System safety working groups training

Figure 9-3 System safety working group workshop. Course schedule for workshop presented by safety organization to train SSWG members.

Step 18 Train system safety working groups... 

Step 4 Organize and train the system safety planning group As with any group or committee, organizing to accomplish tasks can be done in a number of ways. All work can be done as a group. This method is usually the slowest and most tedious, but it ensures full participation and keeps all group members informed on all tasks. 

Students, workers, supervisors, managers, and administration should comply with the chemical safety management group/team. This is applicable to laboratories, university departments, factories, and industrial units where exposure to chemical substances is likely and precautions are necessary. People should be fully informed of the hazards involved and trained in appropriate safe working practices, globally harmonized system (GHS) for classification and labeling of chemicals, and first-aid measures. 

Recently, I was personally involved with a safety reporting system that worked fantastically. Incidents were classified in three groups, and a preliminary report filing period and distribution were set in stone. The supervisors were trained in the procedures. Management dealt quickly with situations where any wavering in the proper procedure was noted. This procedure for incident reporting worked so well that management decided to expand the procedure for a select number of non-safety-related items. 

If a SNUR cross-references a subsection of 40 C.F.R. 721.72 then it will be a significant new use to manufacture, import, or process the SNUR substance unless the manufacturers, importers, processors, and users have a hazard communication program to warn about the risks that the substance poses. This group of significant new uses builds on a system of hazard communication established by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). OSHA has promulgated Hazard Communication Standards that require employers to assess hazards posed by the chemicals they make or import and provide hazard information on labels and in MSDSs. Employers and processors of chemicals that pose hazards must make the labels and MSDSs available in the work place and train their employees in safe handling procedures. 

The second line of defence is to train people thoroughly so that the correct steps are built into the system, and then to organise supervision and monitoring (by the people themselves, their work or reference group, and supervisors or safety staff) so that the steps do not get eroded. 

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