Evaluation of Program Effectiveness

The employer s basic obligation is to evaluate the safety and health program to ensure that it is effective and appropriate to workplace conditions. The employer must evaluate the program as often as necessary to guarantee its effectiveness. The employer must also revise the program in a timely manner to correct deficiencies identified by the program evaluation. 

MuM-employer workplace mearrs one where there is a host employer and at least one contract employer. Host employer means an employer who controls conditions at a multi-employer worksite. The host employer s responsibilities are to  

Provide information about hazards, controls, rules on safefy and health, and emergency procedures to all employers at the workplace. 

Make certain that safety and health responsibilities are assigned as appropriate to other employers at the workplace. 

Ensure that the host employer is aware of the hazards associated with the contract employer s work and what the contract employer is doing to address them. 

Advise the host employer of any previously unidentified hazards that the contract employer identifies at the workplace. 

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The employer shall designate a program administrator who is quahfied by appropriate training or experience that is commensurate with the complexity of the program to administer or oversee the respiratory protection program and conduct the required evaluations of program effectiveness. 

Risk and hazard identification and assessment Hazard prevention and control Information and training Evaluation of program effectiveness... 

The program administrator is qualified, by appropriate training and experience relative to the complexity of the program, to administer our Respiratory Protection Program and conduct the necessary evaluations of program effectiveness. 

Following the implementation of the error management program, evaluations of its effectiveness must be made on a continuing basis. Measures of effectiveness can be gained partly by direct discussions with individuals at all levels of the plant, using a predesigned evaluation checklist to ensure that all the evaluation dimensions are assessed in a systematic way. Examples of evaluation questions follow. 

After completion of the WaterTox program, the test battery continued to be applied by laboratories from Argentina, Chile and Colombia to assess different types of environmental matrices. These initiatives facilitated the development or application of new or existing ranking systems that enabled evaluation of the effectiveness of biological treatment for the toxicity reduction of wastes and combined effluents. These studies are described herein. 

Ford, C.T. Care, R.R. Bosshart, R.E. "Preliminary Evaluation of the Effect of Coal Cleaning on Trace Element Removal" Report 3, Trace Element Program, Bituminous Coal Research, Inc., 1976. 

Evaluation of cost-effectiveness of the program is one of the most difficult enterprises in public health. Vouchers simplify this process, however, often making it possible to accurately measure both costs and project-specific outcomes. If costs and outcomes are monitored, monitoring cost-effectiveness becomes simply a matter of calculating the ratio of positive outcomes to the cost of the program. Problems arise, however, when one wishes to compare alternative subsidy schemes or the status quo, because accurate information on costs and outcomes is much harder to come by. 

AETE (Aquatic Effects Technology Evaluation) (1998) Summary of Cost-effectiveness Evaluation of Aquatic Effects Monitoring Technologies Applied in the 1997AETE Field Evaluation Program. Beak International and Golder Associates, Ottawa, Ontario. 

A very extensive field research program was completed early in 1979, and the final report (prepared for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by Woodward-Clyde Consultants) was made available to the public in 1980 [1]. Within the limiting parameters determined by the contract, the specific purpose of the researchf and the grout pumping plant,J an extensive amount of data was gathered to evaluate not only the effectiveness of field procedures but the precision of various methods for evaluation of grouting effectiveness. 

An evaluation of the effect of thermal loading of optical elements is achieved by using finite element analysis computer simulation. Such a computer program calculates what happens over a given number of time steps when a certain heat load is applied to the surface of an optical element such as a mirror. It takes into account the heat conductivity in the mirror bulk and the emissivity of the reflecting and other mirror surfaces. Once the system has reached the calculated equilibrium the thermal expansion is calculated. 

To evaluate a programs effectiveness, management should look at both noncompliances and near-misses. Too many near-misses will result in a noncompliance—it is just a matter of time. Near-misses can include calls to the hotline about particular conduct, even if the conduct was not technically a violation of a law or a standard. Program elements have to be continually assessed to optimize effectiveness. 

Judith A. Bradbury, technical manager at Battelle Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, is currently evaluating public involvement programs across the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) complex. She previously completed a series of evaluations of the effectiveness of DOE s 12 site-specific advisory boards and led an assessment of community concerns about incineration and perspectives on the U.S. Army Chemical Weapons Disposal Program. Dr. Bradbury is a member of the Risk Assessment and Policy Association. She earned a B.S. in sociology from the London School of Economics, an M.A. in public affairs from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. in public and international affairs from the University of Pittsburgh. 

At many active workplaces, daily site inspections are performed by the supervisor in order to detect hazardous conditions, equipment, materials, or unsafe work practices. At other times, periodic site inspections are conducted by the site safety and health officer. The frequency of inspections is established in the workplace safety and health program. The supervisor, in conjunction with the safety and health officer, determines the required frequency of these inspections, based on the level and complexity of the anticipated activities and on the hazards associated with these activities. In a review of worksite conditions/activities, site hazards, and protecting site workers, the inspections should include an evaluation of the effectiveness of the company s safety and health program. The safety and health officer should revise the company s safety and health program as necessary to ensure the program s continued effectiveness. 

Most programs do not consider these effects and here, again, it is advisable to supplement the CAD/CAM analysis and design with evaluation of the effects of these conditions on the part performance. In questionable cases prototype testing will be desirable to determine whether there is an adverse effect on the product. 

An international exposure program within the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) was implemented in 1987 with the general aim of performing a quantitative evaluation of the effect of sulfur pollutants in combination with NO2, other pollutants, and climatic parameters. Thirty-nine test sites in 12 European countries, the United States, and Canada were included. The program is based on exposure of structural metals, stone materials, paint coatings, and electric contact materials at test sites where measurements of environmental parameters are already in progress. Results were reported by ... 

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