C. Backlund, A. Jackson, L. Lincoln, A. Tryon, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM.
As a result of the unusual step to stand-down operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in the summer of 2004, a formal review board was chartered to oversee the corrective actions process. The instances that led to the work suspension were security and safety related and brought intense oversight scrutiny and media attention upon this famous landmark scientific institution. LANL needed a formal, high-level effective corrective action review process as a follow-on activity to the robust review process used for resumption to realize the potential gains from the suspension assessment activities. How did LANL tackle this endeavor with nearly 30 separate organizational corrective action plans, 2,000 issues identified, and an additional 300 “institutional” issues? LANL established a Corrective Action Review Board (CARB) to review corrective action plans developed from issues identified in management self assessments and laboratory readiness reviews. The CARB was staffed with senior LANL managers to give LANL an authoritative institutional oversight process to assure the LANL Director that the corrective action plans were effective and sustainable. Best practices from the Department of Energy (DOE), industry and the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) were reviewed and used as effective management tools to ensure success of the review process. The presentation will describe the LANL CARB functions and lessons learned from its use in the resumption of work process. Los Alamos National Laboratory, an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer, is operated by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy under contract W-7405-ENG-36. LA-UR-05-7434. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
D. Brown, J. Gifford, Chevron, Houston, TX.
Integrating health, environment, and safety considerations into early design of major capital projects is critical to creating the maximum value during ultimate project execution and subsequent facility operation. If HES input is delayed until detailed design or fabrication stages, significant opportunities for improving facility HES performance will be unrealized and may require costly changes later in the project’s life. Use of a phased approach for identifying necessary HES design considerations, resources, studies, and plans is helpful in not only communicating and implementing an overall HES strategy, but also in integrating HES professionals into the engineering and business processes of a major capital project. This phased approach is being successfully utilized and will become a company requirement for new facilities or upgrades involving major capital expenditure. The authors, HES advisors for two oil and gas development projects offshore Angola, will describe how HES requirements may be delineated into five distinct project phases, from opportunity identification to operations. By understanding HES considerations in each project development phase, HES requirements may most efficiently managed and integrated into business planning. Results include extracting maximum value through timely input by specialized HES professionals and allowance for early, cost effective integration of HES recommendations into project design, construction, installation, and operations. If accomplished successfully, this integration of HES input to the project will not only result in a safer, more environmentally responsible facility, but also will increase the value that HES professionals bring to project selection, design, and execution.
M. Katchen, The Phylmar Group, Los Angeles, CA.
Health care costs in the United States run approximately $1.7 trillion annually and are increasing at a rate of 8% to 9% each year. With employers paying an average total health benefit cost per employee of $6,679 in 2004, is it any wonder that we are seeing an emphasis on health care cost management by corporate executives? Even government agencies are focusing attention on health care cost management and the role of the EHS professional. This presentation will focus on the concrete steps the EHS professional can implement to assist the organization in managing their health care costs. These steps include using risk assessment to analyze and rank illness and injury patterns, developing a strategy for implementing health promotion programs, implementing intervention programs, and assessing the programs effectiveness. Following this cost effective four step program, EHS professionals can play a key role in helping corporations manage their health care costs.
M. Pryor, S. Kinare, J. D’Arcy, J. Griffin, G. Parr, R. Byer, R. Chapman, General Motors, Pontiac, MI.
If you believe “a picture is worth a thousand words,” a value stream map paints a powerful picture. A value stream involves all the steps, both value added and nonvalue added, required to complete a product or service from beginning to end. It makes the process more visual in order to identify all the hidden wastes. It shows how bottlenecks, rework, or waiting affect the flow of the product or service. This provides an opportunity at General Motors to eliminate waste, improve responsiveness, improve quality, maintain successful flow, and reduce costs.
General Motors industrial hygienists have been the main resource in collecting air samples to generate annual aerosol maps of manufacturing facilities using metal removal fluids. This process had become burdensome and time consuming resulting in a long lead time for aerosol maps and rework for report creation. A value stream mapping workshop was conducted involving a cross-functional team including engineering, health and safety, research, and industrial hygiene. The exercise allowed the cross-functional team to comprehend impacts on decisions and work flow which affects all participants in the value stream. The current state map of the annual aerosol mapping process was charted, and the process wastes were made visible. Problem solving tools uncovered the root cause and solutions for improvement. The cross-functional team envisioned an improved future state map and developed an implementation plan. Execution of the plan resulted in reduced lead time from 30 days to 14 days, improved first-time-quality from 22% to 70%, reduced labor by 40%, and reduced travel expenses by 30%.
A. Panepinto, P&G, Cincinnati, OH.
Regulatory agencies, companies, and other organizations throughout the world have developed systems for the classification and labeling of hazards associated with chemicals. Efforts to harmonize these systems such as the Globally Harmonized System for the Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) is the culmination of a decade of work by many and should be applauded. A more uniform system should enhance safety, improve the level of compliance, and reduce both real and activity based costs for companies involved in developing, manufacturing, distributing, and transporting chemicals both domestically and across international borders. Significant challenges remain for adequately communicating the risks to workers given cross-cultural differences in risk paradigms. General hazard warnings, pictograms, or brief descriptions of hazards can be misleading or confusing to the work force. These challenges are magnified in terms of dealing with complex mixtures where a paucity of toxicological data on the mixture exists and one in charge of assigning hazard classifications is left to interpret the available data on individual components.
J. Haas, STAR Consultants, Inc., Orange Park, FL.
Problem: Poor hazard communication results in significant lack of appreciation of potential health effects in exposed persons. The author has evaluated the effectiveness of the training process for approximately 60 clients as part of an overall evaluation of occupational health and safety management systems. A routine question that is asked of some manufacturing employees is, “Do you use materials that are known to cause cancer in people or in animals?” One welder replied “No, but according to the label, that welding wire causes cancer to people in California.” Usually, people just shrug. In most cases of poor comprehension, the hazard communication training involved a description of the OSHA standard; hazards covered, and referred employees to a binder of MSDSs for more information. Although almost all interviews indicated correctly where MSDSs were available, few actually had ever read any. This may lead to apathy toward maintaining or using workplace hazard controls, including PPE. However, for one client, the approach to hazard communication clearly was remarkable. The cancer question was asked of a worker, whose job consisted solely of weighing and mixing small quantities of more than a hundred different powdered organic and inorganic colors, including cadmium-based pigments. He opened a departmental binder of MSDSs, counted and said, “Seven. The MSDSs state that they can cause cancer in animals, but there is no evidence of that in people.” He then demonstrated to the author the product of the systematic approach implemented by the hourly employees in his department and all across that site. Simple, straightforward, and yes, seven was correct. The author has since been recommending the approach to enhance hazard communication, and to be an opportunity for employee involvement. Its product is of use to the occupational medical service staff, industrial hygiene and environmental personnel too.
C. Sadovnik, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, NY.
The restaurant industry is a significant employer in New York City (NYC) accounting for over $8 billion of the city’s revenues and with a large workforce of nearly 170,000. It is also one of the largest employers of foreign-born and young workers. A recent review by DOHMH of a sample of visits to NYC emergency departments found the food service/ restaurant industry is the fourth most common industry represented in work-related visits to NYC emergency departments. A regional burn center in NYC has reported restaurant workers as the most common occupation seen for major burns. In response, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) has developed and launched a restaurant worker health and safety training and education campaign. This program is innovative in that it capitalizes on the existing role of DOHMH in regulating the local restaurant industry, and targets the estimated 170,000 workers at over 22,000 foodservice establishments in New York City, including a high percentage of underserved, foreign-born, non-English speaking workers. The program combines classroom and onsite training, as well as widespread dissemination of newly developed educational materials to the target population. This program creates replicable, long-term capacity to positively impact the health and safety of this often underserved workforce. This talk provides an overview of key program activities, partners, and educational tools. Successes and challenges to date will be discussed.
Posted May 30, 2006