S. Magasis, Boeing Co., Seattle, WA.
Large-scale manufacturing operations use complex computer-aided process engineering systems in an effort to increase their productivity. Such systems deliver real-time build instructions directly to manufacturing personnel via process-specific and rapidly reconfigurable electronic media. In such environments, it is increasingly critical that work instructions pertaining to safety, health, environmental, and ergonomic risk reduction efforts are delivered in a manner consistent with the dynamic build process. This can be achieved, in part, by integrating safety, health, and environmental work instructions into core build installation plans. This presentation describes the adaptation of a computer-aided process engineering system which is used internationally in aerospace, defense, automotive, and shipbuilding manufacturing industries. Using existing functionality in this core engineering system, specific safety, health, and environmental work instructions are made directly available to shopfloor personnel at the time that they are needed in the production flow. Content is authored and/or authorized by a designated safety and health professional and includes the following instruction plan-types: (1) fall protection work plans, (2) airplane confined space permits, (3) hazard communication information sheets, and (4) hazardous energy control plans. In addition to the work instructions themselves, associated training requirements and resources (e.g., personal protective equipment, confined space blowers, fall harnesses, etc.) are linked to each affected installation plan, to facilitate implementation. Using both embedded text and linked authoritative documentation, these instructions can be easily created, updated, and revised by the safety and health professional, and they are delivered in a format that is familiar to employees who use heritage information delivery systems. At the same time, manufacturing engineers can easily and consistently add appropriate safety, health, and environmental content to installation plans and resultant shop order instances, without assuming the burden and liability of creating the content itself.
P. Beach, Harris & Lee Environmental Sciences, San Francisco, CA.
A biopharmaceuticals company (approximately 5500 employees) historically managed industrial hygiene (IH) exposure monitoring data by a paper-based system with limited use of Microsoft Excel. The company had formal mechanisms and key performance indicators in place for managing acute workplace injuries and communicating injury performance to management. A similar means of data management and performance communication was desired for chronic exposure concerns. After a formal selection process, the company purchased an off-the-shelf, commercially available IH exposure monitoring management software to take the industrial hygiene monitoring program to the next level. In addition to serving as a day-to-day IH data management tool, the ultimate goal for the software was to generate statistical trending and the ability to develop industrial hygiene-based key performance indicators for the company that focus on exposure prevention for chronic health concerns. The purchased software included database modules for managing IH data on exposure to chemicals in air, noise monitoring, and qualitative risk assessment. With a staff of three full-time industrial hygienists, dedicated staff from the corporate information technology group, a contract project manager, and a 10-yr backlog of exposure monitoring data, the installation process began. A project plan was developed, key players were identified, and roles and responsibilities were defined. The project started in March 2005 and was complete in early December 2005. This presentation will explain what those planning a similar IH software application purchase and installation project should expect and the pitfalls to avoid when embarking on such a project.
L. Smith, Weston Solutions Inc., West Chester, PA.
Developing an effective sampling plan begins with a qualitative assessment. The results of an assessment are used to rank the tasks and potential exposures and to develop a sampling plan. The degree of subjectivity that enters into the assessment can bias the sampling plan and lead to lower exposure tasks in the sampling program. This presentation introduces a computer-based industrial hygiene qualitative assessment tool. By considering the parameters in the assessment tool with respect to a consistent set of criteria, the assessment tool reduces the potential for reviewer subjectivity. This system also permits evaluating the task exposures for additive effects and considering the exposures associated with both stressors and tasks.
G. Silverberg, Valero Energy Corp., Delaware City, DE; L. Smith, Weston Solutions Inc., West Chester, PA.
The statistical evaluation of data represents a major milestone for a sampling program. Using data both to make decisions concerning the operations and the associated exposures and to identify effective control strategies provides a value opportunity for the industrial hygienist. However, the success of the sampling program and the ability to make meaningful decisions from data depends on the quality of the collected information. The process of identifying samples to use in a statistical analysis requires attention to quality in every step of the sampling program. This presentation offers a tiered approach to evaluate and sort data. It also outlines a data review process to obtain samples results that can be used in a statistical analysis.
D. Drolet, N. Goyer, IRSST, Montréal, QC, Canada; J. Lavoué, University of Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada; A. Dufresne, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
Industrial hygienists agree that IHSTAT, an Microsoft Excel based software designed by John Mulhausen and Joseph Damiano in collaboration with AIHA, makes it easier to evaluate exposures and monitoring data. Behind this spreadsheet are equations, tables, and tools that are not shown to the user but allow the computation of statistics described in the AIHA book, A Strategy for Assessing and Managing Occupational Exposures, updated in 2006. We have redesigned this Excel spreadsheet at two different levels with the help of the Visual Basic editor. First, design and conviviality were enhanced, most notably by reorganizing the calculus blocks into different sheet tabs, including comments explaining each statistical parameter, and implementing a multilingual interface (English, Spanish, and French). Second, the 50-sample barrier was extended to 500 samples by switching the log-normality test from Shapiro-Wilks (using a table limited to 50 samples) to an approximation of the Shapiro-Francia test as proposed by Royston in 1993, from which an algorithm was written. Moreover, based on procedures described in the monograph of D. Helsel, the software now permits the analysis of data containing nondetected values, provided there is one common limit of detection (LOD). Future updates of this software could include identification of temporal trend analysis using the Spearman rank correlation test and data analysis with multiple LODs. The IHSTAT file, in its modified version, will be made available through Internet on the IRSST website.
M. Wysong, Dolphin Software, Portland, OR.
OSHA states that some 3 million U.S. workplaces store and use chemical products containing 650,000 hazardous substances. Recent electronic inventory/management methods used on multisite enterprises nationwide, when tied to a text-based material safety data sheet (MSDS) database, show an astounding lack of chemical-product overlap across sites within each corporation. We looked at 700 different MRO use categories — including adhesives, caulks, glass cleaners, hand cleaners, paint removers, and thread lock — and found that frequently hundreds of different products (from multiple different manufacturers) are used for use category. Many of these MRO chemicals appear to be entering U.S. enterprises at the site level, evading central procurement visibility. Often the sites lack an accompanying MSDS for the product, and they are not tied into the enterprise’s master electronic database, if one exists at all. The upshot of this lack of chemical overlap is an inordinate number of stock keeping units (SKUs) and vendors managed, but more critically, high price variability exists between products and uncontrolled toxicity is introduced enterprise-wide. Our case study shows that the number of products per use category rises steeply with the number of company sites examined while toxicity increases (as gauged by ingredients and cross-matched to RCRA, SARA, EU, Clean Air, IARC, NTP, and other ranking benchmarks). Our conclusion is that U.S. enterprises need to look more closely at product proliferation and strive to reduce the number of products per use category. Such an approach would help to decrease administrative burdens, lower toxicity, lower acquisition costs, and enhance environmental health and safety risk mitigation across the enterprise.