Workplace productivity

Bearing all that in mind, and recognizing that a healthy workplace is a productive workplace, how can one go about developing a still healthier workplace in a logical, sequential, cost-effective, comprehensive, and yet simple manner When all is taken into account, and all the advice and guidelines are crystalized, five relatively simple steps can be taken. These are as follows ... 

The results of an effective safety program not only can be measured in injuries prevented and lives saved but also may have a distinct bottom-line impact on the corporation or entity. Companies that do not have effective safety programs often pay the equivalent cost in terms of workers compensation and lost productivity. The inference can be made that a safe workplace is a productive workplace (McElroy 1964). 

A proactive safety and health preparation can make for a quality safety program. This is a safeguard for property, equipment, profits, and liability, as well as for workers. Working with workers to correct deficiencies can foster better safety attitudes. A safer workplace is also a more productive workplace. This also safeguards a very important asset the worker. Remember that OSHA has a great deal of expertise within its ranks. Use OSHA as a resource to improve your safety and health program. 

Much more than a technical book. Erik s work is a well documented journey into the multiple interactions between safety, work and human nature. A timely contribution to vindicate human beings and their variability from the one sided focus on the evils cf human error. A groundbreaking look at the other story that will certainly contribute to safer and more productive workplaces. 

Human Factors is the discipline that integrates human capabilities, limitations, requirements and expectations in the design of products, workplaces and work systems. 

Solveat users and formulators may choose to avoid notification requirements for their workplaces and products by selecting solvents that do not contain Proposition 65 substances. As a result. Proposition 65 considerations can also influence the composition of solvents used ia iadustrial processes and solvent-containing products. 

Beryllium, beryllium-containing aUoys, and beryUium oxide ceramic in soHd or massive form present no hazard whatsoever (31). SoHd shapes may be safely handled with bare hands (32) however, care must be taken in the fabrication and processing of beryUium products to avoid inhalation of airborne beryUium particulate matter such as dusts, mists, or fumes in excess of the prescribed workplace exposure limits. Inhalation of fine airborne beryUium may cause chronic beryUium disease, a serious lung disease in certain sensitive individuals. However, the vast majority of people, perhaps as many as 99%, do not react to beryUium exposure at any level (33). The biomedical and environmental aspects of beryUium have been summarized (34). 

Workplace exposure limits for benzene have been regulated to levels as low as 0.5 ppm (43). Industrial emissions affecting the pubHc ate now low enough that the EPA considers that a greater hazard exists from mosdy indoor sources such as smoking, automobile exhausts, and consumer products (44). 

Is there potential that the product may result m the environmental or non-workplace release of a highly hazardous substance or an environmentally difficult material If yes did the toller receive a life cycle evaluation (for example, disposal of products, handling returns and rejects) Does the Toller understand the information Was written acknowledgment obtained indicating that the information was received ... 

In recent years, the use of solvent-borne adhesives has been seriously restricted. Solvents are, in general, volatile, flammable and toxic. Further, solvent may react with other airborne contaminants contributing to smog formation and workplace exposure. These arguments have limited the use of solvent-bome adhesives by different national and European regulations. Although solvent recovery systems and afterburners can be effectively attached to ventilation equipment, many factories are switching to the use of water-borne rubber adhesives, hot melts or 100% solids reactive systems, often at the expense of product performance or labour efficiency. 

MSDS Material Safety Data Sheet - a document that provides pertinent information and a profile of a particular hazardous substance or mixture. An MSDS is normally developed by the manufacturer or formulator of the hazardous substance or mixture. The MSDS is required to be made available to employees and operators whenever there is the likelihood of the hazardous substance or mixture being introduced into the workplace. Some manufacturers prepare MSDS for products that are not considered to be hazardous to show that the product or substance is not hazardous. 

The first step is to identify the substances present at the workplace. As a starting point, knowledge of the process is needed in order to formulate a list of all chemical agents used in the establishment. The list should include not only primary products but also intermediate and final products, as well as reaction products and by-products. For the chemical agents in the list, it is necessary to know their chemical properties, especially hazardous ones their OEL values, including biological limit values and, where these are not available, other technical criteria that can be used to evaluate the risk. It is also helpful to include any information on the safety and health risks of those substances provided by the supplier or other readily available sources. This information on dangerous substances and preparations, in the form of safety data sheets, is intended primarily for industrial users, to enable them to take the measures necessary to ensure the safety and health of workers. 

Standard The maximum level of an air contaminant allowed in workplace or external air as defined by a legal authority, Or any national or international standard relating to a product or code of practice. 

Human health effects of operations. This requires assessment of such things as workplace exposures effects of exposure to air toxics, contaminated drinking water and soil and exposures during product use, misuse, and disposal. 

These improvements are more likely to occur at the program and element level. For example, at one chemical company a group of senior operators took an initiative to redesign the work permit process that reduced the number of forms required, reduced the time required to issue a permit from an average of two hours to 30 minutes and improved the workplace monitoring needed to ensure a safe work environment. The reduction in the time to issue permits increased maintenance productivity by at least 10 percent, by reducing maintenance worker time spent waiting for permits. This more responsive system also reduced the number of instances where work went ahead without the appropriate permit. 

It has been estimated that hundreds of billions of dollars per year is lost due to decreased workplace productivity and increased health costs that can be saved by maintaining good indoor air quality in commercial buildings. The financial benefits of improving lAQ can accrue from reducing costs for health care and sick leave, as well as the costs of performance decrements at work caused by illness or adverse health symptoms and of responding to occupant complaints and costs of LAQ investigations. 

Brill, M. Margiilis, S. and Knnar, E. (1984). Using Oflice Design to Increase Productivity, Volume 1. Buffalo, NY Workplace Design and Productivity, Inc. 

---