14 Elements Of A Successful Safety & Health Program

Element 1: Hazard Recognition, Evaluation and Control. Establishing and

maintaining safe and healthful conditions required indenifing hazards,

evaluating their pontential effects, developing ways to eliminate or control

them and planning action priorities.This process is the essence of successful

safety and health management.

Element 2:Workplace Design and Engineering Safety and health issues are most

easily and economically addressed when facilities, processes and equipment are

being designed. Organizations must incorporate safety into workplace design,

production processes and selection.They also need to evaluate and modify or

replace exisiting processes, equipment and facilities to make them safer. We

explore how the design and function of the workplace can complement safety and

health goals, minimize exposure to hazards and promote safe practices.

Element 3: Safety Performance Management As in all areas of operations,

standards must be set for safety performance. They should reflect applicable

regulatory requirements, additional voluntary guidelines and best business

practices. We describe how managers, supervisors and employees can be made

responsible and held accountable for meeting standards within their control. We

look at how job performance appraisals can reflect performance in safety and

health, as well as in other areas.

Element 4: Regulatory Compliance Management The Occupational Safety and Health

Administration (OSHA), the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and

state safety and health agencies establish and enforce safety and health

regulations.Other agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, also

issue and enforce regulations relating to safety and health in the United

States. We discuss key aspects of international regulations in the European

Union, Canada and Mexico. Staying informed about and complying with regulations

are essential goals of safety and health programs.We also look briefly at

conducting regulatory compliance inspections.

Element 5: Occupational Health Occupational health programs range from the

simple to the complex. At a minimun, such programs address the immediate needs

of injured or ill employees by providing first aid and responce to emergencies.

More elaborate medical services may incude medical surveillance programs and

provision for an in-house medical capability. In addition, some companies are

beginning to focus on off-the-job safety and health through employee wellness

and similar programs.

ELEMENT 6: Information Collection Safety and health activities, including

inspections, record keeping, industrial hygine surveys and other occupational

health assessments, injury/illness/incident investigations and performance

reviews, produce a large quantity of data. Safety and health professionals must

collect and analyze this data. Small incidents often provide early warning of

more serious safety or health problems. Complete and accurate records can be

used to identify hazards, measure safety performance and improvement, and

through analyses, help identify patterns.

ELEMENT 7: Employee Involvement Design and engineering controls are limited in

their ability to reduce hazards. Companies now understand that their real