Safety professionals, training

It is eustomary, but not required, for the SSHO to be a health and safety professional. Depending on the nature of the hazards and aetivi-ties, the SSHO may be a safety professional, industrial hygienist, health physieist, engineer, health and safety teehnieian, or even a worker with suflfieient and appropriate experienee and training to fulfill the established responsibilities of the SSHO (e.g., to reeognize and eontrol hazards) [3]. 

Any designated, trained (8-hour HAZWOPER supervisor course as a minimum), and experienced individual responsible for the safety of an employee (such as team leaders or crew leaders) may perform the function of an experienced person to provide the supervised field experience required by HAZWOPER [1]. Although having the appropriate certificates of completion would satisfy regulatory requirements, you should also consider time of service and experience. A fresh college graduate with training certificates and minimal field experience may be less desirable to perform supervised field experience than the safety professional with years of substantial field experience. 

Establish the criteria for training the contractor/subcontractor. Review the completed contractor/subcontractor prequalification forms and provide an evaluation of the contractor/subcontractor s ability to meet the host organization s health and safety policies and procedures. Contractors/subcontractors must demonstrate their ability to meet established criteria, to the satisfaction of the health and safety professional, in order to be considered for prequalification. 

Subcontractor may be used in support zone or nonhazardous site activities. Eor limited activities at a hazardous waste site, the scope of work must be reviewed with the health and safety professional before work is started (examples landscape service, electricians, software development, training, etc.). The subcontractor must meet the following minimum requirements ... 

OSHA also provides professional training and short courses to safety and health professionals, employee representatives, and employees at the OSHA Training Institute and through contracts with universities, colleges, technical schools, and unions. See the OSHA website for information on training (http //www.osha.gov). 

At present, coal enterprises are basically not out of the teaching model in safety education training courses. The curriculum content is too old and stiff, which can t keep up with the renewal speed of professional knowledge and skills. At the same time, the coal enterprise often exist many problems, such as more theoretical knowledge, less practical skills, which has make seriously effects on safety education training to the workers. 

For temporary or contract workers, safety professionals should be aware that the worker s status is often determined by the terms and conditions agreed upon in a written contract. Although the worker may be working within your operations, the worker may actually be an employee of another company or entity provided to your company to perform specific tasks under a written contract. Although there may be many different variations of the contract terms and conditions, safety professionals should be cognizant to ensure that contract workers are properly trained, prop-... 

In addition to employers, safety professionals should be aware that labor unions, employment agencies, and joint labor-management training committees are also required to comply with Title VII. For employers, labor organizations, and others covered under Title VII, retaliation is prohibited in any manner. Safety professionals should be aware that it is considered an unlawful employment practice... 

Safety professionals should be cognizant of the overtime provisions, especially when conducting safety training, as well as the age requirements in snch areas as the use of summer part-time workers. 

One of the more extensive laws that can have a definite impact on the safety function is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In a nutsheU, the ADA prohibits discriminating against qualified individuals with physical or mental disabilities in all employment settings. For safety professionals, the areas of workers compensation, restricted duty programs, facility modifications, training, and other safety functions are often where the safety function and the ADA may intersect and create duties and responsibilities for the safety professional as well as potential liabilities for the company or organization. 

Safety professionals in the private sector should pay careful attention to the scope and potential impact of Title I of the ADA on safety functions. Title I prohibits covered employers from discriminating against a qualified individual with a disability with regard to job applications, hiring, advancanent, discharge, compensation, training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. ... 

Safety professionals shonld be aware that the company or organization wonld be reqnired to make reasonable accommodations for any/all known physical or mental limitations of the qnalihed individnal with a disability, unless the employer can demonstrate that the accommodations wonld impose an undue hardship on the business, or that the particnlar disability directly affects the safety and health of that individnal or others. Safety professionals should also be aware that included under this section is the prohibition against the use of qualihcation standards, employment tests, and other selection criteria that can be used to screen out individuals with disabilities, unless the employer can demonstrate that the procedure is directly related to the job funetion. In addition to the modifications to facilities, work schedules, equipment, and training programs, the company or organization is required to initiate an informal interactive (communication) process with the qualified individual to promote voluntary disclosure of his or her specific limitations and restrictions to enable the employer to make appropriate accommodations that will compensate for the limitation. ... 

Safety professionals should provide legal counsel with written compliance programs, written safety policies, documentation of fair and consistent disciplinary action for violations, training and education documentation, as well as safety inspections, safety audits, and related documentation. Please be aware that some of the circuit courts require the defense of unpreventable employee misconduct to be plead as an affirmative defense prior to filing with the OSHRC. 

Expectations of supervisors, by their superiors and by society in general, have unfortunately become complex and difficult to attain—which means that supervisors must have a sound support stracture to be successful. That support stmcture begins with the location manager and the staff iirnnediately subordinate to the manager. It includes depth of training, a good communication system on hazards, up and down, and the resources of qualified safety professionals as consultants. 

Training needs are always in transition, and recent developments require different emphases. Safety professionals interviewed spoke of these situations. 

New technology is continuously developed that may not have been evaluated for safety. Thus, safety professionals are more often engaged in preoperational hazards analyses, job hazard analysis, and the additional training that those analyses indicate is necessary. 

Controls may involve administrative controls (such as plans, policies, pro-cednres, training, etc.) and engineering controls (such as safety features and systems, fail-safe features, barriers, and other forms of protection). Safety professionals may manage and implement controls. 

Beside knowledge of a wide range of hazards, controls, and safety assessment methods, safety professionals must have knowledge of physical, chemical, biological and behavioral sciences, mathematics, business, training and edncational techniques, engineering concepts, and particular kinds of operations (construction, manufacturing, transportation, etc.). 

In ASSE s Scope and Functions of the Professional Safety Position, these comments are made about the education, training, and experience needs of safety professionals. 

To perform their professional functions, safety professionals must have education, training, and experience in a common body of knowledge. Safety professionals need to have a fundamental knowledge of physics, chemistry, biology, physiology, statistics, mathematics, computer science, engineering mechanics, industrial processes, business, communications, and psychology. 

The very large majority of entities that have not achieved a level of sophistication that would be expected if all investigations were made by trained investigation teams or safety professionals. 

Keeping in mind the supervisors who complete just one, two, or three incident investigation reports a year, and for whom the training given may be less than the safety professional desires, attaining an understanding of the terms used in procedures and report forms can be a problem. 

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