Improving working practices

Hazard Reduction through Improved Work Practices... 

Hazards, workplace, 1168, 1171-1187 engineering controls, 1175-1176 human factors controls, 1176-1179 and illness/injury statistics, 1173-1174 improved work practices for reducing, 1181-1183... 

At one time the condition was not uncommon, particularly affecting workers in the photographic industry who were constantly exposed to high levels of soluble salts. Improved working practices and modem techniques require less exposure to silver and argyria is now a relatively rare disorder. 

A further level of control is to improve work practices, and the procednres which describe them and form a basis for training. Some examples are ... 

In this section, it is shown how the strategic considerations described have led to improved working practices which aim to meet the goals. 

The UK government enquiry into the Piper Alpha disaster in the North Sea in 1988 has had a significant impact on working practices and equipment and has helped to improve offshore safety around the world. One result has been the development of a Safety Management System (SMS) which is a method of integrating work practices, and is a form of quality management system. Major oil companies have each developed their own specific SMS, to suit local environments and modes of operation, but the SMS typically addresses the following areas (recommended by the Cullen Enquiry into the Piper Alpha disaster) ... 

Options. Traditional control options for overexposure are material substitution, process change, containment, enclosure, isolation, source reduction, ventilation, provide personal protection, change work practices, and improve housekeeping. A simple way of looking at selection of control options is to find the cheapest option that results in the desired amount of exposure reduction. It is not actually that simple, however, because the various options differ in ways other than cost and degree of control. Some of the other factors to consider in selection of control options are operabiUty, rehabiUty, and acceptabihty. 

However, if air sampling estabHshes that the lead exposure concentration is excessive, engineering controls (such as improved ventilation), adrninistrative controls (such as job rotation), and work practices (such as improved personal hygiene of workers) have to be appHed to comply with the permissible exposure limit (PEL) of the OSHA standard. 

Best Pra.ctices, Technology leaders must provide the direction for improving work processes as well as the work itself. They should seek the best known ways to carry out R D best practices. There is considerable advice available on best R D practices. 

The recent introduction of inexpensive desktop computers has allowed their extensive use throughout many companies. The standard spreadsheet packages which accompany these machines enables the above data to be laid out in an interactive way, so that what if situations can be explored at the planning stage and the implications of, for example, market trends in the food industry, to be examined over the long term for its effect on the plant layout. The model may include a factor to take into account improvements in technology and working practices in both the office and factory. 

For example, if you have difficulty working with fractions, you could study a different fractions topic each day for a week On Monday, practice adding fractions on Tuesday, work on subtracting fractions on Wednesday, try multiplying fractions and so on. Learn fractions might seem like an overwhelming task, but if you divide the work into smaller pieces, you will find that your understanding of fractions improves with practice and patience. 

This optional attachment is used to promote continuous improvement of the entire safety management system. It is a checklist for anyone to use as a guide when auditing incident investigation activity. The facility from which this example was derived includes a similar checklist for each safe work practice at the site. 

Hepatomegaly, jaundice, and altered liver function tests have been reported in accidental poisonings with DME An outbreak of toxic liver disease was associated with DME exposure at a fabric coating factory. Thirty-six of 58 workers had elevations of either aspartate aminotransferase or alanine aminotransferase. Serological tests excluded known infectious causes of hepatitis in all but two cases. After modification of work practices and removal of the most severely affected from exposure, improvement in liver enzyme abnormalities and symptoms occurred in most patients. Medical surveillance of the working population for 14 months revealed no further cases of toxic liver... 

Hotvever, the stability with time and/or temperature of these modified electrodes needs to be greatly improved for practical applications (except maybe for power sources in portable electronics working at room temperature). 

All the starting compounds in Scheme 8 have a sufficient potential for both catalytic and stoichiometric silylformylation, when Me2PhSiH and 1-alkyne are present in a reaction vessel at the same time. Stable mononuclear complex, RhH(GO)(PPh3)3, is far inferior in catalyst efficiency at 25 °G, though the efficiency is improved under practical operation at 100 °C (Table 6). Though 7 and 11 are derived from Rh4(GO)i2 under controlled conditions and work as an active catalyst of silylformylation, their position in the catalytic cycle is still a precursor of truly active species, because it takes a far longer induction period for activation than that for silylformylation. 

Steckhan has reviewed progress in the area of electroenzymatic synthesis106. His review constitutes an excellent summary of previous work in this area. A few recent advances should be mentioned here. There is much interest in improving the practicality of these electroenzymatic conversions. Although Scheme 21 above proves the essential validity of the concept, it is highly impractical for large-scale operation because (a) the two enzymes... 

Many specialists in SRVs and systems agree that as a practical matter, conventional PHA methods are not always the most effective tools for evaluating pressure relief systems. They also conclude that the pressure relief system design process could be improved. Working closely with a lot of the design firms, I concluded that they merely try to comply with the codes at a minimum cost and care very little about LCC (life cycle cost) of the components. This puts pressure later on the end users maintenance departments usually, these employees have little or no input in the selection of design components whose problems ultimately end up in their laps. In my opinion, it is recommended that, in order to reduce this deficiency rate, the industry should adopt a more equipment-based approach to pressure relief system design and maintenance... 

The PIC/S harmonized computer inspection gnide contains aide memoires that can be nsed as inpnt to develop a self-inspection checklist. Snch checklists can be used to examine any aspect of working practices, assess the level of GxP compliance of processes, including compnter systems, with a view to identifying poor practices and opportnnities for improvement. They can also be nsed with eqnal beneficial effect in non-GxP areas. 

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