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Key Takeaways - Production and safety need not compete, but can instead complement each other, improving both production efficiency and safety culture. - Integrating environmental, safety and health efforts with production should start from the vision through completion of every process or project. - Safety disciplines provide needed structure to any production plan. _ In production, two competing questions usually require leadership attention at the onset of many jobs: should we do this safely or should we do this quickly? Therein lies the misunderstood conflict between production and safety. The reality is that if managed properly, all jobs can be performed quickly and safely. However, production leaders are often faced with meeting time demands placed upon them. Lack of understanding about the value of environmental, health and safety (EHS) professionals and the skill sets they provide can be a blind spot for production leadership. Safety professionals across industries have made great progress in highlighting this blind spot and taking their place on the playing field with the production team, although in many organizations, the EHS team remains on the sidelines. From there, they continue the toll of tracking injuries and briefing leadership on lagging metrics with the hope of someday leading the safety efforts from the field. Many continue the safety struggle to implement corrective actions from the sidelines while knowing that the only real corrective actions must take place in the field within the process and not as a recommendation from beyond.
- Law (1.00)
- Health & Medicine > Public Health (1.00)
- Government > Regional Government > North America Government > United States Government (1.00)
- (3 more...)
Key Takeaways - In the world of enterprise risk management, are OSH professionals too narrowly focused on just the hazard risk? For an organization to successfully achieve its objectives, some level of risk in pursuit of opportunities must be taken. Being too risk averse can cause an organization to miss opportunities that would allow it to successfully compete and innovate. - When accepting a level of risk to achieve an objective, the desired performance must be factored in. Defining needed performance objectives and ensuring their accomplishment as part of the decision-making process must come together in such a way that public and worker safety are always a paramount consideration. - For organizations to succeed, an optimal balance between risk and opportunity is required. Achieving a risk level considered as low as reasonably practicable along with expected performance capabilities and benefits of the opportunity can be considered the art of managing risk to an acceptable level. - To help organizations achieve and maintain an optimal opportunity or risk balance, OSH professionals can consider applying the principles from the risk-informed and performance-based model formulated by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. _ Risk is found in all aspects of life. For OSH professionals, risks from workplace hazards are the primary focus. Since the emergence of the OSH Act of 1970, safety practitioners in the U.S. have been educated and trained, rightfully, to identify and correct workplace hazards and manage regulatory compliance. However, for organizations to be successful and achieve their objectives, they must manage all risks encounteredโhazard risks, operational risks, financial risks and strategic risksโ while they pursue potential opportunities. OSH professionals require a wider lens that looks beyond just hazard risks and sees the aggregated risks and how they can impact the organization as well as society. Equally important is for OSH professionals to understand the need for organizations to pursue potential opportunities. This requires recognition that some risk usually accompanies any such pursuit. For an organization to successfully achieve its objectives, calculated risk must sometimes be taken. Being too risk averse can be a risk if it causes an organization to miss opportunities that would allow it to successfully compete, innovate and benefit society. Taking some risk is often necessary to achieve objectives, advance technologies and navigate through the increasingly complex world.
- Government > Regional Government > North America Government > United States Government (0.67)
- Energy > Power Industry > Utilities > Nuclear (0.67)
- Law > Statutes (0.54)
- Management > Risk Management and Decision-Making > Risk, uncertainty, and risk assessment (0.69)
- Health, Safety, Environment & Sustainability > Health > Noise, chemicals, and other workplace hazards (0.68)
- Management > Risk Management and Decision-Making > Decision-making processes (0.49)
- Management > Strategic Planning and Management > Benchmarking and performance indicators (0.47)
Key Takeaways - This article explores ways to utilize emerging technology for OSH management in the construction industry. - It presents a study that identifies emerging technologies used in practice for OSH management in construction and summarizes their potential benefits in terms of mitigating workplace safety hazards in construction and impact on key performance indicators. - The authors highlight best practice applications of these technologies for OSH management in construction. The construction industry plays a significant role in the prosperity of the economy, reportedly contributing approximately $10 trillion to the global domestic product (GDP; Barbosa et al., 2017). In the U.S., the construction industryโs contribution reached more than $892 billion in 2020, which represented about 5% of the total U.S. GDP that year (BEA, 2020). Such a contribution is anticipated to further grow over the next few years, making the construction industry an essential contributor to the economy (Nnaji & Karakhan, 2020). This level of influence is not possible without having a healthy, productive construction workforce. The U.S. construction industry employs more than 72 million individuals with a steadily increased employment rate that is expected to continue growing over the next 10 years (BLS, 2020a). Early in 2020, it was reported that the construction industry in that year would have a monthly average of more than 350,000 job openings and 400,000 hires on a continuous basis, despite the COVID-19 global health crisis (BLS, 2020a). The challenge is to keep the construction workforce healthy and productive, and to ensure that construction workplaces are as free of hazards as possible. The construction industry is one of the most hazardous industries and has consistently reported high fatal and nonfatal injury rates over the past 10 years. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS, 2020b), in the U.S., 1,061 workers died in the construction industry in 2019. These fatalities represent approximately 20% of the overall workplace fatalities in the U.S. that year. This means one in five worker deaths in 2019 was associated with construction operations (BLS, 2020b). One-fifth of U.S. workplace fatalities being associated with construction is an unacceptably high proportion, especially given that construction accounts for only about 5% of the overall U.S. workforce (Abdelhamid & Everett, 2000). According to the International Labor Organization, construction workers are three to four times more likely to encounter a fatal incident at work during their career than in other industries (Gรผrcanli & Mรผngen, 2013; ILO, 2020; Jin et al., 2020).
- Questionnaire & Opinion Survey (1.00)
- Research Report > New Finding (0.46)
- Construction & Engineering (1.00)
- Banking & Finance > Economy (0.68)
- Education > Educational Setting (0.46)
- (3 more...)
Key Takeaways Hiring companies routinely require prospective and established contractors to submit information to demonstrate their ability and likelihood of completing incident-free work. Challenges that undermine the contractor safety prequalification process are observable, however, including criteria selection, efficacy, variability and ignored criteria. This article discusses examples of nontraditional criteria that may have significant benefit for improved contractor safety prequalification. Great benefits can be realized by utilizing contractors rather than solely relying on internal resources to affect needed projects or tasks. Outsourcing allows an organization to reduce costs by maintaining a minimum workforce while allowing it to focus on its core business, promoting specialization within both the hiring and contracted company (Kozlovskรก & Strukovรก, 2013; Yemenu & McCartin, 2010). Manu et al. (2013) specifically describe the benefits of contracting as including labor flexibility, transference of high-risk activities or financial risk, bargaining ability, and avoiding workersโ compensation costs. Contracting projects and services involves significant hazard and operational risk as well as benefit, however (Elliott, 2017).
- Transportation > Passenger (1.00)
- Materials (1.00)
- Health & Medicine (1.00)
- (4 more...)
Key Takeaways The adoption and acceptance of electronic documentation in the workplace is on the rise, which may impact safety and health programs and processes. Research shows electronic documentation ensures better compliance with OSH standards and document retention requirements, and electronic documents provide organizations with options that paper documentation cannot. Understanding the benefits of electronic documentation, and the shortcomings and economic implications of paper-based documentation can help companies make informed decisions regarding OSH documentation management. This article outlines a 10-step approach to successfully transition from paper to electronic documentation. Organizations can follow the process to reduce obstacles to implementing an electronically based documentation system and drive culture change. A documentation management system (DMS) impacts the management and execution of OSH programs and processes (e.g., risk management, safety reporting, sustainability, compliance; Ma & Bolton, 2019), as well as the ability to retain, control, review and route OSH documentation (e.g., safety plans, OSH training records, work permits, lists of hazardous chemicals, audit reports, OSH evaluations). Consider the DMS as the hub to an OSH program, centralizing documents and data, enhancing control over processes, and facilitating access to information (Sussman, 2017; Ysaguirre, 2016). A DMS can be paper or electronically based, or a hybrid of the two. Today, countless companies use paper-based documentation systems simply because that is the way they kept documents historically. However, these systems have many disadvantages. After recognizing the disadvantages of a paper-based system and evaluating organizational documentation and recordkeeping needs for the OSH program, firms should consider migrating to an electronically based documentation system to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of OSH processes, comply with regulations and drive down financial costs.
- Law (1.00)
- Health & Medicine (1.00)
- Government > Regional Government > North America Government > United States Government (1.00)
- Energy (0.93)
Key Takeaways Quality management plans should be incorporated in all phases of project development, with safety management being a key consideration during design and construction. The entire team is responsible for applying critical thinking during quality and safety management. Project leaders should be prepared to constantly improve management processes to promote a safe working environment. Construction management is a process fraught with paradoxes. Improving processes requires being both deliberate and flexible (McGeorge, Zou & Palmer, 2013). Time and material resources are finite; therefore, the ability to mitigate risk may be the only assurance of a projectโs success, otherwise a project may be derailed for lack of resources. For any project, a reasonable approach must first define the projectโs objectives, then create a plan to ensure that those objectives are being met. The plan may be as simple as โremember the end goal.โ However, values that are applied to a project, such as prioritizing safety, maintaining employee welfare or managing customer expectations, may also factor in project success and attracting future customers. If we accept Murphyโs Law, there are many ways for a project to get derailed; however, quality management posits that if one remains cognizant of the end goal, a quality management program may guide decisions, provide flexibility for adaptation, and ensure that safety remains a priority when urgent and competing interests push for project completion. This article discusses components of quality management and how it may be a tool for safety management.
KEY TAKEAWAYSStudies indicate that gaps found in design are significant contributors to workplace serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs), which points to the need for prevention through design (PTD) concepts. The greatest opportunity to avoid, eliminate and reduce risk to an acceptable level and prevent SIF events is upstream in the design and redesign of processes, equipment, facilities, tools and work methods. The primary goal of safety and risk management is to achieve and maintain a level of risk that is as low as reasonably practicable while accomplishing the organization's objectives. OSH professionals have a vital role to play in PTD and design safety reviews. This article provides OSH professionals a practical approach to establishing a method for anticipating, recognizing, avoiding, eliminating and minimizing operational hazards and risks before they are introduced into the workplace. To err is human; to prevent by design is divine. For occupational serious injuries and fatalities (SIF) to be effectively and consistently reduced, safety must be designed into workplace facilities, systems and methods. Risk avoidance and elimination, the most effective risk treatment options, are generally only possible by design and redesign efforts. A clear link exists between workplace fatalities and unsafe or error-prone designs. Studies in the construction industry indicate that more than 40% of fatalities are connected to the design aspect (Behm, 2005). In Australia, safety in design is an action area of the Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy. A Safe Work Australia (2014) study examined work-related fatalities that occurred from 2006 to 2011 and involved machinery, plant and powered tools. Its purpose was to assess the extent to which unsafe design contributed to the fatalities. Of these fatalities, 12% were identified to have been caused by unsafe design or design-related factors, while 24% were possibly caused by design-related factors.
- Education (1.00)
- Government > Regional Government (0.46)
- Health & Medicine > Consumer Health (0.46)
Plan-Do-Check-Act: A University Laboratory Equipment Decontamination Case Study
Fruchtnicht, Erich (Texas A&M University) | Eaker, Nancy (Texas A&M University) | Fellers, John (Texas A&M University) | Urbanczyk, Brad (Texas A&M University) | Robertson, Christina (Texas A&M University) | Dhakal, Merina (Spelman College) | Colman, Stephanie (Texas A&M University) | Freas-Lutz, Diana (Radford University) | Patterson, Hiram (Texas A&M University) | Bazan, Cristina (Texas A&M University) | Giles, Crystal (Texas A&M University)
KEY TAKEAWAYSTexas A&M Health Science Center Risk Management identified public or nonlaboratory and nonclinic personnel exposure to potentially contaminated equipment as a risk to the institution. The university's Environmental Health and Safety department developed a process, within given constraints, to address potentially contaminated equipment leaving the institution or moving between laboratories and clinics. Following plan-do-check-act methodology, key performance indicators were evaluated, and the process was revised to improve efficiency and more appropriately assign responsibility for laboratory and clinic equipment. The Texas A&M Health Science Center (TAMHSC) and Texas A&M University (TAMU) Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) departments are responsible for ensuring the safety of not only all faculty, staff, students and visitors to geographically dispersed campuses across the state of Texas, but also the public surrounding those campuses. Because the university is a state entity, the preferred disposition route for all university assets is public auction administered by the Surplus department. Each research or academic department within the university determines which of its assets are no longer needed and schedules a pickup through its embedded property management team member. The removal of all unwanted assets is performed either by university personnel or by a private moving company. Although EHS had a policy in place for the decontamination of equipment prior to its release to Surplus, the process of equipment being sent to Surplus itself did not directly include EHS. Only in rare cases in which surplus or property management personnel suspected the asset to be contaminated with hazardous materials would they request EHS's involvement.
- Health & Medicine > Consumer Health (0.54)
- Health & Medicine > Public Health (0.54)
In BriefSoliciting change in the workplace is often met with challenges and resistance. This article examines using the age-old tool of "what's in it for me?" and understanding employee needs at various stages of their life to help them get what they want. The author develops a framework of best practices that one can use to help sanction change in the workplace. When confronted with change, autopilot automatically drives people to think, "what's in it for me?" Realistically, most want to understand the context of what is being asked of us, and personal context is typically the greatest concern. That is not to say people are necessarily selfish by nature, rather that they try to determine how the suggested change can provide some benefit to their career, business or personal life. The motto, "What's In It For Me (WIIFM)" has been the basis for helping implement change in business for many years. If an OSH professional can show how an individual (or group) can benefit from the request, they are more likely to accept it. Whether change must be implemented on the production line or to policy, procedure or roles, one of the first filters used to consider the change request is to determine WIIFM. The term WIIFM was initially coined from a marketing perspective, that a salesperson should always address the benefits that customers would get from the product or service (Doyle, 2011; Jordan, 2016). More recently, the term has come to be used as a concept in integrating change management. It is a shift from the traditional way of thinking in which employees are expected to do what they are told to a more fetching approach in which employees make the decision to adopt the change on their own.
- North America > United States (0.69)
- Asia > Middle East > Jordan (0.25)
In BriefParticipation from supervisors is a critical element of a successful safety culture. Supervisor involvement can be measured by defining specific actions to monitor. Awareness of being observed can motivate supervisors to become more active in safety. By understanding the crucial role of supervisors in building and maintaining a successful safety culture, one can see the potential benefits of motivating them to become more engaged. But how is this accomplished? It begins with measuring and tracking their level of involvement as a leading indicator of future safety performance. What Gets Measured Gets Improved Versions of the phrase, What gets measured gets improved, are attributed to various people, from Lord Kelvin to W. Edwards Deming. Author and business consultant H. James Harrington describes it this way: Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can't measure something, you can't understand it. If you can't understand it, you can't control it. If you can't control it, you can't improve it. (Cited in Kaydos, 1999, p. 3) Most safety professionals understand the value of this concept (i.e., measure, control, improve) and already apply it to their safety programs. This improvement method can be accomplished by measuring and tracking trends in safety performance using key performance indicators (KPIs). KPIs generally fall into two categories: leading and lagging indicators. Lagging indicators are considered reactive because they manifest after an incident. Examples of metrics in this category include injury statistics, number of environmental issues and number of incidents resulting in property damage. Leading indicators are said to be proactive because they are observed before an incident occurs. These indicators include audit scores, hazard recognitions and near-hits reported. Lagging indicators show where performance has been, while leading indicators suggest where it is likely to go (Manuele, 2013). The benefit of identifying leading indicators is that when performance is heading in the wrong direction, organizations can still intervene before an incident occurs. But even traditional leading indicators are symptoms that manifest as a result of employee actions and behaviors (excluding some unsafe conditions). So, wouldn't it be great to measure what happens before those behaviors and symptoms occur? The good news is we can. To do this, companies must turn their focus to a different kind of leading indicator: the supervisor and his/her level of involvement in safety.
- Health, Safety, Environment & Sustainability > HSSE & Social Responsibility Management > HSSE management systems (1.00)
- Data Science & Engineering Analytics > Information Management and Systems (1.00)
- Health, Safety, Environment & Sustainability > Safety > Safety risk management (0.90)
- Management > Strategic Planning and Management > Benchmarking and performance indicators (0.87)