Safety Simplified

To develop and maintain a safe work environment the Employer must:

• Identify Hazards in the Work Environment by:

• Using common sense. The Employer is responsible to apply common sense and logic to determine conditions which could cause harm to the Employee.
• Reviewing Illnesses and Injuries. The Employer must ask the question “What was the cause of this incident?” each time and illness or injury occurs, regardless of the degree in which the employee suffers harm. Once the cause has been identified, it becomes a known “hazard."
• Following Standards, Codes, etc. The Employer must be familiar with the requirements of these documents, and recognize that many of these are based upon hazards that may not be recognizable using common sense or previous injuries/illnesses. Many of the hazards represented in the Standards, Codes, etc. are conditions which would not become apparent until long term exposure had created irreversible medical conditions for the employees.

• Control the Hazards using one or more of the following:

• Engineering Controls. By physically changing the work environment through the use of tools, machines, barriers, etc. the employer can eliminate many of the hazards to which the employee is exposed. Where engineering controls are feasible, the employer must utilize them. When they are not feasible, the employer may continue addressing the hazard through the subsequent steps.
  
• Administrative Controls. This is the development of policies, programs and procedures. The employee must be trained as to the policies, programs and procedures; and disciplined when they fail to follow their training. Through the combination of Engineering and Administrative controls the majority of the hazards in most workplace can be totally eliminated. When this isn’t possible, then and only then will the last step be utilized.
• Personal Protective Equipment. PPE is anything worn on the person of the employee. Items such as hats, glasses, gloves, shoes, respirators, are all examples of PPE. This is the last resort to be used, because it is the worst possible solution. Implementing PPE NEVER totally protects the employee. Instead, the employees is still at risk for injury/illness due to the PPE only providing limited protection from the identified hazard. Furthermore, the use of PPE also mandates the use of Administrative controls. The PPE selected is delineated in the written “Job Hazard Analysis” along with the Hazard from which the PPE offers protection. Additionally, the employee must be trained in the proper use, maintenance, donning, removal, disposal, and hazards associated with the PPE. Care must also be given to assure that the PPE itself doesn’t introduce other hazards to the employee.