Employee participation effective, elements

Although the SEMP/SEMS standard does not include an Employee Participation element in the way that OSHA s PSM standard does, this paragnq>h has something of the same effect. 

In addition, just as employee participation is the key element of process safety management systems, worker involvement is crucial to the effective application of Safety Cases. Unfortunately, the perception among many that a Safety Case is a lengthy, highly technical document that can only be understood by specialists, mitigates effective employee participation. For example the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique used to model explosion over-pressure uses very sophisticated mathematics. This sophistication makes communication with nonspecialists a challenge. In addition the sheer size and complexity of a Safety Case may serve as a barrier to the involvement of nontechnical personnel. 

Figure 4.1 Example Cause and Effect Diagram to Outline Elements of an Effective Employee Participation Process.

Safety committees provide a formal channel through which management and the employees can communicate with regard to process safety issues and overall company culture. There are many references to the involvement of employee representatives in the OSHA standard. These would usually be on the safety committee. If the facility is nonunion, it is essential that the employees representative is selected by the employees, not appointed by management. But it is important to ensure that the committee is not isolated the effective implementation of this element requires that everyone participate in the process safety program. 

D. Training and Education. The last major program element for an effective ergonomic program is training and education to ensure that employees are sufficiently informed about the ergonomics hazards to which they may be exposed and thus are able to participate actively in their own protection. 

Other elements that have been deemed critical to an effective damage prevention program and that have been the subject of past Safety Board recommendations include accurate mapping, employee training, and anergency response planning. This chapter discusses the various aspects of these elements and summarizes the reports and conclusions of the 1994 workshop participants as they relate to these elements. 

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