Test Your Knowledge

Be sure to read January's Inside Safety to see the answers!  

It was a tough competition! Three entrants answered all of the November Confined Space Quiz questions correctly!

• Will Davis, RESIG
• Jeff Fairbanks, MID
• Greg Hart, Sacramento County  

Congratulations and enjoy your gifts!  

Want to have a chance to win a cool prize? Just answer this month's "Test Your Knowledge" and you too will have an opportunity  to win! 

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Vol 11, Issue 12      

December 2011

Greetings!

Time for the second installment of our new regular feature, Points to Ponder, by Bob Lapidus, CSP, CSMS! This feature is written for safety managers and collateral duty safety people to help you build stronger safety programs at your facility.   

We will also explore workplace violence. This is a very important topic as homicides at work have become one of the leading causes of occupational death. The safety tool box has resources for you to use in implementing a workplace violence prevention program and in trainings. Use the questions in our monthly quiz as a starting point for your own workplace violence safety meeting.

Don't miss an issue, subscribe! You may also sign up to receive our other mailings including class updates and information on the Sacramento Regional Safety Forum and the Safety Forum of the Inland Empire. Save on your next training at Safety Center with the discount coupon below.  

Key Ideas from Safety Management Specialist Certificate Courses

The Technical Safety Certificate is the second series of classes in the Safety Management Specialist Certificate program. Taken by students who are studying for the Certified Safety Management Specialist (CSMS) Exam and others who simply want to take these critical courses, these three classes give students the important knowledge needed for Cal-OSHA compliance and improved organizational safety management. Each of these three courses has a key point to ponder:

Point to Ponder #1: If It Has Not Been Documented, It Has Not Been Done

From the OSHA Recordkeeping Course

A major theme throughout all our classes is the ongoing requirement to document, document, and document. Both government agencies and courts of law hold employers accountable for putting in writing everything they do and everything they say they are doing to prove the activity has actually been done.

Cal-OSHA inspectors and plaintiff attorneys will ask to see occupational injury & illness recordkeeping documentation. They will want to see programs, policies and procedures and whatever documentation of actions taken as required by those documents.

If the employer says it is doing something, the documentation to prove the activity has actually been done must be given. If it cannot be shown, the activity (from a legal standpoint) is not being done.

Point to Ponder #2: A Hazard is a Symptom of Something Wrong in the Organization

From the Conducting Safety Inspection Course

Unsafe conditions, unsafe acts, and unsafe policies and procedures are all symptoms of something wrong in the organization. None of these hazards continue to occur in a well-management entity. They are proactively identified and corrected as soon as possible. They are not permitted to recur. Safety does not stand alone. It is part of how the overall organization is managed. Good safety is integrated into how everything is done.

Point to Ponder #3: Why is the Most Important Question to Ask

From the Conducting Accident Investigation Course

We should gather a large amount of information when conducting an accident investigation. After everything is collected, the number one question needing to be answered is why did the accident happen? Shooting from the hip to acquire this answer should not be done. We must dig deep and deeper to understand fully what occurred. We then need to re-create the accident so we learn how and why it happened. We do not blame. We maintain our objectivity to acquire knowledge and determine the facts. We look to find out whether behavioral, environmental and/or managerial factors were involved and then we take action to prevent such an accident from happening again.

Bonus Point to Ponder: 

Consider signing up for Safety Management Specialist Certificate classes and working toward achieving the Certified Safety Management Specialist (CSMS) designation. Once you attain it, it is your certification for life with no further costs or other requirements involved. Taking these courses and attaining the CSMS will positively change your life forever.

OSHA defines workplace violence as "any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site. It ranges from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and even homicide. It can affect and involve employees, clients, customers and visitors."

Workplace violence is not limited to certain regions, neighborhoods or occupations. Every business in every industry needs to be aware of indicators of potential workplace violence, how to protect their workplace and how to create an effective workplace violence policy.

Types of Workplace Violence
Responding to workplace violence requires attention to more than just an actual physical attack. Homicide and other physical assaults are on a continuum that also include domestic violence, stalking, threats, harassment, bullying, emotional abuse, intimidation and other forms of conduct that create anxiety, fear and a climate of distrust in the workplace. All are part of the workplace violence problem. Prevention programs that do not consider harassment in all forms and threats are unlikely to be effective. Four broad categories of workplace violence are:

Type 1: Violent acts by criminals who have no other connection with the workplace, but enter to commit robbery or another crime

Type 2: Violence directed at employees by customers, clients, patients, students, inmates or any others for whom the organization provides services

Type 3: Violence against coworkers, supervisors or managers by a present or former employee

Type 4: Violence that is committed in the workplace by someone who does not work there, but has a personal relationship with an employee - an abusive spouse or domestic partner

 

An effective workplace violence policy can be a separate program or it can be included as part of the overall Injury and Illness Prevention Program. A good workplace policy is customized to address the particular culture of a workplace. It is written, has clearly defined definitions of what workplace violence is, what behaviors will not be tolerated and clear and logical consequences for infractions.

Employee training is one of the best protections employers can offer to help create a violence-free workplace. Train employees in what the policy covers and techniques to help protect themselves in case of an incident.

An effective policy combines engineering controls (i.e. site security), administrative controls and training to help reduce the likelihood of a workplace violence incident.

Safety Center has some of the best resources available to help you create or strengthen your organization's Workplace Violence Prevention Program. Contact Safety Center Incorporated for trainings at our facility or we can help create and customize a Workplace Violence Prevention Program to fit the unique needs of your facility. Safety Center also conducts onsite workplace violence, customer service and conflict resolution courses. Give us a call or email to book your customized training today.

To contact the Sacramento office, call (916) 366-7233 x 219 or email workplacesafety@safetycenter.org.   

To contact the Claremont/Inland Empire office, please call (909) 625-9650 or email workplacesafetysc@safetycenter.org.    

The Safety Toolbox at the bottom of this email contains some additional resources to help you conduct competent workplace violence safety meetings at your facility.

If you would like more information about renting safety training videos or would like the most current catalog, view the catalog online or contact our librarian at (800) 825-7262 x 250 or by email.

First Aid/CPR Training Requirement Changes 

Effective Date:      

October 27, 2011

Standards Changed

• Construction Safety Orders §1512 
• General Safety Orders §3400 
• Electrical Safety Orders §2320.10(new) & §2940.10(new) 

Industries Affected

Any organization with employees working on or near lines or equipment energized at 50 volts or more

What's Changed  

Whenever employees perform work on or near lines or equipment energized at 50 volts or more, there is a required number of employees that must trained in first aid and CPR

• When two or more employees are working at the same location, two trained people must be available
• The exception to this is, if all new hires are trained in first aid and CPR within three months of hire, only one trained person need be made available

• Each exposed employee must be reachable within four minutes by a trained person
• The exception to this is, when there are not enough employees to meet this requirement, all employees at the work location need to be trained

CSO 1512, Emergency Medical Services and GSO 3400, Medical Services and First Aid have new notes directing employers to the new ESO sections 2310.10 and 2940.10 for additional requirements for electrical workers. The intent was to clarify the medical services and first aid provisions for electrical workers in both the general industry and construction settings.

The two new sections of the ESO, 2320.10 and 2940.10, are both named Medical Services and First Aid. Because California has split the ESO into Low-Voltage and High-Voltage, the entirety of the addition is included in both sections.

Background:

California is mandated to have health and safety regulations at least as effective as federal standards addressing occupational safety and health. Previously, there was no California safety standard equivalent to Federal 29 CFR 1910.269(b) for electrical workers. In a OSHSB memo dated April 19, 2011, the board stated in its digest of proposed action/overview, that although the GSO and CSO "contain generic safety standards, these standards do not adequately address the specific needs of electrical workers who are exposed to the hazards of burns and electrical shock injures, which are very different and usually much more severe than the hazards that other workers are exposed to. Because of the potential severity of these injures and the remote locations where electrical workers are often sent to work, immediate medical aid is necessary to stabilize the injured workers until emergency medical technicians or higher level care can be provided."

The additions were adopted verbatim from the Federal 29 CFR 1910.269(b) with minor grammatical and contextual additions and are substantially the same as federal Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution standard, which includes first-aid requirements for electrical workers. 

Up Next:

The OSHSB will take public comments on CSO Sections 1675 (ladders), 1905 (helicopter fueling) and GSO sections 3276 (portable ladders) and 3278 (use of fixed ladders) at the December 15th meeting in Sacramento. Click here for the agenda.