[Solved] DB 1 WPS

Assignment Prompt & Instructions

See attached

**files (2)**

– ## DB1.docx

– ## Unit1StudyGuide.pdf

**## DB1.docx**

Part II: As a leader of an occupational safety and health program, you will be responsible for setting goals that will drive continuous improvement. Do you think having a goal of zero injuries is effective at driving continuous improvement? Include how this goal will support or detract from employee involvement. Respond to another student's post with a comment that supports his or her position or provides an alternative point of view.

Reply 1: Abel Plascencia-Lopez

Part I: Hi, my name is Abel Plascencia. I live in Oklahoma just west of the OKC metro area. I currently work as a HSE Coordinator for a national oil field company. Thankfully I only focus on one region. My future goal is to get a college degree in safety and continue my education to be a more knowledgeable and a reliable source.

Part II: I believe that having zero injuries is a great goal! At the end of it all, that’s the goal. This comes at a price tough. That price is time, and research that sometimes we don’t even get acknowledged for. But keep in mind that someone is always listening and watching at a distance.

As HSE leaders we are supposed to stand our ground as long we have the appropriate facts, but we must be careful with this. This is not a power swing. It’s us showing proof of facts and the willingness to share our knowledge that will show a willingness to help, versus just telling someone they are wrong.

From my experience, being open minded to the prospective of the guys doing the work creates a bond with HSE and workers. And trust me, working together is better than working alone! And when we set realistic expectations, guys tend to include HSE more and more as we become a trusted source.

One mistake while improving does not define the culture, this can be used as a learning tool and another trick up my sleeve is. Small improvement rewards go a long way in shifting the mentality of the worker and that starts to shift the safety culture in the right track.

**## Unit1StudyGuide.pdf**

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit I

Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Describe safety-related roles and responsibilities of employees.
1.1 Identify the ways employees can contribute to the safety of a team or program.
1.2 Identify the term that refers to the seriousness of a loss or mishap.

Required Unit Resources

Chapter 1: Safety Management

Unit Lesson

Doctors, lawyers, teachers, carpenters, electricians—most people will be able to close their eyes and picture
individuals in these professions, and when asked, they would be able to describe what each type of
professional does. However, this is not usually true concerning a safety professional.

UNIT I STUDY GUIDE
The Safety Professional—Roles
and Responsibilities

(“Construction,” 2017)

(American Public Power
Association, 2017)

(Brosy, 2018)

(Gray, 2017)

(Hunters Race,
2017)

(Nguyen, 2017)

Doctors, lawyers, teachers, carpenters, electricians—these are all common
occupations that are familiar to everyone, but what does a safety professional do?

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 2

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

What does a safety professional do? When asked, people will give responses such as keeping people safe or
ensuring employees follows the safety rules. However, if you think about it logically, these should be the
responsibilities of everyone in every organization, not just the safety professional!

The safety professional’s role is to manage safety, just as any other element of the business is managed.
Safety professionals are responsible for coordinating the resources that frontline supervisors need in order to
implement a successful safety management system. They also act as advisors or consultants to mid-level and
upper management, guiding them in the process of implementing a safety management system.

The structure of the safety management system may vary slightly depending on the basis on which it is
developed. Consensus standards or published programs such as the following can be used as a basis when
developing a safety management system:

• the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) / American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP)
American National Standard for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems Z10.0;

• the British Standards Institution (BSI), Occupational Health and Safety System Standard OHSAS
18001;

• the International Organization for Standardization, Occupational Health and Safety Management
Systems;

• the National Safety Council’s Nine Elements of a Successful Safety and Health System; and
• the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Program (VPP).

All of the above differ slightly, but they all generally require similar elements, including management
commitment, employee involvement, hazard recognition and control, and training. Implementing these
standards across the various levels of the organization will take some persuasion at every level, from top
management down to frontline employees.

A key element of implementation is securing resources in terms of employee time as well as finances. When
presenting a case to upper management for the implementation of a formal safety and health management
system, it will be important to capture the direct costs of injures, such as insurance premiums; legal fees;
and other medical costs such as surgery, rehabilitation, and physical therapy. It will also to address the
potential indirect costs. These indirect costs include impacts to the business in reduced head count when
employees are out, time spent investigating incidents, negative impact on employee morale, increased

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 3

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

overtime, risk for equipment failure, and the social license of the organization, which is how the local
community views a business.

Looking at a complete picture of the possible impacts that injuries can have on an organization will enable top
management to see the value of committing resources to a safety management system. Let’s look at an
example: Suppose a maintenance employee tears a rotator cuff working on a piece of equipment and is
required to be off work for six weeks. The direct medical costs of this are evident—a costly surgery followed
by numerous physical therapy sessions.

However, the indirect impacts are actually much larger. The maintenance department now has one fewer
employee for six weeks, which will result in one of two scenarios: work not being completed, causing
increased risk for equipment failure or downtime, or increased overtime for the remaining employees that is
costly and has the potential for resulting in additional injuries or poor workmanship because of exhaustion.
This can begin to wear down the remaining employees, thereby, adversely impacting morale. As we see in
our example, a single injury has the potential to result in significant indirect costs to the organization.

Once management is on board with the implementation of a safety management system, the next step is to
work with the employees to ensure that they are involved. The employees, especially those on the front line
and their supervisors, must be engaged early in the development of a safety management system. These are
the employees who will be affected most by any changes brought about because of new policies, procedures,
or requirements. These all reflect change, and change can be hard. Change is generally more acceptable to
those who can influence that change.

Getting direct feedback from the employees early in the process allows them to have a voice. This can be
done in many ways; one of the most effective ways can be the formation of a health and safety committee.
This committee should be cross-functional and comprised of employees from all departments and levels of
the organization. These committees can be used to develop new safety-related policies and procedures and
to obtain feedback from the workforce.

It can also be effective to form subcommittees to focus on specific areas that need physical items produced,
such as a written plan. An example of this would be the formation of a subcommittee within the health and
safety committee whose focus would be the development of an emergency action plan. This group can focus
its efforts on preparing the plan as well as the plan’s rollout, including training. The subcommittee can present
its progress to the larger health and safety committee and gain consensus on their decisions. In doing this,
the employees will own their specific component of the safety program and will work to ensure that it is a
success. As the safety professional, you can support these committees by outlining the regulatory and
organization requirements while letting the employees develop a program to meet those requirements.

While developing a safety management system cannot be
done by the safety professional alone, he or she does
have a significant role in it, especially from a technical
point of view. The safety professional must have the
skills, abilities, and expertise to manage the program
implementation. This starts with the ability to
communicate diverse types of information effectively to all
levels of the organization. This communication is
dynamic, changing in content, scope, and format
depending on the audience. Safety professionals must be
able to develop and deliver clear, concise summaries
intended for top-level executives while also being able to
prepare detail-oriented, topic-specific training materials
intended for frontline employees. They will also be
required to prepare executive-level memos that provide a
cursory review of safety performance while also being
required to prepare detailed reports such as those
required by regulatory agencies and insurance providers.
Safety professionals must also be able to communicate
verbally with mid-level management—most importantly
frontline supervisors—when outlining their roles and responsibilities in the safety management system.

Safety professionals attend a safety training
session, which requires effective verbal and
written communication
(Oregon Department of Transportation, 2012)

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 4

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

To communicate effectively, safety professionals must be confident in their own skills and abilities. The
necessary skills and abilities are built on a solid foundation in the behavioral, technical, legal, and regulatory
requirements of health and safety. This requires knowledge from many disciplines, including psychology,
anatomy, physiology, physics, biology, chemistry, and engineering. This knowledge will provide the safety
professional the ability to interpret local, state, and federal regulations, including those published by OSHA
and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). These are the minimum requirements to which the
organization must adhere. The safety professional must have a thorough understanding of these
requirements and be able to communicate to employees in the organization how they can be integrated into
their daily activities.

Health and safety requirements cannot be an additional requirement for employees; they must be a normal
part of their daily routine. Getting a formal education in occupational safety and health or a related field is a
great start to establishing this foundation. However, a successful safety professional must be committed to
lifelong learning. This can be accomplished through professional safety organizations such as the Board of
Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP), American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP), American Board of
Industrial Hygiene (ABIH), and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH).
These organizations offer memberships and certifications with opportunities for continuous education. This
is important because the field of health and safety is ever-evolving, a strong safety professional will need to
stay current.

Finally, the safety professional must be persistent, constantly pushing for continuous improvement. Working
with the appropriate level of leadership, the safety professional must establish realistic and achievable, yet
aggressive, goals for continuous safety improvement.

The key is setting goals that will drive continuous improvement while maintaining a level of realism. While it
is obvious that any organization implementing a safety management system wants zero injuries, it may not
be a realistic goal when a program is in the very early stages of its development. For example, a facility that
has consistently maintained a total recordable case rate of greater than five for the past 10 years, along
with a days-of-restricted work activity or job transfer (DART) incident rate of more than two for that same
time period, will be unlikely to reduce those values to zero in the first year of implementing a safety
management system.

Setting unrealistic goals can frustrate employees. For example, suppose a facility management team rolls out
a safety management system initiative on January 2 with enthusiasm and employee support. However, they
only provide one measurable goal: zero injuries. The employees will strive to achieve that goal, implementing
the safety management system. Six months later, after a significant amount of challenging work by
employees at all levels, the facility has three recordable incidents for that year. Without additional context, this
can be viewed by the employees as a failure, resulting in their becoming disengaged in the initiative.

This is the danger of only measuring performance on lagging indicators, which are things that have already
happened. It is possible that of those three injuries, none resulted in DART that would indicate that the injuries
at the facility may be less severe. Severity can be measured by injuries that result in DART. If using lagging
indicators, such as injuries, targets should be set on reducing the severity and frequency of injuries, using the
facility’s history as a baseline and targeting incremental improvements.

However, it can be more beneficial to focus on leading indicators, or things that are yet to happen. They can
be targeted for improvement. Examples of leading indicators could be safety meeting attendance, the number
of safety hazards identified by employees, positive safety behavior observations, or the number of safety
trainings offered. These are metrics employees at all levels can directly impact and help improve if they are
committed to a successful safety management system.

Whatever the goals, it will be critical for the safety professional to keep the management team, as well as the
frontline employees, aware as the day-to-day operations take place so that the organization will continue to
work toward them. Continuous improvement is the key to reaching advanced levels in safety management,
and it can lead to a zero-injury workplace if implemented correctly.

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 5

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

References

American Public Power Association. (2017, October 30). Bryan Municipal Utilities [Photograph]. Unsplash.

https://unsplash.com/photos/fHLdXfURDhA

Brosy, M. (2018, July 30). Doctor with a stethoscope [Photograph]. Unsplash.

https://unsplash.com/photos/hIgeoQjS_iE

Gray, A. (2017, September 19). Man, male, saw and workshop [Photograph]. Unsplash.

https://unsplash.com/photos/WEWTGkPUVT0

Hunters Race. (2017, October 10). This is a shot of the owner of New Zealand watch company – Hunters

Race [Photograph]. Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/MYbhN8KaaEc

Nguyen, T. (2017, November 25). Physics teacher [Photograph]. Unsplash.

https://unsplash.com/photos/TVSRWmnW8Us

Oregon Department of Transportation. (2012, April 9). B210 safety training (7256587444) [Photograph].

Wikimedia Commons.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:B210_Safety_Training_(7256587444).jpg

Suggested Unit Resources

You are encouraged to read the following chapter in your textbook for insight on the role of communication in
safety management.

Chapter 2: Communication

In order to access the following resources, click the links below.

Read pp. 9–10 in the following document.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2016). Recommended practices for safety and health

programs (OSHA Report No. 3885).
https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf

ClickView Pty Limited (Producer). (2010). Conclusion: Why OH&S is important to everyone (Segment 6 of 7)

[Video]. In Workplace health and safety. Films on Demand.
https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPla
ylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285

For a transcript of this segment, click the Transcript tab next to the video in the Films on Demand database.

The following article provides a perspective on how executive-level leadership develops safety improvement
strategies.

IHI/NPSF Lucian Leape Institute. (2017). Leading a Culture of Safety: a Blueprint for success. IHI/NPSF

Lucian Leape Institute (p. 31) [Report].
https://www.ihi.org/sites/default/files/Leading_a_Culture_of_Safety_Blueprint.pdf

Read the following document to see an excellent example of how employees at various levels can work
together to form safety management systems focused on prevention.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2018). The electric power industry: Lighting the way for

safety and health programs. https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf

[https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf](https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf)

[https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf](https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf)

[https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285](https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285)

[https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285](https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285)

[https://www.ihi.org/sites/default/files/Leading_a_Culture_of_Safety_Blueprint.pdf](https://www.ihi.org/sites/default/files/Leading_a_Culture_of_Safety_Blueprint.pdf)

[https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf](https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf)

[https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf](https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf)

– Course Learning Outcomes for Unit I
– Required Unit Resources
– Unit Lesson

– References

– Suggested Unit Resources

**## Unit1StudyGuide.pdf**

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit I

Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Describe safety-related roles and responsibilities of employees.
1.1 Identify the ways employees can contribute to the safety of a team or program.
1.2 Identify the term that refers to the seriousness of a loss or mishap.

Required Unit Resources

Chapter 1: Safety Management

Unit Lesson

Doctors, lawyers, teachers, carpenters, electricians—most people will be able to close their eyes and picture
individuals in these professions, and when asked, they would be able to describe what each type of
professional does. However, this is not usually true concerning a safety professional.

UNIT I STUDY GUIDE
The Safety Professional—Roles
and Responsibilities

(“Construction,” 2017)

(American Public Power
Association, 2017)

(Brosy, 2018)

(Gray, 2017)

(Hunters Race,
2017)

(Nguyen, 2017)

Doctors, lawyers, teachers, carpenters, electricians—these are all common
occupations that are familiar to everyone, but what does a safety professional do?

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 2

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

What does a safety professional do? When asked, people will give responses such as keeping people safe or
ensuring employees follows the safety rules. However, if you think about it logically, these should be the
responsibilities of everyone in every organization, not just the safety professional!

The safety professional’s role is to manage safety, just as any other element of the business is managed.
Safety professionals are responsible for coordinating the resources that frontline supervisors need in order to
implement a successful safety management system. They also act as advisors or consultants to mid-level and
upper management, guiding them in the process of implementing a safety management system.

The structure of the safety management system may vary slightly depending on the basis on which it is
developed. Consensus standards or published programs such as the following can be used as a basis when
developing a safety management system:

• the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) / American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP)
American National Standard for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems Z10.0;

• the British Standards Institution (BSI), Occupational Health and Safety System Standard OHSAS
18001;

• the International Organization for Standardization, Occupational Health and Safety Management
Systems;

• the National Safety Council’s Nine Elements of a Successful Safety and Health System; and
• the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Program (VPP).

All of the above differ slightly, but they all generally require similar elements, including management
commitment, employee involvement, hazard recognition and control, and training. Implementing these
standards across the various levels of the organization will take some persuasion at every level, from top
management down to frontline employees.

A key element of implementation is securing resources in terms of employee time as well as finances. When
presenting a case to upper management for the implementation of a formal safety and health management
system, it will be important to capture the direct costs of injures, such as insurance premiums; legal fees;
and other medical costs such as surgery, rehabilitation, and physical therapy. It will also to address the
potential indirect costs. These indirect costs include impacts to the business in reduced head count when
employees are out, time spent investigating incidents, negative impact on employee morale, increased

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 3

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

overtime, risk for equipment failure, and the social license of the organization, which is how the local
community views a business.

Looking at a complete picture of the possible impacts that injuries can have on an organization will enable top
management to see the value of committing resources to a safety management system. Let’s look at an
example: Suppose a maintenance employee tears a rotator cuff working on a piece of equipment and is
required to be off work for six weeks. The direct medical costs of this are evident—a costly surgery followed
by numerous physical therapy sessions.

However, the indirect impacts are actually much larger. The maintenance department now has one fewer
employee for six weeks, which will result in one of two scenarios: work not being completed, causing
increased risk for equipment failure or downtime, or increased overtime for the remaining employees that is
costly and has the potential for resulting in additional injuries or poor workmanship because of exhaustion.
This can begin to wear down the remaining employees, thereby, adversely impacting morale. As we see in
our example, a single injury has the potential to result in significant indirect costs to the organization.

Once management is on board with the implementation of a safety management system, the next step is to
work with the employees to ensure that they are involved. The employees, especially those on the front line
and their supervisors, must be engaged early in the development of a safety management system. These are
the employees who will be affected most by any changes brought about because of new policies, procedures,
or requirements. These all reflect change, and change can be hard. Change is generally more acceptable to
those who can influence that change.

Getting direct feedback from the employees early in the process allows them to have a voice. This can be
done in many ways; one of the most effective ways can be the formation of a health and safety committee.
This committee should be cross-functional and comprised of employees from all departments and levels of
the organization. These committees can be used to develop new safety-related policies and procedures and
to obtain feedback from the workforce.

It can also be effective to form subcommittees to focus on specific areas that need physical items produced,
such as a written plan. An example of this would be the formation of a subcommittee within the health and
safety committee whose focus would be the development of an emergency action plan. This group can focus
its efforts on preparing the plan as well as the plan’s rollout, including training. The subcommittee can present
its progress to the larger health and safety committee and gain consensus on their decisions. In doing this,
the employees will own their specific component of the safety program and will work to ensure that it is a
success. As the safety professional, you can support these committees by outlining the regulatory and
organization requirements while letting the employees develop a program to meet those requirements.

While developing a safety management system cannot be
done by the safety professional alone, he or she does
have a significant role in it, especially from a technical
point of view. The safety professional must have the
skills, abilities, and expertise to manage the program
implementation. This starts with the ability to
communicate diverse types of information effectively to all
levels of the organization. This communication is
dynamic, changing in content, scope, and format
depending on the audience. Safety professionals must be
able to develop and deliver clear, concise summaries
intended for top-level executives while also being able to
prepare detail-oriented, topic-specific training materials
intended for frontline employees. They will also be
required to prepare executive-level memos that provide a
cursory review of safety performance while also being
required to prepare detailed reports such as those
required by regulatory agencies and insurance providers.
Safety professionals must also be able to communicate
verbally with mid-level management—most importantly
frontline supervisors—when outlining their roles and responsibilities in the safety management system.

Safety professionals attend a safety training
session, which requires effective verbal and
written communication
(Oregon Department of Transportation, 2012)

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 4

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

To communicate effectively, safety professionals must be confident in their own skills and abilities. The
necessary skills and abilities are built on a solid foundation in the behavioral, technical, legal, and regulatory
requirements of health and safety. This requires knowledge from many disciplines, including psychology,
anatomy, physiology, physics, biology, chemistry, and engineering. This knowledge will provide the safety
professional the ability to interpret local, state, and federal regulations, including those published by OSHA
and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). These are the minimum requirements to which the
organization must adhere. The safety professional must have a thorough understanding of these
requirements and be able to communicate to employees in the organization how they can be integrated into
their daily activities.

Health and safety requirements cannot be an additional requirement for employees; they must be a normal
part of their daily routine. Getting a formal education in occupational safety and health or a related field is a
great start to establishing this foundation. However, a successful safety professional must be committed to
lifelong learning. This can be accomplished through professional safety organizations such as the Board of
Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP), American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP), American Board of
Industrial Hygiene (ABIH), and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH).
These organizations offer memberships and certifications with opportunities for continuous education. This
is important because the field of health and safety is ever-evolving, a strong safety professional will need to
stay current.

Finally, the safety professional must be persistent, constantly pushing for continuous improvement. Working
with the appropriate level of leadership, the safety professional must establish realistic and achievable, yet
aggressive, goals for continuous safety improvement.

The key is setting goals that will drive continuous improvement while maintaining a level of realism. While it
is obvious that any organization implementing a safety management system wants zero injuries, it may not
be a realistic goal when a program is in the very early stages of its development. For example, a facility that
has consistently maintained a total recordable case rate of greater than five for the past 10 years, along
with a days-of-restricted work activity or job transfer (DART) incident rate of more than two for that same
time period, will be unlikely to reduce those values to zero in the first year of implementing a safety
management system.

Setting unrealistic goals can frustrate employees. For example, suppose a facility management team rolls out
a safety management system initiative on January 2 with enthusiasm and employee support. However, they
only provide one measurable goal: zero injuries. The employees will strive to achieve that goal, implementing
the safety management system. Six months later, after a significant amount of challenging work by
employees at all levels, the facility has three recordable incidents for that year. Without additional context, this
can be viewed by the employees as a failure, resulting in their becoming disengaged in the initiative.

This is the danger of only measuring performance on lagging indicators, which are things that have already
happened. It is possible that of those three injuries, none resulted in DART that would indicate that the injuries
at the facility may be less severe. Severity can be measured by injuries that result in DART. If using lagging
indicators, such as injuries, targets should be set on reducing the severity and frequency of injuries, using the
facility’s history as a baseline and targeting incremental improvements.

However, it can be more beneficial to focus on leading indicators, or things that are yet to happen. They can
be targeted for improvement. Examples of leading indicators could be safety meeting attendance, the number
of safety hazards identified by employees, positive safety behavior observations, or the number of safety
trainings offered. These are metrics employees at all levels can directly impact and help improve if they are
committed to a successful safety management system.

Whatever the goals, it will be critical for the safety professional to keep the management team, as well as the
frontline employees, aware as the day-to-day operations take place so that the organization will continue to
work toward them. Continuous improvement is the key to reaching advanced levels in safety management,
and it can lead to a zero-injury workplace if implemented correctly.

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 5

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

References

American Public Power Association. (2017, October 30). Bryan Municipal Utilities [Photograph]. Unsplash.

https://unsplash.com/photos/fHLdXfURDhA

Brosy, M. (2018, July 30). Doctor with a stethoscope [Photograph]. Unsplash.

https://unsplash.com/photos/hIgeoQjS_iE

Gray, A. (2017, September 19). Man, male, saw and workshop [Photograph]. Unsplash.

https://unsplash.com/photos/WEWTGkPUVT0

Hunters Race. (2017, October 10). This is a shot of the owner of New Zealand watch company – Hunters

Race [Photograph]. Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/MYbhN8KaaEc

Nguyen, T. (2017, November 25). Physics teacher [Photograph]. Unsplash.

https://unsplash.com/photos/TVSRWmnW8Us

Oregon Department of Transportation. (2012, April 9). B210 safety training (7256587444) [Photograph].

Wikimedia Commons.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:B210_Safety_Training_(7256587444).jpg

Suggested Unit Resources

You are encouraged to read the following chapter in your textbook for insight on the role of communication in
safety management.

Chapter 2: Communication

In order to access the following resources, click the links below.

Read pp. 9–10 in the following document.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2016). Recommended practices for safety and health

programs (OSHA Report No. 3885).
https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf

ClickView Pty Limited (Producer). (2010). Conclusion: Why OH&S is important to everyone (Segment 6 of 7)

[Video]. In Workplace health and safety. Films on Demand.
https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPla
ylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285

For a transcript of this segment, click the Transcript tab next to the video in the Films on Demand database.

The following article provides a perspective on how executive-level leadership develops safety improvement
strategies.

IHI/NPSF Lucian Leape Institute. (2017). Leading a Culture of Safety: a Blueprint for success. IHI/NPSF

Lucian Leape Institute (p. 31) [Report].
https://www.ihi.org/sites/default/files/Leading_a_Culture_of_Safety_Blueprint.pdf

Read the following document to see an excellent example of how employees at various levels can work
together to form safety management systems focused on prevention.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2018). The electric power industry: Lighting the way for

safety and health programs. https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf

[https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf](https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf)

[https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf](https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf)

[https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285](https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285)

[https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285](https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285)

[https://www.ihi.org/sites/default/files/Leading_a_Culture_of_Safety_Blueprint.pdf](https://www.ihi.org/sites/default/files/Leading_a_Culture_of_Safety_Blueprint.pdf)

[https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf](https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf)

[https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf](https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf)

– Course Learning Outcomes for Unit I
– Required Unit Resources
– Unit Lesson

– References

– Suggested Unit Resources

**## DB1.docx**

Part II: As a leader of an occupational safety and health program, you will be responsible for setting goals that will drive continuous improvement. Do you think having a goal of zero injuries is effective at driving continuous improvement? Include how this goal will support or detract from employee involvement. Respond to another student's post with a comment that supports his or her position or provides an alternative point of view.

Reply 1: Abel Plascencia-Lopez

Part I: Hi, my name is Abel Plascencia. I live in Oklahoma just west of the OKC metro area. I currently work as a HSE Coordinator for a national oil field company. Thankfully I only focus on one region. My future goal is to get a college degree in safety and continue my education to be a more knowledgeable and a reliable source.

Part II: I believe that having zero injuries is a great goal! At the end of it all, that’s the goal. This comes at a price tough. That price is time, and research that sometimes we don’t even get acknowledged for. But keep in mind that someone is always listening and watching at a distance.

As HSE leaders we are supposed to stand our ground as long we have the appropriate facts, but we must be careful with this. This is not a power swing. It’s us showing proof of facts and the willingness to share our knowledge that will show a willingness to help, versus just telling someone they are wrong.

From my experience, being open minded to the prospective of the guys doing the work creates a bond with HSE and workers. And trust me, working together is better than working alone! And when we set realistic expectations, guys tend to include HSE more and more as we become a trusted source.

One mistake while improving does not define the culture, this can be used as a learning tool and another trick up my sleeve is. Small improvement rewards go a long way in shifting the mentality of the worker and that starts to shift the safety culture in the right track.

**## Unit1StudyGuide.pdf**

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit I

Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Describe safety-related roles and responsibilities of employees.
1.1 Identify the ways employees can contribute to the safety of a team or program.
1.2 Identify the term that refers to the seriousness of a loss or mishap.

Required Unit Resources

Chapter 1: Safety Management

Unit Lesson

Doctors, lawyers, teachers, carpenters, electricians—most people will be able to close their eyes and picture
individuals in these professions, and when asked, they would be able to describe what each type of
professional does. However, this is not usually true concerning a safety professional.

UNIT I STUDY GUIDE
The Safety Professional—Roles
and Responsibilities

(“Construction,” 2017)

(American Public Power
Association, 2017)

(Brosy, 2018)

(Gray, 2017)

(Hunters Race,
2017)

(Nguyen, 2017)

Doctors, lawyers, teachers, carpenters, electricians—these are all common
occupations that are familiar to everyone, but what does a safety professional do?

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 2

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

What does a safety professional do? When asked, people will give responses such as keeping people safe or
ensuring employees follows the safety rules. However, if you think about it logically, these should be the
responsibilities of everyone in every organization, not just the safety professional!

The safety professional’s role is to manage safety, just as any other element of the business is managed.
Safety professionals are responsible for coordinating the resources that frontline supervisors need in order to
implement a successful safety management system. They also act as advisors or consultants to mid-level and
upper management, guiding them in the process of implementing a safety management system.

The structure of the safety management system may vary slightly depending on the basis on which it is
developed. Consensus standards or published programs such as the following can be used as a basis when
developing a safety management system:

• the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) / American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP)
American National Standard for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems Z10.0;

• the British Standards Institution (BSI), Occupational Health and Safety System Standard OHSAS
18001;

• the International Organization for Standardization, Occupational Health and Safety Management
Systems;

• the National Safety Council’s Nine Elements of a Successful Safety and Health System; and
• the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Program (VPP).

All of the above differ slightly, but they all generally require similar elements, including management
commitment, employee involvement, hazard recognition and control, and training. Implementing these
standards across the various levels of the organization will take some persuasion at every level, from top
management down to frontline employees.

A key element of implementation is securing resources in terms of employee time as well as finances. When
presenting a case to upper management for the implementation of a formal safety and health management
system, it will be important to capture the direct costs of injures, such as insurance premiums; legal fees;
and other medical costs such as surgery, rehabilitation, and physical therapy. It will also to address the
potential indirect costs. These indirect costs include impacts to the business in reduced head count when
employees are out, time spent investigating incidents, negative impact on employee morale, increased

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 3

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

overtime, risk for equipment failure, and the social license of the organization, which is how the local
community views a business.

Looking at a complete picture of the possible impacts that injuries can have on an organization will enable top
management to see the value of committing resources to a safety management system. Let’s look at an
example: Suppose a maintenance employee tears a rotator cuff working on a piece of equipment and is
required to be off work for six weeks. The direct medical costs of this are evident—a costly surgery followed
by numerous physical therapy sessions.

However, the indirect impacts are actually much larger. The maintenance department now has one fewer
employee for six weeks, which will result in one of two scenarios: work not being completed, causing
increased risk for equipment failure or downtime, or increased overtime for the remaining employees that is
costly and has the potential for resulting in additional injuries or poor workmanship because of exhaustion.
This can begin to wear down the remaining employees, thereby, adversely impacting morale. As we see in
our example, a single injury has the potential to result in significant indirect costs to the organization.

Once management is on board with the implementation of a safety management system, the next step is to
work with the employees to ensure that they are involved. The employees, especially those on the front line
and their supervisors, must be engaged early in the development of a safety management system. These are
the employees who will be affected most by any changes brought about because of new policies, procedures,
or requirements. These all reflect change, and change can be hard. Change is generally more acceptable to
those who can influence that change.

Getting direct feedback from the employees early in the process allows them to have a voice. This can be
done in many ways; one of the most effective ways can be the formation of a health and safety committee.
This committee should be cross-functional and comprised of employees from all departments and levels of
the organization. These committees can be used to develop new safety-related policies and procedures and
to obtain feedback from the workforce.

It can also be effective to form subcommittees to focus on specific areas that need physical items produced,
such as a written plan. An example of this would be the formation of a subcommittee within the health and
safety committee whose focus would be the development of an emergency action plan. This group can focus
its efforts on preparing the plan as well as the plan’s rollout, including training. The subcommittee can present
its progress to the larger health and safety committee and gain consensus on their decisions. In doing this,
the employees will own their specific component of the safety program and will work to ensure that it is a
success. As the safety professional, you can support these committees by outlining the regulatory and
organization requirements while letting the employees develop a program to meet those requirements.

While developing a safety management system cannot be
done by the safety professional alone, he or she does
have a significant role in it, especially from a technical
point of view. The safety professional must have the
skills, abilities, and expertise to manage the program
implementation. This starts with the ability to
communicate diverse types of information effectively to all
levels of the organization. This communication is
dynamic, changing in content, scope, and format
depending on the audience. Safety professionals must be
able to develop and deliver clear, concise summaries
intended for top-level executives while also being able to
prepare detail-oriented, topic-specific training materials
intended for frontline employees. They will also be
required to prepare executive-level memos that provide a
cursory review of safety performance while also being
required to prepare detailed reports such as those
required by regulatory agencies and insurance providers.
Safety professionals must also be able to communicate
verbally with mid-level management—most importantly
frontline supervisors—when outlining their roles and responsibilities in the safety management system.

Safety professionals attend a safety training
session, which requires effective verbal and
written communication
(Oregon Department of Transportation, 2012)

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 4

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

To communicate effectively, safety professionals must be confident in their own skills and abilities. The
necessary skills and abilities are built on a solid foundation in the behavioral, technical, legal, and regulatory
requirements of health and safety. This requires knowledge from many disciplines, including psychology,
anatomy, physiology, physics, biology, chemistry, and engineering. This knowledge will provide the safety
professional the ability to interpret local, state, and federal regulations, including those published by OSHA
and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). These are the minimum requirements to which the
organization must adhere. The safety professional must have a thorough understanding of these
requirements and be able to communicate to employees in the organization how they can be integrated into
their daily activities.

Health and safety requirements cannot be an additional requirement for employees; they must be a normal
part of their daily routine. Getting a formal education in occupational safety and health or a related field is a
great start to establishing this foundation. However, a successful safety professional must be committed to
lifelong learning. This can be accomplished through professional safety organizations such as the Board of
Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP), American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP), American Board of
Industrial Hygiene (ABIH), and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH).
These organizations offer memberships and certifications with opportunities for continuous education. This
is important because the field of health and safety is ever-evolving, a strong safety professional will need to
stay current.

Finally, the safety professional must be persistent, constantly pushing for continuous improvement. Working
with the appropriate level of leadership, the safety professional must establish realistic and achievable, yet
aggressive, goals for continuous safety improvement.

The key is setting goals that will drive continuous improvement while maintaining a level of realism. While it
is obvious that any organization implementing a safety management system wants zero injuries, it may not
be a realistic goal when a program is in the very early stages of its development. For example, a facility that
has consistently maintained a total recordable case rate of greater than five for the past 10 years, along
with a days-of-restricted work activity or job transfer (DART) incident rate of more than two for that same
time period, will be unlikely to reduce those values to zero in the first year of implementing a safety
management system.

Setting unrealistic goals can frustrate employees. For example, suppose a facility management team rolls out
a safety management system initiative on January 2 with enthusiasm and employee support. However, they
only provide one measurable goal: zero injuries. The employees will strive to achieve that goal, implementing
the safety management system. Six months later, after a significant amount of challenging work by
employees at all levels, the facility has three recordable incidents for that year. Without additional context, this
can be viewed by the employees as a failure, resulting in their becoming disengaged in the initiative.

This is the danger of only measuring performance on lagging indicators, which are things that have already
happened. It is possible that of those three injuries, none resulted in DART that would indicate that the injuries
at the facility may be less severe. Severity can be measured by injuries that result in DART. If using lagging
indicators, such as injuries, targets should be set on reducing the severity and frequency of injuries, using the
facility’s history as a baseline and targeting incremental improvements.

However, it can be more beneficial to focus on leading indicators, or things that are yet to happen. They can
be targeted for improvement. Examples of leading indicators could be safety meeting attendance, the number
of safety hazards identified by employees, positive safety behavior observations, or the number of safety
trainings offered. These are metrics employees at all levels can directly impact and help improve if they are
committed to a successful safety management system.

Whatever the goals, it will be critical for the safety professional to keep the management team, as well as the
frontline employees, aware as the day-to-day operations take place so that the organization will continue to
work toward them. Continuous improvement is the key to reaching advanced levels in safety management,
and it can lead to a zero-injury workplace if implemented correctly.

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 5

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

References

American Public Power Association. (2017, October 30). Bryan Municipal Utilities [Photograph]. Unsplash.

https://unsplash.com/photos/fHLdXfURDhA

Brosy, M. (2018, July 30). Doctor with a stethoscope [Photograph]. Unsplash.

https://unsplash.com/photos/hIgeoQjS_iE

Gray, A. (2017, September 19). Man, male, saw and workshop [Photograph]. Unsplash.

https://unsplash.com/photos/WEWTGkPUVT0

Hunters Race. (2017, October 10). This is a shot of the owner of New Zealand watch company – Hunters

Race [Photograph]. Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/MYbhN8KaaEc

Nguyen, T. (2017, November 25). Physics teacher [Photograph]. Unsplash.

https://unsplash.com/photos/TVSRWmnW8Us

Oregon Department of Transportation. (2012, April 9). B210 safety training (7256587444) [Photograph].

Wikimedia Commons.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:B210_Safety_Training_(7256587444).jpg

Suggested Unit Resources

You are encouraged to read the following chapter in your textbook for insight on the role of communication in
safety management.

Chapter 2: Communication

In order to access the following resources, click the links below.

Read pp. 9–10 in the following document.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2016). Recommended practices for safety and health

programs (OSHA Report No. 3885).
https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf

ClickView Pty Limited (Producer). (2010). Conclusion: Why OH&S is important to everyone (Segment 6 of 7)

[Video]. In Workplace health and safety. Films on Demand.
https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPla
ylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285

For a transcript of this segment, click the Transcript tab next to the video in the Films on Demand database.

The following article provides a perspective on how executive-level leadership develops safety improvement
strategies.

IHI/NPSF Lucian Leape Institute. (2017). Leading a Culture of Safety: a Blueprint for success. IHI/NPSF

Lucian Leape Institute (p. 31) [Report].
https://www.ihi.org/sites/default/files/Leading_a_Culture_of_Safety_Blueprint.pdf

Read the following document to see an excellent example of how employees at various levels can work
together to form safety management systems focused on prevention.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2018). The electric power industry: Lighting the way for

safety and health programs. https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf

[https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf](https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf)

[https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf](https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf)

[https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285](https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285)

[https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285](https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285)

[https://www.ihi.org/sites/default/files/Leading_a_Culture_of_Safety_Blueprint.pdf](https://www.ihi.org/sites/default/files/Leading_a_Culture_of_Safety_Blueprint.pdf)

[https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf](https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf)

[https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf](https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf)

– Course Learning Outcomes for Unit I
– Required Unit Resources
– Unit Lesson

– References

– Suggested Unit Resources

**## DB1.docx**

Part II: As a leader of an occupational safety and health program, you will be responsible for setting goals that will drive continuous improvement. Do you think having a goal of zero injuries is effective at driving continuous improvement? Include how this goal will support or detract from employee involvement. Respond to another student's post with a comment that supports his or her position or provides an alternative point of view.

Reply 1: Abel Plascencia-Lopez

Part I: Hi, my name is Abel Plascencia. I live in Oklahoma just west of the OKC metro area. I currently work as a HSE Coordinator for a national oil field company. Thankfully I only focus on one region. My future goal is to get a college degree in safety and continue my education to be a more knowledgeable and a reliable source.

Part II: I believe that having zero injuries is a great goal! At the end of it all, that’s the goal. This comes at a price tough. That price is time, and research that sometimes we don’t even get acknowledged for. But keep in mind that someone is always listening and watching at a distance.

As HSE leaders we are supposed to stand our ground as long we have the appropriate facts, but we must be careful with this. This is not a power swing. It’s us showing proof of facts and the willingness to share our knowledge that will show a willingness to help, versus just telling someone they are wrong.

From my experience, being open minded to the prospective of the guys doing the work creates a bond with HSE and workers. And trust me, working together is better than working alone! And when we set realistic expectations, guys tend to include HSE more and more as we become a trusted source.

One mistake while improving does not define the culture, this can be used as a learning tool and another trick up my sleeve is. Small improvement rewards go a long way in shifting the mentality of the worker and that starts to shift the safety culture in the right track.

**## Unit1StudyGuide.pdf**

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit I

Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Describe safety-related roles and responsibilities of employees.
1.1 Identify the ways employees can contribute to the safety of a team or program.
1.2 Identify the term that refers to the seriousness of a loss or mishap.

Required Unit Resources

Chapter 1: Safety Management

Unit Lesson

Doctors, lawyers, teachers, carpenters, electricians—most people will be able to close their eyes and picture
individuals in these professions, and when asked, they would be able to describe what each type of
professional does. However, this is not usually true concerning a safety professional.

UNIT I STUDY GUIDE
The Safety Professional—Roles
and Responsibilities

(“Construction,” 2017)

(American Public Power
Association, 2017)

(Brosy, 2018)

(Gray, 2017)

(Hunters Race,
2017)

(Nguyen, 2017)

Doctors, lawyers, teachers, carpenters, electricians—these are all common
occupations that are familiar to everyone, but what does a safety professional do?

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 2

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

What does a safety professional do? When asked, people will give responses such as keeping people safe or
ensuring employees follows the safety rules. However, if you think about it logically, these should be the
responsibilities of everyone in every organization, not just the safety professional!

The safety professional’s role is to manage safety, just as any other element of the business is managed.
Safety professionals are responsible for coordinating the resources that frontline supervisors need in order to
implement a successful safety management system. They also act as advisors or consultants to mid-level and
upper management, guiding them in the process of implementing a safety management system.

The structure of the safety management system may vary slightly depending on the basis on which it is
developed. Consensus standards or published programs such as the following can be used as a basis when
developing a safety management system:

• the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) / American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP)
American National Standard for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems Z10.0;

• the British Standards Institution (BSI), Occupational Health and Safety System Standard OHSAS
18001;

• the International Organization for Standardization, Occupational Health and Safety Management
Systems;

• the National Safety Council’s Nine Elements of a Successful Safety and Health System; and
• the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Program (VPP).

All of the above differ slightly, but they all generally require similar elements, including management
commitment, employee involvement, hazard recognition and control, and training. Implementing these
standards across the various levels of the organization will take some persuasion at every level, from top
management down to frontline employees.

A key element of implementation is securing resources in terms of employee time as well as finances. When
presenting a case to upper management for the implementation of a formal safety and health management
system, it will be important to capture the direct costs of injures, such as insurance premiums; legal fees;
and other medical costs such as surgery, rehabilitation, and physical therapy. It will also to address the
potential indirect costs. These indirect costs include impacts to the business in reduced head count when
employees are out, time spent investigating incidents, negative impact on employee morale, increased

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 3

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

overtime, risk for equipment failure, and the social license of the organization, which is how the local
community views a business.

Looking at a complete picture of the possible impacts that injuries can have on an organization will enable top
management to see the value of committing resources to a safety management system. Let’s look at an
example: Suppose a maintenance employee tears a rotator cuff working on a piece of equipment and is
required to be off work for six weeks. The direct medical costs of this are evident—a costly surgery followed
by numerous physical therapy sessions.

However, the indirect impacts are actually much larger. The maintenance department now has one fewer
employee for six weeks, which will result in one of two scenarios: work not being completed, causing
increased risk for equipment failure or downtime, or increased overtime for the remaining employees that is
costly and has the potential for resulting in additional injuries or poor workmanship because of exhaustion.
This can begin to wear down the remaining employees, thereby, adversely impacting morale. As we see in
our example, a single injury has the potential to result in significant indirect costs to the organization.

Once management is on board with the implementation of a safety management system, the next step is to
work with the employees to ensure that they are involved. The employees, especially those on the front line
and their supervisors, must be engaged early in the development of a safety management system. These are
the employees who will be affected most by any changes brought about because of new policies, procedures,
or requirements. These all reflect change, and change can be hard. Change is generally more acceptable to
those who can influence that change.

Getting direct feedback from the employees early in the process allows them to have a voice. This can be
done in many ways; one of the most effective ways can be the formation of a health and safety committee.
This committee should be cross-functional and comprised of employees from all departments and levels of
the organization. These committees can be used to develop new safety-related policies and procedures and
to obtain feedback from the workforce.

It can also be effective to form subcommittees to focus on specific areas that need physical items produced,
such as a written plan. An example of this would be the formation of a subcommittee within the health and
safety committee whose focus would be the development of an emergency action plan. This group can focus
its efforts on preparing the plan as well as the plan’s rollout, including training. The subcommittee can present
its progress to the larger health and safety committee and gain consensus on their decisions. In doing this,
the employees will own their specific component of the safety program and will work to ensure that it is a
success. As the safety professional, you can support these committees by outlining the regulatory and
organization requirements while letting the employees develop a program to meet those requirements.

While developing a safety management system cannot be
done by the safety professional alone, he or she does
have a significant role in it, especially from a technical
point of view. The safety professional must have the
skills, abilities, and expertise to manage the program
implementation. This starts with the ability to
communicate diverse types of information effectively to all
levels of the organization. This communication is
dynamic, changing in content, scope, and format
depending on the audience. Safety professionals must be
able to develop and deliver clear, concise summaries
intended for top-level executives while also being able to
prepare detail-oriented, topic-specific training materials
intended for frontline employees. They will also be
required to prepare executive-level memos that provide a
cursory review of safety performance while also being
required to prepare detailed reports such as those
required by regulatory agencies and insurance providers.
Safety professionals must also be able to communicate
verbally with mid-level management—most importantly
frontline supervisors—when outlining their roles and responsibilities in the safety management system.

Safety professionals attend a safety training
session, which requires effective verbal and
written communication
(Oregon Department of Transportation, 2012)

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 4

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

To communicate effectively, safety professionals must be confident in their own skills and abilities. The
necessary skills and abilities are built on a solid foundation in the behavioral, technical, legal, and regulatory
requirements of health and safety. This requires knowledge from many disciplines, including psychology,
anatomy, physiology, physics, biology, chemistry, and engineering. This knowledge will provide the safety
professional the ability to interpret local, state, and federal regulations, including those published by OSHA
and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). These are the minimum requirements to which the
organization must adhere. The safety professional must have a thorough understanding of these
requirements and be able to communicate to employees in the organization how they can be integrated into
their daily activities.

Health and safety requirements cannot be an additional requirement for employees; they must be a normal
part of their daily routine. Getting a formal education in occupational safety and health or a related field is a
great start to establishing this foundation. However, a successful safety professional must be committed to
lifelong learning. This can be accomplished through professional safety organizations such as the Board of
Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP), American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP), American Board of
Industrial Hygiene (ABIH), and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH).
These organizations offer memberships and certifications with opportunities for continuous education. This
is important because the field of health and safety is ever-evolving, a strong safety professional will need to
stay current.

Finally, the safety professional must be persistent, constantly pushing for continuous improvement. Working
with the appropriate level of leadership, the safety professional must establish realistic and achievable, yet
aggressive, goals for continuous safety improvement.

The key is setting goals that will drive continuous improvement while maintaining a level of realism. While it
is obvious that any organization implementing a safety management system wants zero injuries, it may not
be a realistic goal when a program is in the very early stages of its development. For example, a facility that
has consistently maintained a total recordable case rate of greater than five for the past 10 years, along
with a days-of-restricted work activity or job transfer (DART) incident rate of more than two for that same
time period, will be unlikely to reduce those values to zero in the first year of implementing a safety
management system.

Setting unrealistic goals can frustrate employees. For example, suppose a facility management team rolls out
a safety management system initiative on January 2 with enthusiasm and employee support. However, they
only provide one measurable goal: zero injuries. The employees will strive to achieve that goal, implementing
the safety management system. Six months later, after a significant amount of challenging work by
employees at all levels, the facility has three recordable incidents for that year. Without additional context, this
can be viewed by the employees as a failure, resulting in their becoming disengaged in the initiative.

This is the danger of only measuring performance on lagging indicators, which are things that have already
happened. It is possible that of those three injuries, none resulted in DART that would indicate that the injuries
at the facility may be less severe. Severity can be measured by injuries that result in DART. If using lagging
indicators, such as injuries, targets should be set on reducing the severity and frequency of injuries, using the
facility’s history as a baseline and targeting incremental improvements.

However, it can be more beneficial to focus on leading indicators, or things that are yet to happen. They can
be targeted for improvement. Examples of leading indicators could be safety meeting attendance, the number
of safety hazards identified by employees, positive safety behavior observations, or the number of safety
trainings offered. These are metrics employees at all levels can directly impact and help improve if they are
committed to a successful safety management system.

Whatever the goals, it will be critical for the safety professional to keep the management team, as well as the
frontline employees, aware as the day-to-day operations take place so that the organization will continue to
work toward them. Continuous improvement is the key to reaching advanced levels in safety management,
and it can lead to a zero-injury workplace if implemented correctly.

OSH 2301, Introduction to Workplace Safety 5

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

References

American Public Power Association. (2017, October 30). Bryan Municipal Utilities [Photograph]. Unsplash.

https://unsplash.com/photos/fHLdXfURDhA

Brosy, M. (2018, July 30). Doctor with a stethoscope [Photograph]. Unsplash.

https://unsplash.com/photos/hIgeoQjS_iE

Gray, A. (2017, September 19). Man, male, saw and workshop [Photograph]. Unsplash.

https://unsplash.com/photos/WEWTGkPUVT0

Hunters Race. (2017, October 10). This is a shot of the owner of New Zealand watch company – Hunters

Race [Photograph]. Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/MYbhN8KaaEc

Nguyen, T. (2017, November 25). Physics teacher [Photograph]. Unsplash.

https://unsplash.com/photos/TVSRWmnW8Us

Oregon Department of Transportation. (2012, April 9). B210 safety training (7256587444) [Photograph].

Wikimedia Commons.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:B210_Safety_Training_(7256587444).jpg

Suggested Unit Resources

You are encouraged to read the following chapter in your textbook for insight on the role of communication in
safety management.

Chapter 2: Communication

In order to access the following resources, click the links below.

Read pp. 9–10 in the following document.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2016). Recommended practices for safety and health

programs (OSHA Report No. 3885).
https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf

ClickView Pty Limited (Producer). (2010). Conclusion: Why OH&S is important to everyone (Segment 6 of 7)

[Video]. In Workplace health and safety. Films on Demand.
https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPla
ylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285

For a transcript of this segment, click the Transcript tab next to the video in the Films on Demand database.

The following article provides a perspective on how executive-level leadership develops safety improvement
strategies.

IHI/NPSF Lucian Leape Institute. (2017). Leading a Culture of Safety: a Blueprint for success. IHI/NPSF

Lucian Leape Institute (p. 31) [Report].
https://www.ihi.org/sites/default/files/Leading_a_Culture_of_Safety_Blueprint.pdf

Read the following document to see an excellent example of how employees at various levels can work
together to form safety management systems focused on prevention.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2018). The electric power industry: Lighting the way for

safety and health programs. https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf

[https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf](https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf)

[https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf](https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/OSHA_SHP_Recommended_Practices.pdf)

[https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285](https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285)

[https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285](https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129322&loid=459285)

[https://www.ihi.org/sites/default/files/Leading_a_Culture_of_Safety_Blueprint.pdf](https://www.ihi.org/sites/default/files/Leading_a_Culture_of_Safety_Blueprint.pdf)

[https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf](https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf)

[https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf](https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/SHP_EEI_Case_Study.pdf)

– Course Learning Outcomes for Unit I
– Required Unit Resources
– Unit Lesson

– References

– Suggested Unit Resources