Keeping Your Safety Edge SHARP By: Melinda Sessoms Ward Wastewater Superintendent City of Eden

The City of Eden Public Utilities: a SHARP Public Sector Worksite November 1, 2012, the City of Eden Water and Wastewater systems received the certification of SHARP Public Sector for having met all of the requirements of the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program. This granted us an exemption from OSHA programmed compliance inspections for a period of 3 years. We were presented the award at a City Council meeting by a representative from the office of the Commissioner of Labor.

SHARP Public Sector Worksite Renewal A SHARP worksite must complete and submit the “Annual Safety & Health Management System Review” worksheet by February 15, of each calendar year. This worksheet can be a useful tool for you and OSHNC to track the effectiveness of your safety and health program. On November 1, 2015 our certification expired. We sent in a survey request that required another visit by our consultant to renew our certification.

The City of Eden Public Utilities: a SHARP Public Sector Worksite During the inspection, only one small item was found that was corrected immediately. WE ARE NOW RECERTIFIED FOR ANOTHER 3 YEARS! We even got a flag!!!

SHARP Safety & Health Achievement Recognition Program

The SHARP Program Currently the program is open to small general industry, public sector fixed sites, and construction. Priority is given to employers with <250 employees, in high hazard industries, and at single, fixed site locations.

The SHARP Program SHARP Public Sector is a program that recognizes certain categories of Public Sector Employers who have developed and maintained effective safety and health programs. Categories included at this time are: School-Maintenance, Public Works, Sheriff/Police, Public Utilities, Fire/EMS, and Parks & Recreation. SHARP Public Sector is a system of exemptions from planned OSH compliance inspections for those employers who comply voluntarily with the applicable standards. SHARP Public Sector is a process for getting employees involved in driving improvements in their safety and health program as well as in quality and productivity.

SHARP Program Requirements Abate all hazards identified by Consultants Score well on the Safety and Health Assessment conducted by Consultants Maintain injury/illness rates at or below the NC PSIM Public Sector Targeting Analysis Report; and Submit a written request for SHARP Public Sector participation.

SHARP Benefits EMPLOYEE involvement in keeping costs down and quality and productivity up in State and Local Agencies FREE professional safety & health mentoring Reduced workers’ compensation COSTS Reduced OSH compliance INSPECTIONS State and Local RECOGNITION.

OSHA Consultative Services Services provided are FREE of charge. Records kept by the Consultative Services Bureau are confidential and are not shared with other NCDOL bureaus. Services they provide: Full-service on-site safety and health surveys, or specific surveys tailored to your request Technical assistance Safety and health program assessment and assistance Ergonomics evaluation and assistance Air sampling and analysis Noise measurements Recognition/exemption programs

OSHA Consultative Services Full service (safety and industrial hygiene or “health”) surveys of the facilities. They look at written programs and make sure they meet the OSHA requirements. They also make sure that employees get required training. Walk-through of the facility to look for hazards. The employer is required to fix the hazards that are pointed out. They also make recommendations to the company and, for SHARP, the company has to evaluate these suggestions and implement those that are feasible and helpful.

OSHA Consultative Services Throughout the survey work, five primary aspects of safety and health program management are evaluated: 1. Employer commitment 2. Employee involvement 3. Hazard recognition and control 4. Written policies and procedures 5. Safety training For this evaluation they use a batch of standardized questions. They rank a company from 0-3 on these. If a company gets a 0 or 1, they indicate the measures the company can take to raise their scores. For SHARP, an organization has to score 2 or 3 on 50 of the 58 questions. They also have to be working on the 8 starred questions, but the score on those does not matter.

OSHA Consultative Services Operational – Items 1 to 19 measure the actual activities that are taking place in your worksite to “find and fix” hazards. They relate to Detection, Prevention, and Control of Hazards. Managerial – Items 20 to 39 measure the ability of your organization to support and maintain the operational component of your Safety and Health program. These address Planning and Evaluation, Administration and Supervision, and Safety and Health Training. Cultural – Items 40 to 58 measure the organizational values and principles mutually held by management and employees that relate to safety and health. Two sub-components are Management Leadership and Employee Participation.

OSHA Consultative Services Finally, they look at the injury and illness rates for the organization. They use the OSHA 300 logs and calculate the Days Away, Restricted or Transferred (DART) case rate, and the Total Recordable Case (TRC) rate. For Public Sector SHARP, the rates of the organization have to be below the North Carolina 3-year average rates for their category (Police, Public Works, Public Utilities, Fire/EMS, School Maintenance, and Parks and Rec).

How to Start The best way to get started is with a Full Service Safety Survey conducted by one of the OSHA Consultative Services Representatives. A thorough inspection will be performed at the facilities. A report will be sent for review that covers all of the areas of concern. A follow up meeting will be held to discuss deadlines for items to be corrected. A final report will be completed and sent in along with a follow up inspection to insure all corrections have been made by the deadlines.

Examples of Areas for Review record keeping lockout/tagout respirator use blood borne pathogens ventilation hazard communication confined spaces first aid accident investigations, and personal protective equipment

Examples of Assistance Received Informational materials supplied during the survey included: North Carolina Safety and Health Standards for General Industry Sample employer safety and health program Labor Poster Sample emergency action plan Sample forklift inspection checklist Safety Awards brochure Sample hazard communication program Sample lockout/tagout program Sample PPE hazard assessment program

Example of Problems Found

Follow Up: Annual Safety and Health Management System Review Example Section Hazard Prevention and Control When were your safety and health rules last updated? 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 (circle one) When were your employees last trained on safety and health rules? 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 (circle one) How long does it usually take to correct a hazard? Immediately Within one Week One Month (circle one) If hazards are not corrected immediately are your employees protected? Yes No (circle one) How would you rate your housekeeping? Excellent Fair Poor (circle one)

Some Lessons To Be Learned... Many safety features are installed in plant construction and upgrades, so it is assumed that they meet all current safety requirements. MANY DO NOT! Process Safety Management material has been written and is being followed. MATERIAL IS NOT REVIEWED AND UPDATED TO REFLECT CHANGES! Safety Inspectors and/or Committees are keeping up with all safety issues and insuring that proper training is being conducted. THE COMMITTEES GROW SLACK WITH NO PROBLEMS AND THEN BARELY KEEP UP WHEN CHANGES OCCUR! Signs are up to warn of dangers. NOT ENOUGH! SHARP Certified. ACCIDENTS STILL HAPPEN AND ROUTINE REVIEWS ARE STILL NEEDED!

Active Public Sector Sites as of 1/19/16 1. City of Eden – Public Utilities, Waste Water, Water Treatment 2. City of Mount Holly – Police Department, Public Utilities, Waste Water, Water Treatment, Streets & Sanitation 3. City of Reidsville – Police Department, Public Works & Garage, Transfer Station, Fire Station 4. City of Washington – Public Utilities 5. County of Davidson – Public Works 6. County of Rockingham – Sheriff’s Office 7. Forsyth County Emergency Services – Fire Dept., EMS 8. Town of Pineville – Public Works 9. Town of Dallas – Police Department, Public Utilities, Public Works 10. Town of Morrisville – Fire Station 1, Parks and Recreation, Police Dept., Public Works 11. Town of Nags Head Fire & Rescue, Police Dept., Public Works, Water Dept. 12. Town of Waxhaw Police Department *Yellow highlighted cities are for water and/or wastewater.

SAFETY NEVER ENDS

OSHA Consultative Services Contact Information For additional information regarding Consultative Services and our other safety programs, contact bureau chief Kevin O’Barr at (919) 807-2899 or via e-mail at Kevin.Obarr@labor.nc.gov. Information about OSHA Consultative Services and the SHARP certification are also available at the web address www.nclabor.com

Ready to SHARPen Your Safety Skills?