Category Archives: Safety Audits

Safety Software

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Twitt

One of the primary focuses we have here at PF Safety is lockout procedures. We have discussed this topic several times before because we take lockout tagout very seriously, as we understand the potential threat to your business and your employees should there ever be a lockout tagout miscalculation.

But as important and difficult as it is to properly comply with the standards initially, it can be even harder and vastly more important to sustain accurate procedures. An audit team such as ours can define your library and design proper placards, but it becomes your responsibility to monitor changes and redefine your procedure library over time. Now, the reason most companies hire professionals to set up their procedures initially is that it is so difficult to get a company up to speed in this critical area.

However, lockout tagout procedures are not suddenly learned when a company is brought up to code, and the same questions and uncertainties which caused a company to hire a professional are still present. What’s worse is that many business owners assume, because they have had a procedure put in place, they no longer need to worry about their lockout procedures and do not monitor them.

This can be an extremely costly mistake. It is imperative to consistently monitor your lockout tagout procedures, otherwise you will fall back out of compliance. Things change, and unless you are monitoring your machines night and day, something can get past you and create a very serious problem.

Fortunately, there is advanced monitoring software released by many companies which can help your company maintain compliant lockout tagout procedures. If you have any questions whatsoever regarding this extremely critical standard, please contact us. And, if you know of any other tips for maintaining compliance between audits, please post them in the comments.

Safety Audits

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Twitt

If you have been following our blog, you have seen that we talk about safety audits in just about every post. While it might seem redundant, it is really just that important for your company. There is nothing that can protect you from OSHA more than a safety audit administered by a qualified third party.

A good third party safety audit will cover everything OSHA looks for in an audit. We cannot speak for other companies, but we can say that during our audits we examine your current hazard assessments, machinery, processes, signage, training, employee safety competence, evacuation plans, accident incidents and investigations, and anything else that you need to ensure compliance with OSHA. This all encompassing view allows us to truly understand your company, your needs, and how to effectively minimize risk while not disturbing your company’s operations.

When shopping for a consulting firm to handle your safety audit, there are a few key factors to keep in mind. First and foremost, why is this organization qualified to audit your business? Do they have a team of engineers, auditors, safety professionals, and trainers who have very specific and very relevant knowledge of your industry? Or, did a recent college graduate read through some OSHA regulations and decide that he can handle understanding the intricacies of OSHA as it relates to your operations? You will also want to consider what other clients the organization has. We list a small sampling of some of our clients, to give you a feel of what industries we cover. If you start speaking to an audit team and they hedge when asked about which industries they specialize in, or what clients they have worked with, you might want to reconsider. Finally, you want to consider what the audit team will do for you after the audit process is complete. Will they help you stay in compliance over time? Will they forget about you in a month, and be unavailable to you if you have questions? Are they even going to write out a full plan of next steps?

If you have been considering a safety audit, stop procrastinating. It is never going to be a fun or desirable prospect, but it is a necessity. If you have questions about our process, or how we can help your company, please contact us. And if you have any other things you would recommend looking for in a third party audit team, please leave a comment.

Third Party Safety Audits

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Properly managed Third Party Safety Audits can be the difference between a smooth OSHA visit and a disaster. During a safety audit, a certified audit team will provide an independent review of your operations, create a list of best practice recommendations, and form an Action Plan for your company to reach full compliance. In addition, any audits performed by a certified company will comply with all relevant federal and state health inspection requirements.

A third party safety audit is great for customers with a number of different needs. A third party safety audit can help you to: develop an elite safety program, obtain VPP Star/Merit status, comply with your OHSAS 18001 procedures of assessing regulatory compliance,  validate compliance, and a number of other things. While this list is hardly all inclusive, it gives a good idea of the scope of a safety audit.

The reason a safety audit can help customers with so many different needs is that a good third party safety audit will cover a multitude of areas. First and foremost, the safety audit will review any hazardous assessments for specific health and safety programs. This will ensure that your company is properly handling all known hazardous assessments as per the latest OSHA and state standards. Next, an audit team will conduct a complete “wall to wall” safety inspection. This will help your company to find areas of non-compliance, so that you can fix the issues before someone gets hurt unnecessarily. Then, the auditors should review all accident investigations, in an effort to identify areas of potential concern and to fix any problem areas. Finally, an audit team should review employee involvement and safety training, to ensure that the entire team understands their role in keeping the workplace safe.

With all of this data, an audit company can then create an Action Plan to bring your facility up to code. In addition, as per OSHA policy, this Action Plan can be used, should OSHA come to investigate your facility, as a show of good faith, and help you to avoid citations for any incidents found during the audit which you are in the process of fixing.

PFSafety has a certified team of professionals who will ensure that your business is up to code. If you are ready to get serious about safety, contact us so that we can begin developing your audit plan today.

OSHA Compliant Visual Lockout Procedures

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Twitt

There are many ways to ensure safety and compliance, regarding your written lockout procedures. You can maintain a filing in-house, and become an expert on OSHA standard 1910.147. You can hire a specialist onto your payroll, and pay them to maintain this for you. Or you can hire a company, such as ours, to run this for you. It is, ultimately, your decision, but you must do something.

What these written lockout procedures must cover, is “the servicing and maintenance of machines and equipment in which the unexpected energization or start up of the machines or equipment, or release of stored energy, could harm employees.” (1917.147 (a)(1)(i)) So, this standard is serious in regards to employee safety. Unfortunately, the standard can be cumbersome, and it can be difficult to keep track of which machines require which written notices, which can often make it difficult to stay in compliance, and can open your facility up to potentially unsafe environments.

The key to creating a solid, compliant, and safe procedure is that it must: “clearly and specifically outline the scope, purpose, authorization, rules, and techniques to be utilized for the control of hazardous energy, and the means to enforce compliance.” (1917.147 (c)(4)(ii)) Further, it must specify steps for shutting down, isolating, blocking, and securing machines or equipment to control hazardous energy; specify steps for the placement, removal and transfer of lockout devices or tagout devices and the responsibility for them; and this must be tested at least annually.

This is but a brief overview of what is required, and how it should be maintained. We at PFSafety can walk you through the entire process, get you up to speed, and help you stay safe and cut costs with annual audits. Click here to learn more about the requirements and the process.