Assessing
the key components of
Worksite
Analysis
- Comprehensive surveys, change analysis, routine hazard analysis
- Are there documents
that provide comprehensive analysis of all potential safety and health
hazards at the worksite?
- Are there documents
that provide both the analysis of potential safety and health hazards for
each new facility, equipment, material, or process and the means for
eliminating or controlling such hazards?
- Does documentation
exist of the step-by-step analysis of the hazards in each part of each
job, so that you can clearly discern the evolution of decisions on safe
work procedures?
- If complicated
processes exist, with a potential for catastrophic impact from an
accident but low probability of such accident (as in a nuclear power or
chemical production), are there documents analyzing the potential hazards
in each part of the processes and the means to prevent or control them?
- If there are processes
with a potential for catastrophic impact from an accident but low
probability of an accident, have analyses such as "fault tree"
or "what if?" been documented to ensure enough back-up systems
for worker protection in the event of multiple control failure?
- Do employees complain
that new facilities, equipment, materials, or processes are hazardous?
- Do any employees say
they have been involved in job safety analysis or process review and are
satisfied with the results?
- Does the safety and
health taff indicate ignorance of existing or potential hazards at the
worksite?
- Does the occupational
nurse/doctor or other health care provider understand the potential
occupational diseases and health effects in this worksite?
- Have hazards appeared
where no one in management realized there was potential for their
development?
- Where workers have
faithfully followed job procedures, have accidents or near-misses
occurred because of hidden hazards?
- Have hazards been
discovered in the design of new facilities, equipment, materials, and
processes after use has begun?
- Have accidents or near-misses
occurred when two or more failures in the hazard control system occurred
at the same time, surprising everyone?
- Regular Safety and Health Inspections
- If inspections
reports are written, do they show that inspections are done on a regular
basis?
- Do the hazards found
indicate good ability to recognize those hazards typical of this
industry?
- Are hazards found
during inspections tracked to complete correction?
- What is the
relationship between hazards uncovered during inspections and those
implicated in injuries or illness?
- Do employees indicate
that they see inspection being conducted, and that these inspections
appear thorough?
- Are the hazards
discovered during accident investigation ones that should have been
recognized and corrected by the regular inspection process?
- Employee Reports of Hazards
- Is the system for
written reports being used frequently?
- Are valid hazards
that have been reported by employees tracked to complete correction?
- Are the responses
timely and adequate?
- Do employee know whom
to contact and what to do if they see something they believe to be
hazardous to themselves or coworkers?
- Do employees think
that responses to their reports of hazards are timely and adequate?
- Do employees say that
they or other workers are being harassed, officially or otherwise, for
reporting hazards?
- Are hazards ever
found where employees could reasonably be expected to have previously
recognized and reported them?
- When hazards are
found, is there evidence that employees had complained repeatedly but to no
avail?
- Accident and Near-Miss Investigations
- Do accident
investigation reports show a thorough analysis of causes, rather than a
tendency automatically to blame the injured employee?
- Are near-miss
(property damage or close calls) investigated using the same techniques
as accident investigations?
- Are hazards that are
identified as contributing to accidents or near-misses tracked to
correction?
- Do employees
understand and accept the results of accident and near-miss
investigations?
- Do employees mention
a tendency on management's part to blame the injured employee?
- Do employees believe
that all hazards contributing to accidents are corrected or controlled?
- Are accidents
sometimes caused at least partly by factors that might also have
contributed to previous near-misses that were not investigated or
accidents that were too superficially investigated?
- Injury and Illness Pattern Analysis
- In addition to the
required OSHA log, are careful records kept of first aid injuries and/or
illnesses that might not immediately appear to be work-related?
- Is there any
periodic, written analysis of the patterns of near-misses, injuries,
and/or illnesses over time, seeking previously unrecognized connections
between them that indicate unrecognized hazards needing correction or control?
- Looking at the OSHA
200/300 log and, where applicable, first aid logs, are there patterns of
illness or injury that should have been analyzed for previously
undetected hazards?
- If there is an
occupational nurse/doctor on the worksite, or if employees suffering from
ordinary illness are encouraged to see a nearby health care provider, are
the lists of those visits analyzed for clusters of illness that might be
work-related?
- Do employees mention
illnesses or injuries that seem work-related to them but that have not
been analyzed for previously undetected hazards?
This information is provided to you as
An EHS Network of Central Kansas
"Safety Training Article"
Site
created by Deborah, © EHS Network
Updated
September 11, 2005
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