Relevance to occupational safety

The theory that got me to Palatka was not the most professional or believable, nor was it packaged impressively. This does not mean you should avoid the slick, well-marketed approaches to occupational safety. I only wish these factors were given much less weight than scientific data. 

It is relevant, though, that the more comprehensive map enabled me to find my destination. I have found that many of the human approaches to improving safety are limited in scope or theoretical foundation. Many are sold or taught as packaged programs or step-by-step procedures for any workplace culture. 

In the long run, it is more useful to teach comprehensive theory and principles. On this foundation, culture-relevant procedures and interventions can be crafted by employees who will own and thus follow them. As the old saying goes, Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.  

A theory should serve as the map that provides direction to meet a specific safety challenge. Obviously, it is important to teach the basic theory to everyone who must meet the challenge. Then it is a good idea to have an employee task force summarize the theory in a safety mission statement. When the workforce understands the theory and accepts the summary mission statement, intervention processes based on the theory will not be viewed as flavor of the month, but as an action plan to bring the theory to life. 

When employees appreciate and affirm the theory, they will get involved in designing and implementing the action steps. They will also suggest ways to refine or expand action plans and theory on the basis of systematic observations or scientific evidence. This is the best kind of continuous improvement. 

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One of the stated goals of the NOSH Consortium is to evaluate commercial aerosol instrumentation with the purpose to report on the instrument specifications, ease of use, applicability to different operating conditions, and types or form of data generated to the membership, and to discuss these results with particular emphasis in communicating issues or sensitivities that are relevant to occupational safety and health issues. Major focus areas were in comparing commercial classification and detection instmmentation (1) nano-DMA and long-DMA, (2) ELPI and DMA, and (3) CNC and AE. 

It should be apparent to you that everyone has a role to play relevant to occupational safety and health. An atmosphere of genuine cooperation concerning safety and health must prevail. The welfare of those working for your company is a common theme, which everyone can support. You certainly want everyone to go to their homes after work with the same number of lingers and toes and not feeling as though they are ill or sick. 

Many associations and other entities conduct training, conduct conferences, present seminars, and develop safely related materials. These forums, which are held in many varied locations, provide quick updates on what is transpiring relevant to occupational safety and health. 

To achieve a Total Safety Culture, we need to integrate behavior-based and person-based psychology and effect large-scale culture changes. The five chapters in Section 3 explain principles and proce-dures founded cm behavioral research which can be applied successfully to change behaviors and attitudes throughcmt organizations and communities. This chapter describes the primary characteristics of the behavior-based approach to the prevention and treatment of human problems and shows their special relevance to occupational safety. The three basic ways we learn are reviewed and related to the development of safe vs. at-risk behaviors and attitudes. 

Because of the high relevance of exposure limits to occupational safety, they are discussed in detail elsewhere in this book (see Section 6.5). 

This chapter describes the implications of STAMP on operations. Some topics that are relevant here are left to the next chapter on management organizational design, safety culture and leadership, assignment of appropriate responsibilities throughout the safety control structure, the safety information system, and corporate safety policies. These topics span both development and operations and many of the same principles apply to each, so they have been put into a separate chapter. A final section of this chapter considers the application of STAMP and systems thinking principles to occupational safety. 

Healthy People 2010 Objectives from the US. Deparunent of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has made the facts available relevant to occupational injuries and illnesses. Every five seconds a worker is injured. Every ten seconds a worker is temporarily or permanently disabled. Each day, an average of 137 persons die from work-related diseases, and an additional 17 die from workplace injuries on the job. Each year, about 70 youths under 18 years of age die from injuries at work and 70,000 require treatment in a hospital anergency room. In 1996, an estimated 11,000 workers were disabled each day due to work-related injuries. That same year, the National Safety Council estimated that on-the-job injuries cost society 121 billion, including lost wages, lost productivity, administrative expenses, health care, and other costs (National Safety Council Injury Facts, 2010). A study published in Jnly 1997 reports that the 1992 combined U.S. economic burden for occupational illnesses and injuries was an estimated 171 billion (U.S. Department of Conunerce, www.commerce.gov, 2001). 

Many companies conduct accident investigations and keep accident records and other data on the company s safety and health initiatives. If a company has a sufficient number of accidents/incidents and enongh detail in their occupational injury/illness investigation data, the company can begin to examine trends or emerging issues relevant to their safety and health intervention/prevention efforts. The analysis of this data can be nsed to evaluate the effectiveness of safety and health at various workplaces, jobsites, or for groups of workers. The safety and health data can be used by a company to compare to that of other companies that perform similar work, employ a comparable workforce, or compete in the same kind and size of market on a state, regional, national, or international basis. 

Is the relevance of this discussion to occupational safety and health obvious Perhaps by understanding factors that lead to diverse perceptions, we can become more tolerant of individuals who do not appear to share our opinion or viewpoint. Perhaps the person factors discussed here increase your appreciation and respect for diversity and support the basic need to actively listen. "Seek first to understand, before being understood" is Covey s fifth habit for highly effective people (Covey, 1989). 

It is good practice to keep concentrations of airborne nickel in any chemical form as low as possible and certainly below the relevant standard. Local exhaust ventilation is the preferred method, particularly for powders, but personal respirator protection may be employed where necessary. In the United States, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) personal exposure limit (PEL) for all forms of nickel except nickel carbonyl is 1 mg/m. The ACGIH TLVs are respectively 1 mg/m for Ni metal, insoluble compounds, and fume and dust from nickel sulfide roasting, and 0.1 mg/m for soluble nickel compounds. The ACGIH is considering whether to lower the TLVs for all forms of nickel to 0.05 mg/m, based on nonmalignant respiratory effects in experimental animals. 

Selected UK legislation relevant to environmental protection and occupational health and safety in relation to chemicals... 

The area of occupational toxicology has received a great deal of attention in the chemical industry. Historically, the chemical industry has focused on the occupational environment and developed many of our current toxicological methods to address health and safety concerns. However, since the mid-1970s the chemical industry has increasingly become subject to testing requirements relevant to the protection of the environment and the public at large, as mandated by Environmental... 

Employees should be fully informed of the potential hazards associated with their jobs. Regulations, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Hazard Communication Standard, require that hazard information be communicated not only to employees, but also to users of manufactured products (OSHA Standard 29 CFR 1910.1200 Hazard Communication). Information is communicated partly through material safety data sheets and labels. Education and training of employees about health hazards they may encounter on the job, along with appropriate protective measures, should be conducted by a multidisciplinary health team of relevant specialists and trained health educators. 

In addition to the Civil Rights Act, other laws and regulations affect the management ofhuman resources. For instance, the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 established the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to develop and enforce workplace standards designed to prevent work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths (OSHA, 2007). Of particular relevance to pharmacy are OSHA s ergonomic workplace standards and its rules for preventing exposure to hazardous chemicals and bloodborne pathogens. 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration permissible exposure limit (PEL) time-weighted average (TWA) for nickel metal and other nickel compounds as nickel is 1 mg m the PEL TWA for nickel carbonyl is 0.007 mg m . The ACGIH threshold limit values (TLVs) for nickel metal, insoluble compounds, soluble compounds, nickel carbonyl, and nickel subsulflde, all expressed as nickel, are 1.5, 0.2, 0.1, 0.12, and 0.1 mgm, respectively. Except for nickel carbonyl, all of the TLVs are expressed as inhalable particulate. The US EPA reference dose for soluble nickel salts is 0.02 mg kg day, but this value is undergoing reevaluation, due to the availability of several relevant new studies. 

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