Our own Aliso Laguna News Columnist Steve Sayer now has an OSHA blog where he will be writing weekly articles on OSHA safety in his industry.Our congratulations to him as this is a big deal to be chosen by OSHA to write for them.
To read his weekly posts please go to meatingplace.com and register… it’s free.
Besides writing great articles for the ALNews about everyday living here in South OC, Steve is President of S&R Industrial Safety & Food Safety Consulting/Auditing, Inc. and a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers & National Meat Association.
Here is his latest posting;
Working Safely
By: Steve Sayer
The 8 principles of an injury & illness prevention program
(The views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly those of the author.)
The state of California has always had the reputation of being a national trendsetter; 49ers and the Gold Rush; a Terminator turned Governor and all those Nip and Tuck Hollywood Squares.
With that in mind, know that all 50 states have the autonomy of having Federal OSHA regulate them or their fickle state elected legislators may opt to pass a senate bill and incorporate their own exclusive state OSHA.
State OSHA programs must be at least as effective as the federal program while providing parallel protection for workers. Presently 27 states have their own state OSHA with five of those 27 covering only public employees.
In 1989 former Republican California Governor George Deukmejian signed California Senate Bill (SB)-198 into law. SB-198 made changes in the CAL/OSHA law which impacted the operations of nearly every California employer.
SB-198 required California employers, regardless of size/degree of hazardous operation, to implement a written Injury/Illness Prevention Program (IIPP). SB-198 applied to private industry, non-profit organizations including state/local governments.
Merely having a written IIPP is not sufficient to guarantee compliance with SB-198. The IIPP must be verifiably effective to precluding injuries/illnesses at the workplace. Sequenced below are the 8 principles of an IIPP:
1. Responsible Person (Unwaveringly alike HACCP. Responsible person(s) with the authority/responsibility of the OSHA program while possessing management’s full/unadulterated support)
2. Recognition/Disciplinary Policy (Human Resources plays a CRUCIAL supporting/enforcing role(s) involving employee safety)
3. Communications (Hold documented meetings while posting bi-lingual safety policies for all to see)
4. Hazard Identification/Control (Faithful to principles 1, 2, 3 and 4 of HACCP)
5. Correcting Unsafe/Unhealthy (Identical to answering lines 12 and 13 of a FSIS cited NR; including full symmetry with principle 5 of HACCP)
6. Accident, Injury/Illness Investigation (CCP collapse; Perform a 9 CFR 417.3. Who, what, where, when, why, how?)
7. Training/Instruction (Reflect upon last weeks Blog)
8. Recordkeeping (Unswervingly symbolical to principles 6 and 7 of HACCP. And you thought FSIS was draconian?)
Resembles HACCP? I don’t think California’s IIPP started at NASA in the 1960’s, nor is it applicable to the Pillsbury Doughboy; like Apollo 13, it never made it to the moon with Neil and Buzz-Light-Year; but like HACCP, it’s saved lives while precluding uncountable injuries/illnesses back on earth.
Next time we’ll review the first of 8 principles of an IIPP until we cue behind the final 8th principal while focusing on how IIPP’s can terminate injuries at your establishment.
In the interim, what’s your gold claim to the 8 principles of an IIPP?
I’ll be monitoring meatingplace.com at my favorite table, just below an oversized sketch of Jack London at the local bookstore, while perusing that original muckraking- trendsetting-scalawag-iconoclastic-Socialist Upton Sinclair.
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Other News From meatingplace
“HSUS-backed animal cruelty bill introduced”
By Meatingplace Editors on 3/5/2010
U.S. Reps. Diane Watson (D-Calif.) and Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) this week introduced the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act to set rules around confinement of animal used to produce food purchased by the federal government.
The Humane Society of the United States praised the proposal and encouraged Congress to act swiftly to pass the bill.
In a news release, HSUS said the bill “simply requires that any food purchased for federal programs comes from animals raised with enough room to stand up, lie down, turn around and stretch their limbs.”
“This bill requires meat producers who sell to the federal government to follow the same guidelines that California producers have in place to ensure the animals are raised humanely,” said Rep. Gallegly in a statement.
Seven states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Michigan and Oregon — have passed laws to phase out some form of animal confinement, but no federal laws mandate animal husbandry practices.
The federal government spends more than $1 billion buying animal products for a variety of programs and agencies, including the National School Lunch Program, the Armed Services and the Bureau of Prisons, according to HSUS.
