Last month, JJ Keller held an online training on Top EHS Practices. At ETAC, we pride ourselves on maintaining the most up to date regulations in the training that we provide for our HAZWOPER and safety classes. This training was a great way to sum up what you and your teams should be doing to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of OSHA regulations, so we summed them up here for an easy go-to guide. Many of these items are also listed in our full list of EHS Services that ETAC provides. Click here for more details.
- Training is essential in keeping up with Osha Compliance. There are a number of regulations that require training, such as DOT/RCRA, 40 HR HAZWOPER Training, and Refresher training. Even if a regulation doesn’t have a training requirement, make employees aware of any hazards at work, inform them of any safety data sheets, and review any material that employees have questions about. Regulations can change in a year, so look out for OSHA updates and required courses, such as heat illnesses. Keep all of your training records, both digital and hard copy so that they are easy to reference for audits. Finally, make sure to have written safety plans, even if it’s not required. This helps keep your company safe and reduces injuries in the workplace.
- Hazard communication is another standard for OSHA compliance. Your written safety plans would fall under this. This will help detail all the procedures following a potential spill, explains all the chemicals through safety data sheets, and outlines your training program. Include a list of all known chemicals, and maintain this information annually, so that the information is the most up-to-date. Make sure everything is labeled properly, especially if it contains a chemical. Although initial set up with a written plan may take sometime, in the long run it keeps your information organized and readily available for the team if they need it.
- Incident reporting keeps the workplace safe and tracks what happened during incidents so you and your team can work on preventing them. Incident reporting can also show a pattern of events so that you can address them in the workplace. The types of incidents that you would want to include are property damage or equipment that stopped working, along with the type of injury that resulted in the incident. This incident reporting can lead to written safety plans that can help avoid these same injuries.
- Audits happen regularly to assess any hazards at the workplace and how they should be addressed. ETAC also offers consulting services that include a walkthrough to survey your workplace. These types of audits done internally with your company are valuable since they may show you that your safety plans may fall short, leading to violations. These audits are very different from inspections; they make sure that your safety plans work, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and improve the overall safety of your workers.
Having standard operating procedures in safety at the workplace leads to a safer work environment for everyone. ETAC provides many of the types of services you would need to maintain your program, and we’re happy to review your written safety plan. Just give ETAC a call at (800) 949-4473 or e-mail info@etac-online.com for more details.
