Ergonomics, hazard communication and control of hazardous energy top the priority list
by Thomas E. Crowley
Running "lean and mean" has become a way of life in today's meat industry.
Meat company executives-especially safety and health managers-know that the major concern facing the meat industry is remaining competitive.
Today's business world, however, is not all gloom and doom. Many meat processors are growing and adding employees. Departments dealing in safety, health, the environment and workers' compensation will share in this expansion.
Some of this increase is because of meeting new government regulations, but much more is because of the need to control costs (especially skyrocketing workers' compensation costs) through accident reduction.
Most meat executives agree that their top goals have become ensuring and enhancing safety and health of meat plant employees.
This theme goes side-by-side with getting employees directly involved in the programs. Complying with regulations dictated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Environmental Protection Agency must come first.
Can't work in a vacuum
The time when plant managers can do everything themselves is gone.
Smart managers are doing much more delegating in areas like ergonomics, safety training, control of hazardous energy, confined space, heating conservation and workers' compensation.
Because of changes in OSHA and EPA standards and regulations, workers must be better trained than ever, and most companies will find training a top budget expenditure.
In addition, managers will continue to feel pressure to keep their own skills updated by pursuing continuing education, which includes obtaining additional training certificates.
Most meat industry managers have no idea what to expect from OSHA in the coming months.
Almost 18 months into the Clinton administration, OSHA's direction is only now becoming clear. The signal received from OSHA: Enforcement will be a hot issue.
Vice President Al Gore's "Reinventing Government" report, however, recommends that government look increasingly to industry as a "partner" in implementing programs to enhance workplace safety.
Washington's message is: It is time for industry to shift from discussion to practical, result-oriented safety programs.
Major safety priorities
Safety priorities for 1994 include:
-- Ergonomics: Through ergonomic improvements, employees can work more comfortably, efficiently and safely. The need for ergonomic assistance in the labor-intensive meat industry increases every year.
-- Hazard Communication: Most employers do not fully understand this important OSHA standard, which is to ensure that all chemical hazards produced or imported into the workplace are evaluated-and that evaluation results are passed on to all employees.
Under the multi-employer work site rule, employers must ensure that their employees, and all contractor employees, receive required information on potential chemical hazards through a comprehensive hazard communication program.
This rule requires employers to provide lists of all on-site chemicals, label containers of chemicals, develop locations where material safety data sheets are available, develop and implement employee training programs on hazards of chemicals, and provide protective measures.
-- Control of Hazardous Energy: Employers must communicate hazardous energy procedures and skills that employees are required to know, including employees who perform job tasks near, but not in direct contact with, affected machines and equipment.
Employers must provide training to ensure that the purpose and function of energy control programs is understood by employees, and that the knowledge and skills required for safe application, usage and removal of energy controls are taught to affected employees.
Training should include:
-- Authorized employees: Training should focus on recognizing applicable hazardous energy sources, types and magnitude of energy available in the workplace, and the methods and means necessary for energy isolation and control.
-- Affected employees: Instruction should focus on the purpose and use of the energy control procedures.
-- Other employees: Instructions about the procedure should be passed on to people whose workstations are in or near an area where energy control procedures may be utilized.
-- Confined space: Employers have a serious obligation to inform and train employees about any confined space located within the plant.
Two types of confined space exist-regular and permit-required. Permit-required confined space mandates gas-detection, monitoring and ventilation equipment, along with breathing apparatuses, as well as safety attendants. Confined space is not designed to be inhabited by workers on a continuous basis.
-- Blood-borne pathogens: Workers must adhere to specific safe practices to protect themselves from viruses, such as hepatitis B and HIV.
OSHA standards call for engineering controls and devices that isolate or remove blood-borne pathogens from the workplace, and mandates personal protective equipment, such as gowns, gloves, masks, bags, shields and shoe covers.