The following comments were adapted from “Job Hazard Analysis” by James Roughton and Nathan Crutchfield. Also review ANSI AIHA Z10-2005, Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems Section 3.0.
The objective of employee participation is to increase the overall knowledge that all personnel must have concerning what, where and how harmful, hazardous conditions can develop and how readily they may cause harm. With employees committing their insight and energy, an Occupational Health and Safety Management System’s goals and objectives can be more effectively implemented.
It has long been understood that employee participation is essential for the improvement of a safety process and, in particular, the Job Hazard Analysis process Employees have direct, day to day, knowledge of how job steps and tasks are completed. They can provide insights and assistance about the nature and scope of risk and hazards if they are given opportunities to assist. They know the “work a rounds” that are used to get a job task competed. These may be, in many cases, actions not in the Standard Operating Procedures but learned on-the-job from other employees who found ways to get the job done readily.
Do not assume that employees already know they can participate directly in the safety or job hazard analysis process! An organized and structured approach to communicating what is expected from all personnel as well as the methods to be used to assure effective and ongoing participation must be considered a continuous process.
Guidelines for Involving Employees
The key is to provide employees with:
- The opportunity to participate – what are the protocols that will be followed by employees for joining a safety committee, aiding in incident investigations, completing inspections, working on program improvement, etc.
- Clear support from management in time and budget – job hazard analysis can be time consuming and may be perceived as being non-productive. A clear mandate from management that formally addresses the time and budget needs and constraints is essential.
- Training and resources - employees may need a basic understanding of ANSI Z10, inspection criteria, incident investigations, hazard identification, risk assessment matrix regulatory compliance, ergonomics, hierarchy of controls, etc., depending on their area of involvement. Committees need training on how to work as a team and the how to organize and hold a meeting as well as the basics mentioned above.
- Serious communication – employees must know that maintaining a safe work environment and involvement in the safety process is a condition of employment. No one can opt out and try to split safety from production or operations.
- Actions taken on employee suggestions – all suggestions should be responded to in a timely manner with an explanation of how and when the suggestion will be implemented or if it can’t be implanted, then told why not, as well as alternative controls to be implemented.
- A management policy statement - employees must know they are protected from reprisal resulting from safety program participation. All fear of reporting issues or problems must be banished from the workplace. All managers, supervisors and peer groups must understand that safety is a core value and will not be bypassed.
- Communications will be timely and detailed - the success of other employees’ ideas must be shared. Success breeds success and getting the word out gets other people motivated to join.
- Opportunities and mechanism(s) - methods should be in place allowing employees to influence safety program design and operation. Many employees are participants in off the job organizations (religious, community and sports groups, etc.) and have skills that they can bring to the organizing and improving of the OHSMS – if allowed to do so.
- Involvement in the design and operation of the OHSMS process– as with the previous statement, by bringing more people into the process, a network of expertise can be tapped that can aid in customizing the OHSMS to the organization’s culture and needs.
Job Hazard Analysis - Drilling into the core of the organization
Every time I have given a session or workshop on Job Hazard Analysis, at some point employees brought out some safety issue or concern previously unknown to management. They had found ways to work around the issue to keep productivity going. Expanding involvement of the majority of your personnel can increase the successful implementation of ANSI Z10 OHSMS and the Job Hazard Analysis process.
Related articles by Zemanta
- OSHA at Forty: New Strategies for Old Challenges [The Pump Handle] (scienceblogs.com)
- VT Group Awarded Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star Status by OSHA at Ft. Huachuca Location (eon.businesswire.com)
- Workplace safety ranked #1 labor standard [The Pump Handle] (scienceblogs.com)
- CERCLA Training: Does Your Company Need It? (distance-education.org)
- Ill ex-prison employees blame US gov. program (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
{ 4 trackbacks }