For 50 years the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has been tasked with ensuring the safe and healthful working conditions of American workers by setting and enforcing standards.
Hazard prevention and control, especially for workers in manufacturing and other industries, has been one of the prime missions for OSHA.
“Effective controls protect workers from workplace hazards; help avoid injuries, illnesses, and incidents; minimize or eliminate safety and health risks; and help employers provide workers with safe and healthful working conditions,” says OSHA.
Private industry employers reported 2.7 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Manufacturing, behind only health care which saw a spike last year with the COVID-19 pandemic, recorded the most number of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses (373,300), as well as cases with days away from work (135,900).
OSHA says for employers to control and prevent hazards in the workplace the following key actions should be taken:
OSHA outlines six actions steps employers can take to implement safety practices in the workplace:
Collect, organize, and review information with workers to determine what types of hazards may be present and which workers may be exposed or potentially exposed.
Information available may include:
Employers should select controls that are the most feasible, effective, and permanent to eliminate/ control all serious hazards immediately.
Select controls according to a hierarchy emphasizing:
Review and discuss control options with workers to ensure that controls are feasible and effective.
Use a combination of control options when no single method fully protects workers.
List the hazards needing controls in order of priority, and then assign responsibility for implementing the controls to a specific person or persons with the power to implement the controls.
Establish a target completion date, while tracking progress toward.
Plan how you will verify the effectiveness of controls.
4: Select Controls to Protect Workers During Non-routine Operations and Emergencies
Develop procedures to control hazards that may arise during non-routine operations or emergencies including:
Once hazard prevention and control measures have been identified, they should be implemented according to the hazard control plan.
If resources are limited, implement measures on a "worst-first" basis, according to the hazard ranking priorities (risk) established during hazard identification and assessment.
Track progress and verify implementation by asking:
Conduct regular inspections to confirm that engineering controls are operating as designed.
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