Employee health and safety are integral to productivity.
A management system that integrates health and safety activities
into all aspects of the company's operations will help achieve
positive results in productivity, quality and, above all,
the health and safety of employees.
Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) requires
employers to prepare, and review at least annually, a written
occupational health and safety policy, and to develop and
maintain a program to implement that policy (See Legislative
Compliance Questionnaire: Part III - Duties of Employers and
Others). A policy statement, signed by your company president
and dated, should contain references to the following points:
- The importance of the health and safety of all employees
- Compliance with health and safety legislation
- Objectives of your health and safety program and the
fact that program activities are integrated into all functional
operations
- The responsibilities of everyone in your company
Your policy will be the foundation of your workplace health
and safety program. You must post it prominently in your workplace,
where it will come to the attention of all employees. You
should promote it by other means as well.
Experience shows that the clearly demonstrated commitment
of senior managers to workplace health and safety has a positive
influence on employee attitudes. Your written policy, backed
by a sound program, is a way to establish this commitment.
| Measure,
Evaluate and Improve |
The pyramid clearly indicates that to be successful in accident prevention you must have a strong foundation. A clear vision and mission provide the foundation and these guide the organization in the achievement of their health and safety performance and how they are going to get there. Once this is clearly understood a corporate culture develops that is based on the positive values, principles and beliefs in safety, health and the environment.
By establishing a solid foundation that is integrated into an organization's managing system, and having prevention strategies in place can directly result in not only reducing the causes of incidents, and losses to the environment, property, process, equipment and materials but also assist in the reduction of personal injuries and adverse health effects.
Start by establishing standards for all your program activities that clearly identify the data needed to measure performance against those standards. Measure your performance against compliance with those standards and the effectiveness of the standards. Collect and analyze the data on a periodic basis, and evaluate the results to pinpoint deficiencies and make corrections or improvements as needed.
Monthly analyses of your accident investigation reports and
a recording system for workplace injuries and illnesses will
help to spotlight weaknesses in your overall health and safety
program. This will also enable you to meet your legal duty
to review your policy annually and update your health and
safety program.
The purpose of an investigation is to determine the causes
of the accident so that steps can be taken to prevent it from
happening again.
The first person to investigate an accident should be the
supervisor of the area in which it occurred. Some accidents
may need to be investigated by a team that includes persons
with special technical knowledge or expertise. A designated
worker health and safety committee member or the health and
safety representative is required to investigate accidents
resulting in fatalities or critical injuries.
Procedures for investigating accidents should specify who
is responsible for conducting accidents, to whom reports are
to be submitted, and whose responsibility it is to ensure
corrective action is taken. Use a standard form to record
the results, such as IAPA’s Investigation Report Form.
Details to be recorded include the machinery or equipment
involved, a description of the injuries and the circumstances
of the accident.
The investigator should gather relevant information through
inspections and discussions with personnel involved. A clear
description of exactly what happened and of the circumstances
leading up to the accident should then be written.
In the initial stage of the investigation, the questions
asked will usually identify the immediate causes of the accident,
namely, those substandard practices and/or conditions that
resulted in or contributed to the accident. These questions
may include:
- Was the work authorized?
- Did a machine failure occur?
- Was the machinery involved properly guarded?
- Were the people involved adequately trained?
- Was there adequate lighting?
The immediate causes, however, are symptoms of a deeper problem.
Determine the basic causes of the accident by asking the question
“Why did the substandard practices or conditions exist?
The" basic causes” will invariably stem from a
lack of management control.
A thorough investigation will reveal the defects in the management
system that allowed the accident to happen, that is, the not
so obvious causes.
IAPA Training for Accident Investigation
IAPA offers you the most comprehensive health and
safety training available in Canada.
| Workplace
Injuries and Illnesses |
There are a number of injury and illness records that employers
are required to keep. Analyses of these will help to spotlight
weaknesses in your overall system or program and to indicate
changes that are necessary for a safer, healthier and more
efficient operation.
Regulations under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act
require you to record each and every personal injury “arising
out of and in the course of employment” that your employees
may suffer.
Record all first-aid cases. IAPA’s First
Aid Report form, is available for this purpose.
When the injury is serious enough that the employee must visit
a doctor, you must complete and forward
Form 7 (accident report) to the Workplace
Safety and Insurance Board. The recording and reporting of
certain accident is also required under Sections 51 and 52
of OHSA.
Analyses of these various records will help pinpoint the
need for revised procedures, equipment modifications, protective
equipment, etc., in order to reduce accidents and injuries.
Any improvements in workplace health and safety will, in the
long run, result in improved morale and efficient production.
Consider keeping a monthly summary of all personal injuries.
Your first aid reports will provide information about minor
cuts and bruises that occur in all departments and which should
be included in your summary.
Analyses
A detailed monthly analysis of all your accident reports (Forms
7) will indicate high-risk departments or perhaps departments
where training is needed. Distribute the results to your appropriateline
managers to enable them to study the problem areas and take
corrective action.
A simple system such as this can be of great value. Keep
in mind, however, that it will only provide a count of the
number of injuries and illnesses. Incorporate information
into the dollar cost and/or days lost into the monthly analysis.
This additional information will help to strengthen accountability
for health and safety performance and accident costs.
As each succeeding month’s analysis is completed, compile
a year-to-date total of injuries and illnesses by department
and by type. This will allow trends and problem areas to be
identified.
You may use IAPA’s Injury Analysis Report form,
mentioned below, for this purpose. A records system provides
a yardstick for progress. It will tell you where your company
is today, which areas need improvement, and ultimately, how
successful your efforts have been.
IAPA Products for Workplace Injuries and Illnesses
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