Record-setting Gulf Oil Spill settlement, Alberta Construction industry fights proposed legislation, huge global wind power potential and more EHS This Week

On this week’s edition of EHS This Week we’ve got the week’s top stories in environment, health and safety news:

  • The record-setting Deepwater Horizon settlement.
  • Alberta Construction Association fights proposed legislation.
  • Staggering news on global wind power potential and more.

Remember to write us with your suggestions, questions and comments at paul@ehsthisweek.com. Also, if you are an industry expert and ever want to take part in the program, we’d love to have you. 

Until next week, enjoy the program!

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OSHA’s changes to SVEP, ASSE’s partnership on fall prevention, EPA’s SCCP ruling and more on EHS This Week

On this week’s edition of EHS This Week we take a look at the top stories in environment, health and safety news, including:

  • Significant changes to OSHA’s once-draconian SVEP program.
  • ASSE’s new partnership with OSHA and NIOSH to promote fall safety in construction.
  • EPA’s cessation of the importation of a chemical company’s SCCPs, and more!

Remember to write us with your suggestions, questions and comments at paul@ehsthisweek.com. Also, if you are an industry expert and ever want to take part in the program, we’d love to have you. 

Until next week, enjoy the program!

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OSHA partnership with FRA, Halle Berry’s on-set injury, Denmark’s wind power ambitions and more on EHS This Week

On this week’s edition of EHS This Week:

  • OSHA’s new alliance with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) tackles whistleblower protection.
  • The EPA puts some serious cash towards water quality.
  • Denmark lives up to its reputation for excellence in renewable energy with some staggering numbers.

Remember to write us with your suggestions, questions and comments at paul@ehsthisweek.com. Also, if you are an industry expert and ever want to take part in the program, we’d love to have you. 

Until next week, enjoy the program!

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Intelex discusses Oil and Gas safety management in ISHN

As in other high-risk sectors, workplace safety is of utmost importance in the Oil and Gas industry, where the smallest of near-misses and at-risk behaviours can result in devastating consequences for frontline workers, not to mention catastrophic environmental impacts. In light of this, it’s hard to believe some oil and gas companies still rely on archaic, paper-based systems for EHS management. Yet in spite of the adoption of state-of-the-art EHS management systems by some industry leaders, paper- and spreadsheet-based systems are still in widespread use.

That said, the trend is changing and businesses are increasingly beginning to see how streamlined EHS management systems are ultimately investments with great returns that help companies navigate increasingly complex regulatory waters. Learn more about this dynamic by checking out my article “Goodbye to paper and spreadsheets” in the most recent issue of ISHN (Industrial Safety and Hygiene News). You’ll have to register to view the issue, but it’s free and ISHN is a great publication with a wealth of EHS news.

Historic Ontario workplace negligence fines, OSHA’s heat standard, drought across 1,000 U.S. counties and more on EHS This Week

We are bringing you the top stories in environment, health and safety news on the Friday, July 13 edition of EHS This Week. This week, among other things, we’ll discuss:

  • Historic fines in Toronto Christmas Eve scaffolding deaths.
  • OSHA internal training program.
  • News on OSHA’s heat standard.
  • America and Canada’s poor energy efficiency ranking.

Remember that you can always write us with your suggestions, questions and comments at paul@ehsthisweek.com. Also, if you are an industry expert and ever want to take part in the program, we’d love to have you. 

Until next week, enjoy the program!

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Defining your quality initiatives

Improving quality and efficiency in an organization can often seem like a difficult task, given the numerous approaches out there.  Some companies believe their quality improvement initiatives are strong enough to withstand any obstacle in the marketplace, whereas other companies fail to have a strong enough stance on the subject entirely.  This can be as a direct result of poor leadership and accountability, cultural resistance, and even poor planning.  

In a recent article posted on QualityDigest.com, George Maszle summaries an excellent input-process-output (IPO) chart, called Quality and Productivity Improvement Processes, focusing on 10 positive factors that can be implemented in the workforce for a more productive and value-based development.   Some of these factors include selecting the right people and projects, integrated training, and enterprise-wide knowledge training, to name a few. 

Once these elements are executed across the board, they create five desired quality outputs as a result, which are: Improved value for customers, shareholders and society; improved intellectual capital; top line growth, bottom line growth; and positive cultural change.   Based on these five performance measures, many organizations who implemented this formula, according to Maszle, achieved moderate results with certain inputs, while other inputs resulted in significant success.

Every organization is unique in its own way, resulting in different values, cultures, responsibilities, and ultimately different goal setting.  Finding a sustainable quality formula that suits your organizational goals will help define positive characteristics within your company and bring you success moving forward.

Intelex contributes to Oil and Gas Product News

Check out the recent Intelex article, When Paper Kills: The Perils of Reactive Management, in the latest issue of Oil and Gas Product News. Sure, the title sounds a bit dramatic, but when it comes to occupational health and safety, you can’t be too serious.

The story hones in on the sometimes archaic paper and spreadsheet-based systems that some Oil and Gas companies (not to mention businesses across all sectors) use to manage environmental, health and saefty (EHS) management data, particularly on oil rigs, drills, platforms and other worksites. 

The article, through a couple of hypothetical case studies, explores the difference between reactive, paper-based EHS management systems and the proactive, streamlined alternative, and discuss how the impacts on workplace health and safety, environmental impacts, time and eficiency, and bottom line/ROI significantly vary between the two systems.

So take a look, and let us or Oil and Gas Product News know what you think. Just a final note that you’ll need to sign up for free registration to view the electronic issue, if you aren’t registered already.

Yes, even tourism and hospitality businesses benefit from streamlined environmental management

Monitoring environmental impacts by tracking sustainability KPIs is essential for any business in the hospitality industry. But, from a financial perspective, how these environmental metrics are tracked is as important as the fact they are tracked. Results increasingly show a software-based EMS is the most effective way of improving environmental performance and boosting revenue.

Environmental management has been overcomplicated in recent years, and business leaders often feel overwhelmed by the perceived array of complex requirements associated with environmental performance. But it is actually quite simple. On a rudimentary level, it involves tracking and reporting on four critical metrics: waste and wastewater output, water usage, and air emissions. After analyzing these factors, a resort can develop and implement new policies to mitigate its environmental impacts and save money. 

But the most substantial savings of environment management arises from the implementation of a software-based EMS. The return on investment (ROI) from a system that tracks, analyzes and reports on all of the metrics associated with your environment program can be enormous, and manifests in a number of ways:

  • Efficiency: As with Grand Teton, in many resorts, environment management personnel commit a substantial amount of time and effort to basic tasks, including the collection, assessment and reporting of environmental data. These are all elements of an environment program that can be streamlined through software. For example, consider all the time an environment manager or full-time equivalent spends manually inputting data into a traditional spreadsheet program, assessing the data and generating reports based on the data. The right software will allow staff across all locations to input the four critical environmental metrics into a web-based platform and automate the processes of assessing and collecting data.
  • Risk Avoidance: Often resorts face substantial fines from permit violations as a result of poor management of wastewater output and air emissions. A robust software-based EMS is capable or correlating real-time emissions and wastewater statistics to permit thresholds and issuing automatic email notifications to warn environment management personnel that a permit violation is likely or imminent. This allows a resort to proactively manage emissions sources and discharge points to ensure permitted tolerances are not exceeded and costly fines are avoided.
  • Brand Image: As the world becomes more environment-conscious, the value of a legitimate green, environmentally progressive brand image is substantial. But the perception of a progressive environmental agenda is only as effective as the environment program supporting it. A software-based EMS will curb the amount of time spent on the minutiae of managing an environment program, freeing-up time for environment managers to focus on improving environmental performance by implementing aggressive sustainability policies. Also, real-time access corporate environment KPIs and live reporting capabilities will enable a resort to prove its environmental performance with current data at any point.

A fulsome software solution will also provide cost savings associated with continual audit preparedness, the elimination of duplicate data, and the tracking of (and automatic following-up on) corrective actions. As with companies like Grand Teton Lodge Company, which achieved the goal of implementing a paperless office, results continually show environment management software is the most effective and efficient means of implementing and maintaining a robust EMS as well as ensuring continued compliance with regulatory and legislative standards.

OSHA Opens Grant Solicitation for $1.2 Million in Susan Harwood Training Grants

The US Department of Labor’s OSHA has announced that it is seeking applications for two types of training grants, with funds to be awarded totalling $1.2 million. The two types of grants available are Targeted Topic Training and Targeted Topic Training and Educational Materials Development.

OSHA has outlined the following topics for the grants: fall protection, grain handling operations, crane safety, workplace violence, hazard communication for chemical exposure, injury and illness prevention programs, and shipyard safety hazards. Under the Susan Harword Training Grants Program, the focus of these grants is to provide workers and employers with the tools and resources necessary to understand workplace hazards, control measures, and rights and responsibilities.

The grant was named in honour of the late Susan Harwood, a former director of the Office of Risk Assessment in OSHA’s Health standards directorate, who died in 1996. During her 17-year tenure with the agency, Harwood developed OSHA standards to protect workers exposed to bloodborne pathogens, cotton dust, benzene, formaldehyde, asbestos and lead in construction.

The following are recognized as eligible applicants for the Susan Harwood Training Grants:

  • Non-profit, community, and faith-based organizations
  • Employer associations
  • Labour unions
  • Joint labour/management associations
  • Colleges and universities

These grants will come with a one year term focused on creating sustainable training programs and materials for those selected. Agencies of state and local governments will not be eligible but instiutions of higher education supported by state and local government can apply in accordance with 29 Code of Federal Regulations Part 95.

Applications must be submitted by 4p.m. EDT on May 17, 2012.

Applicants must register before completing the application which can both be done at www.grants.gov. The process is considered to be quite involved and takes multiple days to complete, so eligible applicants are encouraged to begin the process as soon as possible.

Visit the OSHA’s training grant website for more information on the Susan Harwood Training Grant Program.

Intelex electrifies at EUEC 2012

The year of 2012 is already well underway, and Intelex is gearing up for an action-packed year of events to attend to around the world.  The first on the list is the 15th annual Energy, Utility and Environment Conference (EUEC) in Phoenix, Arizona. 

Taking place January 30th to February 1st, this exciting event plays host to the top environmental leaders, energy executives, NGOs and government policy makers from around the globe in to the name of exchanging best practices and working toward renewable energy solutions for the future.

As a returning solutions provider, Intelex is thrilled to be involved.  “EUEC is always a great event to connect with top industry specialists,” says Intelex’s own senior solutions expert, Fraser Dickie. “We’ve developed valuable relationships from this show in previous years and we’re excited to be back!”

Be sure to visit the Intelex team this week at booth 214/216.