Safety and Accident Prevention

MOS 5101, Safety and Accident Prevention 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit I Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Explain the development of occupational safety and health in America. 1.1 Explain the roles that organizations had on the development of safety and health in America.

2. Apply occupational safety and health concepts to workplace scenarios. 2.1 Explain direct and indirect costs associated with occupational accidents. 2.2 Describe the role the safety professional occupies in a manufacturing setting.

4. Assess leadership principles related to occupational safety and health. 4.1 Discuss how the safety professional synthesizes safety functions with the principles of

production. 4.2 Discuss the benefits of national certification for the safety professional.

Course/Unit Learning Outcomes

Learning Activity

1.1 Unit Lesson Chapter 1, pp. 3–16 Unit I Assessment

2.1 Unit Lesson Chapter 2, pp. 18–27 Unit I Assessment

2.2 Unit Lesson Chapter 4, pp. 49–70 Unit I Assessment

4.1 Unit Lesson Chapter 4, pp. 49–70 Unit I Assessment

4.2 Unit Lesson Chapter 4, pp. 49-70 Unit I Assessment

Reading Assignment Chapter 1: Safety and Health Movement, Then and Now, pp. 3–16 Chapter 2: Accidents and Their Effects, pp. 18–27 Chapter 4: Roles and Professional Certifications for Safety and Health Professionals, pp. 49–70

Unit Lesson Welcome to the Safety and Accident Prevention course. This course is designed to help you understand the role that the safety professional can play in preventing accidents from occurring or reducing the impact accidents may have in the workplace. During the course, you will be asked to use the information from the textbook and some quantitative methods (math) to evaluate safety issues that you might face in your safety career.

UNIT I STUDY GUIDE

An Introduction to the Safety Profession

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For the first unit, we will look back at variables that helped shape the safety field and look at how the field has changed over the last century. Understanding the foundations of the field in which you work can be very beneficial in developing your approach to the tasks you perform each day. As you read Chapter 1 of the textbook, it should not surprise you to see that the safety field has evolved a great deal since the start of the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain in about 1760. The early days of the Industrial Revolution had very few required safety controls. Production was greatly favored over safety considerations, and accidents and injuries were very commonplace. Additionally, it was common for children to work long hours under unsafe conditions. While we have come to expect the federal government to establish and enforce safety regulations in today’s workplace, some of the earliest safety regulations were enacted at the state level. Massachusetts was one of the states initially enacting and enforcing safety regulations. One of the first attempts at safety regulations by the federal government in the United States did not occur until 1907 with the formation of the Bureau of Mines (Goetsch, 2019). Of course, the laws that had the largest impact on safety in the United States were the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) in 1970 and the Federal Mine Safety Act (FMSA) in 1977. With the passage of these two Acts and the formation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the modern safety field began. Most safety professionals practicing today have no memory of working without the umbrella of these two agencies. There have been great changes in the safety profession from the early days of the Industrial Revolution until the present day. One huge change was in the emphasis of safety responsibility. In the early days of the industrial revolution in the Unites States, safety took a back seat to production in most industries. The responsibility for the safety of working individuals was also primarily placed on the individual instead of the employer. Goetsch (2019) provides a summary of the existing anti-labor laws on page 9 of the textbook. If you review those laws, you can see that liability for injuries was placed squarely on the shoulders of the workers. As more and more accidents occurred, these laws were replaced by laws placing more responsibilities on employers. The passage of the OSH Act and the FMSA eventually resulted in the passage of more and more safety regulations that added further protections for the workers. The balance between worker protection and employer rights has continued through today. OSHA and MSHA are required to evaluate the cost of compliance to employers versus the improvement in safety for any new regulations that they propose. Changes in political administrations typically result in discussions of changes in regulations to achieve some balance between production and safety. One school of thought is that today’s employers understand the worth of employees and will self-regulate to protect those assets. Others contend that employers will typically choose profit over safety and, left without government control, would return to the unsafe practices that existed prior to the formation of OSHA and MSHA. As a safety professional, you are required to practice your profession in this changing environment. A great challenge for most safety professionals is trying to convince employers of the cost benefits of implementing effective safety programs in a workplace. One method that has been used for decades is the quantification of the costs associated with deaths, injuries, and illnesses in the workplace. In many instances, safety professionals have been able to justify the expenses associated with new safety initiatives by providing cost estimates associated with injuries and illnesses versus the costs associated with safety programs. This can sometimes be difficult because costs associated with injuries and illnesses in the workplace are not always obvious. It may be fairly easy to produce data on the costs associated with direct costs like salaries and benefits. Indirect costs are typically more difficult to estimate. There have been many approaches to estimating direct and indirect costs associated with injuries and illnesses over the years. Goetsch (2019) presents some discussions of how to estimate the direct and indirect costs in Chapter 2.

According to Goetsch (2019), accidents are the leading cause of death

among individuals 25–44 years of age.

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How the safety function fits within the overall organizational structure of a company can vary greatly. There is no set, required organizational structure for the safety role. One variable that can greatly affect the placement of the safety function within a company is the size of the company. Smaller facilities may not even be able to support a single safety position. In many facilities, the safety officer also occupies another position. Some common situations include the human resources (HR) manager, the production manager, the plant manager, or one of the production workers (sometimes on a rotating basis) also serving as the safety officer. Each of these situations can

present problems in accomplishing the goals of a safety responsibility. Of the scenarios above, the placement of the safety function with the production manager or the plant manager may present the greatest risk. These individuals typically are responsible for production at a facility, and their annual compensation is, many times, tied to the production of the plant. Therefore, safety will sometimes have a lower priority. The HR manager will sometimes have an easier time balancing the two functions. One problem a production employee who is also asked to manage the safety function will face is having enough authority to be able to obtain adequate resources to accomplish the safety goals. At larger facilities, the safety function will typically include at least one employee whose only function is safety. In many cases, this individual is promoted from the production area of the facility. The difficulties that this type of promotion generate relate to training and experience. Many safety officers who were moved from production are unsure where to obtain assistance with understanding how to proceed in implementing and maintaining a good safety program. In some cases, the local facility is part of a larger corporation where there is an established safety function (and many times an industrial hygiene and environmental function). In those cases, the local safety professional can obtain assistance from the corporate staff. Corporate safety staff will typically make periodic trips to individual facilities to provide training and additional resources to the local safety officer. The corporate function may also provide training materials that can be used by the local facility. Not all local facilities are part of a corporate structure, and many of these safety professionals end up feeling like they are walking a tight rope with no net because they have very little support. Over the years, several private, not-for-profit organizations have been formed to assist safety professionals in their roles. Two of the more important organizations for the facility-level safety professional are the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) and the National Safety Council (NSC). Both of these organizations can provide a great deal of support material and training for the safety professional. In the same way, the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) provides support services for evaluating employee exposures, supporting the field of industrial hygiene. In many areas of the country, there are local sections of both the ASSE and AIHA. These local sections will periodically hold meetings with guest speakers featured at some meetings. These local section meetings are also good resources for safety professionals. Safety professionals can also obtain additional knowledge by enrolling in safety courses such as those offered by Columbia Southern University (CSU). The professors at CSU have worked in the safety field and can provide important information for the safety professional just starting in the field. Obtaining a degree in safety can add credibility to the safety professional, making his or her efforts easier. At some point in their careers, many safety professionals seek to further their career opportunities by obtaining national certifications. The most common certifications for safety are the Associate Safety Professional (ASP) and the Certified Safety Professional (CSP). These certifications are administered by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP). In general, you must obtain the ASP designation prior to obtaining the CSP designation. There are some exceptions, such as an individual who is a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH), who can skip the ASP designation. The BCSP has also designated some educational programs as meeting the requirements for graduates to use the designation Graduate Safety Practitioner (GSP). The GSP can also skip the ASP and, when meeting all the requirements, take the examination for the CSP. CSU’s undergraduate OSH degree program is currently approved by the BCSP as a GSP program.

Workplace accidents cost $50 billion in 2017

(Goetsch, 2019).

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Reference Goetsch, D. L. (2019). Occupational safety and health for technologists, engineers, and managers (9th ed.).

New York, NY: Pearson.

Suggested Reading In order to access the following resources, click the links below. Most businesses currently work in a global economy, and there is a wide diversity of cultures in the workforce in the United States. Safety professionals are increasingly required to deal with cultural issues in their safety programs. The following article provides a good review of how culture must be considered in a safety program. Flynn, M. A., Castellanos, E., & Flores-Andrade, A. (2018). Safety across cultures: Understanding the

challenges. Professional Safety, 63(1), 28–32. Retrieved from https://search-proquest- com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/docview/1985541331?accountid=33337

Labor unions played a large role in developing the current safety culture and organizations in the United States. The following article reviews some current labor contracts to evaluate the role that labor unions currently play in promoting public health in America. Hagedorn, J., Paras, C. A., Greenwich, H., & Hagopian, A. (2016). The role of labor unions in creating

working conditions that promote public health. American Journal of Public Health, 106(6), 989–995. Retrieved from https://search-proquest- com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/docview/1791012069?accountid=33337

In this unit’s readings, you were introduced to direct and indirect costs associated with accidents. These costs are commonly used by safety professionals to help evaluate the costs of accidents for a single facility or a corporation as a whole. Manuele presents some thoughts on how to properly use direct and indirect costs to evaluate the total costs of accident. Manuele, F. A. (2011). Accident costs: Rethinking ratios of indirect to direct costs. Professional Safety, 56(1),

39–47. Retrieved from https://search-proquest- com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/docview/853140921?accountid=33337

Workers’ compensation laws were enacted as a compromise between the employer and employees. The intent was to allow employees to receive compensation for injuries and illnesses without regard to causation, while protecting the employer from larger litigation cases. Because workers’ compensation laws are set at the state level, they can change frequently. In this article, workers’ compensation lawyers discuss recent changes in some state laws. Reviewing this article can give you some perspective of the difficulty of dealing with workers’ compensation issues. Torrey, D. B., McIntyre, L. D., Black, K. D., & Beck, J. D. (2017). Recent developments in workers’

compensation and employers’ liability law. Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Law Journal, 52(2), 709. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/apps/doc/A497177903/AONE?u=ora n95108&sid=AONE&xid=0f32ca5d

Learning Activities (Nongraded) Nongraded Learning Activities are provided to aid students in their course of study. You do not have to submit them. If you have questions, contact your instructor for further guidance and information. Click here to access a matching activity that covers much of the terminology used in Unit I.

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There have been many significant achievements in the safety field since the passage of the OSH Act of 1970. OSHA published a timeline showing some of the major achievements. Click on the link below to review these achievements: Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (n.d.). OSHA celebrates 40 years of accomplishments in the

workplace. Retrieved from https://www.osha.gov/osha40/OSHATimeline.pdf Reflect upon the achievements listed by OSHA and the improvements in worker health and safety related to the decrease in mortality, injury, and illness rates in the United States. Which of the achievements on OSHA’s timeline do you believe contributed the most to the reduction in deaths, injuries, and illnesses over the past 38 years?