ANSI/AIHA Z10 Standard Diagram
The first element, management leadership and employee participation, involves having strong leadership skills and a solid commitment with the upper management to enforce and ensure that the ANSI/AIHA Z10 Standards are being implemented accordingly. The management must develop a health and safety policy that is communicated to the employees and dated and signed to ensure that the information has been covered and everyone in the facility recognizes the procedure. The document policy must include protection and continuous improvement of employee health ans safety, effective employee participation, conformance of the organization's health and safety requirements, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Employee participation in the ANSI/AIHA Z10 Standard ensures that employees are personally responsible to comply with all health and safety rules and regulations established by the organization's management. Management must also give the employees the opportunity to participate in any safety related planning, implementation, evaluation, and corrective/preventive actions geared toward addressing hazards in the workplace. It is extremely important that management and employees, especially non-supervisory employees work together and have the ability to provide input to contribute to the OHSMS to ensure a successful standard objective.
The planning process of the ANSI/AIHA Z10 standard is an important element when organizing and prioritizing OSHMS issues, establishing accurate and appropriate objectives, and devising a plan to reach those accurate and appropriate objectives. Proper planning should ideally include; thoroughly documenting and reviewing all processes and equipment to determine the risk factors involved, conducting hazard analysis to identify occurring and potential hazards and exposures as well as reviewing the frequency employees are exposed, and identifying hazard control methods and evaluating the potential severity of the hazard. This document should include internal and regulatory policies and procedures, worker's compensation injury information, inspection/audit findings and reports, and any result from exposure monitoring conducted in the workplace. This element of the ANSI/AIHA Z10 Standard should be reviewed as an ongoing process rather than a one-time occurrence.
The next element involving the ANSI/AIHA Z10 is the implementation and operation which applies specific controls and risk-reducing methods that implement a strong OHSMS. These controls include eliminating hazards, substituting less hazardous material for processes and equipment, engineering controls, warnings, and personal protective equipment (PPE). Personal protective equipment should be considered after all other methods have been implemented and reviewed.
Cartoon describing the importance of safety compliance in the workplace
The evaluation and corrective action element should be conducted by the management of the organization. Audits, corrective actions, and follow-ups should be documented accordingly and should identify areas that are not compliant with the ANSI/AIHA Z10 standard.
Lastly, management review is an important element of the ANSI/AIHA Z10 standard that involves annually reviewing important agency standards and safety programs and comparing them to identify and correct weak areas in an effort to improve the way processed and procedures are preformed as well as finding ways to decrease the frequency and severity of injuries in the workplace. With this review, it provides the organization with a clear understanding of the effectiveness of OHSMS and its impact on the business of the organization. By doing so, this shifts the focus of safety in the workplace to long-term solutions rather than one-time fixes as well as evaluating if an existing safety program needs improvement or if a new plan must be developed.
No comments:
Post a Comment