Archive for the ‘Documentation’ Category

If you see this on your front lawn or on your property, chances are that a Cal/OSHA representative will soon be on the scene to investigate. For anyone not familiar with this incident, this is a picture of the crane that toppled in a Santa Rosa neighborhood on November 16th while removing an oak tree. Although thankfully no one was hurt in the incident, there was a significant amount of property damage to the residence.

Cal/OSHA did in fact show up to investigate, and though the results of that investigation have not yet been released, the objectives are to determine why it happened and how similar incidents can be avoided in the future. This is a case in which Cal/OSHA knocks with an “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

In your own case, it may not be as obvious, but there are hazards in your workplace and the objective should be preventive or proactive action instead of being reactive after an accident has occurred. Common sense may not necessarily be as common as we think, and you should be observant in your own workplace for some obvious and not so obvious signs.

• Is equipment being operated without all machine guards in place?
• Are electrical interlocks being defeated out of convenience or to improve productivity?
• Are employees taking shortcuts or not following established procedures?
• Are all employees aware of and trained on your Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP)?
• Do employees know where MSDS sheets are for all substances that they work with?
• Do employees know how and where to get help?

Although you may think the some of the answers may be obvious, that’s an assumption that can be disastrous after the fact if an accident were to occur. It’s always better and less expensive for all involved to practice some preventive medicine and be proactive in order to prevent accidents. In the case of the Santa Rosa crane collapse, the house needs to be rebuilt and someone is going to have to pay for it. In your own workplace, if there’s an accident, there are costs incurred that in all likelihood could have been avoided, such as workers’ comp, lost time and productivity, accident investigation, increased insurance premiums, etc. It pays to manage your risk in a preventive way, as the ROI will always be worth it.

Do you need help in getting your own preventive maintenance program started or not sure where to start? Give us a call or send us an email. We’re here to help you succeed.

Do you have all the Safety records you need and are they up to date if OSHA or Cal/OSHA comes knocking on your door? If so, that’s great. If not, you need to get working on it because knocking on doors is exactly what OSHA plans on doing as part of their National Emphasis Program on Injury and Illness Recordkeeping, effective as of October 1st of this year (link here).

The intent of the program is to assess and evaluate the degree of under-reporting of workplace injuries and illnesses, which not only has been suggested by academic studies, but was also prominent in a report on the accuracy of employer worker injury and illness data, released by the GAO on Monday (link here).

Here are the key records you need:

1.    One of the unique requirements for California employers under Cal/OSHA is the need to “establish, implement, and maintain an effective Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP).” Issues relating to the IIPP are the most often cited violation by Cal/OSHA and the key operative word should be considered maintain. Just having an IIPP filed in a binder is insufficient. Cal/OSHA won’t look at it kindly if it’s not being used as an active tool or employees don’t even know that it exists.

2.    OSHA Form 300, Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses. Unless exempt (less than 10 employees, or in an exempt SIC code), employers are required to record all recordable or reportable injuries or illnesses on Form 300, along with a detailed incident report (Form 301 or equivalent).

3.    Annually posting the previous year’s Annual Summary of Work-Related Injuries and illnesses (Form 300A) from February 1 through April 30.

4.    Worker exposure records, including MSDS’s, environmental  & biological monitoring results, and other relevant records.

5.    Worker medical records created by doctors, nurses, and other healthcare personnel (dentists, therapists, etc.) that apply to the IIPP or to workplace injuries and illnesses.

Employers need to be able to make these records available on a timely basis to someone who has a right to request them, including employees, former employees, or OSHA & Cal/OSHA representatives.

Keeping records can be frustrating, confusing, and time-consuming, but it’s also important. Getting ahead of the curve and keeping records well-organized and well-maintained not only can help keep employers out of hot water with Cal/OSHA, but can also be used as a problem-solving tool.

Need help getting your IIPP or recordkeeping programs up to date? Not sure of where to start? If so, give us a call or send us an email. We’re here to help you succeed.

Texting while driving or “distracted driving” is getting a lot of press lately. California’s had its share of serious texting incidents, including last year’s Metrolink commuter train crash, and several recent car crashes attributed to distracted drivers.

As a result of impairment that’s shown by some studies to be worse than DUI, 10 states, including California, have banned texting while driving, while another 8 have laws that will be enacted between now and January 1st. Further, there is a movement in process to pass federal legislation banning texting while driving. Over the last 2 days, there was a Distracted Driver Summit in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the U.S. D.O.T. (Department of Transportation), featuring several U.S. Senators, including Senator Charles Schumer of NY, an outspoken advocate on the subject.

So, while all of this is going on, you may be thinking that texting while driving isn’t relevant to business, but that would not be correct. What would happen if a salesperson or another employee is involved in a texting accident while driving on company business? Would you be liable if company policies and procedures didn’t ban texting while driving? It’s already cost companies tens of millions of dollars (read here) and with today’s rapidly evolving and ever-changing technology, it’s important that policies and procedures are up to date with these changes in order to mitigate company risk.

Are your policies are procedures up to date? Need help getting your process documentation or company policies in place or aligned? If you do or you’re not sure where to start, give us a call or send us an email. We’re here to help you succeed.

When people talk about reducing operator errors, the scope of what they’re talking or thinking about can run the gamut from training, to fool-proofing (a.k.a. poka-yoke) a set-up or changeover, to fully automating a process or an assembly line, or even building a new plant.

However, I find it shocking that companies would consider the most capital intensive solutions when they should be starting with the basics. I recently saw an example of this at a company where training was talked of in terms of taking months and only a couple of people were “qualified” in certain operations. It didn’t really seem like a very complicated process, though many steps were involved. When I asked to take a look at their written procedures, they said, “what procedures?” It turns out that they had no written documentation for a fairly lengthy process, in which several steps were critical to preventing waste and potentially ruining product.

In a process which involved 75-100 steps or more, there was no written documentation, and training consisted of memorizing the entire process, start to finish, and in exactly the right sequence to boot. No wonder training took months and so few operators were qualified!

What was needed in this case was starting with the basics. Let’s develop some basic procedures, writing down the process steps and making sure they’re in the right sequence. Once this was done, a training process which took months can now be done in a matter of days, and serves as a great tool for cross-training and ensuring that there’s consistency in the process.

Need help developing your own procedures or wondering where to start? Give us a call or send us an email to kick start development of your own process or quality documentation efforts today.