Safety and Health Training Education

In the first blog post of this series, we discussed how management, leadership, and employee involvement contribute to workplace safety.  In our second blog post, we reviewed how to analyze your workplace facility.  In our third blog post, we reviewed hazard prevention and control.  Now that we have gone over the first three elements of a workplace safety program, it is time to review the fourth: Safety and Health Training Education.

New Employee Orientation

Implementing a safety orientation program for new employees is imperative when creating and executing safety procedures.  Below is a list of some of the key topics you should include in your new employee orientation.

Safety Topics to present during General New Employee Orientation:

1. General Safety Rules & Policies
2. Hazard Communication & Chemical Safety Procedures
3. Hearing Conservation
4. Control of blood borne pathogens
5. Electrical Safety & Lockout/Tagout
6. Emergency Plans: Routes & Assembly Locations
7. Procedures for safety violations, accidents, near-miss
8. Proper lifting & ergonomic techniques
9. Job hardening/warm-up exercises
10. Tool & Equipment Safety
11. Safety Signs and their meanings
12. Process Safety Management Overview

(NEW EMPLOYEE SAFETY ORIENTATION CHECKLIST )

Accident Prevention Plans

Sometimes, when working with government agencies, a company will be required to “comply with all pertinent provisions of the latest version U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Safety and Health Requirements Manual EM 385-1-1 in effect on the date of solicitation” (Safety & Health Management Systems eTool).

There are many similar requirements between EM 385 and OSHA; however, there are two distinct differences:

1. “EM 385 has specific requirements for written, site-specific accident prevention plans.
2. The development of activity hazard analyses that identify potential hazards by each phase of a construction project & identify the precautions the contractor will take to control those hazards” (Safety & Health Management Systems eTool).

Written Accident Prevention Plan

A written accident prevention plan is not vague under the EM 385.  It must be much more specific and include management processes that will be used to prevent potential accidents from occurring.

Under the EM 385, it is very important for your written accident prevention plan to include accountability.  For instance, when reporting an accident, the information must include “who, how, and when the information will be provided” (Safety & Health Management Systems eTool).

Activity Hazard Analysis

It is very important for companies to draft an activity hazard analysis because it creates a system for contractors to control hazards proactively rather than having to deal with them reactively. 

There are four aspects of an activity hazard analysis: job/activity, hazard, exposure, and analysis.  50% of disabling claims are filed by workers in their first year with their employer.  Lack of knowledge, lack of physical ability, perception of what is acceptable behavior and what is not, and prior training and/or unsafe habits are all aspects that could contribute to this (Safety & Health Management Systems eTool).

Creating a Hazard Analysis can be broken down into 5 steps:

1. Watch work being done
2. Break the job down into steps
3. Describe the hazards in each step of the task
   • Acceleration
   • Toxic
   • Radiation
   • Ergonomics
   • Pressure
   • Mechanical
   • Flammability/Fire
   • Biological
   • Violence in the Workplace
   • Explosives
   • Electrical Contact
   • Chemical Reactions
4. Record control measures for each of the hazards
   • Procedures
   • Practices
   • PPE’s
5. Write a safe operating procedure

By following these guidelines as well as the guidelines and tips from the previous three blog posts in this series, your company will be able to reevaluate your workplace safety program and rebuild it if necessary.  Don’t forget how important safety is to all aspects of your business, from basic employee comfort to employee retention.

Works Cited

NEW EMPLOYEE SAFETY ORIENTATION CHECKLIST . (n.d.). Retrieved May 6, 2014, from Workforce Safety: http://www.workforcesafety.com/safety/sops/NewEmployeeOrientationSample2.pdf

Safety & Health Management Systems eTool. (n.d.). Retrieved April 18, 2014, from United States Department of Labor: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEIQFjAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.osha.gov%2Fdte%2Fgrant_materials%2Ffy10%2Fsh-20993-10%2Fcreating_a_safety_program.ppt&ei=UlBVU-_zJOPMsQTM64GIDA&usg=AFQjCNEm08Mp79A3SkcEMD5O