So, you’re meeting the status quo and passing your safety inspections. That’s great, but it’s no reason to let your safety program stagnate. Why not aim a little higher?

While a no-accident policy is definitely a noble goal and achievable in some industries, it is important to set realistic yet demanding goals. OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) is a great way to start.

VPP essentially recognizes worksites that have gone above and beyond in their health and safety efforts by implementing top-of-the-line safety management systems. Sites awarded by the program are considered exemplary leaders in safety performance and are eligible to receive one of three rankings:

• Star: The highest level of recognition, the Star Program recognizes sites that have achieved injury and illness rates at or below their industry’s average, self-sufficiently control workplace hazards, and boast the most robust, comprehensive safety management programs.
• Merit: Merit sites are on the road to becoming Star-recognized, but need to boost health and safety performance to be considered excellent.
• Star Demonstration: This designation is reserved for worksites that address unique, often sector-specific health and safety concerns and issues.

Many employers might wonder why they ought to exceed basic health and safety requirements and seek recognition through the program. There are many reasons, all of which will contribute to any organization’s social and economic bottom lines:

• Fewer Accidents: On average VPP participants see at least 50 per cent fewer accidents on an annual basis and a Days Away Restricted or Transferred (DART) case rate of 52 per cent below the average for their industry.
• Increased Productivity and Efficiency: Fewer accidents mean less downtime and a more effective, efficient use of your human capital.
• Reduced Insurance Rates: As your company or worksite demonstrates superior safety performance and encounters fewer or no fatalities or accidents, annual insurance rates will plummet.
• Attract and Retain Talent: Not only will existing employee morale get a boost from your exemplary safety record, being VPP Star-recognized will help your company attract top industry talent who will be lured by your commitment to safety.
• Marketing and Brand Equity: With fewer or no accidents, injuries, fines and fatalities, VPP recognition can ultimately be leveraged with marketing campaigns to boost brand image and attract high-calibre customers.
  

Achieving VPP recognition is demanding, but completely realistic if a worksite has implemented a robust, streamlined software-based safety management system.

To learn more about VPP or join the program, contact OSHA’s Office of Partnerships and Recognition at (202) 693-2213 (or the VPP Manager at your OSHA Regional Office). Read all about VPP here.

Courtesy of the help of its Middle East partner, Barik IT Group, Intelex Technologies is cornering the market on providing comprehensive EHS management software solutions to utility companies across OMAN. 

Recently, Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC) joined Muscat Electricity Distribution Company, Al-Ghubrah Power and Desalination and Majan Electricity Company by turning to Intelex for its industry-leading EHS software solutions.

Check out our Press Room for more details on this exciting new relationship and Intelex's continuing growth across the Middle East.

As a leading vegetation management and emergency restoration service, ABC Tree works in one of the most dangerous industries in the U.S. When a storm hits, for example, and a fallen tree disrupts electrical utility service, ABC Tree is on the job.

Since the work is so dangerous, accidents are an unfortunate yet sometimes inevitable reality of the job. But by implementing Intelex software, ABC Tree has shown steady decreases of the incidence of accidents and safety violations and is on their way to a safer—and eventually accident-free—future.

Head over to our press room to learn how ABC Tree has actually mitigated the impact of fines associated with OSHA penalties, and how the company is working to make penalties a thing of the past.

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.

In case you missed it we just posted an article over in the Intelex Press Room called "Compromised Training Programs Can Sabotage Quality". It ran today in Quality Digest Daily which is an electronic publication from Quality Digest magazine (www.qualitydigest.com).

Written by Intelex's Content Specialist (and blogger), Paul Leavoy - this article offers a wealth of information on the fall-out from neglected training programs in both product quality and service. If you like what you read be sure to have a look at some of Paul's other insightful writing - his newly published whitepaper on purchasing safety management software is also a must read.

Along with our Middle Eastern partner Barik IT Solutions, Intelex is pleased to announce two new additions to our client roster, Majan Electricity Company and Daleel Petroleum both located in Oman, have selected Intelex Technologies to provide them with an EHS Management System.

Both companies are key players in Oman’s energy industry with Majan Electricity being a leader in electricity distribution and supply and Daleel Petroleum a top oil and gas operator. Majan Electricity selected the Intelex EHS Management System as a means of automating all of their Environmental, Health & Safety processes into one unified system, working to effectively manage and track such core business components as Audits Management, EHS Training, Incident Reporting, Permit Management, Document Control, Environmental Management and Risk Assessments. Daleel Petroleum selected Intelex’s Safety Management System as a means of automating and tracking their EHS activities across all of their operating sites. Both companies will be leveraging the web-based Intelex platform to foster real-time reporting and generating a complete 360-degree view into their EHS business processes and performances.

To learn more about how an Intelex solution can help you improve your organization's EHS performance, request a free demo here.

Intelex is pleased to announce they have been selected by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to provide a Training and Licensing Management System for their 4800 employees. The Laboratory, one of nine Johns Hopkins divisions, approached Intelex in search of a cost effective IT system that would allow them to streamline the management of their employee training and certification requirements at the departmental level.

The Intelex Training and Licensing Management System that they selected has the ability to establish specific training requirement and certification standards associated with any workgroup, is robust enough to accommodate a large number of employees, and is highly automated allowing for easy scheduling and re-scheduling of training. The Compliance Report, which is a pre-built feature of the system fosters the generation of real-time reports drawn from all training data in the system. Key reporting metrics include: assigned training by employee, training hours completed, training hours pending, certifications completed, certifications pending, certification renewals approaching as well as data specific to individual courses such as the number of employees assigned to a course and the number completed.

"We are excited to add John Hopkins University to our educational client roster along with others like the University of Virginia and Texas A&M University," commented Intelex President and CEO Mark Jaine, "Our EHSQ software systems have been gaining a lot of momentum within the education industry and we are looking ahead to continue this trend and provide solutions unique to the industry's needs." With the Intelex system being highly scalable in nature, it will be able to adapt to the expanding needs of the University and ultimately not be outgrown.

Find out more about Intelex's Training and Licensing Management System.

Intelex, in partnership with our Middle East partner – Barik Group, is pleased to announce the continuing growth of our Middle Eastern client base with the addition of Fahud Oilfield Services (FOS) based in Oman. FOS is one of the major oil & gas services companies in Oman and began its operations in 1999 with a government initiative that encouraged the strengthening of the local infrastructure by the development of Omani owned companies. During those years FOS has built a solid reputation in the exploration testing business and is now Oman’s leading well testing company having just completed 7 years of continuous operations without a single lost time incident.

Specializing in a range of oilfield services, notably well testing services, reservoir information services and multi phase testing services, FOS was looking for an IT solution to streamline their training program for all their business units in order to increase their overall organizational performance. They selected Intelex’s Training Management Module as it allowed them to streamline their training management workflow, actively track employee skill levels, training and certifications, and its web-based platform allowed for multiple sites to easily access the system.

Intelex is excited to announce the new Training Quiz Builder Module that has been designed to enable organizations to develop customized training quizzes for competency testing as part of their employee training programs. Working in conjunction with the Intelex Document Control and Training Management Modules, it facilitates the creation of training quizzes, presentation of training materials, testing of employees and tracking of employee training records.

Module Overview
The Intelex Training Quiz Builder was designed to streamline and strengthen the employee training process. Using this module an organization will have the ability to:
Create individual quizzes; formulate either multiple choice style or comment style questions.

-Load training materials (PowerPoint, Flash, external links to CBT content) directly into the module thereby enhancing users experience and retention.

-Associate training with any document stored in the Document Control Module (Policies, Procedures, Work Instructions or Training Materials) to evaluate employee knowledge and competence of that specific document/task.

-Establish scoring thresholds to set pass/fail standards to gate employee progress.

-Actively track and update employee training records for successful and failed attempts.

-Generate reports based on results.

-Automatically notify employees about new documents that have been released or revisions to existing documents that competence must be tested on.
 
Implementing the Intelex Training Quiz Builder will enable your organization to fine-tune their employee training program to reflect the competencies associated with specific jobs, sites, and levels of designation. Working in conjunction with the Intelex Training Management module, the Training Quiz Builder can facilitate an employee training program that is highly configurable with the ability to easily manage company growth, changes in policies and procedures and any other developments that a company may experience.

To learn more request a demonstration today!