury. If you aren’t accustomed to working in a manufacturing plant, before you take a step, observe your environment.

Source:  Honeywell Safety

November Safety Tip

Winter Safety Tips

Cool temperatures tend to creep up on us in the fall and early winter, and the potential hazards that winter weather can bring to your shop floor do the same. Here are five things to do that you might not think about to ready your facility this winter to keep your team safe and productive.

When making sure that workers are warm and comfortable as the winter months set in, safety teams must watch for specific winter dangers. They also need to assess their shop floors to identify less obvious potential risks.

Here are five winter safety tips to do right now to keep your workers safe and your plant productivity high. 

Winter Safety Tip #1: Don’t overheat your manufacturing team in winter.

When temperatures drop and heating systems come on, there can be a tendency for the overall environment to become too warm.

While safety teams often worry about cold stress—particularly for any workers who must be outside, the overheating of the shop floor can create an uncomfortable environment for your machinists, who already may be wearing protective clothing, gloves and other personal protective equipment to avoid other hazards. PPE, while increasingly designed for worker comfort, still adds a layer of warmth. Plus, machines also generate heat.

When winterizing, the safety and facilities teams will want to make sure that the shop recalibrates HVAC settings to maintain the temperature range between 68 to 76 degrees and humidity between 20 percent to 60 percent, as recommended by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in its Technical Manual.

Some shops run fans all year long to help maintain the right thermal environment and distribute heat generated by manufacturing operations.

There’s a productivity factor, too. Research by the International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy in Denmark “indicated that improved thermal comfort, reduction in indoor pollutants and enhanced ventilation rates and effectiveness can increase productivity” by 5 percent to 10 percent, according to FacilitiesNet.

Keep an Eye Out for Cold Stress Symptoms

While at many manufacturing facilities most workers remain indoors year-round, it’s still important to know the signs of cold stress that can lead to dangerous hypothermia.

Cold temperatures, particularly when paired with high winds, can lead to quick drops in a person’s overall body temperature and put them at risk of hypothermia and possibly death.

Even in a manufacturing plant, workers might need to manage deliveries at a dock or do snow removal on walks and parking lots. You’ll want to protect these teams from harm.

Here are seven cold stress signs OSHA says to watch for:

• Body temperature drop to 95 degrees or less
• Alert but shivering
• Shivering that suddenly stops
• Confusion
• Slurred speech
• Slowed heart rate and breathing
• Loss of consciousness

Winter Safety Tip #2: Keep hydration stations full at all times.

Workers are less likely to think about needing to keep hydrated when cooler temperatures arrive. That’s true even if the temperatures remain consistent on the shop floor.

Be sure to continue to stock water and other hydration products at convenient stations around the shop floor. And probably most important, remind your workers to keep drinking fluids. Training and awareness matter, according to the medical research.

Here’s why. Psychologically, people think they’re less thirsty in winter.  “In winter, people feel about 40 percent less thirsty, even though the body’s need for water is unchanged year-round,” according to research reported by the Summit Medical Group. “Because we don’t feel thirst as acutely as we do in summer, we’re less likely to keep a bottle of water handy during cold-weather months.”

Winter Safety Tip #3: Set up water management kits to keep rain and snow melt at bay.

When winter weather strikes, your shop floor has potential new sources of water—whether from rain and snow that comes off of workers’ boots and clothing or, potentially more dire, from minor flooding caused by winter storms.

Wet floors increase the chance of slips, trips and falls, as well as create potential electrocution dangers.

Think about special winter kits to provision around the shop floor where these hazards might be most likely. Entries and places where workers store their outdoor wear are the first spots to consider.

Some items to include:

• Matting to absorb wetness on shoes and boots and coming off clothing
• Mops and towels for quick cleanups
• Absorbents and sorbent barriers to combat water’s spread
• Flashlights to check beneath and around equipment for wetness

Winter Safety Tip #4: Reevaluate hazard signage and communications for winter safety.

It makes sense when winterizing your shop floor and plant to consider if you might want to rotate in new hazard communications. The use of additional or swapped-in signage can help alert workers to sudden hazards, like slippery floors after a storm, and remind them to take additional precautions in winter, such as shaking off excess snow and rain on mats at entries.

Another possible signage need arises from the tendency to layer on additional clothing in winter and what that means for PPE. When workers arrive, they might have on layers to keep them warm during travel to and from the facility. They might need signage to remind them to doff some layers before donning protective clothing or suits. (Plus, your team also might need to train workers so they don’t put themselves in harm’s way by wearing additional layers of clothing that are too loose and can catch on machines.)

Also, think about how your team can take advantage of all the ways it communicates with employees—for instance via email, text or internal social feeds—to share winter protection tips. Perhaps you can send out companywide pointers about winter preparedness or add a weather check of the plant floor for days when rain or snow might make slips more likely.

Winter Safety Tip #5: Don’t forget about overall health and wellness in winter.

Another winter productivity zapper is illness—common colds and flu. It might seem obvious, but it’s not a shop floor hazard that you will spot during a safety assessment.

Even so, lost productivity when employees are ill is definitely a winter hazard to your bottom line. You will want to do what you can to help stop the spread of germs—through recommending frequent hand-washing, for instance—and also to encourage your employees to do so, for example by getting their flu shots and seeking medical attention when they are ill.

Many of these precautions can be shared during training updates that your team already has planned for fall and early winter. But it will also help to stock supplies such as tissues and antibacterial soap in bathrooms and break stations.

Source:  MSC Industrial Supply Co.

October Safety Tip

Workplace Fire Safety

Fire safety is important business.  According to OSHA, workplace fires and explosions kill 200 and injure more than 5,000 workers each year. They cost businesses more than $2.3 billion in property damage.  The most common causes of workplace fires:

• Faulty electric and equipment – overloaded electrical circuits
• Waste and combustible materials
• Faulty fire alarms and detection systems
• Arson
• Human Error

When OSHA conducts workplace inspections, it checks to see whether employers are complying with OSHA standards for fire safety. OSHA standards require employers to provide proper exits, firefighting equipment, and employee training to prevent fire deaths and injuries in the workplace.

Building Fire Exits

Each workplace building must have at least two means of escape, remote from each other, to be used in a fire emergency. Fire doors must not be blocked or locked to prevent emergency use when employees are within the buildings. Delayed opening of fire doors is permitted when an approved alarm system is integrated into the fire door design. Exit routes from buildings must be clear and free of obstructions and properly marked with signs designating exits from the building. Dock doors are not allowed to be used as fire exits; only man doors are allowed.

Portable Fire Extinguishers

Each workplace building must have a full complement of the proper type of fire extinguisher for the fire hazards present, excepting when employers wish to have employees evacuate instead of fighting small fires. Employees expected or anticipated to use fire extinguishers must be instructed on the hazards of fighting fire, how to properly operate the fire extinguishers available, and what procedures to follow in alerting others to the fire emergency. Annually, those employees expected to use fire extinguishers must receive hands-on-training where they actually are using fire extinguishers to put out fires.  Only approved fire extinguishers are permitted to be used in workplaces, and they must be kept in good operating condition. Proper maintenance and inspection of this equipment is required of each employer. Fire extinguishers must be hung up, not placed on the floor or table top because they can be knocked over and could potentially cause serious damage to the employees and/or facility.

 Emergency Evacuation Planning

Emergency action plans are required to describe the routes to use and procedures to be followed by employees. Also procedures for accounting for all evacuated employees must be part of the plan. The written plan must be available for employee review. Where needed, special procedures for helping physically impaired employees must be addressed in the plan; also, the plan must include procedures for those employees who must remain behind temporarily.

The preferred means of alerting employees to a fire emergency must be part of the plan and an employee alarm system must be available throughout the workplace complex and must be used for emergency alerting for evacuation. The alarm system may be voice communication or sound signals such as bells, whistles or horns. Employees must know the evacuation signal. Training of all employees in what is to be done in an emergency is required. Employers must review the plan with newly assigned employees so they know correct actions in an emergency and with all employees when the plan is changed.

Fire Prevention Plan

Employers need to implement a written fire prevention plan to complement the emergency evacuation plan to minimize the frequency of evacuation. Stopping unwanted fires from occurring is the most efficient way to handle them. The written plan shall be available for employee review.

Housekeeping procedures for storage and cleanup of flammable materials and flammable waste must be included in the plan. Recycling of flammable waste such as paper is encouraged; however, handling and packaging procedures must be included in the plan.

Procedures for controlling workplace ignition sources such as smoking, welding and burning must be addressed in the plan. Heat producing equipment such as burners, heat exchangers, boilers, ovens, stoves, fryers, etc., must be properly maintained and kept clean of accumulations of flammable residues; flammables are not to be stored close to these pieces of equipment. All employees are to be apprised of the potential fire hazards of their job and the procedures called for in the employer’s fire prevention plan. The plan shall be reviewed with all new employees when they begin their job and with all employees when the plan is changed.

Fire Suppression Systems

Properly designed and installed fixed fire suppression systems enhance fire safety in the workplace. Automatic sprinkler systems throughout the workplace are among the most reliable firefighting means. The fire sprinkler system detects the fire, sounds an alarm and puts the water where the fire and heat are located.

Automatic fire suppression systems require proper maintenance to keep them in serviceable condition. When it is necessary to take a fire suppression system out of service while business continues, the employer must temporarily substitute a fire watch of trained employees standing by to respond quickly to any fire emergency in the normally protected area. The fire watch must interface with the employers’ fire prevention plan and emergency action plan.

If you have questions or need assistance with your safety program, please contact your WCTI Loss Control Consultant.

Bob Wasick, (847) 508-8520, bwasick@ccmsi.com

Jamie Dunn, (630) 776-0377, jamie.dunn@ccmsi.com

Phil Loughnane, (630) 649-6080, ploughnane@ccmsi.com

Anita Worden, (630) 605-6160, aworden@ccmsi.com

Sources:  U.S. Department of Labor; www.OSHA.gov

September Safety Tip

Respirator Usage

It is an employer’s responsibility to determine what job duties throughout the facility pose respiratory hazards to employees during routine operations (Hazard Assessment). These hazards include dust, particulates, gases and vapors, and in some cases represent Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health (IDLH) conditions. The employer must ensure that all company employees are protected from these exposures.

Before considering the use of respirators, keep in mind that you must first implement, where feasible, engineering, work practice and administrative controls as the means to prevent or reduce exposures, and only look at respiratory protection as a last line of defense when exposures cannot be eliminated or substantially reduced in frequency and duration by using these other methods.

Engineering controls, such as ventilation and substitution of less toxic materials, are the first line of defense; however, engineering controls have not always been feasible for some of our operations, or have not always completely controlled the identified hazards. In these situations, respirators and other protective equipment must be used. Respirators are also needed to protect employees’ health during emergencies. The employer shall identify the work processes that require the use of a respirator.

In addition, some employees may express a desire to wear respirators during certain operations that do not require respiratory protection. As a general policy employers should review each of these requests on a case-by-case basis.  If the use of respiratory protection in a specific case will not jeopardize the health or safety of the worker(s), employers should consider providing respirators for voluntary use.  Voluntary respirator use is subject to certain OSHA requirements.

All respiratory protective equipment must be approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for the configuration and environment in which it is going to be used.

When the use of a respirator is not required by a substance-specific OSHA standard, the OSH Act or company policies and the employer has determined that its use is not necessary to protect the health of the employee, an employee may still request to use a respirator voluntarily.

Employees using respirators voluntarily will be provided with the information in Appendix D to 29 CFR 1910.134 . If they are using a respirator other than a filtering facepiece respirator (dust mask), they will also be provided initial medical clearance, fit testing and required to clean, store, and maintain the respirator as per the requirements of the OSHA standard. Employees who choose to voluntarily use respirators other than filtering facepieces or dust masks, should advise their supervisor of the need to be included in the applicable sections of the respirator program. If approved, the employees using a respirator other than a filtering facepiece respirator are required to attend annual training provided to those in the full respirator program, as 29 CFR 1910.134(k)(1)(v) requires training in the procedures for cleaning, maintenance and storage of the respirator. If employees voluntarily using respirators are aware of a change that warrants review of medical clearance or repeat fit testing, they should bring that to the attention of their supervisor.

Employees who are either required to wear respirators, or who choose to wear respirators voluntarily, must pass a medical exam before being permitted to wear a respirator on the job.  Employees are not permitted to wear respirators until a health care professional has determined that they are medically able to do so. Any employee refusing the medical evaluation will not be allowed to work in an area requiring respirator use.

A half face respirator such as the one shown here potentially can be worn voluntarily per employer permission after medical evaluation, fit testing, training on care, maintenance and storage.  Included in the respiratory protection program and must be retrained, fit tested annually.

If an N95 Filtering facepiece respirator (disposable type shown below) is required, the employee would also need a medical evaluation, fit testing, and training on procedures for care and maintenance and disposal.

If this type of respirator is used only voluntarily, the employee must sign off on Appendix D acknowledging the limitations, use, how to properly

Note: if used to control infectious disease such as in a pandemic, the N95 should NOT have an exhalation valve.

Contact your WCTI Loss Control Consultant for assistance if needed when assessing your respirator usage and requirements.  

Source:  OSHA.gov

August Safety Tip

Understanding Distracted Driving and Inattention Blindness

INTRODUCTION

More than 700 injury crashes involve distracted driving on a typical day in the U.S. While the percentage of drivers using handheld devices has decreased in recent years, many experts feel the use of distracting devices is significantly undercounted. The fact is, drivers frequently lose focus of the road. Their eyes drift and their minds wander as they connect on cell phones or other technologies built into vehicle dashboards.

Studies indicate drivers can be distracted long after programming a GPS device or sending a text via a voice command system.  Long enough to miss a stop sign or pedestrian? You bet. At 25 mph, you can travel the length of more than one football field in 10 seconds. What else could you miss during that time?

YOUR MIND IS ELSEWHERE

So, let’s now talk about “inattention blindness,” defined as the failure to notice a visible hazard because your attention is focused elsewhere. This phenomenon occurs regularly when drivers are cognitively distracted.

Example: Let’s say a driver is using voice commands to order takeout food. The driver’s brain becomes lost on that order (thin or thick crust pizza?). Instead of focusing on what’s ahead, the driver can miss up to half of what is in his or her driving environment, including slow or stopped vehicles up ahead. This behavior can have deadly consequences. In America, eight people die every day in distracted driving crashes.

Research shows just listening to a cell phone conversation decreases brain activity associated with driving by more than one-third, leading to safety performance issues, such as the inability to react quickly in congested driving zones. Think of it as … (put on a blindfold) … driving blindfolded. Who drives like that?

 ACTIVITY

Of course, using electronics is not the only way drivers can be distracted. What things do drivers do that may be distracting? Here are some answers:

• Talking or texting on the phone
• Eating or drinking
• Applying makeup or shaving
• Reading a newspaper or book
• Watching a video
• Programming a GPS

All of these examples fit under one of the following distraction categories: visual, manual (taking a hand off the wheel) or cognitive (taking your mind off driving). All can raise safety risks, not only for drivers but also for those sharing the road around them. Hands-free devices may be marginally safer than hand-held ones, but the safest choice of all is not using your cell phone or other technology while you are driving.

 SUM IT UP

The human brain cannot handle two thinking tasks at the same time, such as driving and talking on the phone. Your brain toggles quickly between these two tasks. When driving, this can slow reaction time and cause crashes. Be safe by silencing your phone, programming your GPS and setting up your radio or music while you still are parked. Your life is much more valuable than any phone call, text or playlist. Let’s get on board with traffic safety.  Take the pledge to drive distraction-free from the National Safety Council at nsc.org/pledge.

National Safety Council

https://newsroom.aaa.com/2017/10/new-vehicle-infotainment-systems-create-increased-distractions-behind-wheel

https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-vehicle/motor-vehicle-safety-issues/distracted-driving https://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2008/March/march5_drivingwhilelistening.shtml

July Safety Tip

Compressed Gas Safety

Compressed gases can be toxic, flammable, oxidizing, corrosive, or inert. In the event of a leak, inert gases can quickly displace air in a large area creating an oxygen-deficient atmosphere, toxic gases can create poisonous atmospheres, and flammable or reactive gases can result in fire and exploding cylinders. In addition, there are hazards from the pressure of the gas and the physical weight of the cylinder. A gas cylinder falling over can break containers and crush feet. The cylinder can itself become a missile if the cylinder valve is broken off.

Compressed gases can cause fires, explosions, oxygen deficient atmospheres, toxic gas exposures as well as the innate physical hazard associated with cylinders under high pressure. Special storage, use, handling and disposal procedures are necessary to ensure the safety of researchers using these chemicals and equipment.

 General cylinder safety

• Accept only properly identified cylinders and do not rely on color codes.
• Wear safety equipment appropriate for the hazard potential of the gas before beginning work.
• If a cylinder or valve is noticeably corroded, the vendor should be contacted for instructions.
• A leaking cylinder should be removed and isolated in a well-ventilated safe area. It may be necessary to call in trained emergency response personnel.
• If the leak is at the junction of the cylinder valve and cylinder DO NOT try to repair! Instead, contact the supplier.

Storage, Use and Handling

• Properly secure cylinders in a well ventilated and protected area away from heat, flames, and the sun in an upright position and supported at all times, whether full or empty. Acceptable methods of support include:
  1. wall-mounted or bench-mounted gas cylinder brackets;
  2. chains or belts anchored to walls or benches; and,
  3. free-standing dollies or carts designed for gas cylinders and equipped with safety chains or belts.
• Segregate cylinders by hazard classes while in storage.
• Discontinue use of the cylinder when it has at least 25 psi remaining; close valve to prevent air and moisture from entering. Return unused and empty cylinders to the vendor for reuse or refill.
• Mark or tag empty cylinders “EMPTY”
• All compressed gas cylinders must bear labels that clearly identify the contents.
• Gas cylinders must have the valve protection cap in place except when in use.
• Use appropriate dollies or hand trucks to move cylinders weighing more than 50 pounds.

• Pressure regulators and gauges must be compatible with the cylinder valves. You may not use “cheaters” (adapters) instead of the correct regulator and gauge.

Remember:

• Never roll a cylinder to move it.
• Never carry a cylinder by the valve.
• Never leave an open cylinder unattended.
• Never leave a cylinder unsecured.
• Never force improper attachments on to the wrong cylinder.
• Never grease or oil the regulator, valve, or fittings of an oxygen cylinder.
• Never refill a cylinder.
• Never use a flame to locate gas leaks.
• Never attempt to mix gases in a cylinder.
• Never discard pressurized cylinders in the normal trash.
• DO NOT purchase more or larger cylinders than necessary;
• DO NOT use copper fittings or tubing on acetylene tanks;
• DO NOT use Teflon tape on cylinder or tube fitting connections, which have metal-to-metal face seals or gasket seals;
• DO NOT permit oil or grease to contact cylinders or their valves, especially cylinders containing oxidizing gases.
• Store oxygen cylinders and fuel gas cylinders separately. Indoors:  separate oxygen from fuel gas cylinders by at least 6.1 m (20 ft), or by a wall at least 1.5 m (5 ft) high with a minimum half-hour fire resistance. (From: CSA W117.2-12 (R-2017) “Safety in welding, cutting and allied processes”. Local jurisdiction requirements may vary.)
• Cylinders must also be separated away from flammable and combustible liquids and from materials that easily ignite (such as wood, paper, oil, grease, etc.) by similar requirements as oxygen cylinders (6.1 m, or a fire wall at least 1.5 m high with ½ hr fire resistance).

https://ehs.unc.edu/chemical/compressed-gas/   and https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/safety_haz/welding/storage.html

June Safety Tip

Loading Dock Safety

Loading Dock Safety

Loading docks are a hub of activity in manufacturing plants, warehouses, industrial buildings and distribution centers. In most companies, this is the primary location of movement of product in and out of a facility. A loading dock is generally a recessed bay in a facility where trucks are loaded and unloaded. Loading docks may be exterior, flush with the building envelope or fully enclosed. Part of a facility’s service or utility infrastructure, loading docks typically provide direct access to staging areas, storage rooms and freight elevators. Loading dock areas can be hazardous, but with the right systems, policies and procedures in place, they can function safely.

Loading Dock Hazards

Loading docks have an increased potential for serious injury, the following are just a few of the more common hazards associated with loading dock areas:

• Wet, oily, or broken floor surfaces
• Unguarded dock edges
• Unsecured dock plates
• Unchocked trailer wheels
• Carbon monoxide exhaust
• Handling large, heavy, awkward loads
• Powered industrial trucks
• Trailer separation

Helping to Make Your Dock Safe

With so many moving pieces potentially in play, ensuring loading dock safety in the workplace can be a challenge. A safety checklist is a simple yet effective tool to help establish a foundation for a safe loading dock area. The sample checklist below collects tips and practices from OSHA and the other resources listed at the bottom of the page. It’s one starting point for improving loading dock safety.

• Make sure all personnel are trained in dock safety and that rules are enforced.
• Ensure that locking devices are used on every vehicle at a dock.
• Protect pedestrians by ensuring they are aware of powered industrial trucks in use. Pedestrians must be mindful, cautious and realize that powered trucks may, improperly, neglect to yield to them.
• Mark floors with yellow tapeor paint to identify walkway barriers, doorways, parking aisles and overhead obstacles.
• Protect people traveling through your facility from sharp corners and from falling off dock edges – place padding or guardsaround sharp corners and dock barricades on open dock edges.
• Put an inspection program in place to review palletized materials. If pallets are defective, the product should be moved to a safe pallet.
• Review warehouse ergonomics. Adjust the height of conveyors to eliminate lower back stress. Place heavier products at knee- to chest-high levels. Limit the amount of weight a worker must carry and allow for assisted lifting from other workers.
• Install guards on conveyor sprockets, gears and rollers. All pinch points must be protected and labeled.
• Use plasticor metal banding to secure product to pallets for transportation or storage.
• Shrink-wraploose product for transport or storage. It is very important to secure small items that might fall through the overhead guard of a lift truck.
• Clean out dock areas periodically to remove accumulated debris.
• Only allow trained and authorized employees to operate powered industrial trucks.
• Inspect the dock area daily to ensure that emergency equipment is not blocked or damaged.
• Paint the dock edge a reflective yellow to provide a better view of the dock.
• Verify that laddersfrom the dock floor to the dock meet OSHA specifications.
• Ensure proper illuminationfor exit routes.
• Identify and markoverhead hazards such as pipes, doors and electric wires.
• Prohibit dock jumping, which can lead to serious ankle, knee and back injuries.
• Make sure that dock plates and boardsare designed for the loads and lift trucks used.
• Always inspect the floors of trailers and trucks before a forklift or pallet jack is driven onto them.
• Always inspect the landing gear and place trailer stabilizing jack standsunder trailers that are spotted at a dock.
• Always make sure dock levelers are returned to a neutral position after being used – this eliminates a “void in the floor” and helps prevent forklift incidents.
• Provide a dock seal or dock shelter to keep rain and snow off loading docks which can cause slippery surfaces.

Wheel Chocks and Rear Impact Guard Locking Devices

One common loading dock accident occurs when drivers mistakenly pull away while a powered industrial truck is still inside the trailer. Another frequent problem is “trailer creep,” which happens when trailers gradually move away from the dock because of the ongoing impact and momentum of forklifts entering and exiting them. Standard practice has been to use wheel chocks to prevent this from happening but rear impact guard (RIG) locking devices have since proved to be the better solution. Chocks have been found to provide insufficient pullout resistance.

They may slip on the ground and placing the chocks presents a hazard in itself to the employee. Chocking also lacks an embedded communication system to let the truck driver, powered industrial truck operator and dock personnel know they are in place. In March of 2011, OSHA provided an interpretation on the chocking requirement found in 29 CFR 1910.178(k)(1) and (m)(7). The interpretation states that chocking will not be enforced for Commercial Motor Vehicles (CMV) that fall under the enforcement of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) but will still be enforced for non-CMVs (not regulated by FMCSA).

 Dock Boards

Dock boards are used to bridge the gap between the truck trailer and the loading dock so that pallet jacks or forklifts may move product in and out of the trailer. Employees should be trained on the proper and safe use of dock boards. Poorly placed dock boards may cause the forklift and or loads to overturn. Dock boards are generally portable but typically require the use of a forklift to move them. They are used in most industrial and heavier load environments.

Dock Plates

Dock plates are a smaller and more portable equivalent of the dock board. They may be constructed of aluminum, steel or polyethylene and do not have the weight capacity of the dock board. When using hand trucks or pallet trucks, a dock plate may be in order.

Dock Levelers

Dock levelers are items that also bridge the gap between loading docks and trailers; however, the dock leveler also helps correct the height difference between loading docks and trailers. Dock levelers are permanent devices that are operated either by hand (mechanical) or by hydraulics.

Dock Signaling Devices

A technology that is available is the use of signaling devices that indicate that a person or powered industrial truck is in the trailer or that the trailer is properly secured and forklift traffic can enter the trailer.

Guarding

Guarding devices are essential to loading dock safety. Examples of guarding devices are guard rails, bollards, dock barricades and stops. Guardrails being used to separate pedestrian traffic from the production traffic in loading dock areas is a good best practice. They can also be used in open docks with no trailer to prevent personnel from falling off the dock edge. In addition, guard rails can be used to protect stationary equipment or machinery and structures from accidental impacts from forklifts.

Bollards serve much the same purpose but are used to protect building corners or where space around an area is limited. When placed correctly the bollard will keep a forklift from damaging a structure more severely. Another guarding item commonly found are stops. Stops are steel plates placed along raised locations in a warehouse or loading dock intended to keep personnel and forklifts from falling over the edge of a raised area.

Commonly Asked Questions

What are the primary differences between a dock board and dock plate?

A dock board is constructed of steel or aluminum, has side curbs, lifting chains or loops, locking pins or legs, and weight capacities of 10,000 pounds (lbs.), 15,000 lbs., and 20,000 lbs. The dock plate can have many of the same features but will have considerable lower weight capacities and may be able to be moved by hand. Most dock plates do not have safety curbs or locking pins and are recommended only for non-powered loading and off-loading of material.

Is the employer responsible to ensure the forklift operator is not in the trailer when the driver attempts to pull away from the dock?

In most cases yes, unless Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations apply.Then an employer must comply with OSHA’s standards to ensure that forklift operators are not in the trailer when the driver attempts to remove the trailer from the loading dock. The powered industrial truck standard (29 CFR 1910.178) requires that the PIT operator be trained not to operate a PIT on a trailer that has been backed to a company’s dock, unless the trailer is properly secured or restricted from movement prior to boarding.

Sources

29 CFR 1910.176: Handling Materials

29 CFR 1910.178: Powered Industrial Trucks

29 CFR 1910.22: General Requirements

ANSI/ITSDG B56.1-2016 Safety Standard for Low Lift and High Lift Trucks

Powered Industrial Truck eTool: Understanding the Workplace: Loading Docks

Interpretation Letter to Mr. Ron Cole, Occupational Safety and Health, March 7, 2011

OSHA Worker Safety Series – Warehousing

May Safety Tip

Six Steps to Completing an Effective Job Safety Analysis

For 27 years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported on workplace injuries across the United States. During that time, both the number of cases and the rate per 100 workers has steadily decreased. In 2018, they reported 2.8 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses.

While these decreasing numbers are encouraging, occupational health and safety (OHS) professionals must constantly consider ways to improve. Currently, much of OHS is about responding to workplace accidents. While this is still extremely important, the field is changing and is becoming more about prevention and hazard identification.

Safety experts have begun to focus on educating employees and identifying potential issues rather than on what is essentially damage control. Without a solid understanding of the hazards and risks your employees face with the tasks they accomplish each day, it’s impossible to keep them safe. The hope is that taking a prevention-based approach and trying to stop an accident from ever happening will help companies save the time and money that comes along with mitigating the effects of workplace accidents.

Effective risk management starts with identifying and addressing hazards before incidents occur. While most safety professionals understand that a thorough job safety analysis (JSA) is a trusted process for evaluating workplace hazards, the challenges of carrying them out often derail companies from completing them and revisiting or updating them as needed to remain effective.  

Here are the critical steps to completing an effective JSA.

Step One: Select Which Job to Analyze

 To start the JSA process, choose the jobs or tasks that need to be evaluated. Selecting the jobs to be analyzed can be a vital consideration when employers have limited time and resources to analyze all of the various jobs associated with their operations. A good best practice is to prioritize the jobs to be analyzed. This way, even if analysis of all jobs does not occur, it will ensure that the most critical jobs are examined first.

Use the following criteria to prioritize what jobs you will analyze:

• jobs with the highest injury or illness rates,
• jobs with the highest potential for injury or illness,
• jobs in which one simple human error could lead to a severe accident or injury,
• new jobs, processes or ones that have undergone changes in processes or procedures,
• jobs complex enough to require written instructions and
• infrequently performed jobs: workers may be at greater risk when undertaking non-routine jobs.

Regardless of the jobs or tasks selected for evaluation, it’s critical to have accurate information about the hazards that workers performing them face.

Step Two: Job Task Breakdown

To perform a thorough and accurate JSA, each job must be broken down into a defined sequence of individual tasks. It’s important to avoid defining individual job tasks too narrowly or too broadly.

Generally speaking, a job should contain no more than ten individual tasks. If your JSA exceeds this number, consider separating the job into two or more separate phases. It also is vital to maintain the proper sequence of job tasks to ensure that during the hazard identification phase, hazards are addressed in the order they are encountered by employees.

Job task breakdown typically is accomplished through direct observation, with at least one safety contact or direct supervisor familiar with the job and recording the series of individual tasks as they are performed by an experienced employee. Observation of an experienced employee helps ensure that job tasks are performed in the proper sequence with a high level of precaution, helping to identify unforeseen hazards more easily. This also helps ensure that all tasks, even frequently missed steps like set-up and clean-up, are being reviewed as well

Once the observation is complete, participants should convene to review the findings and ensure that all steps sufficiently were identified.

Step Three: Identifying Hazards

Hazards should be identified immediately after the observation of job tasks while the sequence of job tasks and potential hazards still is fresh in the minds of all participants. If one or more job tasks need to be repeated, it should be done immediately, if possible.

A number of questions should be asked to assess the potential hazards in performing individual job tasks. Proceed through the sequence of job tasks one at a time and answer questions such as:

• Are there any pinch points or potential for body parts to be caught between moving machinery or objects?
• Can the worker may harmful contact with moving objects?
  Does the equipment, tools or machine in use present any potential hazards?
  Is there a potential for slips, trips or falls?
• Is there a risk of injury due to excessive strain from lifting, pushing or pulling?
  Is there a risk of exposure to extreme heat or cold?
• Is there a danger of falling objects?
• Is lighting a problem?
• Does the task expose employees to excessive noise or vibration?
• Is there potential for exposure to toxic/hazardous substances, harmful radiation or electrical hazards?

Employees performing the tasks for which the job safety analysis is being conducted should provide input and insight into the hazard identification process, and strive to consider every possible outcome in the performance of each task. Proper controls should then be developed to limit the potential for the job hazards to result in an environmental or safety incident.

Step Four: Develop Preventative Measures

The hierarchy of controls is a well-known and commonly-used tool for developing preventive measures for hazards associated with job tasks. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health lists the five controls, in order of effectiveness, with the following description:

Elimination– Physically remove the hazard
Substitution – Replace the hazard
Engineering controls – Isolate people from the hazard
Administration controls – Change the way people work
PPE – Protect the worker with personal protective equipment

Hazard elimination widely is considered to be the most effective, longest-term solution to improving job safety. However, it also often is the most difficult and expensive in the short term to implement. Administrative controls and PPE measures tend to be less expensive to implement initially, but often are less effective at controlling hazards and can be difficult to sustain in the long term.

Step Five: Document and Communicate Job Hazard Analysis Findings

 After a JSA has been completed, the findings should be documented and made available to employees so that they are aware of the hazards associated with the jobs they will be performing, and know what preventive measures will help keep them safe. JSAs should be living documents that capture information about risks, document controls and inform the employees about both the hazards in their job tasks and the best means of avoiding them.

Employees need to know JSAs exist, and have quick and easy access to them. Furthermore, workers also need to be able to understand and act on them. It’s a matter of training and ensuring that the JSAs are easy to read and understand.

The importance of effective and well-documented training cannot be emphasized enough. In many situations following a serious accident, questions of liability hinge on the issue of whether training on the JSA was conducted, whether it adequately covered what needed to be covered, and whether the evidence sufficiently backs up your answers to these questions.

Step Six: Get Help (If Needed)

Even with the steps to completing a JSA broken down, the reality is that some employers just don’t feel like they have the time or resources to complete them for each job or task. Fortunately, today’s EHS software solutions help simplify the creation, management and implementation of JSAs.

A good electronic risk analysis program makes it easy to develop good assessments and track corrective actions, and when combined with an incident management software solution, you can oversee all aspects of incidents – from reporting to tracking of corrective actions. employees – even through the use of their mobile devices – giving them better access to hazard and preventive information so they can work safer and more efficiently.

Maintaining a good JSA program is an ongoing and evolving process. If a workplace injury occurs, a review of the relevant JSA should occur to see if it had a shortcoming that may have contributed to the incident. A good practice is to involve your workforce in a periodic review exercise for existing JSAs to make sure they still accurately capture the job tasks as performed today and address all associated risks.

Better insight into the hazards workers face with their jobs and tasks leads to more effective risk management. By facilitating communication, participation and engagement among everyone involved on the worksite, JSAs offer the opportunity to identify unforeseen hazards and increase support for a stronger, more inclusive safety culture. 

https://www.ehstoday.com/safety/article/21919232/risk-management-six-steps-to-completing-an-effective-job-safety-analysis

https://www.ehs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/job_safety_analysis_fact_sheet.pdf