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Unsafe and negligence working conditions result
in the On-the-job injuries and accidents. The
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) have created two standards, that is, 1910.132
and 1910.133 in order to protect workers.
These standards stress on providing eye protection
and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the
workplace. It is very hard for some employers
to sort among various standards what they want
their employees to use in order to keep them away
from accidents and injuries in the workplace.
(Blair, 1996)
Despite dramatic changes in management styles,
worker perceptions and organizational culture,
OSHA strategies have remained essentially the
same for nearly 30 years. Perhaps safety professionals
need to begin thinking about OSHA in a different
way.
The effectiveness of OSHA has been questioned
by many within the safety field. For example,
Petersen has called OSHA's efforts "misdirected"
(1988) and Pierce (1996) calls the rulemaking
process an "out dated regulatory system.
. . . At best, it is terribly ineffective."
Obviously, many variables influence injury and
fatality statistics, but the record across the
U.S. has been mixed since the OSH Act took effect
in 1971. The good news? The number of workplace
fatalities per year has been cut by more than
half. The bad news? Recordable injuries have remained
essentially unchanged over the past 30 years,
even though OSHA regulation and compliance have
received substantial attention. Clearly, something
is not working.
This viewpoint is not held only by those outside
OSHA. At ASSE's 1999 Best Practices in Safety
Management Symposium, Gregory Watchman, (1999)
a former deputy assistant secretary of OSHA said:
“When Congress created the OSH Act in 1970,
it focused the federal government's first broad-scale
foray into worker safety and health primarily
on the development and enforcement of protective
standards. Congress anticipated that the standards-setting
process it designed for OSHA would enable the
newly created agency to target the most dangerous
hazards, develop standards that would effectively
reduce or eliminate those hazards, and issue them
on a timely and frequent basis.”
The rules of OSHA's head protection standard are
well settled, but citations still happen, and
employers still wrestle with non-compliance.
The rules of occupational head protection are
simple enough, and a check of OSHA's Web site
shows they are well settled. The agency has issued
only 14 Standard Interpretation Letters telling
employers how to comply with 29 CFR 1910.135--none
since April 1997. Yet between October 1998 and
September 1999, OSHA issued 52 citations with
$40,460 in penalties for violating it. The major
industry classifications at the top of the penalty
list that year were Transportation Equipment ($6,125);
Primary Metal Industries ($5,200); Electric, Gas,
and Sanitary Services ($5.000); and Lumber and
Wood Products, Except Furniture ($4,930). (Bureau
of Labor Statistics….1999)
These paragraphs are OSHA's head protection standard:
General Requirements
(a)(1). The employer shall ensure that each affected
employee wears a protective helmet when working
in areas where there is a potential for injury
to the head from falling objects.
(a)(2). The employer shall ensure that a protective
helmet designed to reduce electrical shock hazard
is worn by each such affected employee when near
exposed electrical conductors which could contact
the head. (Watchman, 1999)
Criteria for Protective Helmets
(b)(1). Protective helmets purchased after July
5, 1994 shall comply with ANSI Z89.1-1986, "American
National Standard for Personnel Protection-Protective
Headwear for Industrial Workers-Requirements,"
which is incorporated by reference as specified
in Sec. 1910.6, or shall be demonstrated to be
equally effective.
(b)(2). Protective helmets purchased before July
5, 1994 shall comply with the ANSI standard "American
National Standard Safety Requirements for Industrial
Head Protection," ANSI Z89.1-
1969, which is incorporated by reference as specified
in Sec.
1910.6, or shall be demonstrated by the employer
to be equally effective. (Watchman, 1999)
OSHA Standards 1910.132 And 1910.133
OSHA Standard 1910.132 (Personal Protective Equipment)
states that "Protective equipment...shall
be provided, used, and maintained [by the employer]
in a sanitary and reliable condition wherever
it is necessary by reason of hazards...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."
(Roll et al, N/A)
Responsibilities of Supervisor
It is the responsibility of the supervisor to
ensure that if the employees purchase their protective
equipment by them then the supervisor will have
to check its quality and design that is adequate
for the particular work to be performed and the
supervisor will also check the cleaning and maintenance
of the equipment. The supervisor is responsible
to check all PPE that are used in the workplace.
All the supervisors are responsible for the assessment
of the hazards that are present at the workplace
or the possibility of the occurrence of hazards
that require the use of personal protective equipment.
It is the responsibility of the supervisor to
find out what particular type of personal protective
equipment will be required by each affected employee
in case if the supervisor assesses the possible
occurrence of any hazard in the workplace. The
supervisor will have to discuss the selection
of a particular personal protective equipment
with each affected employee and will make it sure
that the selected personal protective equipment
fits the affected employees. In this way, damaged
or defected personal protective equipments will
not be used in the workplace. (Geller, 1996)
It is the responsibility of the supervisor to
keep the hazard assessment in the form of documents.
The supervisor will have to write a certificate
that will certify that the workplace has been
evaluated, a witness will be there for the evaluation,
dates of assessing the hazards at the workplace
and the required training for all the employees
will be mentioned.
The training of all the employees will make it
sure that all of them know about the use of personal
protective equipment and when they should use
it. The supervisor will also train the employees
about the proper maintenance, care, limitations
and disposal of the personal protective equipment.
(Geller, Beyond safety.., 1998)
All the employees must demonstrate that they have
completely understood the training about the use,
maintenance, care and disposal of personal protective
equipments. Once they ensure their supervisor
about their understanding of the training, they
are allowed to do their job. The supervisor has
the authority to retain the employees who have
not understood the training completely and who
are not familiar with the use of personal protective
equipments. (Geller, Building successful….1998)
All the supervisors are need for the verification
that the training has given to all the employees
and they have understood and received it. This
is necessary just in the same way as the conduction
of a workplace hazard analysis is necessary and
the issuance of certification is necessary. The
name of the employee undergone through training
with date of training is included on the certificate.
(Geller, Understanding Behavior-based….1998)
OSHA Standard 1910.133 (Eye and Face Protection)
makes the supervisors responsible to make it sure
that all the affected employees are using the
personal protective equipment when they are exposed
to the face or eye hazards. With the help of this
standard, the supervisors become responsible to
assure that all the employees have received eye
wear that contains side protectors in cases where
flying particles are existed and there is a chance
for the employees to get involved in a hazard.
It is the duty of the supervisor to make it sure
that in the presence of injurious light radiation,
all the employees must receive the correct filter
lenses. (Watchman, 1999)
All the supervisors are responsible to make it
sure that all the eye and face devices that were
purchased after July 5, 1994 conform with ANSI
Z87.1-1989 standard and the same devices purchased
prior to July 5, 1994 conform with or be equivalent
to the ANSI Z87.1-1968 standard. (Watchman, 1999)
Supervisors can be able to know about the present
hazards that require the use of personal protective
equipments in the workplace by the conduction
of a walk-through survey. These hazards include
light radiation, impact and liquid splash.
All the supervisors are responsible to make it
sure that all the employees are provided with
the side protectors along with their eye wears
in order to protect the employees from the hazard
of impact in which debris from flying particles
or objects is involved. A wide selection of safety
eye wears is available that helps the supervisor
to select a particular type of safety eye wear
for different types of impact hazards. These eye
wears are complied with the OSHA standards. The
variety includes spectacles with single and dual
lens, face shields and goggles. (Howard, 1994)
It is the responsibility of the supervisor to
select the right type of protective eye wear for
a particular job. There are goggles or spectacles
that are perfect for the protection of eyes from
injuries due to dust, impact, heat, liquids, intense
light and gases.
All the supervisors are responsible to make it
sure that all the employees wear the protective
eye wears of their right size. As all the employees
are of different face sizes, the size of the eye
wear varies from employee to employee. If employees
use the protective eye wears that do not fit on
them then there is a potential hazard for them
to get injuries due to the entry of heat, particles
or chemicals from any side of the eye wear. (Imai,
1986)
The supervisors should not consider the eye glasses
that some employees wear with prescription lenses
as the protective eye wear because such eye glasses
are designed for ordinary use and they do not
provide the required protection against hazards.
the supervisors should ask the employees that
are using prescriptive spectacles to use protective
lenses and side shields in which correction of
vision of employee and ANSI standards are met.
The supervisors can also advise the employees
to fit goggles over corrective eye glasses. In
this way, the alignment of the glasses will not
be disturbed. It is the responsibility of the
supervisor to ask the employees that are wearing
contact lenses to use protective eye wear in order
to keep them away from potential eye injury. (Krause,
1996)
The supervisors are required for the communication
and education of his subordinates about the use
of safety eye wear because it needs more than
a handout about the use of a particular eye wear.
The supervisor must tell the employees about the
importance of the use of protective eye wear and
he must tell all the employees about the effective
use of the protective eye wear. (Mc Sween, 1995)
The supervisor is responsible for the preparation
and distribution of guidelines that tell about
the policies of the use of the protective eye
wear such as when the employees should use it
and what particular type of the protective eye
wear should be used by which employees. It is
also the responsibility of the supervisors to
give employees the necessary education about the
hazards that can take place in the working environment.
the employees should be told about the proper
use and care of their protective eye wears in
order to avoid any job hazards. (Petersen, 1988)
The supervisors have to make sure that damaged
or defective eye wears are not used in the workplace
as per OSHA policy. The purpose of the protective
eye wear can be achieved only when the eye wear
is in good condition. If all the employees maintain
their protective eye wears then the eye wear will
be kept for a longer period and it will save a
great amount of the company that could have spent
in the replacement of the defected or damaged
eye wear.
Once the supervisor guides the employees about the
proper use and storage of their safety eye wear,
the good shape and condition of the safety eye wear
is ensured. The supervisor issues holders, straps,
free cases of the protective eye wear at the time
of the issuance of the protective eye wear in order
to protect the eye wear from the possible hazards
of the workplace when the employees are not using
them. (Pierce, 1996)
It is the duty of supervisors to educate their
subordinates about the importance of the cleanliness
of their protective eye wear. If the protective
eye wear is dirty, the vision will not be clear
and this will result in the mishaps. The supervisors
are asked to make it sure that cleaning materials
are readily available in the working area of all
the employees so that they do not have to run
from here to there in the search of cleaning material.
The placement of cleaning material in the reachable
areas in the workplace will save the time of employees
and it will be easy from them to comply with the
OSHA standards. (Watchman, 1999)
The supervisors are responsible for the inspection
of eye wear regularly. Many accidents may occur
due to the loose frames, cracked lenses, missing
nose pieces of the protected eye wear. The supervisors
are advised to immediately replace the protective
eyes wear of the employees who are under going
troubles to see what is happening or who spend
a lot of their time in the adjustment of their
broken protective eye wear.
OSHA has made it compulsory for the supervisors
that they have completed hazard assessment in
the workplace as well as they have given the complete
training to the employees about the personal protective
equipments. As these two necessary processes are
made official by preparing documents about the
completion of training and verification of hazard
assessment, they are put into more effect.
After the completion of the documentation about
the hazard assessment and the completion of the
employees’ training about the personal protective
equipments and the potential hazards in the workplace,
these documents should be displayed in such locations
that are common to all the employees so those
documents will be used as a reminder for all the
employees and visitors about the potential hazards
that can take place in the workplace and about
the type of personal protective equipments that
could be used for a particular type of hazard.
This will help in reminding the supervisor that
he has to do the assessments on the regular basis
especially in the cases when some new equipment
have been purchased and some new processes have
been implemented in the workplace. (Blair, 1996)
When the supervisors are bound to verify in the
form of documents that they have given the complete
training to the employees about the potential
hazards and the use of personal protective equipments,
the employees come to know the importance of the
use of the personal protective equipments more
effectively and they feel bound to use them in
hazardous conditions in the workplace.
The employees would not be able to give any excuse
of not using the personal protective equipments
in the workplace as information about the use
of personal protective equipments will be made
official. (Watchman, 1999)
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