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| This Issue Feature Article: Measuring Performance. World News H&S
Software Update Up Coming Conferences Confined
Spaces Expert Previous Issues Newswire
Volume 2 Issue 1 Advertising Features Safety Superstore The articles contained in Newswire are summaries only and should not be considered definitive. Appropriate advice must be obtained before proceeding.
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Construction Safety
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Up Coming Conferences
27-28 August 2003 - IFAP Safety WA 2003 Conference and ExhibitionThis conference aims to increase awareness of Health and Safety issues in the workplace by presenting a range of practical solutions for all workplaces.Winners of the 2003 Gold Safe Way Achiever Award will be announced at the conference dinner. Ph: (08) 9388 2222 Fax: (08) 9381 9222 Email Web Site 20-21 October 2003 - Australian College of Occupational Health Nurses Annual Conference 2003Balancing Occupational Health, Safety and Environment: Today's Skilled PractitionerMary Aikenhead Conference Centre Cnr Victoria Pde and Nicholson St Fitzroy VIC 3065 Ph: +61 3 9335 2577 Fax: +61 3 9335 3454 Email Web Site 21st Annual Conference of the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists6-10 December 2003,"Improving occupational hygiene in Small business" Hilton Hotel, Adelaide, South Australia Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists See website for Address Details Ph: + 61 8 8303 495 Fax: + 61 8 8303 495 Email Web Site If you want to advertise your here conference let us know MSDS National Code of Practice (Australia) The National Code of Practice for the Preparation of Material Safety Data Sheets 2nd Edition [NOHSC:2011(2003)] is now available on the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission’s (NOHSC) website. At its meeting in April 2003, NOHSC declared under the NOHSC Act, the National Code of Practice for the Preparation of Material Safety Data Sheets 2nd Edition [NOHSC:2011(2003)] (MSDS Code). The MSDS Code forms part of the Hazardous Substances Framework, which has been identified by NOHSC as one of the seven priority areas covered by national standards. BackgroundThe objective of the MSDS Code is to provide guidance on the preparation of Material Safety Data Sheets. An MSDS is a document that describes the chemical and physical properties of a material and provides advice on its safe handling and use. The revision of the MSDS Code addressed various technical elements and facilitates Australia remaining consistent with international approaches to hazard communication. However, the major focus of the revised MSDS Code is to incorporate the information provisions of the National Standard for the Storage and Handling of Workplace Dangerous Goods [NOHSC:1015(2001)]. As required under the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission Act 1985, public comment was sought on a proposal to review the MSDS Code. The review of the public consultation exercise showed that the revision of the MSDS Code should align with international developments in hazard communication. In declaring the MSDS Code, NOHSC decided that it should not come into effect under Commonwealth, State and Territory regulations until 24 April 2006. This will minimise the impact on industry and allow time for the Commonwealth, States and Territories to amend their regulations. Notification of the declaration appears in the Commonwealth Government Notices Gazette of 23rd July 2003 and the Commonwealth Chemical Gazette of 5th August 2003. From the 23rd of July 2003, the 2nd Edition of the MSDS Code will be available on the NOHSC web site
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Work
tasks are carried out for a purpose, whether it is the overall company
purpose of manufacturing and marketing a product or the specific tasks
associated with the manufacture such as machine operations, maintenance,
management etc. Effective
management of the work operation requires that outcomes are specified and
at the end of a particular task or period of time an assessment is made as
to whether the specified outcomes have been achieved or not.
This requires detailing at the outset a set of measurable
indicators, the presence of which at the end of the operation, will
provide a clear picture of what you achieved and how successful you were
in respect of your initial objectives. The
old BS8800, a Guide to occupational health & safety management
systems, simplified the process.
It talked about setting targets which “are the detailed
performance requirements that should be achieved by designated persons or
teams in order to implement the [OH&S] plan.
The plan should specify who is to do what, by when and with what
result”. Thus,
using confined spaces as an illustration, a key objective may be; "All
confined space entry workers are certified fit and competent to use RPE
within 6 months." The
results or outcomes expected would be evidenced in the documentation of
who has been trained, when it took place and the assessment results,
including certificates. A plan will be drawn up to achieve this objective and within that plan will be targets such as;
(It
can be seen from this that numerical measurements are not always
necessary) From
this we can see that by setting a clear objective or standard, namely that
all confined space workers are fit and competent to use RPE, the
performance requirements to achieve that objective follow.
And by monitoring each performance requirement in turn we can
effectively measure progress towards achieving the key objective. And
of course once the objectives has been achieved, a new objective can be
agreed, for example, maintain the level of competence and fitness to use
RPE amongst all confined space workers, and corresponding targets to
achieve this drawn up. The
International Labour Organisation-OSH 2001 Guidelines on Occupational
Safety & Health Management Systems has the following guideline in
relation to performance indication:
For
obvious reasons the guidelines focus on the safety element of performance
measurement. However,
work operations are not performed to achieve a safety target.
Safety is integral to the operation itself and to the product or
service produced, and therefore the work targets relate to that product or
service. Assessment
of the outcome must therefore be holistic, assessing the numbers, cost,
quality, safety, time, equipment, staff and whatever other factors impact
upon the end result. If
we set ourselves a target for example to reduce accidents by 10% over the
previous year, we have created an artificial and wholly erroneous
dichotomy between the work operation and safety.
We are then directed towards attempting to rectify the accident
situation without necessarily understanding the root causes of accidents
within the work operation.
However, targets such as ensuring the competence of the workforce
to carry out the operations required of them, realistic production
targets, adherence to equipment servicing and maintenance schedules, etc.
all impact upon safety in the workplace, without specifically having to
isolate safety issues and deal with them in the abstract. The
confined space example above may be seen by many as relating to a
“safety training program”.
However, it should be regarded as “competence-based program” in
the use of RPE. The
performance indicators do not measure safety in this example, but they do
measure competence, and by
definition a competent worker is one who works safely.
It
is worth bearing in mind that the reverse of this is not necessarily true,
i.e. a safe worker is not necessarily as competent worker.
And in this respect if we set up, measure and adjust safety
performance in isolation from the context in which the work is carried out
we run the risk of adversely affecting other elements of the operation to
the extent where it may become unproductive or uneconomical. Health & Safety Software Update
Our range of software in the shopping cart has just expanded and
become even more affordable, with options to suit all business needs and
budgets. Starting at the low cost of £99 (US$165) these software products
will enhance your ability to effectively manage the various aspects of
safety. The following products are included; ·
Accident recording ·
Health and Safety Auditing ·
Risk Assessment and ·
Planned Maintenance. These products are available as bronze, silver and gold editions. The bronze
edition, priced at UK£99 (US$165) gives you full access to the
software without any add-on support from the company. The Silver
edition includes software upgrades, newsletter and telephone support
(technical & OSH) and 1 day training for 1 person at Croner's offices.
(UK£414/ US$685). The Gold
edition is networkable and priced according to customer needs. This
edition also includes upgrades, newsletters, telephone support (technical
& OSH) and demonstration. (Prices start at £830/ $1370). If this is
your preferred option we will discuss options and prices with you
directly. Contact +44 (0)28 4461 3383 or e-mail expertease@confinedspaces.com. Safer Driving through Roadworks - Campaign
OSHA's Proposed Revision to VPPThe Occupational Safety and Health Administration is seeking comments on a proposed revision to its Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) that would change the benchmark injury and illness rates used to determine whether VPP applicants and participants meet the rate requirements for the VPP Star Program. This change would also apply to the requirements for construction applicants' qualification for the Merit Program. One way that OSHA determines the qualification of applicants and the continuing qualification of participants in the VPP Star Program, the most challenging participation category, is to compare their injury and illness rates to industry rates -- benchmarks -- published annually by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). For Star eligibility, rates must be below the benchmark BLS rates. Currently, the benchmarks are two rates from the most recent year's BLS industry averages for nonfatal injuries and illnesses. The OSHA proposal would change those benchmarks to require that to qualify for the Star Program, applicants' and participants' rates must be below the two BLS industry rates for at least one of the three most recent years published. This change would also allow construction sites that do not meet Star rate requirements to be considered for the Merit Program if company-wide three-year rates are below the proposed benchmark rates. OSHA has been concerned for some time about the effect on some VPP applicants and participants of substantial fluctuations from year to year in a limited number of BLS industry rates. In some industries, it is not unusual to have annual rate fluctuations of 20 to 30 percent and more. It is not clear why some national rates fluctuate to this degree. The effect of these rate fluctuations is to create an unpredictable moving target that, in any particular year, may not fairly represent the injury and illness situation in an industry. This proposed revision to the VPP is intended to lessen the effect of the BLS rate fluctuations by allowing the agency to use one out of the three most recent years of published BLS rates as its benchmark for Star qualification. Comments on the proposed changes must be submitted by August 25, 2003. They can be submitted online to OSHA's docket office at: http://ecomments.osha.gov , or paper copies of comments and all attachments may be submitted in triplicate to OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. C-06, Room N-2625, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20210. Have you watched a video, read a book or been on a training course recently that you feel you could write a review of? Please do. Submit to info@web-safety.com and we will consider it for publication on the website. 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. We always acknowledge original sources.
HSA Construction Blitz Leads to Widespread Enforcement ActionsResults of the Health and Safety Authority nationwide construction blitz, which was the first aspect of its "Don't Fall for It" campaign, were published recently [July 2003], showing a majority of sites visited not to be compliant with Construction Safety Regulations. Just a minority of the sites were in full or even broad compliance. A total of 252 construction inspections were carried out during the campaign in which a total of 201 sites were visited. Inspectors for the Health and Safety Authority issued a total of 192 enforcement actions over the course of the two-week blitz. A second blitz will be initiated by the Authority in September. One positive finding of the report is that Site Safety Representatives were present on 87% of sites with more than 20 workers, ie those sites for which there is a legal requirement for such a representative to be in place. Clients had appointed Project Supervisors as required by the Construction Regulations for only half of the sites inspected. The situation was worst for smaller sites particularly those with 1-5 workers, where only 30% were in compliance. Larger sites were much better in this regard with 95% of those with 21 to 50 workers and 100% of those with more than 50 workers having duty holders appointed. The key areas involving people working at heights, such as roofwork and scaffolding, were the worst offenders. HSA Senior Inspector, Jim Heffernan commented: "The fact that only a minority of sites visited were found to be fully or even broadly compliant is extremely disturbing. Again we see that the areas which involve working at a height are the biggest offenders, with only an average of 21% in full or broad compliance. Almost half of all deaths in construction last year involved falls from heights. We will prioritise this high risk area throughout this campaign which will continue into 2004, when construction safety will be the focus of European Safety Week." "The results have highlighted a massive and worrying discrepancy between small and large construction companies in safety management arrangements. The fact that only a minority of smaller sites have appointed project supervisors, is a terrible indictment of these small operations and we will redouble our efforts to ensure full compliance going forward."
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