In its Position Statement on Distracted Driving in Motor Vehicles, ASSE calls on its members and other safety professionals to:

• encourage and support employer rules banning any employee use of electronic devices while driving
• support proposed public laws and regulations that effectively limit the use of electronic devices while driving, and
• back improved driver education that includes the risks of distracted driving and ways to avoid such risks.

ASSE’s views about distracted driving aren’t limited to cell phone use. It says, “The same safety risks posed by cellular phones also hold true for a vehicle operator who drives in an unsafe manner while eating, drinking, putting on makeup, reading a newspaper, operating any other electronic device, or some other type of distracting activity where the driver’s mind, eyes, and hands are engaged elsewhere than the road ahead and the steering wheel.”

ASSE cites various studies to make its point that distracted driving isn’t limited to electronic device use.

A Carnegie Mellon University study shows brain power used while driving decreases by 40% when a driver listens to conversation or music. A Nationwide Mutual Insurance study found 80% of drivers admit to blatantly hazardous behavior including changing clothes, steering with a foot, painting nails and shaving.

Does your company have a policy on employees and distracted driving? Do you think it’s a good idea to support laws banning use of cell phones while driving? Should those bans also cover other types of distracted driving? What are some examples you’ve seen of distracted driving? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

DES PLAINES, IL (August 5, 2009) – In a unique approach, the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) will be host to a two-day ‘Proactive Safety Management’ symposium this November 12-13 in Miami, FL, where attendees select from intensive interactive workshops based on the topics that best fit their skill-building needs on how to integrate safety into the business of their organization.

Attendees will learn how to use safety management processes and tools for implementation in their workplace as well as hear from leading authorities in the area of safety and business. Keynoting the education event will be Chairman and CEO of Mzinga Barry Libert.  Mzinga is a top provider of social software solutions and services for marketing, customer support and learning. Through a combination of enterprise-class technology, strategy and online moderation services, Mzinga social solutions help businesses work to increase revenue and lower costs by addressing brand visibility, workplace satisfaction, and customer loyalty. Headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, Mzinga services more than one billion monthly page requests from 40 million unique visitors in 160 countries worldwide.

Libert will also lead a workshop examining practical aspects and applications for the use of social networking in safety management and how to evaluate an organization’s social readiness through examples from company success stories.  This workshop aims to help attendees learn how to use social technology to connect with co-workers; reinvent one’s safety effort; and, utilize steps for getting started.

Leading authority on safety management and past ASSE President Samuel J. Gualardo, MA, CSP, president of National Safety Consultants, Inc., of Salix, PA, will address the attendees and discuss how to overcome organization barriers to attain safety and health performance excellence.

“We all spend most of our time focusing on typical workplace hazards and reducing losses,” Gualardo said. “We must think about the numerous tangible and intangible organizational barriers that can also have a significant impact on safety and health performance. These can be managed so that we can overcome these challenges to attaining safety and health performance excellence.”

Attendees can select from several workshops on Thursday including ‘Aligning Safety with Business Goals’, ‘Cost Analysis for Safety and Health’, ‘Implementing the Z10 Standard’, and ‘Employing Social Networking Tactics for Safety Management’. The second round of workshops held the next day include ‘Making the Business Case of Positive Change’, ‘Techniques for Hazard Analysis Recognition’, ‘Leadership Tool Box’, and ‘Safety Training’. Presenting the workshops are safety and business experts from around the U.S. Attendees will receive continuing education credits.

The event will be held at the Hyatt Regency in Miami, FL. Prior to the Nov. 12-13 symposium ASSE will be host to four seminars — the Math Review Certification Exams Workshop Nov. 8; Associate Safety Professional (ASP) Exam Preparation Workshops Nov, 9-11, the Certified Safety Professional (CSP) Exam Preparation Workshop Nov. 9-11, and Corporate Safety Management Workshop Nov. 9-11 also at the Hyatt Regency.

Founded in 1911, the Des Plaines, IL-based ASSE is committed to protecting people, property and the environment. Its 32,000 occupational safety, health and environmental professional members lead, manage, supervise, research and consult on safety, health, transportation and environmental issues in all industries, government, labor, health care and education. For more information please check ASSE’s web site at www.asse.org.

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Between October 1, 2008 and May 31, 2009, OSHA has conducted 24,075 inspections, according to data released at the American Society of Safety Engineers’ Safety 2009 conference. At that rate, OSHA should match the number of inspections performed in 2008: 38,450.

So far in the 2009 fiscal year, 63% of inspections have been the result of OSHA programs that target industries or facilities with high incident rates.

The rest, 37% are due to fatalities, injuries or an employee complaint.

Six out of ten inspections have been in the construction industry.

In 2008, 121 inspections resulted in fines of more than $100,000. From Oct. 1, 2008 through June 26, 2009, there have been 72 six-figure or larger fines.

Sometimes, OSHA inspectors don’t find any problems. That’s been the case 22% of the time so far in FY ‘09.

OSHA finds an average of 3.1 violations per inspection. Of those, it classifies 81% in categories that mean higher fines for companies: serious, willful, repeat and failure to abate.

For the last eight years, OSHA has de-emphasized recordkeeping inspections. That’s about to change.

OSHA is preparing a National Emphasis Program (NEP) on recordkeeping. Its targets:

• Companies in high-injury industries with low injury rates. OSHA will check to see that records match reality.
• Incentive programs that encourage employees not to report injuries. Example: The unit with the lowest injury rate for the quarter will win prizes or get a special financial reward.
• Disincentives to report injuries. Example: Workers who report injuries are disciplined or fired.

Speaking at the American Society of Safety Engineers’ (ASSE) Safety 2009 conference in San Antonio, acting OSHA administrator Jordan Barab said the agency isn’t opposed to incentive programs, as long as the incentives are for proactive measures.

Barab said he’s somewhat skeptical of behavioral programs that always blame workers for incidents and injuries.

In an interview with SafetyNewsAlert.com after his speech, Barab pointed to the 2005 BP Texas City, TX, disaster in which 15 employees were killed and 170 were injured in an explosion. Barab said the first thing BP did was to fire a bunch of workers “when that was only the tip of the iceberg,” according to an investigation by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board.

On another topic, Barab said OSHA isn’t eliminating the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP). However, he added that the days of OSHA forming alliances with various industry groups instead of enacting new or revising existing standards are over.

When will OSHA have a permanent administrator? Barab said at this point, it looks like it will be fall at the earliest. However, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has told Barab not to wait. When Barab took the position as interim head of OSHA, Solis told him to go full speed ahead on her workplace safety agenda, which includes vigorous enforcement and enactment of new standards. Barab will assume the No. 2 position at OSHA once a permanent administrator is confirmed.

Barab said OSHA will react quickly to injury trends, such as moving inspectors to Texas, starting in July, to counter the high number of construction fatalities in the state (see our earlier story here). “A SWAT team of OSHA inspectors will fan out over Texas,” Barab said, to visit sites in locales where construction fatalities and injuries have been a particular problem.

Check back with SafetyNewsAlert.com often this week for updates from the ASSE Safety 2009 conference.

DES PLAINES, IL (May 28, 2009) – Despite the economy, more than 375 leading organizations are scheduled to exhibit at the annual June 28- July 1 American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) professional development conference and exposition (Safety 2009) in San Antonio, TX.  ASSE officials expect this number to continue to climb in the next few weeks.

“The continued strong showing each year is a testament to the strength of this segment of the safety, health, and environmental industry and the consistent innovation and strong content found in the ASSE Conference,” ASSE President Warren K. Brown, CSP, ARM, CSHM, said today. “As Safety 2009 heads to San Antonio a near-record number of exhibitors have already reserved booth space. At this point we have seen the second most, all-time participating organizations already committed this year as Safety 2009 prepares for another big event in San Antonio.”

The 98-year-old ASSE is the largest and oldest safety society and has more than 32,000 occupational safety, health and environmental professional members located worldwide. For several years its annual conference has set attendance and exposition records with attendees traveling from throughout the U.S. and more than 40 countries to the conference.

As for the exposition, of the 375 exhibitors more than 70 are new and will be showcasing their products and services for the first time.

“Having so many new organizations in addition to the industry leaders will offer attendees the breadth and depth of variety of products and services they have come to expect to see annually at this event,” Brown continued. “This helps attendees look into the future of workplace safety at the same time.”

Conference officials will highlight the innovations with a ‘New Product Showcase’ which will debut on the exhibit floor. It will highlight the latest and most advanced products and services in one convenient location. For the current list of exhibitors go to http://iebms.heiexpo.com/iebms/oep/oep_p1_exhibitors.aspx?cc=asse09&oc=05

As for the conference, registrants are signing up quickly for the 225 sessions being offered. The top sessions so far include 1) leaders in organizations with great safety; 2) slip, trip and fall prevention; 3) complacency, the silent killer; 4) helping corporate leadership take personal responsibility for safety; and, 5) core leadership skills for the safety, health and environmental (SH&E) professional.
U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Jordan Barab will also participate in a special Plenary Session on the first day of the conference. This session will include his insights and an overview on the direction of the new Administration in safety and health.
The last day of the conference will feature an Executive Summit with top executives sharing their insights with attendees. Eighteen topic tracks including the new “Business Skills” track will also be available for attendees. Fox News Business and Financial Journalist Stuart Varney and Former Yahoo! Chief Solutions Officer Tim Sanders will provide key note presentations. Varney will discuss the state of global business and the economy and Sanders will discuss corporate social responsibility and green business practices.
Founded in 1911, the Des Plaines, IL-based ASSE is the largest and oldest professional safety society and is committed to protecting people, property and the environment.  For more information and to register please go to www.asse.org.

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Slips, trips and falls are routinely one of the top causes of injuries in workplaces. They also subtract from a company’s bottom line due to medical and workers’ comp insurance, lost productivity and retraining costs.

Here are 12 common mistakes made by companies when it comes to slip, trip and fall prevention:

• Mistake #12: Starting from scratch. There’s no need to. One place to start: consensus standards, such as ASTM’s Practice for Safe Walking Surfaces and ANSI’s Standard for the Provision of Slip Resistance on Walking/Working Surfaces.
• Mistake #11: Missing the opportunity to control walking style. Employees need to be reminded not to run and to keep their eyes on their walking path, especially while carrying items.
• Mistake #10: Relying on ineffective measurements. Best practice: Test flooring as it will be installed and used, under expected conditions (including wetness).
• Mistake #9: Short flight stairs and other elevation changes. Stairs with three or fewer steps need to be marked with contrasting color to other walking surfaces and be well lit. Seriously consider eliminating any change in level that’s 1/4 inch or greater.
• Mistake #8: Footwear. Shoes meant for both indoor and outdoor working conditions may not provide the best protection against slip, trips and falls in either circumstance because of their design compromises. Shoe features that need to be considered are: tread pattern, tread composition, sole height, support, lacing and adjustment method.
• Mistake #7: Ignoring pre-loss indicators. Slippery floors often lead to a lot of near-misses without injury before an incident with injury occurs. Attention needs to be paid to near-misses.
• Mistake #6: Less than adequate housekeeping. Any slip, trip and fall prevention program needs to include a serious statement of commitment to keeping walking/working surfaces clean.
• Mistake #5: Relying on single-factor solutions. While it may seem prudent to focus on the largest potential cause of slips, trips and falls in a particular facility, secondary factors shouldn’t be ignored after the primary one is addressed. Example: If a floor’s finish is addressed, the facility should still look into floor treatments, footwear, warnings and spill response.
• Mistake #4: Unresponsive contaminant control. Contaminants aren’t just chemicals. In some facilities they may be weather-related or food. Elimination of the contaminant should be considered first, followed by reduction and then dealing with the contaminants once they’re present.
• Mistake #3: Lack of proper cleaning procedures. Problems with cleaning range from poor spill response to improper daily cleaning to insufficient or nonexistent deep cleaning.
• Mistake #2: Selecting flooring inappropriate for the application. If a flooring sample can be installed to test under actual conditions, that’s ideal. If that’s not possible, find other examples of similar installations to yours.
• Mistake #1: Lack of proper follow-up. Selecting the proper flooring and establishing policies to prevent slips, trips and falls are the right places to start. But policies must be reinforced and updated if necessary. Companies should follow up on near-misses as well as injuries.

Adapted from a presentation by Keith Vidal of Vidal Engineering in St. Louis and David Natalizia of Dynamic Safety in Costa Mesa, CA, at the 2008 ASSE Safety Conference. For information on ASSE’s 2009 Safety Conference, click here.