Unit 1 Discussion
1. Discuss the role of the safety professional in an
industrial setting with respect to hazard analysis, recognition and control.
2. What do you consider the proper level of competence and
expertise necessary to adequately do the job of the safety and health
professional?
Please include the name of the person or question to which
you are replying in the subject line. For example, “Tom’s response to
Susan’s comment.”
Unit 2 Discussion
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
passed a comprehensive ergonomics standard on November 14, 2000, which became
effective on January 16, 2001. This standard would have regulated ergonomic
hazards across industries in the United States. The U.S. Congress used the Congressional
Review Act of 1996 to repeal the ergonomics standard on March 20, 2001. OSHA
has been limited on the regulation of ergonomic hazards since that time. OSHA
currently regulates ergonomic hazards using the “general duty clause”
and issues guidelines for specific industries with high incidence rates for
musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).
1. Do you think Congress was correct in repealing the
comprehensive ergonomics standard? Should OSHA continue to regulate ergonomic
hazards through the general duty clause and issue guidelines for specific
industries?
2. If not, what approach would you suggest for OSHA?
Please include the name of the person or question to which
you are replying in the subject line. For example, “Tom’s response to
Susan’s comment.”
Unit 3 Discussion
Human error has played a large role in some accidents
resulting in deaths and injuries. For example, the Formosa Plastic’s vinyl
chloride explosion was primarily due to an operator bypassing and opening a
valve at the wrong control panel, resulting in five deaths and three injuries.
The company was relying on written standard operating procedures and employee
training to prevent the unauthorized bypass of the valve.
1. To what extent do you think a company should be required
to implement engineering controls to prevent a potential consequence that will
only occur if human error is present?
2. Who do you think was ultimately responsible for the
incident that resulted in the deaths and injuries at the Formosa Plastics
facility?
You may use the CSU Online Library to locate the following
article that will give you more information on the explosion:
Seewald, N. (2007). Inadequate’ planning contributed to
Formosa accident in Illinois. Chemical Week, 169(9), 11. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete
database.
Unit 4 Discussion
There are several standards and guidelines that apply to
fire prevention and suppression in buildings. The Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) has promulgated several standards under Subpart H
of 29 CFR 1910. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) published the
Fire Protection Handbook and several guidelines. Most local building codes also
address design and construction of buildings to reduce the risk of fires.
1. Discuss how these standards and guidelines interface with
each other.
2. Review 29 CFR 1910.6 at http://www.osha.gov to see which
NFPA guidelines have been incorporated by reference.
3. How does incorporation by reference affect the
enforcement of NFPA guidelines?
4. Do you think incorporating certain guidelines is a good
approach by OSHA?
Unit 5 Discussion
As part of the Hearing Conservation Program, the employer is
required to evaluate the effectiveness of any hearing protection provided to
employees. Hearing protectors are rated using a system developed by the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), know as the noise reduction rating
(NRR). The NRR is derived in a laboratory setting. There is some controversy
about the reported accuracy of the NRR. The Occupational Safety and Health
Administration’s (OSHA) method for evaluating the effectiveness of hearing
protection includes subtracting seven from the NRR to account for
“real-world” versus a laboratory setting.
For OSHA compliance officers, OSHA divides the result in
half before subtracting from the exposure level to account for individual improperly
inserting the hearing protection. OSHA does not currently require employers to
divide the result in half.
1. Which method of evaluation of hearing protection devices
do you think employers should be required to use and why?
2. Do you think there is a better way to evaluate hearing
protection devices? Please explain your response.
Unit 6 Discussion
Several regulations and standards must be considered when
designing an effective electrical safety program. The Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) has a series of regulations under Subpart S
dealing with electrical systems. The National Electrical Code and several
National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) standards contain guidelines for
installation and maintenance of electrical systems.
1. Discuss the relationship between the various regulations
and standards related to designing an electrical safety program.
2. In your opinion, what are the most important elements
that should be included in an effective electrical safety program?
Risk is perceived differently by each individual. Some
workers may consider a certain level of risk to be acceptable, while other
workers would consider that level of risk to be unacceptable. To demonstrate
this point, attached is a picture of me cutting and arc welding (independently
building a barn in NM, when I was a working cowboy in the early 1980’s) at age
11.
Personally, I never worried about getting burned, cut, or
slag thrown in my eyes (though that often happened), or falling from working
from an unsecured ladder. I took the same type of approach to risk when working
with large animals (working from horses, handling cattle). Then, I joined the
Army light infantry at age 17 to fight in the Cold War jungle wars.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
evaluates residual risk during the rule-making process and uses what they
define as an “acceptable risk level” in developing a standard.
1. Discuss to what extent you think individual risk
perception should be used in establishing controls at individual workplaces.
2. Do you think OSHA’s definition of an acceptable risk is
adequate, or do you think that each location should develop its own acceptable
level of risk? Explain your answer.
Unit 8 discussion
During this class we have discussed conducting hazard
assessments and risk assessments, and applying various controls to reduce the
risks associated with a hazard. In this unit we are studying Prevention through
Design, which is an approach receiving special emphasis by the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
1. Of the different approaches to reducing risks in the
workplace, which do you think is the most effective? Give an example of a
hazard in your current workplace, or a workplace you are familiar with, where
controls have been implemented to reduce risk.
2. How could Prevention through Design have been used?
Dr. Paul
(Note: Be diligent to read the Announcements page this week,
related to our project!)
**Note: Remember that I am still on vacation until
27September. Please use the announcement page information, and use the Ask the
Professor forum for questions that you may have for our visiting professor this
week.
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