Safety Culture Plus

The following article was taken from   Safteng’s latest newsletter. 

“Read UK’s HSE publication Five Steps to Risk Assessment (pdf). This document explains how a risk assessment for occupational health and safety can be done.

This is not the only way to do a risk assessment, you can also use the Risk Assessment and Policy Template.

This template brings together your risk assessment, health and safety policy and record of health and safety arrangements into one document to help you get started and save you time. HSE also have a number of example risk assessments to show you what a risk assessment might look like.

If your industry is not listed, pick the one closest to it and use it as a guide for completing the template, adapting it for your own workplace. You can print and save the template so you can review and update it as and when required.  There are also other methods that work well, particularly for more complex risks and circumstances. However, we believe these methods are the most straightforward for most organizations.  A risk assessment will only be effective if you and your staff act on it.

It is important that you follow through with any actions required and review it on a regular basis.  We also have an example health and safety policy, this illustrates what you need to think about and include, should you choose to complete the policy section of the template. 

PLEASE NOTE that the UK HSE is the equivalent to OSHA in the United Kingdom and I am offering this information as these are FREE TOOLS that can be applied to any workplace regardless of it’s location.”

If you are not a member you need to sign up for his free newsletter.  In my opinion this is the best source that you will find on the net that offers a full line of safety services and FREE material that you can  use in your presentation, etc.

Is this going to be good for industry?

Using private consultants is the key provision

Give Senator Mike Enzi, a freshman Republican from Wyoming, credit for this: he’s persistent. After coming out with a bill to reform OSHA earlier this year, he introduced a new version on September 30th that has more support among Republicans than any OSHA bill crafted since the GOP took control of Congress in 1994-and there have been at least a half-dozen.

The Safety Advancement for Employees Act (SAFE) combines all of Enzi’s previously introduced OSHA bill with some provisions from another bill that had been introduced by Senator Judd Gregg (R-Vt.). Co-sponsors of SAFE include Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Senate Labor Committee Chairman Jim Jeffords (R-Vt.), and Public Health and Safety Labor Committee Chairman Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).

Rep. James Talent (R-Mo.), chairman of the House Small Business Committee, has introduced almost identical OSHA legislation on the House side. Two Democrats are co-sponsors of Talent’s bill.

It’s no coincidence that a press conference announcing the SAFE proposal was held one week before Senate confirmation hearings for OSHA chief nominee Charles Jeffress, according to one source. The proposal is a reminder to Jeffress and the Clinton administration that Republicans will be keeping a close watch on the agency, says the source.  To read the rest of the article click on the link below.

Republicans rally around OSHA reform (again) – Feature Articles – ISHN

By Linda Bashwiner and Steven Galeotti

Our guest bloggers today are Steven Galeotti and Lydia Barbara Bashwiner.   Steven Galeotti, ARM, Principal of SRM Consulting, sgaleotti@srmconsulting.net. Steve has over 32 years experience in risk management and risk control consulting with significant expertise in risk assessment and Enterprise Risk Management.  He has developed a methodology for assessing business risk in organizations.  He has made presentations to the National Association of College and University Business Officers, the Risk and Insurance Management Society and other national organizations.

Lydia Barbara Bashwiner, Esq. is the General Counsel and Claims Manager for Otterstedt Insurance Agency, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. She is a licensed New Jersey attorney, and a licensed property and casualty producer. She holds the professional designations of Certified Workers’ Compensation Professional and NJ Workers’ Compensation Professional.

Do you have any unpaid students working within your organization? If so, are they working toward a degree? Do you have any unpaid workers who are not students? Regardless of whether the unpaid worker is a student, what are risk management consequences of having unpaid workers in your facility?

While the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled in 1999 that unpaid workers are not employees because they do not work for compensation or the expectation of compensation, the Department of Labor (DOL) has recently issued several opinion letters regarding volunteers and students. These opinion letters state when volunteers and students are considered employees and subject to minimum wage and overtime laws. In order for an employer to avoid paying a student or volunteer, six requirements must be fully met (see sidebar on next page).

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This is a great site that will help the user to understand Risk Management.  A must read for anyone wanting to learn more about Risk Management.

Develop processes and systems within the firm with risk prevention in mind. Often, early planning can help to identify potential sources of risk, and early intervention can mitigate the severity of claims. When risk is identified, … Be especially careful while making site visits that the engineer’s actions do not extend the firm’s obligations to include responsibility for job-site safety or directing the work of the contractor. Extending the scope simply …

Civil Engineer BLOG – http://civilengineerblog.com/