Safety is everyone's responsibility

1. Safety Is Everybody's
Business
OSU
Environmental Health & Safety

2. Course Objectives
 Help you decide that safety IS
everybody’s business, and why
 Provide you with an understanding of
accident causes
 Explain safety responsibilities
 For both employees and employers
 Introduce you to specific safety topics
 Fire safety, lab safety, office safety

3. Why Worry about Safety?
 Why do you need to be concerned
about safety?
Hur
t
DOL
EPA
$$$
$
Lost
time
W
C Pain!
Loss

4. Why Worry: Common Reasons
1. Getting hurt isn’t fun!!!
Not All Pain is Gain
Nobody likes getting hurt
Healthy employees are more
productive employees

5. Why Worry: Common Reasons
1. Getting hurt isn’t fun!!!
2. Cost of Accidents

6. Cost of Accidents
 Direct Costs
– Medical Costs (including worker’s comp)
– Indemnity Payments
 Indirect Costs
– Time Lost (by worker and supervisor)
– Schedule delays
– Training new employees
– Cleanup time / equipment repairs
– Legal fees

7. Cost of Accidents:
On average, the
indirect costs of
accidents exceed the
direct costs by a 4:1
ratio
The Iceberg Effect

8. Cost of Accidents
 What does that mean for OSU?
– FY 1997: 499 claims for $1,485,068
– FY 1999: 579 claims for $1,902,688
– FY 2000: 550 claims for $1,582,169
(Direct costs in Worker’s Compensation)
Multiply by four to estimate indirect
costs to the University

9. Why Worry: Common Reasons
1. Getting hurt isn’t fun!!!
2. Cost of Accidents
3. Legal Issues and Liability

10. Legal Issues and Liability
 As a result of safety violations:
– You can be named in a lawsuit
– Criminal charges may be filed against you
– You can be cited by an enforcement
agency
– You can be fined by an enforcement
agency
– Your lab/workplace can be shut down by
an enforcement agency

11. Legal Issues and Liability
 Because of personal liability, and you can be
named as a defendant in a lawsuit
– Working for the University does not protect you.

12. Legal Issues and Liability
 You can have
criminal charges
filed against you.
– Negligent
supervisors and
employers have
been charged with
manslaughter

13. Legal Issues and Liability
 You can be cited by an enforcement agency
– State Department of Labor (DOL)
 DOL is currently inspecting departments on campus
– EPA
 They’ve already been here, and they’re coming back!
– Federal OSHA has authority to get involved
 GM plant in OKC

14. Legal Issues and Liability
 You can be fined by an enforcement
agency
– State DOL will issue citations first
– EPA will levy fines…
 Boston University was fined $750,000 in 1997
 Brown University was fined $500,000 in 2000
 University of Hawaii was fined $1.7 million in
December

15. Legal Issues and Liability
 Cease and desist orders: if the
violations are serious enough,
agencies such as DOL, OSHA, and the
EPA can (and will) shut down the job
site until the problems are corrected.
 EHS has issued cease and desist
orders on OSU projects, as well.

16. So how do you protect
yourself?
????????

17. Understanding Accident
Causes
 Accidents are caused by:
– Unsafe conditions
– Unsafe acts

18. Accident Causes
 Unsafe Conditions
– Easiest to correct (and very cost effective)
– Easiest to prevent
 Safety audits
 Safety inspections
 Maintenance schedules for equipment
 Encouraging employee reporting
 Good housekeeping

19. Accident Causes
 Unsafe Acts
– Most difficult to address
 Changing behavior isn’t easy
– Best prevented by developing a “safety
culture”

20. Safety Cultures
 Establish accountability for safety
 Define safety responsibilities

21. Establishing Accountability:
Performance Evaluations
 Employees should be evaluated on their
safety performance
– Doing a job correctly includes doing it safely
 OSU job description revisions may include
generic job descriptions with:
– “Must follow all general and safety policies and
procedures as established by the department,
college/division, and university.”

22. Establishing Accountability
 Charge back systems
 Safety goals
– Accident costs
 Equipment damage
 Lost time
– Accident rates
 First aid #s
 Workers comp #s
– Loss ratios (including automobile rates)
 Safety Activities
– Safety meetings, inspections, using PPE

23. Defining Responsibilities
 Employee responsibilities include:
– Recognizing safety hazards
– Reporting safety hazards
– Maintaining good housekeeping
– Working safely
– Using personal protective equipment
(PPE)
– Making the most of safety training

24. Defining Responsibilities
 Employer responsibilities include:
– Providing access to information
 Haz Com - MSDSs, written program
 Bloodborne Pathogens – written program
 Lab Safety – chemical hygiene plan

25. Defining Responsibilities
 Employer responsibilities (cont.)
– Providing personal protective equipment
 From OSHA 1910.132: “Protective equipment, including
personal protective equipment for eyes, face, head,
and extremities, protective clothing, respiratory devices,
and protective shields and barriers, shall be provided,
used, and maintained in a sanitary and reliable
condition wherever it is necessary by reason of
hazards of processes or environment, chemical
hazards, radiological hazards, or mechanical irritants
encountered in a manner capable of causing injury or
impairment in the function of any part of the body
through absorption, inhalation or physical contact.”

26. Defining Responsibilities
 Employer responsibilities (cont.)
– Providing training
 Hazard Communications
– Annual & within first 30 days of employment, also
when new hazards are introduced
 Quarterly safety training (required by state)
 Special programs
– Laboratory
– Bloodborne pathogens
– Respirators
– Forklifts

27. Defining Responsibilities
 Employer responsibilities (cont.)
– OSHA General Duty Clause: “Each
employer
 Has the general duty to furnish each
employee with employment and places of
employment free from recognized hazards
causing or likely to cause death or serious
physical harm.
 The specific duty of complying with safety and
health standards promulgated under the act.”

28. So what does all this mean?
It means that safety is everybody’s
business.
From the moral aspect to the legal
aspect, we all benefit from a safe work
environment.

29. For more information:
 Check out the EHS website:
– http://www.pp.okstate.edu/ehs/
 Call EHS at 4-7241
 Email me at:
– hogan@pp.okstate.edu