Environmental Health and Safety Management Unit VIII Course Project

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

1. Develop effective safety management policy statements, goals, and objectives. 1.1 Develop recommendations to improve an existing safety management system based on

standards and best practices.

7. Examine management tools necessary to implement effective safety management systems. 7.1 Evaluate the effectiveness of an organization’s incident investigation process. 7.2 Conduct an audit of a safety management system and summarize findings in a report.

Reading Assignment Chapter 21: Evaluation and Corrective Action: Section 6.0 of Z10 Chapter 22: Incident Investigation: Section 6.2 of Z10 Chapter 23: Audit Requirements: Section 6.3 of Z10 Chapter 24: Management Review: Section 7.0 of Z10

Unit Lesson In this final unit, we begin the Check step of the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) process. Some might see this as the end of the process, but as we have noted previously, PDCA is a continuous cycle and not linear. For organizations with well-established safety management systems, the Check step may be the best place to enter the cycle. A popular saying in management circles is, “What gets measured gets done,” or sometimes, “What gets measured gets managed.” The second version has significant meaning for safety management systems. The PDCA cycle compels us to check, but it is not enough to say that program elements are in place. What can we measure that will help us reach conclusions about effectiveness? For many safety programs, success is simply measured by a reduction in, or absence of, injuries and illnesses. In fact, this is one of the only program measurements mandated in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards. OSHA uses incident rates to compare industries and determine inspection priorities. Incident rates are certainly useful for OSHA, and the presence of incidents can be an indicator of serious problems, but the lack of incidents does not mean everything is okay. As we have noted throughout the course, risk of an incident is based on hazard severity and probability of occurrence and cannot be brought to zero or accurately predicted. Blair and O’Toole (2010) suggest that measuring activities such as safety walkthroughs, safety meetings, and hazards corrected will help identify and mitigate factors that lead to incidents. The discussion of leading indicators does not mean that trailing indicators such as incident rates do not have value. They certainly point to problem areas that need immediate attention. However, there is much more that can be learned from incidents. Manuele (2014) notes that incident investigation can be a significant source of leading indicators and should be given a much higher priority than is typically found in most organizational safety programs. Unfortunately, many incident investigations are paper exercises that fail to go beyond

UNIT VIII STUDY GUIDE

Auditing and Management Review

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obvious employee errors or workplace hazards in identifying causes. Current accident investigation theories recognize that there are many layers of causal factors involved, even for adverse events where causes may seem obvious (Oakley, 2012). The findings from a quality incident investigation should be a significant source of feedback to the Plan phase of the PDCA process. Throughout the course, we have focused on the management system outlined in ANSI/AIHA Z10, but that does not mean other standards should not be used. The standards and best practices that are selected for use in an organization are dependent on the maturity of the organization’s safety efforts and how the organization manages other parts of its critical operations. If ISO management standards are used in other parts of the organization, perhaps ISO 18000 is a better fit. Each organization is unique. ANSI/AIHA Z10 was based on many of the best features from existing standards. Studying it in depth, as we have done in this course, provides the safety practitioner insight into many of the other safety management system standards. In the PDCA cycle, it is the Act phase that creates the continuous loop. Once the Check phase is complete, we must take actions, and those actions must include feedback to all the other phases. For example, in the safety management system model of PDCA, once we identify corrective actions (Check), they need to be reviewed by management and returned to the process for implementation (Act). Here is where we see that the cycle is not linear but also is not really circular.

Just as we can enter the cycle at any phase, the feedback from the Act phase can go anywhere on the continuum. We might need to improve employee participation (Plan), our incident investigations (Check), or our safety training (Do). As part of the management review process, goals and objectives must be established that will set the organization on the path to improvement. Manuele (2014) states that management leadership and employee participation, which belong to the Plan phase, are the most important part of the process. He also discusses the importance of management review, which is part of the Act phase. A case could also be made for the importance of some, if not all, of the other sections. Perhaps like the PDCA cycle, an effective safety management system does not have definitive starting and end points. It may be better expressed as a continuum where all elements work together for the common goal: provide a management tool to reduce the risk of occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities.

References

Blair, E., & O'Toole, M. (2010). Leading measures. Professional Safety, 55(8), 29-34.

Feedback

For example, corrective actions are reviewed by management and then returned to the process for implementation (Act).

The PDCA cycle is not linear but also is not really circular

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Manuele, F. A. (2014). Advanced safety management: Focusing on Z10 and serious injury prevention (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Oakley, J. S. (2012). Accident investigation techniques: Basic theories, analytical methods, and

applications (2nd ed.). Des Plaines, IL: American Society of Safety Engineers.

Suggested Reading The additional chapter from the textbook and the additional resources below are suggested readings or resources that can provide further reading and safety measures:

Chapter 25: Comparison: Z10, Other Safety Guidelines and Standards, and VPP Certification Oakley, J. S. (2012). Accident investigation techniques: Basic theories, analytical methods, and

applications (2nd ed.). Des Plaines, IL: American Society of Safety Engineers. In order to access the resource below, you must first log into the myCSU Student Portal and access the Business Source Complete database within the CSU Online Library.

Blair, E., & O'Toole, M. (2010). Leading measures. Professional Safety, 55(8), 29-34. Access the PDF document below by using your favorite search engine (e.g., Google, Bing) and searching for the following: Health and Safety Executive A Guide to Measuring Health & Safety Performance:

Health & Safety Executive. (2001) A guide to measuring health & safety performance. Retrieved from http://www.hse.gov.uk/opsunit/perfmeas.pdf

Access the information below by using your favorite search engine (e.g., Google, Bing) and searching for the following: OSHA & program evaluation profile (PEP). It is located on the OSHA website:

Occupational Safety & Health Administration. (n.d.). Program evaluation profile (PEP). Retrieved from https://www.osha.gov/dsg/topics/safetyhealth/pep.html

Learning Activities (Non-Graded) Safety Perception Survey Conduct an informal employee safety perception survey among some of your coworkers. Do their perceptions align with yours? How could you use their input to improve the safety management system in your organization? Non-graded 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.