Listen to Safety Lately 11/16/15

Safety Lately is a look at the past week in the world of OSH. This week’s show covers a new global framework for safety professionals, sleeping with the door closed and suggestions for workplace design.



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4 Steps to Helping Employees Stay & Grow

According to a report on employee engagement and organizational culture, less than a quarter of employees feel highly valued in their workplace and many report a lack of opportunities for growth.

One way to increase moral and help employees feel appreciated is to conduct stay interviews, or conversations geared toward career development. According to an article by Jennifer V. Miller, stay conversations are one of the most effective ways to give employees a chance to describe their satisfaction (or lack thereof).

Formalizing this type of conversation might seem time-consuming, Miller writes, but in the long run stay conversations are key to retaining and developing employees. To save time getting to the root of the issue, managers should be careful to choose questions that best suit the employee’s current situation.

To get started, managers should consider using the following the conversation starters: 

• Aspects of the job the employee enjoys. Begin by addressing the positive aspects of the employee's current role and look for skills that are transferable to other projects or roles. 
• Aspects of the job that are challenging for the employee. This can be a difficult topic because some employees are concerned about appearing deficient in their role. Managers can encourage the conversation by reminding employees that every job has its own unique challenges. 
• Employee’s career aspirations. This is another area where employees may be hesitant to fully disclose their goals, if they think that stating ambitions beyond your department will adversely affect their current job situation. 
• How can leaders help? The most important element of stay interviews is to assure employees that their contributions are valued. Managers must emphasize their support and willingness to aid in the employees' professional development. 

Click here to read the full article.

OSHA Publishes Review Draft of OSH Program Management Guidelines, First Update in 26 Years

OSHA has made public a review draft of its updated Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines. Originally published in 1989, the new guidelines build on the previous version, as well as lessons learned from successful approaches and best practices under two OSHA programs— Voluntary Protection Program and Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program—as well as consensus standards such as ANSI/ASSE Z10 and OHSAS 18001.

"These guidelines will help small and medium-sized employers find and fix hazards before workers are injured, become ill or are killed. Engaging more employers in injury and illness prevention—which is at the heart of these guidelines—has the potential for shifting the curve on safety culture in America," says OSHA Administrator David Michaels.

Here's what's new in the guidelines:

• A proactive approach to finding and fixing hazards before they cause injury, illness or death.
• Improved safety and health in all types of workplaces.
• Help for small and medium-sized businesses to effectively protect their workers.
• Increased worker involvement, so all workers have a voice in workplace safety and health.
• Better communication and coordination on multiemployer work sites.

Stakeholders and experts can share comments about the guidelines, which are posted here, until Feb. 15, 2016.

The agency will also hold a public meeting on worker health and safety in a changing workforce, on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015, from 2:15 pm to 4:15 pm (EST) at the Bureau of Labor Statistics office. Space is very limited. You can register for this event here.

Research Shows Closed Doors Can Help Save Time During a Fire

©iStockphoto.com/pornpipat ruenjaichon

Research conducted by UL reveals that sleeping with your bedroom door closed can buy you “lifesaving seconds” during a fire. NFPA reports that the research shows how doors can keeps smoke out of a room longer and change the flow of heat and toxic gases. Director of UL’s FirefighterSafety Research Institute Steve Kerber says that closed doors, as well as smoke alarms, are the best possible things to help you in the event of a fire.

A video illustration conducted by Kerber’s team shows just how fast smoke can reach a room that has an open door, while a room with a closed door stays clear for longer. The video shows how after a minute and a half after a fire starts in a home downstairs, smoke is entering an upstairs bedroom that has its door open. After 3 minutes, the open door room is filled with thick smoke. But, the room with its door shut stays clear for longer; after 5 minutes, there is still some visibility in the room with the closed door.

INSHPO Releases Global OHS Professional Capability Framework

After 3 years of development and consultation across 11 countries with input from OHS professionals and educators, and professional and certifying bodies, International Network for Safety and Health Practitioner Organisations (INSHPO) has released the Global OHS Professional Capability Framework. The framework aims to bring clarity to the generalist OHS role and to the knowledge and skills required to perform the role.

INSHPO is the global voice for the profession and acts as a forum for international collaboration among professional organizations to improve workplace safety and health. ASSE is secretariat and a founding member of INSHPO, which was established in 2001 and represents 14 member and affiliate organizations worldwide.

The organization works to advance the profession through the development and promotion of professional competency-related standards and the exchange of evidence-based practices. Through its work with INSHPO, ASSE is working to improve the profession for its members by better defining it at the global level, recognizing that professionals and their work are increasingly global in scope. The framework ties into work ASSE has undertaken to update American standards pertaining to the profession. Another framework outlining the OHS vocational/practitioner role is expected in the coming year.

According to INSHPO President Vince McNeilly, “Better defining the OHS profession, locally and globally, is integral to the profession’s future health. Well-defined, highly recognized professions enjoy greater job growth, better promotions, higher compensation levels and greater upward mobility.”

INSHPO Vice President and 2010-11 ASSE President Terrie Norris adds, “Poorly defined professions are more vulnerable to competition from other professions in related fields and suffer from a lack of barriers to entry for the unqualified. This means that unqualified professionals and unaccredited certifications are allowed to enter the marketplace, confusing employers and damaging the profession’s reputation.”

Through the framework, INSHPO aims to improve the playing field for competent, qualified practitioners and professionals by helping define learning outcomes in baccalaureate programs and the standards underpinning certification and other qualification schemes.

For more information and to download the framework, visit the INSHPO website.