Volume 5 Issue 1
March 2004

This Issue

Feature Article: Are you getting it right?

World News

Upcoming Conferences
Design Initiative (UK)
Does it Really Work (US)
Europe is Online (EU)
Workplace Injury Rates (US)
Workers Compensation Claims (Aus)
Training Courses
Read any good books lately?

Previous Issues

Newswire Volume 2 Issue 1
Newswire Volume 2 Issue 2
Newswire Volume 2 Issue 3
Newswire Volume 3 Issue 1
Newswire Volume 3 Issue 2
Newswire Volume 3 Issue 3
Newswire Volume 4 Issue 1
Newswire Volume 4 Issue 2
Newswire Volume 4 Issue 3
Newswire Volume 4 Issue 4
Newswire Volume 4 Issue 5
Newswire Volume 4 Issue 6

Newswire Volume 4 Issue 7

Advertising Features

Confined Spaces Expert
Safety Superstore
Websites Designed
Software Developed

The articles contained in Newswire are summaries only and should not be considered definitive. Appropriate advice must be obtained before proceeding.

Safety Training Courses

The following are some of the training courses available from Expert Ease International - Download a Prospectus

Chemical Safety

General risk assessment
Introduction to Hazardous Substances
COSHH 2003 - NI
COSHH 2002 - UK
Dealing with chemical spills.

Use of Chemical Vapour Suits

Confined spaces

Confined spaces entry
Breathing Apparatus
Chemical safety suits
Confined spaces law
Permits to work
Emergency response
Rescue training

Construction Safety

CDM Awareness
CDM for Planning Supervisors

CDM for Designers

Safety Management

Accident Investigations

Advising your CEO
Designing safe systems
OHS Auditing

Permit to Work Programs

Developing Permit Systems

Working at Heights
Hot Work
Pipework
Electrical Isolations

Permit Issuers and Receivers

web-safety.com 100's of CDs, videos, books, posters, manuals, safety games and software covering all hazardous working situations.

The Safety Superstore is open. Click to visit.

Secure Payments on-line

All of our goods and services can now be purchased safely and securely on-line. We have engaged the services of worldpay.com, one on the Internet’s leading secure payment gateways. As a customer you can access your account and view your statement at any time and from any PC.

Software Developed

Websites Designed

Websites

We offer the facility for small businesses to get on line, start trading and sample the world of e-commerce at a price that is always affordable.

If you aren't sure whether your business is ready to invest in registering your name with an internet service provider then join us at web-safety.com where we can lease you web pages at extremely competitive rates. Your pages will be yours to add business and product details.

We will give you a web address as follows; www.web-safety.com/yourname/.

Software

We have a range of off the shelf software safety and management or we can design databases to meet your own particular specification.

Place your advert or article here.

Confined Spaces Expert CD Rom

Based on international best practice and supported by online safety consultancy the Confined spaces Expert has international applicability and national suitability for companies of all sizes.

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What ever you need. Illustrations, clip art, original cartoons. Just give us a call.

Read any good books lately?

Have you watched a video, read a book or been on a training course recently that you feel you could write a review of?

Written any good material lately?

Alternatively if you have written any papers or designed a presentation that you would wish to share with the safety community then forward those to us.

Submit to info@web-safety.com and we will consider it for publication on the website. We always acknowledge original sources.

Did you know:

In the fiscal year 2003, the US Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration conducted almost 40,000 inspections, an increase of more than 2000 inspections over 2002 levels; more than half focused on high-hazard industries.

Workplaces with Highest Injury and Illness Rates
(OSHA News release - February 2004)

WASHINGTON -- The Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health has alerted approximately 13,000 employers throughout the country that their injury and illness rates are significantly higher than the national average and encourages them to take steps to address safety and health hazards in the workplace.

In a letter this month to those employers, John Henshaw explained that while their rates were higher than most other businesses in the country, the notification was simply a proactive step to encourage employers to take steps now to reduce the rates and improve safety and health for their employees.

"The intent of the notification is to alert employers that their injury and illness rates are above average," Henshaw said, "but, as important, we also want to offer them assistance to help reduce those rates. This process is not necessarily a negative; on the contrary, it provides employers a tremendous opportunity to take steps to improve workplace safety and health and create value for their organization."

OSHA identified establishments with the nation's highest workplace injury and illness rates based on data reported by 80,000 employers surveyed by the agency last year (that survey collected injury and illness data from calendar year 2002). Workplaces receiving the alert letters had seven or more injuries or illnesses resulting in days away from work, restricted work activity, or job transfer (DART) for every 100 full-time workers. Nationwide, the average U.S. workplace had fewer than three DART instances for every 100 workers.

Henshaw sent letters to all employers with high injury and illness rates, and provided copies of their injury and illness data, along with a list of the most frequently violated OSHA standard for their specific industry. While addressing his concerns for the high rates, Henshaw also offered the agency's help in turning those rates around, suggesting, among other things, using the free safety and health consultation services provided by OSHA through the states, developing an internal process to identify and control hazards, or hiring outside safety and health consultants.

"The data collection initiative is conducted each year and gives us a clearer picture of those establishments with higher than normal injury and illness rates," he said. "This information allows us the opportunity to place our inspection resources where they're most needed and to plan outreach and compliance assistance programs where they will benefit the most."

Note: The 13,000 sites, in states covered by federal OSHA, are listed on OSHA's website. This list does not designate those earmarked for any future inspection. The list does not include employers in the 21 states and one territory (Puerto Rico) that operate OSHA-approved state plans covering the private sector.

Does it Really Work

Businesses are continuously making safety and health changes in the workplace. But when making those changes, successful employers and managers want to be sure that they really work. What were the results? Was the change an improvement?

Check out the NIOSH website for details.

Are you getting it right?

So what is important in part of the successful running of a company? Is it that from day to day you arrive safely, leave safely and in between you work in a manner that does not cause harm to yourself, your colleagues, your customers or the company itself?

If the answer is yes; and I would suggest that it must be then why do so many people work on the barriers and not the solutions?

A recent article in the UK's Guardian Newspaper shone the light (sic) on an apparently ludicrous situation regarding the changing of light bulbs by social care workers. Using the normally credible, but often discredited vehicle of risk assessment the conclusion appeared to be that when changing a light bulb it can be a very onerous and labour intensive task. When asked the question; how hard is it to change a light bulb? The response reported in the Guardian was;

"Surprisingly hard by the letter of the law, according to Joan Beck, head of community care at Doncaster council, who says staff must abide by health and safety rules and electrical safety legislation.

Under the former [H&S Rules], there should be a second person present to hold the ladder. Under the latter [electrical safety legislation], where the wiring is an unknown quantity, there should be a third person to switch off the electricity at the mains and stay by the switch while the bulb is changed.

Where the client is frail or anxious, as in Don's case, there may need to be a fourth person present to comfort them until the operation is completed."

Now I don't know about you but I don't think that is what safety rules and regulations are about. Across the world the core of safety legislation is that there should be safe and healthy workplaces where employees can work, free from harm.

In Europe risk assessment is the vehicle for determining effective safety management solutions. The UK's Approved Code of Practice for management of health and safety at work states;

"A risk assessment is carried out to identify the risks to health and safety to any person arising out of, or in connection with, work or the conduct of their undertaking. It should identify how the risks arise and how they impact on those affected...so that the decisions are made in an informed, rational and structured manner, and the action taken is proportionate."

The words to note in this statement are, rational, structured and proportionate. Ask your self in the case of the light bulb changing were these words at the forefront of anyone's mind?

In the world of work we may well be faced with dangerous situations that clearly call for detailed and complex solutions and more often the level of potential harm emanating from a work operation is such that simple operational controls will suffice. The process of identifying and differentiating between the extremes and catering for all shades in between needs to be dynamic and flexible, not languid and uncompromising. When Operational Analysis and Control is applied in a workplace a complete approach to successful business operation is identified, evaluated and effective controls are put into place in order that a safe outcome is assured.

That is what we should aspire to and that is the basis of the iiSAFE program.

Remember: An appropriate definition of competence is;

"the consistent skilful application of skills and knowledge to any specified work operation"

A core tenet of competence is that the skills necessary for any work operation include the skills of recognising what could cause harm and of proceeding in a manner that ensure that such harm will not be realised. There is no dichotomy between the skills required to do a job and health & safety matters. Competence is negated if on the production of a quality end product, the worker and/or his colleagues have been exposed to hazards, whether or not any harm occurred. Competence is therefore as much about the process as it is about the production of an end product, and the skill in getting there requires that no one be unnecessarily exposed to hazards.

Up and coming conferences.

Session # 71: Safety in Design - A Risk Assessment Approach

Session # 119: Highway Work Zones - A Safe Method of Working

Expert Ease International - Booth #947