Who Am I? Why Am I Here?

And there are still far too many health and safety professionals that don’t understand that to a very great extent, who lives and who dies in the workplace is determined by politics – both power relationships in the workplace, and traditional politics that determines who controls our government. What that means is that organizing unions and electing politicians who will fight against unlimited corporate control over our regulatory agencies, our workplaces and the environment are of vital importance to protecting the health and safety of American workers.

(Jordan)

SAFETY TRAINING

Training is the backbone of this system. For management to lead, for personnel to analyze the worksite for hazards, and for hazards to be eliminated or controlled, everyone involved must be trained. The scope of the training depends on the size and complexity of the worksite and the hazards involved.

Who Needs Training?
- Target new hires, contract workers, employees who wear PPE and workers in high risk areas. Managers and supervisors should also be included in the training plan.
- Manager training should emphasize their important role in visibly supporting the safety and health program and setting a good example.
- Supervisor training should cover company policies and procedures, hazard detection and control, accident investigation, handling of emergencies, and how to train and reinforce training.
- Long-term workers who have job changes as a result of new processes or materials.
- The entire workforce needs periodic refresher training in responding

SAFETY INSPECTIONS

Routine site safety and health inspections are designed to catch hazards missed at other stages. This type of inspection should be done at regular intervals, generally on a weekly basis. In addition, procedures should be established that provide a daily inspection of the work area.

You can use a checklist already developed or make your own, based on:
- Past problems
- Standards that apply to your industry
- Input from everyone involved
- Your company's safety practices or rules

Important things to remember about inspections are:
- Inspections should cover every part of the worksite
- They should be done at regular intervals
- In-house inspectors should be trained to recognize and control hazards
- Identified hazards should be tracked to correction

Information from inspections should be used to improve the hazard prevention and control program

SAFETY CULTURE

The best Safety and Health Programs involve every level of the organization, instilling a safety culture that reduces accidents for workers and improves the bottom line for managers.

What are the common characteristics of a safety and health culture?
Management believes that safety and health on the job is as important a company goal as other organizational objectives, such as cost control, quality, and productivity.
Individuals within the organization believe they have a right to a safe and healthy workplace.
- Each person accepts personal responsibility for ensuring his or her own safety and health.
- Everyone believes he or she has a duty to protect the safety and health of others.

Training

Reference 1926.503(a)(1)
How should I be trained?
Training must be provided to each employee who might be exposed to fall hazards. In construction, this will involve most employees. The training by a competent person must enable each employee to recognize the hazards of falling and train employees in the procedures to be followed to minimize these hazards.

The training must include:
The nature of fall hazards in the work area;
The correct procedures for erecting, maintaining, disassembling, and inspecting the fall protection systems to be used;
The use and operation of guardrail systems, personal fall arrest systems, safety net systems, warning line systems, safety monitoring systems, controlled access zones, and other protection;
The role of each employee in the safety monitoring system when this system is used;
The limitations on the use of mechanical equipment during the performance of roofing work on low-sloped roofs;
The correct procedures for the handling and storage of equipment and materials and the erection of overhead protection; and
The role of employees in fall protection plans.
The standards of subpart M

The employer must verify compliance with the training requirements by preparing a written certification record.

The employer must retrain any employee when the employer has reason to believe that the trained employee does not have the understanding and skill required.

Walkways

Reference 1926.501(b)(6)

Ramps, runways, and other walkways must be protected by guardrail systems when employees can fall 6 feet or more.

The walking/working surface must be strong enough to support employees safely. If not, employees may not work on the surface. This knowledge will be gained during frequent and regular inspections made, as required, by competent persons designated by the employer.

FALL PROTECTION

Where should I expect fall protection to be provided?
When an employee is on a walking/working surface that has an unprotected edge.
When an employee is constructing a leading edge.
When an employee may fall through a hole in the walking/working surface.
When an employee is working on the face of formwork or reinforcing steel.
When employees are on ramps, runways and other walkways.
When employees are working at the edge of an excavation, well, pit, or shaft.
When employees are working above dangerous equipment (even employees working less than six feet over dangerous equipment must be protected).
When an employee is performing overhand bricklaying and related work.
When an employee is performing roofing work.
When an employee is engaging in precast concrete erection (with certain exceptions).
When an employee is engaged in residential construction (with certain exceptions)

SCAFFOLDS

FALL HAZARDS

Falls may occur:

• While climbing on or off the scaffold
• Working on unguarded scaffold platforms
• When scaffold platforms or planks fail

OSHA Office of Training & Education: Scaffolds Slide 4...

THE ART OF WAR

Sun-tzu said:
Warfare is a great matter to a nation; it is the ground of death and life; it is the way of survival and of destruction, and must be examined. Therefore, go through it by means of five factors; compare them by means of calculation, and determine their statuses:
One, Way, two, Heaven, three, Ground, four, General, five, Law.

SUBPART L - SCAFFOLDS

1926.450(b) - Definitions:

Guardrail system means a vertical barrier, consisting of, but not limited to, toprails, midrails, and posts, erected to prevent employees from falling off a scaffold platform or walkway to lower levels.

Landing means a platform at the end of a flight of stairs.

Lower levels means areas below the level where the employee is located and to which an employee can fall. Such areas include, but are not limited to, ground levels, floors, roofs, ramps, runways, excavations, pits, tanks, materials, water, and equipment.

Platform means a work surface elevated above lower levels. Platforms can be constructed using individual wood planks, fabricated planks, fabricated decks, and fabricated platforms.

Competent person means one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them.

Qualified means one who, by possession of a recognized degree, certificate, or professional standing, or who by extensive knowledge, training, and experience, has successfully demonstrated his/her ability to solve or resolve problems related to the subject matter, the work, or the project.

Walkway means a portion of a scaffold platform used only for access and not as a work level.

Guardrails

Scaffold:

Missing top rail, middle rail and toe board.

Safety Culture

What is safety culture?

“The safety culture of an organisation is the
product of individual and group values,
attitudes, perceptions, competencies, and
patterns of behaviour that determine the
commitment to, and the style and proficiency
of, an organisation’s health and safety
management. Organisations with a positive
safety culture are characterised by
communications founded on mutual trust, by
shared perceptions of the importance of safety
and by confidence in the efficacy of preventive
measures.”

ACSNI Human Factors Study Group: Third
report - Organising for safety HSE Books 1993