In an effort to reduce incidences of work-related death, injury, and illness across the country, the Council of Australian Governments recently began to enact the harmonisation of work health and safety (WHS) laws, ratified in July 2008 with the signing of the Intergovernmental Agreement for Regulatory and Operational Reform in OHS. The move represents a significant departure from the former scenario in which all states, territories and the Commonwealth at large had been responsible for defining and enforcing their own health and safety laws which, although similar to one another, featured significant differences in their application and detail.

In response to industry calls for greater national consistency, currently half of the Commonwealth states and territories (with Western Australia and Victoria as the notable exceptions at the moment) have begun to implement the nationally harmonized WHS legislation, which took effect on January 1, 2012. The harmonization model calls for the Commonwealth as well as all states and territories to begin enforcing the model laws.

Some quick facts on the legislation:

Purpose of the WHS Act: In general terms, the WHS Act provides a framework to protect the health, safety, and welfare of all workers at work and all other people who might be affected by work.

Harmonisation aims to:

• Protect the health and safety of workers and other people by eliminating or reducing workplace risks.
• Ensure effective representation, consultation and cooperation to address health and safety issues in the workplace.
• Encourage unions and employers to take a constructive role in improving health and safety practices.
• Promote information, education and training on health and safety.
• Provide effective compliance and enforcement measures.
• Deliver continuous improvement and progressively higher standards of health and safety.

Key changes in the Act: While the Act remains largely similar to its predecessor, the Queensland Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995, some substantial changes exist:

• Business operators must do what is reasonably practicable to eliminate or minimize risk to health and safety.
• Company directors will have a positive and proactive duty to exercise due diligence. This represents a significant shift away from attributed liability (i.e. Being held liable for contraventions by the company) and requires directors to:
  • Acquire and keep up-to-date knowledge of health and safety matters.
  • Gain an understanding of hazards and risks associated with the company's operations.
  • Ensure appropriate resources are available for use to eliminate or minimize risks from work carried out.
  • Ensure appropriate processes for obtaining information about incidents, hazards and risks, and responding to them.
  • Ensure processes for complying with duties are implemented, i.e. reporting, consultation arrangements, training and instruction.
  • Verify the provision and use of resources for the matters listed above.

What does all this mean? In short, the onus is shifting directly on to the shoulders of employers, including company directors, to be familiar with the risks and hazards associated with their business operations, and to provide appropriate control measures to ensure a safe working environment.

What is the status of the Act currently? As of January 1, 2012, most states have passed the relevant legislation to enact the new WHS laws. Currently seven out of nine jurisdictions have approved the model regulations and codes of practice. However, it should be noted that both Western Australia and Victoria have, thus far, not done so. Both states have voiced some concern that information delays and a lack of clarity from the Federal Government on some of the specifics of the WHS Regulations mean that their impact on business practices cannot be accurately assessed, and consequently have not yet introduced the new legislation. Currently, there has been no formal commitment from either state regarding their involvement.

For businesses in all other states in the Commonwealth, transitional arrangements have been developed by Safe Work Australia to assist organizations to move to the new harmonised arrangements and will be in place for 12 months (or more, where the new laws result in a new or significantly different set of responsibilities).

For further information on the Act, please refer to the this guide.

If you managed to take a look at our list of our Top 5 most popular blog posts from 2011, you might have noticed that I2P2 is kind of a big deal. If, on the other hand, that acronym means nothing to you, now is a good time to get better acquainted with OSHA’s propose Injury and Illness Prevention Program (get it? Two Is, two Ps…)

Anyway, OSHA has kicked off the New Year by reaffirming its commitment to I2P2 by releasing a white paper geared to convince businesses of the value of the program. For background, OSHA has been moving towards a requirement that would require most organizations in the U.S. to implement an injury and illness prevention program, which is essentially a safety management system (SMS) designed to proactively reduce injuries and illnesses.

In addition to outlining how I2P2 programs mitigate injuries and save lives, the paper breaks down the ROI of an SMS and the impact of lost time, compensation and other factors resulting from poor health and safety performance impact a business’ bottom line. It also addresses a particularly controversial concern surrounding I2P2 requirements – the financial impact of the program on small businesses.

As the paper notes, “The key elements common to all of these programs are management leadership, worker participation, hazard identification and assessment, hazard prevention and control, education and training, and program evaluation and improvement.”

Check out the full text of the paper here, or head over to ISHN for a great summary of the document.

Between sweeping new regulations, ambitious new OHS programs, and environmental controversy in the U.S. and Canada, EHS issues were top of mind throughout 2011. To wrap up a year that had no shortage of headlines, we’ve analyzed last year’s Intelex blog stats to determine the most popular posts of 2011. Without further adieu, here are the Top 5:

1. I2P2, hazardous chemicals, high-risk construction among top OSHA priorities for 2011: OSHA Secretary of Labour Dr. David Michaels kicked off the year with an online chat outlining some of OSHA’s top priorities for 2011. While many of his priorities – including the ambitious I2P2 program and the addition of an MSD column to OSHA Form 300 reports – did not make it through the gates by the end of the year, this overview provided some guidance on where OSHA’s priorities lie in the very near future.
2. Start preparing for new OSHA fall protection requirements now: Fall safety, which for many years has landed in the top spot of OSHA’s list of most frequently cited violations, was a chief concern for residential builders across the U.S. as OSHA implemented new fall protection requirements.
3. The Top 5 upcoming OHS regulatory events you need to know about: Placing third on our Top 5 is, well, another Top 5! We combed through a variety of upcoming OHS legislation, regulations and literature to identify the five key OHS regulatory events that will have the most impact on businesses from coast to coast. Topping the list was OSHA’s monumental Injury and Illness Prevention Program (I2P2), which will have an equally monumental impact on U.S. businesses. It hasn’t been implemented yet, but could see the light of day in the very near future.
4. No more 'catch me if you can' – I2P2 and what it could mean for you: Well, if there is a emerging theme to this list, it might have something to do with I2P2. For most organizations, it is a distant thunder, buried in clouds gathering on the horizon. But for the proactive business, it ought to be so much more given its scope is absolutely vast and will essentially redefine how all companies manage safety.
5. Sustainability as a business opportunity: And finally, it wasn’t all about safety in 2011. As organizations continue to seek value in sustainability initiatives and as environmental advocates try to achieve buy-in from senior management on green programs in the face of a turbulent climate, we flipped the argument on its head. Instead of viewing sustainability programs as a financial burden, it should be thought of as an investment that carries great returns.

We are always on the hunt for fresh content ideas that are important to our readers. Write me or use the comments section below to share your ideas. Happy New Year!

An ongoing reality for safety managers and frontline personnel in almost any industry is the need to record safety incident data. When all incident data is inputted into a centralized database, a safety coordinator doesn’t have to wait for the completion of monthly safety reports to identify trends and weaknesses within an organization’s safety program. Rather, since a robust incident reporting system should come equipped with real-time dashboards, scorecards and reports that are capable of visualizing data (by way of charts, graphs and tables, for example), safety personnel are able to gain an at-a-glance assessment of the integrity of their safety program.

Further, trending tools allow organizations to identify trends at individual sites and across multiple locations, enabling safety personnel to implement global corrective and preventive actions and minimize efforts that would otherwise be committed to the repetitious implementation of similar and identical corrective and preventive actions at multiple sites.

These simple capabilities of real-time trending, analysis and data visualization empower safety personnel, enabling them to expedite the implementation of corrective and preventive actions, analyze ongoing trends in safety performance, and proactively address issues that may present safety concerns in the future. As a result, monthly safety meetings – once focused on historical research and analysis – will be transformed into proactive, forward-looking discussions on how a safety program can be further tweaked to mitigate risks, save lives, and minimize the substantial costs associated with lost time.

To learn more, download our free white paper, Stress-Free Safety: The Essential Guide to Streamlining Incident Reporting and OSHA Logs.

In a world of reactive management, where many companies let accidents occur instead of taking proactive measures to ensure they don’t occur, Mission Well Services is setting a new standard.

Though it has been in business for just under a year, Mission Well Services, a hydraulic fracturing company based in South Texas and serving the oil and gas industry, has already turned to Intelex Technologies to implement a comprehensive, streamlined safety management system.

Get the full story in our Press Room.

It can be hard for businesses to determine which regulatory events will directly affect how they do business. That's why I’ve put together a list of the Top 5 OHS regulatory events on the immediate horizon business leaders as well as OHS managers and staff need to know about.

Yesterday we talked about the revised hazard communication standard. Here's the next issue in the Top 5:

1. The Injury and Illness Prevention Program:

OSHA chair Dr. David Michaels indicated in an online chat earlier this year that OSHA’s top priority for 2011 is publishing and enforcing a new, nationwide Injury and Illness Prevention Program (I2P2).

The scope of the planned regulation is sweeping: it will likely affect every employer in every industry, coast-to-coast. Michaels himself has called it the most significant change in workplace safety culture since OSHA’s inception 40 years ago.

OSHA is expected to model the program on California’s own successful, 20-year-old IIPP program.

So, the question is, when will it take effect? Well, the short answer is, we don’t know. Since OSHA has yet to even specify a date for a proposed rulemaking, it could be a ways off.

That said, OSHA has stated it wants to publish the rule by the year’s end. While few details are known on how the standard will take shape, one hint was provided in an OSHA web chat on Monday: OSHA has taken the fact many businesses across all industries have already implemented safety management systems (e.g. guided by frameworks like OHSAS 18001) into consideration and suggested I2P2 could be aligned with existing SMS conventions.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to write me or comment if you have any questions. Next week we'll be looking at what changes related to the Food Safety Modernization Act will mean to you.

Yesterday we talked about changes to injury and illness recordkeeping rules.

Here's the next issue in our Top 5:

2. Revised hazard communication standard:

OSHA will be reworking its hazard communication standard (HCS) to reflect the internationally used Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS).

This will significantly affect how businesses label hazardous products and maintain material safety data sheets (MSDS, soon to drop the “M” and become simply “SDS” to conform to the global standard). As in the pictured image, GHS will require all labels to have the red border, for example, around warning signals. Review this past Monday's web chat with OSHA for more info on this change.

Since almost all businesses are required to keep accurate MSDS, the impact of this change will be significant and far-reaching.

It is unclear exactly when the administration will issue a final rule on the issue, but OSHA indicated in a web chat on Monday that it intended to publish a final rule in September.

It can be hard for businesses to determine which regulatory events will directly affect how they do business. That's why I’ve put together a list of the Top 5 OHS regulatory events on the immediate horizon business leaders as well as OHS managers and staff need to know about.

Yesterday we talked about a proposed rule to add MSD to OSHA injury reporting forms. Here's the next issue in our Top 5:

3. Changes to injury and illness recordkeeping rules:

Businesses across the U.S. are already acquainted with OSHA Form 300 logs, reports generated on a monthly and annual basis that list all work-related injuries and illnesses.

Though thousands of businesses currently maintain these records, many industries have been exempt. But since OSHA is moving from the old Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system to the more widely used North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), many previously exempt industries will be required to report workplace injuries and illnesses in accordance with Form 300 and 300A requirements.

Additionally, employers to report work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations within eight hours of occurrence, and all work-related amputations (which don’t have to be reported currently) within 24 hours.

Stakeholders have been given until the end of September to comment, but a final rule will likely be issued before the end of the year.

It can be hard for businesses to determine which regulatory events will directly affect how they do business. That's why I’ve put together a list of the Top 5 OHS regulatory events on the immediate horizon business leaders as well as OHS managers and staff need to know about.

Yesterday we talked about a forthcoming crystalline silica rule. Here's the next issue in our Top 5:

4. Proposed rule to add MSD to OSHA injury reporting forms:

While OSHA has been back and forth on whether it will re-introduce a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) column on Form 300 (and 300A) logs, which hundreds of thousands of organizations across the U.S. are required to complete, the issue is front and centre once again.

If this rule goes ahead, businesses will be required to record employee MSDs on monthly and yearly Form 300 logs.

After complaints from many stakeholders, OSHA had extended the deadline for public comments on the proposed rule, but that deadline passed on June 16. The administration has not provided a date on when a final rule will be issued, but expects a decision in the next couple of months.

Come back tomorrow for the third most important upcoming OHS regulatory event you need to know about. 

U.S. agencies and regulatory bodies are constantly proposing, reviewing, and finalizing new rules that often mean significant changes for businesses across the nation. Almost any company of any size needs to be aware of forthcoming changes that will impact how they manage their impacts and responsibilities related to occupational health and safety (OHS).

However, between proposed rules, final rules, pre-rules, long-tem actions and the dozens upon dozens of rules being reviewed at any given time, it can be hard for businesses to separate the wheat from the chaff and determine which events will directly affect how they do business.

In an attempt to ensure the most important issues are on your radar, I’ve put together a list of the Top 5 OHS regulatory events on the immediate horizon business leaders as well as OHS managers and staff need to know about.

We’ll start with number five and countdown to number one throughout the week.

5. The crystalline silica rule:

Earlier this year, OSHA started preparing a rule that would protect workers exposed to crystalline silica, a basic component of sand, granite, soil and other minerals that has been classified as a human lung carcinogen and can cause silicosis and tuberculosis.

More than 2 million U.S. workers, at least 100,000 of which operate in high-risk jobs like stonecutting, rock drilling, foundry work, blasting, quarry work and tunneling are exposed to crystalline silica on an ongoing basis. When the rule is implemented, thousands of employers in industries where crystalline silica is present will have to take an array of precautions to minimize exposure of workers to the dangerous compound.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has already gone over the rule, and it has been returned to OSHA, which is well passed the typical deadline for review – it should have published a proposed rule by May 15. In a web chat this past Monday, an OSHA representative stated that the agency has made no final decision on the scope of a proposed rule and added “OSHA continues to work with OMB and is confident that a proposed rule will be published soon.” Since the agency has been working on the framework and scope of this rule since at least 2003, it is about time. 

Check back tomorrow for the fourth most important upcoming OHS regulatory event you need to know about.