Mine safety legislation across the States is poised to get a new set of teeth.

Democrats are prepared to reveal the framework of a new bill to tighten mine safety and increase penalties for mines with a record of repeated safety violations after U.S. lawmakers reconvene on July 9. 

The bill follows the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in April when 29 miners were killed after an explosion at the West Virginia coal mine. The accident was the worst mining tragedy in the U.S. in four decades. The exact cause of the disaster is unknown, but the mine had a poor safety record and was cited for a number of safety infractions in the previous month. Last year, the mine was fined nearly $400,000 for serious safety violations relating mainly to ventilation and equipment, as well as poor execution of its safety plan. 

The Upper Big Branch disaster is not the only recent coal mining catastrophe in West Virginia. Only four years ago, 13 miners were trapped underground for two days following an explosion at the Sago coal mine. Only one miner survived. Multiple state and federal investigations failed to reveal the exact cause of the explosion, but—as with Upper Big Branch—the mine had a poor safety record and was cited for 208 violations by the Mine Safety and Health Administration in the previous year. 

With any luck, the forthcoming legislation will make mining tragedies a thing of the past by shutting the doors of mines that show a poor track record of safety compliance. It is also expected the bill will boost protection for whistleblowers who identify serious safety risks.

Democrats hope to have the bill passed by the end of the year and, in light of April’s tragedy—and in spite of some early criticisms by Republicans—it is unlikely the bill will receive much opposition. As a result, now is the time for mining companies across the U.S. to implement comprehensive, safety management systems to ensure ongoing compliance with safety requirements, avoid costs associated with safety violations and—most importantly—save lives.

The ASQ World Conference for Quality and Improvement is being held at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota from May 18-20, 2009. This year, Intelex will be sending three representatives; Bevin Lyon, Daniel Marcus, and Tomas Kuras. The guys will be available for live demonstrations of our:

Quality Management System Nonconformance & Corrective Actions Module Document Control System Training Management System Supplier Performance Tracking Module Audits Management System, and more.

If you're already using Intelex's software please stop by for a visit! It’s always great to catch up with clients.

Workplace accidents and fatalities are a common occurrence, but many safety incidents could have been avoided through improved training management, accurate data reporting, internal audits, and generating a culture of safety within an organization.

The American Society of Safety Engineers has published a great, unbiased article titled "Technically Safe: Gaining 360◦ Visibility with Technology" by Peter Thiveos. The article addresses the key components of a successful safety management program, business rules and practical solutions, the value of designating a safety champion, and the benefits of using technology to improve an organization's safety performance.

Mr. Thiveos speaks to the need for a comprehensive system that addresses multiple facets including; training and certification management, incident and observation management, records and document management, risk assessment, monitoring and audit management, and corrective action management. "While all these systems have inherent benefits independently, collectively they provide unparalleled functionality and improvements in managing, compiling and reporting on an organization's overall safety status and SH&E governance," Peter Thiveos.

Intelex clients' Metso Minerals and Ferro Corporation are excellent examples of corporations that have actively generated a culture of safety consciousness across their organizations. One of the contributing factors to Metso Minerals' success was their safety champion Chris Adkins. Mr. Adkins spear headed the implementation of the Intelex Safety Management System and communicated Metso Minerals' safety program across the company. "With the Safety Management System now operational Metso Supervisors and managers can manage safety documents, report employee incidents and draw upon continuously updated best practice guidelines from Metso operations worldwide ... Part of my role is to create standard practices that are equal in every region. With verifiable results I can help protect and maximize the potential of Metso’s greatest resource, our employees." Chris Adkins – Global Health & Safety Specialist.

Ferro Corporation's Systems and Development Manager Art Plow is also their safety champion. In a recent case study, Art described Intelex as "an integral part of Ferro's world-wide Safe From Within Program and as a critical piece of our [Ferro's] larger effort to send all of our 6,500 employees home safely to their families at the end of the day, in some 17 time zones around the world." By using Intelex Safety Management Software to track all safety-related data and documentation in real-time, Ferro has been able to accurately measure their success in terms of improving their safety performance organization-wide.

Although safety management systems require an initial investment, the return-on-invest is quickly recovered through improved operating efficiency and a reduction in environment, health, and safety incidents. This sentiment is echoed by Peter Thiveos in the aforementioned article, "In light of today's nation and global economic condition, organizations need to understand that technology innovation and automation is one of the best ways to identify additional cost savings in their operations. Companies should always spend on effective technology-and, in the author's opinion, they should spend more in a downturned economy."

Learn more about how the Intelex's Safety Management Software can help your organization improve its safety performance.

Intelex Technologies has released its latest software innovation, the Intelex OpenPass API, a revolutionary application programming interface that will enable its users to sync and report data between multiple business management systems.

The Intelex OpenPass API functions as a conduit for seamlessly feeding data between multiple software programs. This means that Intelex’s environment, quality, and health & safety, and business management Software can now share data with pre-existing business software applications; thereby, saving time and resources while maintaining a degree of accuracy that’s difficult to achieve when data is transmitted manually.

The City of Calgary and St. Gobain are the first Intelex clients to take advantage of the OpenPass API.  The City of Calgary used our OpenPass API to import employee and location data from their pre-existing HR system into their Intelex System. They also used the OpenPass API to export employee injury data (i.e., incident number with date and time stamp) from Intelex’s Master Incidents Module into their HR program.

St. Gobain used the OpenPass API to import training courses, employee lists, and employee workgroup data from Lotus Notes into the Intelex System and Training Management Module. By using the OpenPass API St. Gobain was able to quickly populate their new Intelex System with historical data that will be a key factor in reporting accuracy and trending.

If you think that your organization could use the Intelex OpenPass API to import, export, and sync data between a pre-existing management program and your Intelex System, send an email to client.relations@intelex.com or call 416.599.6009 for more details.

(Above: EUEC Energy & Environment Conference 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona)

(Above: Intelex's Steve Ross & Dan Marcus with Intelex Users and colleagues)

The EUEC Energy & Environment Conference was a great source for industry news and best practices, but this year's conference was particularly relevant in light of President Obama's proposed renewable energy initiatives, which include "Implementing an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050," and "Helping create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future." (White House Agenda - Energy & Environment).

Information on managing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and other environmental initiatives.

Congratulations to Energizer on becoming 21 CFR Par 11 compliant!

In the digital age, electronic records and signatures have made paper documents and hand-written signatures an increasingly rare occurrence. To address this shift in standard business procedures, the US Code of Regulations instituted Title 21 CFR Part 11, which legitimizes electronic records and signatures by clearly defining the criteria under which an electronic record or signature can be accepted as valid. 

Industries most commonly affected by Title 21 CFR Part 11 typically fall under the regulatory standards established by the USA Food and Drug Administration. To help our clients achieve Title 21 CFR Part 11 compliance, Intelex has added dual-signature functionality to our system. This means that like Energizer, other Intelex Users can assign dual-signature authorization requirements to their critical business records.

It's not uncommon to hear about organizations working feverishly to develop effective quality and environmental management programs so that ISO 9001 or ISO 14001 certifications can be attained. While securing these certifications is a great accomplishment, implementing a web-based software application after the fact is a trend Intelex's Account Managers are not unfamiliar with.After discussions with organizations such as these, it’s often the case that the ISO implementation team was unaware that web-based quality and environmental management systems can actually help work toward this certification, as opposed to simply maintaining a compliant status.

Intelex's web-based Quality and Environmental Management Systems are designed to help organizations implement ISO standards and maintain ongoing compliance. Both Intelex's Quality and Environmental Management Systems function as frameworks enabling organizations to define an ISO registration schedule, identify project objectives, record policies, assign and track ISO tasks, manage all ISO-related documents, and provide real-time implementation progress reports. And because the Intelex System operates on a web-based platform, your organization's "ISO Portal" can be securely accessed by any approved employee with access to the internet.

The main takeaway here, is that organizations that purchase web-based quality or environmental management systems like the Intelex System, consistently report faster ISO registration turnaround times and more effective use of intellectual resources. When combined, these factors typically translate into significant cost savings.

If your organization has identified becoming ISO 9001:2008 or ISO 14001 registered as a business objective in 2009, save yourself time and money by speaking with an Intelex Account Manager first. Our account managers will be able to provide valuable insights, implementation best practices, and a no-obligation quote.

Six new reports for clients using the Intelex Standard Nonconformances Module have been posted on the Intelex-Exchange (to be downloaded for free).

These reports have been designed to provide an instant, real-time snapshot of your organizations standard nonconformance and corrective/preventative actions performance.

Corrective/Preventative Actions by Report ID
Standard Nonconformances by Type
Standard Nonconformances by Classification
Corrective/Preventative Actions - Last 90 Days
Corrective/Preventative Actions - This Year vs. Last Year
Report ID - Stages by Date