HSE Update - March 11
Health Promotion Payback...Much is being written these days about health promotion and wellness in the workplace. While it's long been recognized that fit and healthy workers are less subject to workplace health and stress issues, there is also a significant financial payback. For example, Johnson and Johnson reports savings of $225 annually per employee from internal health and wellness programs. Fieldale Farms, a Georgia poultry company put 2.5 percent of its health care budget toward health promotion starting in 1992. By 2004, their average health care cost per employee was $3,052 - less than half the national average. On average, studies show you can expect a return of $3.25 for every dollar spent on health and wellness.
Chem-Specific HazCom Training Not Required...Even though OSHA Instruction CPL 2-2.38D indicates that HazCom training must be chemical-specific, the OSHA Review Commission in 2006 ruled that employers need only train on hazard categories. The logic behind this decision is that training on specific chemicals in a facility that might use 100 different materials would provide an enormous amount of information that would overwhelm most employees and be of little value. By training to categories or classes of chemicals and providing MSDS information for specifics, when necessary, employees have a much better chance of retaining useful information.
OSHA Issues Combustible Dust Bulletin...Due to significant concern about fire and explosion as a result of combustible dusts in the workplace, OSHA has created a bulletin that gives excellent control guidance. Primary focus is on dusts such as:
- Metal dust such as aluminum and magnesium.
- Wood dust
- Coal and other carbon dusts.
- Plastic dust and additives
- Biosolids
- Other organic dust such as sugar, paper, soap, and dried blood.
- Certain textile materials
As a companion, OSHA has also begun a combustible dust national emphasis program (NEP) to help address the growing number of fatal dust explosions that have occurred in U. S. workplaces in the past several years. The NEP instruction is located here.
Nighttime Security...Here's a tip from my Venezuelan grandniece. Her advice is to put your car keys on the nightstand when you go to bed. If you hear someone outside your home or attempting to break in, press the panic button on the key set. It's a system most of us have and the resulting loud horn honking is probably enough to discourage anyone from continuing their efforts to get in.
Common Traits of Successful Shiftworkers...Circadian Technologies (www.circadian.com) reports that their research has found the following common traits among many successful shiftworkers:
- Commitment to the shiftwork lifestyle
- Having a good support network
- Being "night owl" types
- Have a commitment to regular exercise
- Being free of inflexible obligations outside work
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Hexavalent Chromium Standard Compliance Directive Issued...OSHA recently issued a compliance directive to enforce the hexavalent chromium standards that were effective May 30, 2006. This directive establishes uniform inspection and compliance procedures for compliance safety and health officers.
Safe Stacking Heights...A recent question to SafetyXChange asked for guidance on how high to stack materials in storage. In response, the technical expert asked to deal with the question said "it depends." Clearly a complex issue, heights depend on the container, its contents, weights, temperature and humidity, floor and shelf capacity, stability and more. OSHA calls for stability against sliding and collapse. NFPA limits empty pallet stacking to 15 feet and clear space below sprinklers to 36 inches. For cardboard storage, time and humidity may result in reduced stability and capacity. The best advice, according to the article, is ask the manufacturer for recommendations and, if you're the manufacturer, run your own tests with the help of a packaging engineer.
Shift Work Meeting Times...Circadian advises that the worst time to hold meetings for night shift people is late morning or early afternoon during the prime sleep period. The best time, they suggest, is the hour before the start of their shift. Meetings following the shift are undesirable because, at that point, most shift workers have been awake a long time and the best time for them to go to sleep is immediately after their shift ends.
NEP Launched on Crystalline Silica...OSHA recently published a new directive implementing a National Emphasis Program (NEP) to help reduce or eliminate workplace exposures to silica-related hazards. OSHA's Safety and Health Topics Web page on crystalline silica offers resources on identifying the health hazards associated with occupational exposure to crystalline silica and possible solutions for those hazards. You'll find it here.
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Lawrence H. "Chip" Dawson
Dawson Associates
Rochester Business Alliance Coordinating Consultant for HSE
6 Saddle Ridge Trail
Fairport, NY 14450-9584
(585) 425-1639