SAFETY PROGRAMMES

Food Safety Programme Manager Institute of Environmental Science and Research PO Box 29-181 Christchurch New Zealand... 

The Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals is an international standard for chemical classification and hazard communication that countries can use to establish comprehensive national chemical safety programmes. 

Current OECD environment, health, and safety activities are described in greater detail in a brochure, The OECD Environment, Elealth and Safety Programme, which is available from the OECD, Environment, Health and Safety Division, 2 rue Andre-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16, Prance, E-mail ehscont oecd.org. 

Due to the difficulty of predicting the collective effects of the increasing number of pollutants in receiving ecosystems, there is a need for screening methods for use in environmental monitoring. The implementation of safety programmes calls for environmental analysis comprising two parts ... 

Increasing globalization and the enormous market for chemicals and the products they are used means that chemical safety programmes must be strengthened and steps must be taken to integrate these programmes wisely into sustainable development. The Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development 1 and the response by UNEP is a step in this direction. 

According to the senior civil servant of the Ministry of Social Affairs d H lth interviewed, The district offices of the labour protection inspection are responsible for the enforcing the limit values. The inspectors seldom study the compliance with the OELs as a separate issue om other issues. I do not remember a case here [in which] the sole excess of an OEL would have been the[exclusive] reason for enforcement measures by the authority. The air concentration values in excess of the OELs are usually used as evidence of failure of the safety programme of the anployer . 

G. W. Parker, Nuclear Safety Programme Semi-annual Report for Period ending 30th June, 1962, USAEC Rep. ORNL-3319 (1962). 

Although the construction workforce is not made up of rats and pigeons, behaviourism can be recognised as the underlying theory of many different safety programmes found on construction sites, for example the Goals and Feedback approach (lOSH 2006) is based on behaviour modification. Drawing on Skinner s work, this approach assumes people will repeat behaviours that have a... 

A male roofer sits in the induction room and listens carefully, he nods in all the right places, agrees with the site rules and the fundamentals of the Incident and Injury Free (IIF) safety programme in place on site, and signs up to his method statement and risk assessments, which clearly state he will use the lanyard and harness at all times when working on the roof. A mere two hours later he is seen working on the pitch of a wet metal roof with his lanyard still attached to his harness and not to the safe anchor point a few feet away. This is an unsafe behaviour which could result in a serious, potentially fatal accident, should he lose balance, slip and fall. 

However, these programmes have not been without their critics. There was a vocal backlash in particular to the behavioural elements of early manifestations of the safety programmes, both in the USA and the UK, with claims that they tended to blame the worker ... 

Safety propaganda often seeks to engage with safety, even when espousing site rules, for example this corporate safety programme sign asks that its audience ... 

Frederick, J. and Lessin, N. (2000) Blame the worker - the rise of behavioural based safety programmes. Multinational Monitor, 21(11), 10-17. 

Many large construction contractors, and even some large projects, have made clear commitments to zero in terms of their safety programmes, and it s easy to see why. From moral perspectives zero is an absolute necessity. It is the only possible benchmark - no one working in construction sets out to have an accident, or to cause one for someone else. So no other number will do. 

Sherratt, F. (2014) Exploring Zero Target safety programmes in the UK construction industry. Construction Management and Economics, 32(7-8), 737-48. 

Wolf 1. R. 1979. Linear variable differential transformer and its uses for in-core fuel rod behavior measurements. International Colloquium on Irradiation for Reactor Safety Programmes. Petten, Netherlands 23. 

Healthcare organizations and the professionals affiliated with them should make continually improved patient safety a declared and serious aim, by establishing patient safety programmes with defined executive responsibility. 

This will usually be a high-risk area that warrants a sustained safety programme. 

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