Safety managers program overview and implementation

Safety Managers Program

There was the new act of Occupational Safety and Health Administration, called OSHA in short introduced in 1970. This new act gave rise to a lot of growth in the development of Safety officers. At the same time it also led to an increase in the cost of Worker's Compensation for injury and illness and this has also increased the importance of the Safety and Health Manager. While the growth in importance certainly leads to a lot of self satisfaction for the managers, they have to realize certain home truths, and the first of them is that it is not possible to totally remove all the hazards that exist in the places of work, and that if that becomes the objective, it would be impossible to achieve it, and naive to even try for it. There are now clear comparisons of the terms 'safety' and 'health' as they point out clear differences in hazards and there have to be different persons to deal with the hazards. There have also been clear studies of the role, within the organization of the Safety and Health manager. There has been the development of a large number of professional societies and councils to assist the people in charge of industrial safety and health responsibilities. There are now clearly recognized courses through which the health and safety officers may go through and do their job better.

The benefits of training are being taken up by most organizations, and there has been the training of 9 fire wardens in the organization within the third quarter of the current financial year already. The number of permissions given or hazardous operations is also clearly recorded and there have been 336 such permissions given during the same quarter. The prevention of fire hazards is tried through different training systems for the general staff, and there have been 9 fire drills, testing of systems in flow 4 times, air testing for hot work permits 18 times as well as 475 instances where the public have been educated about fire safety. The different standards institutes and trade associations have to play a clear role in this development. The government and its agencies have setup different organizations for the promotion of safety and health. The overall agency of OSHA is responsible for the enforcement of the standards, yet it also provides funds for assistance through consultation though the state programs are in the main responsible for that function. There is also the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in this regard which has research data for the assistance of the manager.

At the same time that OSHA was introduced, there was also the introduction of NIOSH. They were created by the same act of Congress but they are two different agencies with different responsibilities. The first difference is in the positioning of NIOSH in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and is viewed as a research agency, whereas OSHA is in the U.S. Department of Labor and is the organization responsible for developing and enforcing workplace safety and health regulations. They however often work together for the common aim of protection of worker safety and health. As an organization, NIOSH views all employees as respected individuals committed to and respected for the accomplishment of the goal of the organization. The organizations are viewed as diverse for their ability to attract, recruit, hire, mentor, develop, retain and serve a large population as they foster an environment that embraces values and respects all individuals. The mission of the organization makes NIOSH operate programs in every state so that the health and safety of workers can be improved.

This makes NIOSH assist in evaluation of workplace hazards and come out with solutions at the request of workers, employers, or agencies of the state or federal government. It builds on worker safety and health capacity through provision of grants and cooperative agreements. It provides funds for occupational safety and health research on a wide variety of topics at different universities and other similar organizations. It also supports the programs for occupational safety and health training. One of the achievements of NIOSH was in 1998 when it established the Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program which led to a reduction of fire fighters in the line of duty deaths and injuries. This was though surveillance, investigations of fatalities and development and dissemination of practical recommendations.

The individual reports that were collected were distributed to more that 25,000 volunteer and career fire departments throughout the nation. The organization also conducts and supports a number of programs to track occupational injuries and illnesses. Among these efforts is the Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risks or SENSOR. This is collaboration with health departments in the states to improve recognition and prevention of health problems like asthma, silicosis, amputations, burns, dermatitis and noise-induced hearing losses. They also support the Adult Blood Lead Epidemiology and Surveillance Programs in many states, and this program finds out about excessive lead exposure cases, replies to questions regarding them and finds out better methods of controlling the diseases. (About NIOSH)

In the process of work there are different individuals, at different roles in the field of safety management. The chief responsibility is to make sure that the Safety Programs that are in operation are fully compliant with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Standards as defined in 29 CFR 1910, 1926 and 1960. The Acts are now fairly widespread and apply to all employees and employers in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and other places that are under the jurisdiction of the federal government. A few are exempt from the coverage and these people are self-employed individuals, family farms employing only family members; workplaces regulated by the government under different federal laws like mining, nuclear energy, rail, air and highway safety; and the employees of state and local governments. The safety and health standards are in general under four main categories of general industry, construction, maritime and agriculture.

Every one of these categories has standards that impose special requirements that are suited for that particular industry. If the workers are dissatisfied they have the right to complain to OSHA about the safety and health conditions in their place of work, and their identity is supposed to be kept secret from their employers. The employees also have the right to refuse work they think is hazardous. If any particular employee feels that his performance of a task will end up creating a real hazard to himself or her, then the employee can refuse to do the job and there should be no removal, demotion or harassment for this refusal. Employees also now have the right not to be discharged or discriminated against for making a health and safety complaint. If the employees believe that the employer retaliated against the individual, then the employee is at liberty to make a complaint to OSHA. Thus occupation safety and health are now a fairly serious matter. (Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970)

The target of the Safety and Health Manager has to be to reduction of mishaps, reduction of costs due to payment of workers' compensation and creating an environment where the employee feels it is in order for them to get involved. There is no way to feel that the goals are not attainable. According to the definition of goals, they should be attainable, as otherwise they should not be set as goals. There is definitely a requirement of reducing mishaps, and even having zero mishaps is a realistic and attainable target. This is seen from the accidents achieved in I&L division where there were no lost time accidents in 8 of the 9 months in the 3 quarters of the current year. There was only one accident causing loss of time in the month of May. The situation before 3 rd of May was that the organization had worked for a total period f 316 days without any lost time accident. The attention to stoppage of accidents was always there, and the organization had also implemented a six-month supervisory training schedule, and road master was continued with GMV seat belt check for the base. This had meant that there were only 25 stops with just 3 citations. The reduction in total mishaps was by a sharp figure of 55% when the number of total mishaps is compared to the same period of the previous year in 2003.

The drop in accidents causing loss of time was even sharper and there was a drop of 90% when compared to the same period in the previous year. This automatically leads one to judge who can have the authority and responsibility for all the work safety and health. There is no doubt that the total authority for employee safety and health should be placed with the person in charge of the organization, and that means that the person should be the CEO, Corporate President or the Commanding Officer. These people have to have the total responsibility for whatever the organization does, be it right, or wrong. These top leaders certainly possess the authority to pass down the authority for the employee safety and health, but they will still be responsible. The authority should ideally be delegated right down, and may be to the level of the first line supervisor, or the shift supervisor or even the team leader. This type of delegation enables the leaders directly in touch with the employees realize that they are also responsible for providing a safe and healthful environment for working along with enforcing the required standards of safe behavior.

The enforcing of safety requirements is a line function and is not a staff function. The importance of safety and health at work for all individuals through research and prevention is a national promise and the responsibility to deliver on the promise has to be made by NIOSH. The organization has to provide the leadership to the nation and the world for the necessary prevention of work related illnesses and injuries. For this objective, they have taken up employees from all the sections of the American workforce, and this enables them to turn out research and interventions that also reflect the total gamut of solutions required in the American workplace. They use the best science and the highest quality in their used data, and are open to the most transparent and independent reviews by other organizations in the field. Ultimately, all programs adopted for the benefit of man have to be directed at results. (NIOSH Strategic Plan Outline 2004-2009)

Here there are two terms of safety and health being used joined together most of the time, and it is important to know the meaning of the two terms in general usage and in the workplace. The term of safety is simple and is related to the prevention of injuries that may occur to human beings, and this may occur not only in workplaces, but anywhere - even at home. The other term of health refers to occupational illnesses, comfort factors and ergonomic considerations. This also can occur everywhere, and the root causes are not only in the workplace, but at all places where men are found. Here the discussion is on the workplace and that is why we are referring to the workplace. The importance of these aspects had been realized in the nation even in April 1996 when there was the inauguration of National Occupational Research Agenda, or NORA. This is a framework for the guidance of occupational safety and health research into the future. This is important not only for the founders of the organization but for the entire gamut of occupational safety and health community. There are about 500 organizations and individuals who provide the needed input for the development of its agenda. In some respects, this is an unique organization as before this there had been no national research agenda in the entire field of occupational safety and health, and there is also no other agenda for research which has captured such a broad input and consensus. The wonderful contributions of NORA have led to a consensus about the top 21 priorities in research. The impact of these injuries is serious.

There are some 9,000 employees in the U.S. who sustain disabling injuries every day, and of them 16 even die. Apart from this 16, there are another 137 who die from work related diseases. There is a very high economic burden from these injuries. According to data obtained from studies, the costs, both direct and indirect of occupational injuries and illnesses total to $171 billions every year. Of this the cost of $145 billion is for injuries and $26 billion is for illnesses. These costs are higher than $33 billion that is caused by AIDS, $67.3 billion caused by Alzheimer's disease, another $164.3 billion caused by circulatory diseases and $170.7 billion caused by cancer. The nature of jobs in the country is also changing and this is from manufacturing to services. This is causing longer hours, compressed work weeks, working in shifts and reduction in job security and increase in part time work and temporary work. The numbers involved in work are also huge and by 2008, it is estimated that there will be 155 million people at work. Out of them 28% will consist of minorities and women will have a 48% share. [National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA)] Thus it can be clearly seen that the problem is not of one section of the population, but a national problem.

It has already been said that the person responsible for the safety of the worker and the health of the worker is the same and it is the first line supervisor. This man cannot be a genius enough to have the total specialized knowledge to correctly anticipate, recognize, evaluate and control the occupational hazard. This is solved to a certain extent by the assets that the supervisor has for assistance. These assets are in the form of company or other safety staff, resident industrial hygiene expert and the ever present resources from the Internet. It should be understood however that the Safety manager is responsible for the health of the employees and not the health of the organization.

This requires continuous updating of knowledge and the government has in many cases even specified the process of continuous education for their staff. For aviation managers it is compulsory to participate in continuing education and training for the improvement of their performance and proficiency, as also to enable them to stay up-to-date on the changes in technology and thus the requirements. These include different courses or training provided by the department of energy, outside government agencies, outside vendors and educational institutions. The descriptions of the suggested learning proficiencies and the concerned requirements for this sort of continuing education and training program for aviation managers have been put down in the document. (Aviation Manager Functional Area Qualification Standard)

As has been mentioned earlier for this organization, there are also definitions for the typical duties and responsibilities that are expected from the government personnel. They are expected to integrate safety into management and work practices so that the mission objectives could be accomplished, and this should be done while ensuring worker and public health and safety as also the protection of the environment. They have to arrange compliance with the directives of the department, regulations from the federal and state levels as also other binding agreements. They have to provide support and direct the people and allocate resources in a manner that will meet the Department's mission safely. They are to manage people, implement policies and procedures, perform required technical reviews, and provide the technical direction and the required feedback to the contractors and federal employees. They are to integrate monitoring and assessment activities for providing feedback to the contractors. They are also in charge of recruiting, selecting, training and approving employees to establish and maintain their technical competence. All technical safety expectations and issues are to be effectively communicated by them. (Senior Technical Safety Manager Functional Area Qualification Standard)