C. Jenkins, MACTEC, Inc., Peoria, IL.
Compliance auditing has become a significant part of quality assurance programs for many companies to ensure that liabilities are uncovered and addressed. Third-party and self-administered health and safety audits are performed to ensure that items of noncompliance are identified and corrective actions implemented. This presentation will identify commonly overlooked areas of noncompliance that have been observed during the performance of over 100 health and safety audits at Fortune 500 companies. Information provided will aid the auditor in identifying areas of noncompliance that are regularly overlooked during audits. Topics and findings presented will include both regulatory and nonregulatory (good management practices) deficiencies that have been found in manufacturing facilities. Areas discussed will include ventilation, chemical management, and chemical exposures and will include corrective actions implemented to ensure compliance.
L. Wash, 3M, St. Paul, MN.
Audits are an essential part of an occupational health and safety management system. They provide verification of performance and serve to identify areas for improvement. Successful auditing processes rely on a well-defined protocol and highly trained auditors to deliver objective and reproducible results. One large multinational corporation is working to reduce the variability of their corporate auditing results by increasing the objectivity of their performance measurement process. Redesign of the audit process included revising protocols to include all management requirements, documenting verification techniques, risk-ranking protocol questions and weighting questions to reflect risk ranking. Final capability analysis measured reduced variability and an ongoing control plan has been established to ensure that variability remains controlled within established parameters.
M. Rollins, Thermo Electron, Waltham, MA.
The PDA (personal digital assistant) or hand-held computer has made tremendous inroads into the EHS profession. However, there are many individuals who do not use their PDA to the fullest potential; they merely store addresses and appointments. This presentation gives an example of a PDA used to collect data as part of a multi-media EHS audit. The presentation will demonstrate the wide variety of data types that can be collected during an audit (text, audio, photos, video), as well as an example of a custom-designed data collection application.
W. Comerford, Foster Wheeler, Clinton, NJ.
SHE data management and metrics are one of the many challenges facing SHE professionals in a global organization. In order to improve the visibility and transparency of our SHE metrics globally and easing the reporting process, the Global Safety, Health, and Environmental Group, along with the IT department at Foster Wheeler, designed a fully digital system that allows for the integration of SHE data globally and for the creation of real-time metrics along a common set of rules and parameters. This system, the Power Resource Suite, is a fully integrated application that assists in the reporting and management of SHE incidents globally. Additionally, the system provides up-to-date information to upper management regarding SHE metrics in the corporation, along with incident management tools and surface/root cause analysis. The system has allowed us to provide better information and to improve our overall SHE performance globally.
L. Barnes, Walsh Environmental Scientists and Engineers, LLC, Boulder, CO; M. Viana, Ecology and Environment, Inc., Buffalo, NY.
Effective management of environmental health and safety (EHS) requires skills, knowledge, and tools for managing large amounts of data. These data may range from records related to sampling, accidents, emissions, hazardous materials, waste, training, audits, and more. Many EHS Managers are still seeking effective solutions to the challenge of data management. Tools for data management range from obsolete file cabinets to network databases and web-based systems. Whereas a network database may be adequate for a single location, managers who serve large, multiple-location organizations often prefer web-based solutions. This presentation will include case studies of companies using custom-designed, web-based environmental management systems to meet their data management needs. Web-based systems have the advantage of accessibility to multiple locations, including central locations where the system may be used to compile data for trend analysis, regulatory reporting, presentations, and tracking of results. The use of custom-designed systems has allowed companies to meet their unique needs. Examples of data input screens and reports of several custom-designed systems will be presented. Issues such as administration, security, updates, and access control will also be discussed. The challenges of system development will be discussed, including communication between EHS professionals and information technology professionals (e.g., network administrators, code writers, etc.) who have different technical jargon. Issues such as integrating with existing in-house systems and importing existing data will also be addressed. Evaluation of this type of solution compared to other alternatives will also be presented. Although a custom-built web-based environmental management system will not meet the needs of every company, it has been an efficient and cost-effective solution for some EHS managers. This presentation will share that experience for the benefit of others who have not yet found a suitable solution to this type of need.
E. Stewart, S. Henricy, Clayton-Bureau Veritas, Costa Mesa, CA.
The environmental/occupational health and safety (EHS) services industry generates large quantities of data. Data originates from audits and inspections such as asbestos inspections, industrial noise, and air quality monitoring events. The typically nonintegrated methods commonly used to manage EHS data including paper forms, spreadsheets, and word processing applications, are time-consuming, prone to error, and costly. The application of relational databases and geographic information systems (GIS) to EHS information management can resolve the shortcomings of traditional methods of data management and collection and provide enhanced functionality. Among the benefits are greater data integrity, more defensible data, and improved capacity to gather and manage more data with less effort and cost. These tools offer improved reporting capabilities, ease of access by EHS managers, and new visualization and analysis tools. Use of relational databases and GIS for EHS data management also provides an integrated solution that enhances data retrieval, improves data analysis, and streamlines data presentation.
S. Lacey, R. Espinosa, N. Esmen, K. Kennedy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL.
Industrial hygiene applications of information storage, retrieval, and analysis in complex industrial settings have several shared characteristics. These are () the dependence of exposures on changes in processes, equipment, and methods over time; (2) changes in PPE, work practices, and task descriptions; (3) changes in the needs for exposure monitoring data; and (4) the complexity of the modern workplace. For a very large industrial epidemiologic study, we had to document archived information spanning 50 years on process changes, changes in work characteristics, exposure parameters, and personnel information as a function of space and time in eight independent jet engine manufacturing facilities. To accommodate this we developed a GIS-based information storage and retrieval system using ArcGIS to integrate operational data in space and time. The system aids in the visualization and internalization of massive amounts of spatial-temporal operation data, stores information in any format suitable to the needs of the user, and provides a venue for analysis that would otherwise be unmanageable by simple review. We present the basic principles and general methods of constructing such a system. Although the system was developed for use in exposure level reconstruction for a large number of agents in a complicated industrial setting, and the main focus of the discussion is this application, the fundamental versatility of the approach opens up the potential for other uses in industrial hygiene. By presenting examples of application of the system to (1) exposure tracking (monitoring), (2) accident tracking—safety, (3) potentially toxic chemical use tracking—industrial hygiene management, (4) health outcome tracking—occupational medicine, and (5) prospective or retrospective information on job titles and exposure—epidemiology, we demonstrate the versatility and the utility of the approach that can be customized to specific needs using commercially available software.
Posted May 30, 2006