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OHS MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND STRATEGIC PLANNING.
B. Cranor, J. Crain, Texas A&M University–Commerce, Commerce, TX.
Voluntary Standards such as OSHA-VPP, ANSI-Z10, ISO-18001, ILO-OSH, and others are providing choices in occupational health and safety (OHS) management system templates. Any organization choosing the wrong template may have a negative impact on profitability, strategic planning, management practices, corporate image, and even on the organization’s internal culture. Proper evaluation and consideration of key components of these OHS management systems have been compared and a series of checklists and questions have been prepared to assist organizations in their evaluation of the various OHS management systems being implemented or proposed.
Today’s management systems, whether addressing quality, profitability, OHS, or the environment are sometimes threatening to the ivory towers, safety silos, and other organizational formal or informal structures. The destruction-by-integration of these safe occupational havens into an organization’s management system may threaten some employees, including the OHS professionals. This professional population needs to be aware of some of the differences that these new management systems offer. Some of the key differences and similarities that these management systems may change for the OHS professional are presented. Paradigm changes can be expected in the application of most management systems.
58
INFORMATION DESIGN IN MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS.
M. McGuire, Motiva Enterprises, Houston, TX; A. Caneda, Glenn Associates, San Francisco, CA.
Since the 1990s, interest in HSE management systems has been growing, as many organizations reach a higher level of HSE performance. A management system represents the overall structure and process of how the organization manages and implements the values of HSE. The intent is to answer the question, “How does this organization fit HSE into its routine functions?”
Establishing a management system is routinely the responsibility of an HSE manager and staff, working in collaboration with appropriate operations groups. The focus of HSE groups tends to be limited to compliance, despite all initiatives that may indicate otherwise. In practice, HSE fosters a compliance-driven environment. And herein lies the problem: a compliance-driven organization establishing a holistic program, not based on quantitative but qualitative criteria. Without change management, the success of such an implementation is dubious.
HSE management systems are successful when HSE practices are integrated into the business. The prime dependency lies in the communication structure, process, and its products. To do this, HSE must first perform a two-dimensional assessment of all rules, requirements, and practices. The results help determine the relevance of each requirement and how to integrate each requirement into the business.
Information design is an appropriate tool for this two-dimensional assessment. This process defines the organization’s universe of information, its audiences, and seeks to develop appropriate materials that move the right information to the right people. By creating materials that are designed for audiences, the integration of requirements into the business naturally follows.
Starting with a typical compliance-focused HSE information system, the authors applied the principles of information design to the information system of a distribution business within the oil products industry. With the criteria of accessibility, usability, and clarity, the initial design produced successful results.
59
A CASE STUDY IN CHEMICAL
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
IMPROVEMENT.
T. Douglas, G. Galaher, Alliant Corporation, Knoxville, TN.
The mission of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is to remain on the leading edge of technology in space transportation systems, space propulsion, microgravity science, and space systems. In so doing, many unique chemical materials are utilized in the numerous areas of research and development at the Center. MSFC recognized the need to improve the system with which the Center’s chemical inventory was managed. Alliant Corporation was retained to support the process of scoping, selection, and implementation of a chemical management system to address both institutional and compliance requirements as part of MSFC’s overall Environmental Management System. Alliant assisted MSFC by establishing a baseline of current chemical management practices to assess strengths and weaknesses of the existing chemical management system, and to understand the needs of chemical users and support functions at MSFC. In addition, the various pathways through which chemicals flowed, from procurement to disposal, were modeled in order to better understand where opportunities for effective monitoring and control existed. Next, goals and objectives of an improved chemical management system were developed based upon the requirements of chemical users and support functions at MSFC. These goals and objectives established the framework within which the scope of potential chemical management systems would be considered. Alliant undertook the process of identifying, evaluating, and preparing a “short list” of candidate off-the-shelf chemical management systems for MSFC’s consideration. Those systems included on the short list were demonstrated to MSFC selection personnel. Following the demonstration, a preferred system was recommended, and implementation has begun. Attendees of this presentation will be familiarized with a highly effective process for conducting needs analysis, management system scoping, tool selection, and implementation of chemical management systems within an institutional setting involving a large inventory of chemicals ranging from the less hazardous to highly dangerous materials.
60
APPLICATION OF THE IH EAS MODEL TO PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP RISK ASSESSMENT.
F. Thomas, E. Crandall, Infineum USA, Linden, NJ; A. Rossner, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY.
Advancing industrialization and modernization within developed societies has resulted in the potential for health and environmental impacts that require effective management for an optimum balance among economic prosperity, technological development, and health/environmental protection. This has placed a challenge on all industry—and the chemical industry in particular—to understand the impacts of their products and operations and to mitigate the concomitant environmental/health risks. Effective product stewardship recognizes that industry should fully embrace these management responsibilities as an integral part of their standard business practices. This needs to be done in a fully transparent manner that allows regulators and the general public to understand the underlying risk characterizations. Companies that accept this challenge will recognize that effective product stewardship represents a substantial business opportunity.
Many industrial organizations use risk management processes that employ “probability” vs. “consequence” matrices to assist in the characterization of risk, so that control actions can be prioritized and implemented. An Industrial Hygiene Exposure Assessment Strategy (IH EAS) substitutes “health hazard” and “industrial hygiene exposure” categories that are analogous to the consequence and probability parameters of the more general risk management matrix. This presentation describes an approach that adds environmental hazard and exposure categories to the IH EAS matrix to yield a tool for the effective management of product-related risks.
Expansion of this standard IH EAS risk management approach to be more closely aligned with product stewardship issues results in a set of risk management/characterization matrices that are easily understood and familiar to business management, transparent with regard to the effect of control strategies on the hazard and exposure parameters, and potentially useful for communicating risk to the surrounding community and general public.
A chapter describing this application is being considered for the third edition of AIHA’s Strategy for Assessing and Managing Occupational Exposures.
61
PREFERENCES OF SMALL BUSINESSES WHEN WRITING SAFETY PROGRAMS.
N. Lester, 3-D Safety, Los Gatos, CA.
Small businesses face unique challenges when implementing occupational health and safety programs. The data from a website that allows users to quickly and easily create a safety program for a small business online provides a window on how they face these challenges when crafting a safety program. The employer demographics (e.g., company location, size, organizational structure, and type of business) give some insight into the kinds of businesses using the service. However, the results cannot be extrapolated to all small businesses because the website visitors do not represent a random sample.
Metrics of interest include the day of week/time of day when the program was written, the specific exposures present in the workplace, the methods used to communicate with employees about safety issues (i.e., meetings, safety committee, newsletter, safety suggestion box), the frequency of meetings and inspections specified by the program author, and who is responsible for performing the activities described in the written program. How these metrics vary with employer demographics and with other metrics also illuminates how the website users approach safety.
62
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION (OSHA) DOCKET WEBPAGE.
J. Davidson, R. Turnage, U.S. DOL/OSHA, Washington, DC.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Technical Information Retrieval System (TIRS) is a records management system used by OSHA and the public to maintain various agency records. OSHA’s rulemaking and nonrulemaking records (dockets) are available to the public through OSHA’s Docket webpage. These 784 dockets are the authorized legal repository for information collected by OSHA in connection with the agency’s regulatory and nonregulatory activities. The Web function satisfies the increasing needs of public and supports the U.S. Government’s commitment to the E-Government initiative. Having online access creates an atmosphere of democracy with the public, industry, organizations, labor groups, and other audiences wishing to participate in OSHA’s rulemaking and nonrulemaking activities. The Docket webpage provides robust docket/record access and examination capabilities to the public with the use of a browser-based information portal technology combined with advanced linguistic-based search, retrieval, and automated content summarization capabilities. There will be a discussion of the federal e-docket initiative and how that will change access to this information. At the conclusion of this session, the participant will be able to: (1) locate information within OSHA’s dockets on the Web; (2) find open dockets for comment or other activity and submit information to those dockets. The approach for this will be training users to locate information and hands-on participation from the audience. The results of this demonstration will train new users in utilizing OSHA’s Docket webpage and the conclusion of this demonstration will show how the webpage provides its customers with faster, fuller, and much more intuitive access to docket-related content.
Posted May 30, 2005