Better safe than sorry

A safe environment fosters a loyal and happy workforce and it cuts down on certain costs. Safety doesn’t just happen – it’s discussed and documented. Every nursery needs a safety plan. And if you have one, when’s the last time you reviewed it or updated it? It’s something you should review at least annually, says Gary Hanson, president of American Safety & Health Management Consultants. Hanson works with green-industry companies to develop culture-based safety programs.

A safety program is designed to protect a company’s most valuable assets: The employees; equipment and property; production, sales and service capacity; financial strength; and the company’s good public name, he says.

“An effective safety program helps the company achieve its corporate mission of being successful, growing and making a profit. In other words, a good safety program needs to be an integral part of a company management philosophy,” Hanson says.
 

Getting started

For safety to become a part of the management culture, several things must happen, Hanson says.

• The true value of safety must be understood and communicated clearly.
• High performance goals must be established and achievement of the goals demanded.
• Safety must become a part of how the organization thinks.
• Safety must become a part of the daily routine of employees.
• Safety must be taken into consideration in all decisions affecting the company’s employees.
• Safety must be managed with consistency and intensity.

A culture-based safety program must have a written annual plan with established performance goals that are communicated to all levels of management.

Your safety plan and your safety performance should be reviewed annually. Review what type of injuries occurred and why they occurred. Add to your plan if necessary.

Training is an essential part of a successful safety program. Provide a safety training refresher course for employees, and, certainly provide safety training anytime a new employee is hired. Depending on your workforce, provide a written plan and training in Spanish.

Besides safety matters that are inherent to nursery operations, your safety plan must also address OSHA mandates, such as the current hazard communication changes and worker protection standards (see sidebars).

“Remember, OSHA could show up at any time unannounced. Inspections should be conducted on a regular basis and the items noted corrected as soon as possible,” he says. “The effectiveness of the inspection program should be evaluated annually.”

For more: American Safety & Health Management Consultants, www.ashmci.com.
 

Safety standards

Make sure you’re compliant with Hazard Communication Standard deadlines

In 2012, OSHA revised its Hazard Communication Standard, aligning it with the United Nations’ global chemical labeling system. The Standard will be fully implemented in 2016. OSHA said the revisions will “benefit workers by reducing confusion about chemical hazards in the workplace, facilitating safety training and improving understanding of hazards, especially for low literacy workers.”

OSHA’s standard will classify chemicals according to their health and physical hazards, and establish consistent labels and safety data sheets for all chemicals made in the United States and imported from abroad.

Major changes to the standard
HAZARD CLASSIFICATION: Chemical manufacturers and importers are required to determine the hazards of the chemicals they produce or import. Hazard classification under the new, updated standard provides specific criteria to address health and physical hazards as well as classification of chemical mixtures.

LABELS: Chemical manufacturers and importers must provide a label that includes a signal word, pictogram, hazard statement, and precautionary statement for each hazard class and category.

SAFETY DATA SHEETS: The new format requires 16 specific sections, ensuring consistency in presentation of important protection information.

Information and training: To facilitate understanding of the new system, the new standard requires that workers be trained by Dec. 1, 2013 on the new label elements and safety data sheet format, in addition to the current training requirements.

The worker training deadline has passed, but any employer who’s yet to comply must do so as soon as possible.

All employers must update alternative workplace labeling and hazard communication program as necessary, and provide additional employee training for newly identified physical or health hazards by June 1, 2016.

For more details on the program and the deadlines, go to www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/index.html.
 

Feds propose changes to Worker Protection Standard

Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency announced proposed changes to the agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS) to increase protections from pesticide exposure for agriculture workers, which includes nursery and greenhouse crews.

Proposed changes to the WPS include:

• Increased frequency of mandatory trainings (from once every five years to annually) to inform farm workers about the protections they are afforded under the law, including restrictions on entering pesticide-treated fields and surrounding areas, decontamination supplies, access to information and use of personal protective equipment. Expanded trainings will include instructions to reduce take-home exposure from pesticides on work clothing and other safety topics.
• Expanded mandatory posting of no-entry signs for the most hazardous pesticides; the signs prohibit entry into pesticide-treated fields until residues decline to a safe level.
• First time-ever minimum age requirement: Children under 16 will be prohibited from handling pesticides, with an exemption for family farms.
• No-entry buffer areas surrounding pesticide-treated fields will protect workers and others from exposure from pesticide overspray and fumes.
• Measures to improve the states’ ability to enforce compliance including requiring employers to keep records of application-specific pesticide information as well as farmworker training and early-entry notification for two years.
  
  Personal Protection Equipment (respirator use) must be consistent with the Occupational Safety & Health Administration standards for ensuring respirators are providing protection, including fit test, medical evaluation, and training.
   
• Make available to farm workers or their advocates (including medical personnel) information specific to the pesticide application, including the pesticide label and Safety Data Sheets.
• Additional changes make the rule more practical and easier to comply with for farmers.
• Continues the exemptions for family farms.

The EPA granted an extension for comments. All growers are encouraged to comment by the deadline of Aug. 18. Find the proposed changes and the comments area here: http://1.usa.gov/1iZbuR2.
 

Green-industry manufacturers have access to a new, interactive safety tool

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration released a new interactive training tool to help small businesses effectively identify hazards in the workplace. Employers and workers can virtually explore how to identify workplace hazards in the manufacturing and construction industries.

“Hazard identification is a critical part of creating an injury and illness prevention program that will keep workers safe and healthy on the job,” says David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. “This new tool not only educates employers about how to take control of their workplaces and protect workers, it also demonstrates that following well-established safety practices is also good for the bottom line.”

Through the hazard identification tool, users can play from the perspective of either a business owner or an employee as they learn to identify realistic, common hazards and address them with practical and effective solutions. The tool explains the key components of the hazard identification process, which include information collection, observation of the workplace, investigation of incidents, employee participation and prioritizing hazards.

OSHA developed the tool in conjunction with its Training Institute to assist small business owners in effectively identifying hazards in their workplace.

The hazard identification training tool can be found at www.osha.gov/hazfinder.