Does anyone have a copy of a generic safety manual? I am not looking for something that quotes CFR`s or OSHA standards. I would like to see something written in laymans terms that is easy for all personnel to understand.

If no safety manual, how do other companies let their team members know about all safety requirements?

For a few months I did double duty as the Safety guy for a previous company. I went to the applicable gov websites and pulled down the regulations. http://www.osha.gov is the correct website I believe.

The Feds have OSHA, but if the state you are in is at least as tough, then the Feds will let the state do the job. CalOSHA is a prime example of that. I do not know about PA.

That would be a good starting point, but perhaps not the best one. It has the benefit of knowing all the requirements you may have to meet......the down side is there may be things that you need to meet that you do not currently know about. The research will tell you that.

Then write your own manual. Use the KISS (Keep It Short and Simple) rule, put in digital pics if possible. You will have to train everyone on the manual and keep records of the training. You will have to train everyone on RTK (Right To Know) information. RTK includes items like MSDS, which you must have and make available to all employees for any chemical.......from white-out to soap to floor cleaner to production chemicals. If you have a wood shop you must have the MSDS for the lumber and yes, wood does have MSDS.

Make sure HR is involved, they are a valuable resource in this kind of effort.

You will have to keep records of any and all injuries because that goes on the Form 100. I recommend installing an easy-to-use system where employees can let you know about unsafe conditions. You would then also need a follow-up, enforcement, and escalation capability built in. At the employer I mentioned, I installed the enforcement/escalation part. I actually shut down one entire process (quenching of hot freshly turned metal) for several days until the issue was solved.

Hope this helps.

Hershal

If you do use google (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=right+to+know+manual&btnG=Google+Search), you can find all you will need.

If anyone has a generic one it would be good to have one or more attached to a post here. :rolleyes:

Excellent manual for download at http://www.dli.state.pa.us/landi/cwp/view.asp?a=144&Q=67630#publications

and this Rules & Regulations page (if I can attach it) should help you in a general way, as far as what should be included (hopefully highlighting is able to be seen in the document for you)
***file too large*** will try to email it to you!

Here's some food for thought.

Good info.

http://siri.uvm.edu/

Thanks everyone for their replies.
I did find a good one at this site. It was not easy though. I did do a search originally and all I found were ones that cost.
http://www.tarleton.edu/~policy/safety.htm

I've just been assigned to our internal team for implementing a EH&S program did anyone ever post a sample of a generic safety manual?

Thanks,
Al

Give this one a try. Hope this helps.

this is a z10 format

"1.1 ANY INJURY AT WORK—NO MATTER HOW SMALL—MUST BE REPORTED IMMEDIATELY TO YOUR SUPERVISOR AND RECEIVE FIRST AID ATTENTION. IN CASE OF SICKNESS OR INJURY, NO MATTER HOW SLIGHT, REPORT AT ONCE TO YOUR SUPERVISOR. IN NO CASE SHOULD AN EMPLOYEE TREAT HIS OWN OR SOMEONE ELSE'S INJURIES"

Is there any one of us who actually follows a directive like this at their place of work?

If we owned a company, would we really want our employees to follow a directive like this?

My answers are no and no. Is there no room for common sense anymore? I'm not "up" on EHS rules and regs. but is it really an OSHA or other regulatory agency requirement that something like this actually be followed?

No offense intended to you, Carol. It's just that stuff like that drives me nuts. (Well, more nuts.)

Be Careful!

Is that generic enough? ;)

Mike,

In our organization, Yes we expect that all injuries no matter how slight are reported to the supervisor. We investigate and track these injuries. These are considered valuable "freebies" that draw attention to activities that could be improved to prevent a more serious injury in the future.

But No, we do not restrict employees from treating themselves or each other. We train designated First Responders to deal with injuries and other incidents. When conditions warrent, the injured employee is taken for treatment by a medical provider or an outside response agency is called in.

"1.1 ANY INJURY AT WORK—NO MATTER HOW SMALL—MUST BE REPORTED IMMEDIATELY TO YOUR SUPERVISOR AND RECEIVE FIRST AID ATTENTION. IN CASE OF SICKNESS OR INJURY, NO MATTER HOW SLIGHT, REPORT AT ONCE TO YOUR SUPERVISOR. IN NO CASE SHOULD AN EMPLOYEE TREAT HIS OWN OR SOMEONE ELSE'S INJURIES"




I don't have a problem with the word "injury" but sickness? I am thankful that the company I worked for during both of my pregnancies did not enforce this rule - it would have been most embarrassing for all involved!

or alleged incident;)

Mike,
What industry are you in? I have a complete set of safety procedures for the metal working industry. Fire safety, lock-out tag-out, alternatives to lock-out tag-out, PPE, bloodeborne pathogens, on-site contractor services, accident reporting, hearing conservation, fall protection, erogonomics, electrical safety, confined spaces etc. Very thorough. In fact, our safety procedures are more detailed than our quality procedures and I'm glad to say that because the KISS method is not good for safety. In safety, if you keep it too simple, you can KISS a body part goodbye.

All, I was flabbergasted to read some of the comments related to safety. Safety has to be paramount even before quality. From a cost standpoint alone, a great safety record can save tens of thousands of dollars in workers compensation premiums. Let alone the fines that can be generated by OSHA. I've seen a sister company of ours get fined for not having a 3-prong outlet on a fan. Seems ridulous but the regulation is there for a reason.

I only wish the safety people had a website like Elsmar to go to.

Totumfrog

No offense intended to you, Carol. It's just that stuff like that drives me nuts. (Well, more nuts.)

Mike,

None taken - I understand the level of your nuttiness! LOL :lol:

I take no responsibility for that document....it has been around here forever, and probably will never change (lawyer says so)...because of one thing....liability.

But to look at it from a different perspective, if we don't say that, where is the line drawn....in other words...

"See your supervisor if you cut yourself and the cut is greater in length than a 1/4" and deeper than 1/16"....", well, we would need a calibration program just for the injury assesment devices....:biglaugh: :biglaugh:

Just kidding.

I am not anti-safety. But I think asking anyone with a paper cut, or anyone who pokes their finger on a staple, or stubs their toe, to report it to their supervisor and receive first-aid (but not from yourself or another employee, so I guess from a doctor or nurse?) is crazy. Why can we advocate that employees apply common sense and judgement everywhere but here? It's like requiring accounting to do another full audit because the yearly books were off by one cent in a $40M company. Someone justify the payback on this for me please.

Well, set aside the opportunity to fix a problem area or procedure that has resulted in a minor injury in order to prevent a more serious one in the future,.....set aside the perfectly sensible statement Carol made regarding having to establish clear guidelines on what is reported and what isn't,.....set aside the differences in opinion from one employee and another on what is minor and what is not, ....and any other number of reasons why a company would want employees to report all injuries regardless of severity....

And what do you have left? Your customers' requirements to report your injury pyramid. That's right. If you aren't familiar with the pyramid with fatalities at the top, and near misses at the bottom then it won't make much sense to you. But do a Google on Heinrich Injury Pyramid and then you will see. The oil majors all push to ensure that their pyramids and our pyramids actually look like pyramids. And that means our guys better report every single injury or we end up looking like we're under-reporting. If the only injuries that are reported are the serious ones then that shows a big hole in our safety program.

Just like everything else: even if you don't find value in something purely on it's own merit, it will be the customer who determines the necessity.

I did not remember seeing Carol mention guidelines on what is reported and what isn't - I saw "ANY INJURY AT WORK—NO MATTER HOW SMALL—MUST BE REPORTED" and that is where I am debating from. Those words do not seem to allow any exceptions.

If the customer requires it -- I can understand having to do it.

Otherwise, in another thread Randy had stated something in his typical straightforward manner that seems, to me, to apply here: "Just fix it and don't worry about the "nit-picking". At some point common sense needs to prevail in all the "system" gibberish we have going on."