Ergonomics and Process Safety - Where's the link?


		AcuSafe -> April 2000 Newsletter
		Ergonomics and Process Safety, Where's the Link?

Ergonomics is not Voodoo Science. A simple search for this word on the Internet will easily result in over 100,000 sources of data. And so OSHA moves ahead with a regulation. Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman is "…committed to making an ergonomics standard a reality this year."

The OSHA proposal identifies six elements for a full ergonomics program:

management leadership;
employee participation;
hazard information and reporting;
job hazard analysis and control;
training;
MSD management and program evaluation.

Do some of these look familiar? We believe that all have comparable activities in Process Safety Management. You, as the person involved in Process Safety can be a help to those in your organization who will be involved with this recent OSHA initiative. Maybe it will even be you!

And in certain circumstances, a company can create "Ergonomics Lite" with a reduced set of elements for a program. OSHA allows a company to take immediate actions within the reduced set program using an approach called the "Quick Fix". But when "Quick Fixes" fail, a complete program is required to be created.

An employer has to provide clear leadership in creating an ergonomics program including:

Ensure creation, implementation, and evaluation of an ergonomics program;
Have in place simple methods for employees to report signs and symptoms;
Respond to reports promptly;
Ensure that there are no barriers to participation or reporting;
Evaluate policies and procedures to ensure that reporting is effective and open
Communicate "periodically" with employees about the program and listen to employees

Employees are to have:

A path to report signs, symptoms, and injuries;
Prompt response to any reports;
Access to supporting information about the program
Involvement in developing, implementing, and evaluating each element of the program

Employee participation is part of OSHA's Process Safety regulation (PSM). It could be simple to include the requirements of the ergonomics standard. Auditing and evaluation of your Ergonomic program can be a part of your process safety evaluations as well.

And now changes to the process managed under PSM's Management of Change provisions should include the potential ergonomic effects of the change. You may be doing that now, so don't reinvent a perfectly good wheel for another program.

Many sites have Job Hazard Analysis as a part of work permit processes to ensure task related safety issues do not arise, as well as minimizing potential impacts on the process itself from those tasks. It is a simple addition to ensure the Job Hazard Analysis deals with exertion or repetitive motion impacts on the workers.

For more information, OSHA has a good link with lots of resources.
www.osha-slc.gov/SLTC/ergonomics/index.html

And of course the staff at AcuSafe can help you develop your management systems to deal with this standard as it becomes final.