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FINAL GUIDELINES FOR THE TRAINING OF WORKERS ENGAGED IN WORK ASSOCIATED WITH
MOLD.
T. Outwater, NIEHS, Research Triangle Park, NC; B. Lippy, National Clearinghouse for Worker Safety and Health Training, Washington, DC; D. Dobbin, Society for Occupational and Environmental Health, Washington, DC.
A rise in concern for the potential health effects and property damage claims associated with the presence of mold in buildings has led to an increase in the number of mold remediation workers. These workers, along with building maintainance workers, conduct their activities in mold contaminated environments in the absense of regulations, generally accepted professional guidance on work practices and procedures, personal protective equipment, or training protocols to protect them from mold exposures.
This panel will present and discuss the final guidelines for training mold maintenance and remediation workers that have been developed as a result of a collaborative process between the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Worker Education and Training Program, the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics, the Society for Occupational Safety and Health, Hunter College CUNY, Johns Hopkins Bloomburg School of Public Health, the University of Medicine and Dentistry N.J., the New York City Department of Health, and the National Clearinghouse for Worker Safety and Health Training.
The draft guidelines have been reviewed and commented upon by scientific, medical, and worker training experts from numerous public and private organizations including the American Industrial Hygiene Association. These final guidelines, which identify key components for an effective mold-related worker training program, have been revised to incorporate many of these comments.
94
E-LEARNING IN HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT—THE CCOHS EXPERIENCE.
B. Pathak, C. Moore, Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
The objective of this paper is to discuss the rationale, requirements, and effectiveness of web-based health and safety management training. Health and safety legislation in most of the developed countries is based on the internal responsibility system. In this system, employers are required to provide a safe workplace. Managers and supervisors must meet these requirements by integrating health and safety as an essential component of their routine management responsibilities. In order to do this, managers and supervisors must receive appropriate health and safety training. We will present the pros and cons of using “e-learning” programs to deliver health and safety management training. Based on CCOHS’ staff experience developing its “Health and Safety Training for Managers and Supervisors” e-course and detailed discussions with course participants, we will discuss the following: rationale for creating and presenting e-courses; the requirements for a successful e-course; evaluating the course’s effectiveness based on communication with participants by telephone and e-mail; and lessons learned. Based on our experience and user feedback, we have concluded that an e-learning program can be an effective tool for health and safety management training provided that participants can communicate with a course instructor when they have questions or concerns.
95
TRENDS AND CONSIDERATIONS FOR MULTILINGUAL HAZMAT COMPLIANCE.
J. Kraus, 3E Company, Carlsbad, CA.
Companies that expand their operations into foreign markets encounter a myriad of issues including EH&S and hazmat regulatory compliance requirements. There are several complex issues that go far beyond just simple language translation. These issues range from researching the various regulations and understanding each country’s level of enforcement, the complexity of international phone numbers and providing emergency response (not all countries have “911”), dealing with unique waste disposal requirements, the complexity of training, and also accommodating MSDSs for products whose ingredients vary from country to country.
This talk will address the multiple layers of issues companies face and the steps they need to be taking and considering when addressing multilingual issues. It will also incorporate how a Fortune 500 organization adapted to multilingual, global issues and will walk the audience through some of the processes it put in place.
96
DEVELOPMENT OF AN EFFECTIVE OSH ACADEMIC PROGRAM ASSESSMENT: TRIALS AND
TRIBULATIONS OF A FLEXIBLE PRACTITIONER PROGRAM.
J. Zey, A. Greife, D. Laster, CMSU, Warrensburg, MO.
Central Missouri State University (CMSU) has graduated over 3000 students with degrees in industrial hygiene and occupational safety between 1969 and 2004. Approximately 70% of the 500 industrial hygiene graduates are still practicing in the occupational safety and health field. Alumni have been very successful. In the late 1980s, 17% of all NIOSH certified industrial hygienists had degrees from CMSU. Currently 32% of AIHA technical committees have CMSU alumni as members. Finally, approximately one-half of CMSU IH alumni have gained certification in industrial hygiene, safety, or a related field. These statistics are one measure of the academic program’s success. Both the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) require that assessment be an integral part of occupational safety and health programs. Effective program assessment necessarily requires closing the loop in the assessment process. In other words, assessment data must be used to improve the effectiveness of the academic program. Neither NIOSH nor ABET provide specific processes or procedures regarding how assessment should be accomplished. Academic departments with assessment programs in various stages of development are often confronted by this uncertainty and ambiguity. CMSU’s OSH academic programs have recently confronted this issue. Various OSH professional groups (e.g., NIOSH Industrial Hygiene Program Directors group) are currently examining program assessment. This paper examines one academic program’s efforts to develop and implement an effective assessment program. Assessment issues are identified and discussed, and implications for program development are presented.
97
THE EFFECTS OF A BEHAVIOR-BASED SAFETY PROGRAM ON NONTARGETED SAFE BEHAVIORS.
J. Godbey, Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, AL.
Industry often implements safety programs based on applied behavioral research called behavior-based safety (BBS) programs. There are numerous examples of effective BBS programs employing nonmonetary consequences such as feedback to increase safe behavior. Increases in the number of BBS programs has peaked the interest of industry and raised concerns as well. One such concern is the impact of BBS programs on behaviors that are not specifically included in the BBS program. As a BBS program increases target safe behaviors, what happens to other behaviors that are related to safety but not specifically included in the BBS program? For instance, if the BBS program targets and measures the use of eye protection and as a result an increase in this behavior is observed, what effect does this have on the use of hearing protection that was not targeted by the BBS program? A research project was designed to focus on the effect of changes in safe behavior, as initiated through a BBS program, and on these other nontarget behaviors in order to provide information to improve workplace safety. The methodology used was a multiple-baseline study across four groups incorporating several months of baseline and post-intervention measurement. Critical behaviors were identified that would have a direct impact on safety. These critical worker behaviors were measured using work-sampling techniques. Target behaviors were presented with an intervention consisting of training and graphical feedback. Nontarget behaviors were observed and measured but were not included in the training or feedback. The subjects included employees at a manufacturing facility and a vehicle assembly facility. The preliminary results of the study indicate that the initiation of a BBS program has little significant effect on other nontarget behaviors. The results show a significant improvement in the target behaviors, those behaviors included in the intervention, and where feedback was provided.
98
TOOLS FOR DEALING WITH FEARS OF RADIATION AND NUCLEAR TERRORISM.
R. Johnson, Radiation Safety Academy, Gaithersburg, MD.
Anyone responding to a nuclear incident or terrorism may discover that the greatest challenge is not about technical issues but dealing with people’s fears. Over 60 years of mostly negative press has created an almost universal mindset that radiation is deadly and to be avoided at all costs. A recent poll of over 1000 people indicated that only a few percent could remember ever hearing anything good about radiation. The mindset against radiation will result in most people, including first responders, being instinctively afraid of radiation. Thus, radiation is an ideal choice for terrorists to use to create terror. People will respond according to their mindset, their perceptions, and their images of terrible consequences expected from exposure to radiation. Although many responders have had, or are receiving, good training in radiation safety, in the crisis of a nuclear incident, when their radiation meters start alarming, they may forget their radiation training and revert to their traditional mindset.
To prepare for nuclear terrorism, responders need to recognize that fear may be the greatest driving force in people’s reactions. Responders need tools for recognizing and dealing with fears (their own and others). A variety of tools are available from the psychological, behavioral, and risk communication sciences. Several of these tools and step-by-step checklists will be provided to deal with fears of radiation. The most effective responders will be those who have the most tools available for dealing with fears of nuclear incidents.
99
UNDERSTANDING YOUR WORKERS THROUGH OUTRAGE.
M. Sullivan, McDaniel Lambert Inc., Newbury Park, CA.
Public communication strategies are improved when the issues causing outrage in the community are understood and addressed. The community of workers at a facility may also be responding to an issue based on the outrage they are, or are not, experiencing. The industrial hygienist can better understand the workers they are charged to protect and develop more successful communication strategies with those workers if outrage is understood in light of how workers are responding. Typical workers have been divided into four categories: the vigilant worker, the angry worker, the loyal worker, and the indifferent worker. This presentation will address what is motivating these categories of workers who are encountered in the workplace. The industrial hygienist can develop more successful strategies for communication when workers are identified with one of the four worker categories and the outrage factors identified and addressed.
Posted May 30, 2005