The Leader - Environmental Issue - Autumn 2015

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 4, AUTUMN 2015

INTERACTIVE HAZARD TRAINING BOOSTS PROJECT SAFETY

Check Out VPPPA’s New Website!

Get feedback from other members through the new “Member Forum” feature.

G •

• • • •

•

et the most out of your membership in our exclusive, members-only access areas: The login process is very user friendly, and you can now create your own user ID or use your email address to login Search and view best practices online Upload/download presentations from our webinars and conferences Members will now be able to view issues of The Leader online Search the member directories for specific companies in VPP and view their contact information.

Search the vendor/product directory for safety products or companies specializing in VPP tools and services

• Update your site’s roster, profile, company information and communication preferences online. It’s also easier than ever to register yourself or multiple people at your site for a conference or webinar • Get feedback from other members through the new “Member Forum” feature. Reach out to the safety and health community for advice on implementing creative safety solutions at your site • Browse our members-only job board Questions? Contact membership@vpppa.org for more information on utilizing these features.

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

3

LEADER THE

VOL 2. ISSUE 4

AUTUMN 2015

cover

CONTENTS

14

Interactive Hazard Training Boosts Project Safety One challenge faced by companies is getting employee safety training to stick. Several VPP-approved sites are employing interactive training methods to encourage a higher level of engagement, improve training oversight and strengthen project safety culture. Interactive training methods— often referred to as simulator, mock-up or scenario-based training—immerse employees in an environment they can experience, rather than read about. During interactive training, employees can walk through a mock worksite, handle model equipment and practice hazard scenarios. Key safety messages are brought to life and paired with experience in a controlled environment. For projects where working with dangerous materials is common, interactive training equips employees with the tools and experience to avoid workplace incidents.

4

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

features

18

Fatality and Catastrophic Event Prevention

If at some point on your safety improvement journey, human performance becomes an issue, you shouldn’t have any trouble justifying your efforts to improve it. If you want to tackle the human performance slice of the safety pie, you may need to prove to the organization that you are on the right track. To do this, you will need to go back through the injury and unplanned event reports for the last year or two with key members of the organization. By doing this, you will be able to determine how many of the incidents had a human performance issue as a contributing

factor. More specifically, how many of the incidents were preventable with better awareness? When we talk about preventable fatalities, catastrophic events or even recordable injuries, there was a risk present that was not accurately perceived. The focus of this article will be to more deeply explore those reasons.

High Ris

k

k

is low R

www.vpppa.org VPPPA National Board of Directors

features continued

24

Chairperson Mike Maddox, NuStar Energy, LP

Innovation Award Winner

Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), the U.S. Department of Energy’s Tank Operations contractor at the 586-square-mile Hanford Site in south-central Washington state, received the VPP Innovation Award for a revolutionary surveying tool that reduces workers’ exposure to radiation by 50 percent. WRPS designed, fabricated and deployed a tool that reduces worker exposure while surveying long-length pieces of equipment used to retrieve highly radioactive and chemical waste from Hanford’s tank farms.

28

Vice Chairperson Mike Guillory, SGE, The Brock Group

Operational Mismatch and Incident Prevention

Treasurer Chris Adolfson, Idaho National Laboratory

Many times, people are lulled into the belief that because no one has gotten hurt, the workplace is safe enough. I have two fundamental problems with that: 1) Is there ever really a point where a worksite is “safe enough?” and 2) The absence of injury does not indicate the presence of safety. Just because no one has gotten injured does not mean that there is not the potential for someone to suffer an injury. Organizations that feel they are secure due to their “incidentfree streak” are often the ones at the greatest risk. Success does not always indicate a lack of failure, sometimes there is a degree of luck involved.

Director from a Site With a Collective Bargaining Agent Don Johnson, Phillips 66

32

OSHA’s Top 10 Violations

Do you know what 2015’s most frequent violations were, according to OSHA? Has your company been guilty of any of these?

sections

Secretary Terry Schulte, NuStar Energy, LP

Director from a Site Without a Collective Bargaining Agent Rob Henson, LyondellBasell Director from a DOE-VPP Site Stacy Thursby, Washington Closure Hanford Director from a VPP Contractor/ Construction Site Richard McConnell, Austin Industrial at LyondellBasell Director-at-Large Bill Harkins, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company Director-at-Large J.A. Rodriguez, Jr., CSP, SGE , Raytheon Technical Services Company LLC Director-at-Large Kristyn Grow, CSP, CHMM, SGE Cintas Corporation Director-at-Large Kimberly Watson, Southwire Editor Sarah Neely, VPPPA, Inc. Editorial Mission The Leader (ISSN 1081-261X) is published quarterly for VPPPA members. The Leader delivers articles from members for members, safety and health best practices, developments in the field of occupational safety and health, association activities, educational and networking opportunities and the latest VPP approvals.

Subscriptions are available for members as part of their membership benefits and at a 50 percent discount beyond the complimentary allotment.

The nonmember subscription rate is $25 a year.

GLOBAL SAFETY AND HEALTH WATCH

6

MAGAZINE RECOGNITION

7

WASHINGTON UPDATE

8

STATE-PLAN MONITOR

10

M embership

CONFERENCE WRAP-UP— ANNUAL NATIONAL VPPPA CONFERENCE

12

H ealth

Ideas and opinions expressed within The Leader represent the independent views of the authors.

Business

Postmaster >> Please send address changes to:

MEMBER INFO CORNER

33

Outreach

VPPPA, Inc. • 7600-E Leesburg Pike • Ste. 100 Falls Church, VA 22043-2004

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

34

VPPPA CHAPTER ROUND-UPS 36 CALENDAR OF EVENTS

40

INFOGRAPHIC CORNER

42

Look for these topics highlighted in the top right corner of each section.

G overnment

VPPPA, Inc., the premier global safety and health organization, is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization that promotes advances in worker safety and health excellence through best practices and cooperative efforts among workers, employers, the government and communities.

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

5

global safety and health watch

Smoke and Mirrors

BY CHARLIE DOSS, GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS MANAGER, VPPPA

Estimates vary because of the tangential effects of NOx on health, but one estimate puts annual U.S. early deaths due to NOx emissions from all sources at 58,000.

6

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

O

n September 18, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revealed that German carmaker Volkswagen (VW) had used software in almost a half million diesel-fueled vehicles in the U.S. to circumvent its nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions requirements. The software could detect when the vehicle was being tested for emissions and cut power and performance in order to pass, reverting to its default state in normal driving conditions. As a result, NOx emissions from these vehicles on the road were 10 to 40 times the limit currently allowed under federal regulations. VW then revealed that the same measures were used in at least 11 million vehicles worldwide.

The company’s chief executive subsequently stepped down and its remaining management prepared for penalties that could easily measure in the billions of dollars, outside of potential class action lawsuits and criminal proceedings, by setting aside $7.3 billion.

The uproar over Volkswagen’s scandal has brought up discussions about the effects of air pollution on health. Recent policy debates have focused on air pollution’s contribution to global climate change, but it continues to have severe and widespread consequences for public health.

NOx itself is harmful as a lung irritant.

However, it indirectly contributes to many other illnesses by combining with other pollutants to form smog. Estimates vary because of the tangential effects of NOx on health, but one estimate puts annual U.S. early deaths due to NOx emissions at 58,000.

Health officials in Europe are even more concerned about the VW revelations because of the relatively widespread adoption of diesel vehicles across the continent.

More broadly, air pollution is one of the leading causes of death globally. The World Health Organization (WHO) cites recent studies that have found a more robust link than previously understood between air pollutant exposure and cardiovascular diseases

(particularly ischemic heart disease and stroke) and certain types of cancer. This compounds the dangers associated with numerous respiratory diseases caused or exacerbated by air pollution. As a result, WHO estimated that in 2012, one in eight deaths across the planet, or 7 million people, were the result of air pollution. Deaths and illnesses associated with air pollution disproportionately affect low and middle-income nations. This is largely due to the indoor use of coal and particularly timber as a fuel source in some regions.

This issue cannot be dismissed in wealthy nations, however. In the context of the U.S., a more recent study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that 200,000 people die every year from air pollution. Road transportation, mainly from vehicle emissions, was the worst culprit, causing 53,000 premature deaths, followed closely by electrical power generation at 52,000. Regional variations follow what you might expect: residential sources of pollution are greater on the East Coast; industrial pollution is highest in the Midwest; refinery emissions were greatest along the Gulf Coast; and shipping-related pollution peaked on the West Coast. One of the study’s authors suggested that the reason why road pollution accounts for the most deaths is relatively simple: vehicles are concentrated in the most heavily-populated areas, and slower traffic, by its very nature, exposes the highest levels of exhaust to the greatest number of people.

With such a wide scale betrayal of public trust by VW, the world’s number one carmaker in terms of sales, many other governments are launching their own investigations. Questions have been raised about whether there were any attempts to blow the whistle on this massive scheme to circumvent regulations. Clearing the air of suspicion will be difficult as consumers and regulators begin to doubt whether other companies have been evading standards meant to protect public health.

THE 2015 EDDIE & OZZIE AWARDS

The Leader Recognized for Editorial Excellence

V ION

HO

MENT E L B A R NO

PPPA’s quarterly magazine, The Leader, was nominated for a national Folio award for editorial excellence!

The annual awards program—spanning all corners of the magazine publishing industry— recognizes the very best in editorial and design.

It’s the most comprehensive and prestigious awards program of its kind in the industry.

The Leader article, “Railroad Track Safety— Safest in Decades, More Improvements on the Horizon,” was selected from nearly 3,000 entries by a panel of more than 300 judges as a contender for the coveted Folio “Eddie” Award.

Six other publications were also finalists in the nonprofit category.

The article ran in the summer 2014 issue of the magazine and has also been circulated

to the Federal Railroad Administration and private railroad companies looking to improve their safety practices. The full article can be viewed as a feature article at www.vpppa.org.

There are several well-known associations who entered the awards, as well as many commercial publications. Some other finalists in the nonprofit sector included: AARP, ASAE, HR Magazine, US Green Building Council, Rotary International, NRA Publications, American Heart Association and many more.

Some other finalists in the commercial sector were The Harvard Business Review, POLITICO, The Atlantic, National Geographic and Time.

VPPPA will continue providing high-caliber, informative articles to members and we hope to be recognized again in the future.

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

7

washington update

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Jordan Barab addresses VPPPA conference attendees during the Opening General Session.

8

BY CHARLIE DOSS, GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS MANAGER, VPPPA, INC.

Jordan Barab Highlights VPP’s Important Role in the Safety and Health Community

In addition to their stellar safety records, these locations dedicate themselves to making their industries and communities safer.

At the Voluntary Protection Programs Participants’ Association’s (VPPPA) national conference, attendees heard from government officials about the importance of sharing the successes of VPP. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Jordan Barab spoke to attendees about VPP’s decades of success and its importance to the agency and country as a whole, “We created VPP, OSHA created VPP, over 30 years ago and we are committed to maintaining it. We created it because we thought we needed, and in fact this country needed, a cadre of companies that go above and beyond, that really set an example for all other companies.” Through VPP, management and labor unite to comprehensively address workplace safety at 2,200 worksites across the U.S. These locations have injury and illness rates approximately 50 percent below the average for their industry. To Barab, VPP’s innovative solutions help to serve as “a model as we walk around the country, as we speak around the country, [Assistant Secretary of Labor Dr. David Michaels] and I and our staff, on the importance of safety programs. You are the living example of that.

You are the ambassadors.”

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

This is not the first time OSHA has referred to VPP sites as ambassadors. In addition to their stellar safety records, these locations dedicate themselves to making their industries and communities safer. Through the Special Government Employee (SGE) Program, experts at VPP sites share their knowledge and experience with OSHA on onsite VPP audits.

Recently, OSHA coordinated with the VPPPA to improve the program by making better use of SGEs. Under the new guidelines, SGEs may assist with the review of new VPP applications and existing sites’ annual self-evaluations.

Another key change is that employees at Department of Defense (DoD) VPP sites may now become SGEs. DoD utilizes VPP at dozens of sites to ensure mission readiness by reducing injuries and illnesses, which Assistant Secretary Michaels and Barab highlighted in a recent visit to the Carderock Naval Surface Warfare Center in Maryland for its VPP approval ceremony.

He then shifted to recent budget concerns as his speech progressed. The federal government shutdown in 2013 and the effects of sequestration, limitations on spending that were intended as a temporary incentive for a much broader budget deal, created a backlog of VPP site re-approvals and delayed OSHA’s efforts to admit new sites into the programs. Barab reassured VPP sites that the agency is making efforts to fix these problems, “For the past several years, almost all of our regions have managed to process all of their scheduled re-approvals and have room for a few new applicants as well. We have a lot of work to do with that, we have a way to go before we can actually get to the point that all of our regions can feel free and have the resources to admit the number of new participants we’d like to admit every year, but we are making progress on that.

And that is good news considering the budget constraints that we have.”

“We are counting on your creativity and your passion as a hallmark of this group to help us through this puzzle.” He continued, “Which is why I ask you, our VPP sites, to do even more. In terms of educating our political leaders and our social leaders about the importance of safety and health and the importance of what the Occupational Safety and Health Administration does, and the importance of the VPP program.”

Outside of the administration of the program, Barab went on to stress how VPP fits into OSHA’s overall mission, “We’re still faced

with 12 fatalities a day across the country.

Again, it’s much better than it was 20, 30, 40 years ago, but still far too high. All of these are preventable. And with your help we can work to prevent more and more of these every year.”

“The impact of VPP is much greater when you share your success stories and persuade others to move toward a much improved culture of safety. There is nothing more powerful than demonstrating to your peers the terrific results of safety and health management systems in terms of reduced injuries, decreased absenteeism, increased productivity, and increased profits.”

Adding to that, “We also challenge you to educate the political leaders of this country about the importance of workplace safety, and the crucial part that OSHA plays, and the unique and vital contribution that VPP makes.”

In the cooperative spirit of VPP, Barab emphasized participants’ relationship with OSHA as an ongoing dialogue, “We all have a tremendous opportunity to work on this together, and add to the impact of this program. So I invite and challenge all of you to help us improve how we administer this important program, how we grow this important program, and how we ensure its viability and integrity, and how we, together, continue to lead American industry to continuously improve the conditions of working people in this country.”

“It is important that your stories are told and told again because they show what it takes to do the right thing and how you can benefit, not only your companies, but also, more importantly, workers, from doing the right thing.”

And that’s why, since 2010, I’ve been the Democratic lead on trying to authorize or put into statute the VPP program.”

Rep. Green is referring to the VPP Act (H.R. 2500) which officially authorizes the programs, providing stability through congressional action.

The legislation has gained bipartisan support and would allow OSHA to meet Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez’s goal of increasing the number of VPP sites in coming years.

VPP participants are making their voices heard on Capitol Hill through congressional outreach visits several times a year. In conjunction with the VPPPA National Board of Directors meeting on November 17, 2015, VPP members will be visiting congressional offices on November 18–19 to share their stories. If you are interested in taking part in future congressional outreach, either in Washington, D.C., or closer to home, please contact the VPPPA national office at governmentaffairs@vpppa.org, or (703) 761-1146.

Congressman Gene Green addresses VPPPA conference attendees during the Opening General Session.

VPP Gains Support in Congress Attendees also heard from Congressman Gene Green (D TX-29). A longtime champion of VPP, Rep. Green received an award from the VPPPA National Board of Directors and shared why VPP is important to him and his constituents, “And in our district, whatever we make, either the process or the product, is inherently volatile. So job safety is the most important thing. And that’s why I’ve supported the VPP program for so many years because those plants are the ones who will not have those accidents that we have, because they know how important safety is, not only to their company but to the folks that work there and for the families of those employees who work there. That’s why it’s so special.

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

9

state-plan monitor

COMPILED BY CHARLIE DOSS, GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS MANAGER, VPPPA, INC.

Federal OSHA States

Arizona There are currently 37 sites in the Arizona state-plan program. New additions to the program include Loven Contracting Inc. in Flagstaff, Kitchell Contractors Inc. in Phoenix and Mesquite Solar 1 Inc. in Tonopah.

Hunter Douglas Horizontal Blinds was re-approved for the program for the first time.

Best practices cited included the use of shadow boards and Spanish language training. Frito-Lay Distribution Center in Phoenix was re-approved for the third time with its utilization of daily inspections and guarding cited as best practices.

Finally, McCarthy Building Companies had three more sites qualify for approval.

State-Plan States

Michigan

Public Sector Only

The number of sites in the Michigan Voluntary Protection Program (MVPP) remains steady at 28, with 26 Star and two construction (MVPP/C) sites. There are currently no Rising Star (Merit) sites in the MVPP. Michigan OSHA (MIOSHA) has been active in the promotion of the MVPP with MVPP Specialist Doug Kimmel giving an update on the program at the regional update session at the VPPPA annual national conference. In addition, Specialist Kimmel has delivered presentations to the attendees of the Ford Land Construction Contractors Safety meeting as well as to individual companies including Worthington Specialty Processing (Jackson).

The new MVPP Advisory Group held its second meeting in June. The group’s first task is to decide how to best promote and generate additional interest in the MVPP. There are currently three applications pending for the MVPP. The applicants are E&E Manufacturing (Plymouth), Marathon Pipe Line LLC (Woodhaven) and Marathon TT&R North Muskegon.

An MVPP re-approval celebration was held at Huntsman in Auburn Hills. The event was attended by MIOSHA Director Martha Yoder, MVPP Manager Sherry Scott, Specialist Kimmel, and other MIOSHA representatives.

Star re-evaluations have been performed at Herman Miller’s Midwest Distribution Facility (Holland) and Walbridge (Detroit).

The reports for both these are currently being reviewed. Huntsman, Auburn Hills has been re-approved for participation in the MVPP. The Fall 2015 MVPP Mentors Meeting was held in Lansing on October 28, 2015.

Additionally, MIOSHA also plans to hold an MVPP Informational Workshop at the end of 2015.

“Like” us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/mi_osha. For further details on the MVPP, please contact Doug Kimmel, MVPP specialist, at (231) 546-2366, or visit the MIOSHA website at www.michigan.gov/miosha.

Nevada Nevada’s VPP currently has 10 active sites.

New applications were received from Cintas Corporation, Starbucks Coffee Roasting, and Copper Mountain Sites #2 & #3.

Nevada OSHA and the SCATS (Safety Consultation and Training) are developing a new structure for cooperative programs in Program Development & Projects which will require Safety and Health Recognition Program (SHARP) approval before an application for VPP is recognized. Nevada is developing an opportunity for each site to produce one special government employee (SGE).

Washington

Columbia Vista Saw Mill in Vancouver celebrates its star ceremony.

10

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

Washington State VPP currently has 32 sites.

Recent new sites include: Starbucks Coffee Company—Kent Flexible Plant (Kent) and Trident Seafoods Pier 91 (Seattle). Recent re-approvals include: Monsanto Company (Othello), Georgia-Pacific Packaging (Olympia),

contacting each state >> General Electric Power and Water—River Road Generating Plant (Vancouver).

Ceremonies were held for Starbucks Coffee Company—Kent Flexible Plant (Kent), Trident Seafoods Pier 91 (Seattle), General Electric Power and Water—River Road Generating Plant (Vancouver), Columbia Vista (Vancouver).

Recent onsite evaluations conducted with reports in process: Phillips 66 Pipeline (Tacoma), Weyerhaeuser Coastal Operations (Aberdeen), CMC Biologics (Bothell), Honeywell Electronic Materials (Spokane).

In March, participants in Washington State VPP presented information on how to build a safety culture at the 3rd Annual Voluntary Protection Programs Seminar in Tumwater.

Over 160 employers and employees were on hand to learn how to improve their workplaces.

Sessions included: • A Workplace Injury Can Change Your Life Forever Matt Pomerinke Papermaker and Safety Rep, KapStone Paper and Packaging Corporation • A Journey to Safety Excellence Jim Norris and Robbie Rotz Risk Management Specialists, WA Labor & Industries • How Involved is Your Company in Safety?

Ron Huggins PhD, CIH, CSP EHS Manager, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. • Demonstrating Management Commitment Terry J. Schulte National VPPPA Board of Directors and HSE Manager, NuStar Energy • Building an Organizational Safety Culture Lyle Eiseman Operating Group Director Lean Innovation, Mortenson Construction Representatives from Washington State VPP sites presented information about VPP during a workshop at the Washington State Governors Industrial Safety and Health Conference in Tacoma, October 7–8, 2015.

On October 14th, representatives from Washington State VPP sites attended a networking meeting hosted by Nucor Steel in Seattle. Networking meetings are held twice a year at Washington State VPP sites as an opportunity to ask questions and share best practices. This meeting included a tour of the facility and sessions on employee engagement, radiation for non-nuclear worksites and sustaining VPP.

Alaska Bill Nickerson VPP Coordinator Phone: (907) 269-4948 www.labor.state.ak.us/lss/ oshhome.htm Arizona Jessie Atencio Assistant Director Phone: (520) 220-4222 www.ica.state.az.us/ ADOSH/ADOSH_main.aspx California Iraj Pourmehraban Cal/VPP & PSM Manager Phone: (510) 622-1080 www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/cal_ vpp/cal_vpp_index.html Hawaii Clayton Chun Manager Phone: (808) 586-9110 labor.hawaii.gov/hiosh Indiana Beth A. Gonzalez VPP Team Leader Indiana Dept. of Labor Phone: (317) 607-6778 www.in.gov/dol/vpp.htm Iowa Shashi Patel VPP Coordinator Phone: (515) 281-6369 www.iowaworkforce.org/ labor/iosh Kentucky Joe Giles VPP Program Administrator Phone: (502) 564-4089 labor.ky.gov/dows/ oshp/doet/partnership/ pages/VPP---VoluntaryProtection-Partnership.aspx Maryland Cynthia L. Wheeler VPP Coordinator Phone: (410) 527-4473 www.dllr.state.md.us/labor/ mosh/vpp.shtml

Michigan Doug Kimmel MVPP Specialist Phone: (231) 546-2366 Sherry Scott MVPP Manager Phone: (517) 322-5817 www.michigan.gov/mvpp Minnesota Ryan Nosan MNSTAR VPP Coordinator Phone: (651) 284-5120 www.doli.state.mn.us/ mnStar.html Nevada Jess Lankford VPP Coordinator Phone: (702) 486-9046 www.dirweb.state.nv.us New Mexico Melissa Barker VPP Coordinator Phone: (505) 222-9595 www.nmenv.state. nm.us/Ohsb_Website/ ComplianceAssistance/VPP. htm North Carolina LaMont Smith Recognition Program Manager Phone: (919) 807-2909 www.nclabor.com/osha/osh. htm Oregon Mark E. Hurliman, CSHM VPP/SHARP Program Manager Phone: (541) 776-6016 www.cbs.state.or.us/osha/ subjects/vpp.htm Puerto Rico Ilza Roman Director Phone: (787) 754-2171 www.dtrh.gobierno.pr

South Carolina Sharon Dumit VPP Coordinator Phone: (803) 896-7788 www.scosha.llronline.com Tennessee David Blessman VPP Manager Phone: (615) 253-6890 www.state.tn.us/labor-wfd/ vppStar.html Utah Holly Lawrence VPP Manager Phone: (801) 530-6494 www.laborcommission. utah.gov/divisions/UOSH/ VPPprogram.html Vermont Daniel Whipple VPP Coordinator Phone: (802) 828-5084 www.labor.vermont.gov/ vosha Virginia Milford Stern VPP Coordinator Phone: (540) 562-3580 www.doli.virginia.gov/vosh_ coop/vosh_vpp.html Washington John Geppert VPP Manager Phone: (360) 902-5496 www.lni.wa.gov/safety/ topics/atoz/vpp/default.asp Wyoming Karin Schubert Consultation Supervisor Phone: (307) 777-7710 www.wyomingworkforce. org/employers-andbusinesses/osha/Pages/ safety-and-healthcompliance.aspx

For additional information and up-to-date contacts, please visit www.vpppa.org/chapters/contacts.cfm

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

11

ST

3AN1NUAL PPA

VP L A N O NATI TY & HEALTH

Conference Wrap-up

E

SAFE NFERENC CO

O

n August 24–27, 2015, in Grapevine, TX, more than 2,500 safety & health professionals convened at the 31st Annual National VPPPA Safety & Health Conference. Attendees from seven countries, 49 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico all gathered at the Gaylord Texan Convention Center for four days of workshops and an opening and closing session, to further their knowledge of safety & health practices. Additionally, the VPPPA conference was honored to host more than 140 Department of Defense employees from all branches of the military.

The Opening General Session featured speakers including Congressman Gene Green from the 29th District of Texas and a lead sponsor of the VPP Act; Jordan Barab, deputy assistant secretary of labor for OSHA; and Peter Cella, president and CEO of Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP. The second part of the Opening General Session featured the motivating story of Jim Davidson, who fell down an 80 foot crevasse and had to climb out alone, beating the odds of surviving. His story was featured on the Animal Planet series “I Shouldn’t Be Alive,” and he shared it with conference attendees during the general session and a private screening of the episode.

The exhibit hall featured a recordbreaking 250 exhibiting companies and eight product theater workshops. Exhibitors showcased their products to the attendees through displays and demonstrations. The exhibit hall remained packed throughout the conference, with attendees eager to see the latest and greatest products designed for workplace safety and health.

An extra day of workshops was added to the schedule this year, allowing for more

12

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

educational opportunities for attendees to learn about best practices, management commitment, employee involvement and other tracks. Workshop speakers ranged from motivational speakers to workers at VPP sites, and each had a story to share that left attendees motivated and eager to bring knowledge and guidance they learned back to their sites.

A new event this year, Casino Night offered attendees a chance to network, as well as an opportunity to test their cardplaying skills. Poker, blackjack, craps and roulette were the featured games of the night, and attendees tried their luck to win tickets that could be turned in for raffle drawings. The closing reception featured a wide variety of activities including caricature artists, henna and airbrush tattoos, a magician, a mechanical bull, a DJ, a wild west photo booth and a live steer. The Texan theme was completed with smoked barbeque, which provided a great last night for the conference.

The Closing General Session featured Daryl “Moose” Johnston, former Dallas Cowboy and current analyst for the NFL on Fox. Daryl spoke about safety in football and his experience in being a part of a team. He took questions at the end and stayed after to sign autographs and take pictures. It was a great ending to a very successful conference!

Thank you to everyone who attended the 31st annual conference and we look forward to seeing you next year at the Gaylord Palms Convention Center, August 29–September 1, 2016, at the 32nd Annual National VPPPA Safety & Health Conference!

To view conference photos, check out our Flickr account at www.flickr.com/ photos/135680172@N03/

1

orkshops were packed W throughout the conference as attendees seized the opportunity to take knowledge back to their sites by learning about new best practices and technology, increasing employee engagement, listening to cautionary tales and revamping their training programs

2

ttendees try their luck at one A of the poker tables during Casino Night for a chance to win prizes

3

F ormer Dallas Cowboy star Daryl “Moose” Johnston signs autographs and poses for photos with attendees after the Closing General Session

4

PPPA Chairman Mike Maddox V presents an award at the Opening General Session to Congressman Gene Green in appreciation for his long-standing and continued support of the Voluntary Protection Programs

5

otivational speaker Jim M Davidson captures the attention of attendees with his story of perseverance and survival

6

ongressman Gene Green C (center left), lead sponsor of the VPP Act (H.R. 2500) is joined by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Jordan Barab (center right), VPPPA Chairman Mike Maddox (right) and VPPPA Vice Chairman Mike Guillory (left) at the Board of Directors Reception

7

Attendees take in the Exhibit hall activities and meet VPPPA vendor companies

2

1

4 3

5

6

The exhibit hall featured a recordbreaking 250 exhibiting companies and eight product theater workshops.

7

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

13

BY CHRIS CANTWELL MANAGER OF ENVIRONMENT, SAFETY AND HEALTH BECHTEL NUCLEAR, SECURITY & ENVIRONMENTAL

14

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

Interactive

HAZARD

TRAINING Boosts Project Safety

One challenge faced by companies today is getting employee safety training to stick. Several VPP-approved sites are employing interactive training methods to encourage a higher level of engagement, improve training oversight and strengthen project safety culture.

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

15

Employees learn more in a safe, secure environment where they can learn from real examples that they are likely to encounter.

I

nteractive training methods—often referred to as simulator, mock-up or scenariobased training—immerse employees in an environment they can experience, rather than read about. During interactive training, employees can walk through a mock worksite, handle model equipment and practice hazard scenarios. Key safety messages are brought to life and paired with experience in a controlled environment. For projects where working with dangerous materials is common, interactive training equips employees with the tools and experience to avoid workplace incidents.

Transporting, packaging and storing hazardous materials is fraught with challenges. When employees can practice correct procedures in a hands-on simulation or mock-site, project safety culture improves. Three Bechtel-affiliated projects; Savannah River Remediation (SRR) in South Carolina, Pueblo Chemical AgentDestruction Pilot Plant in Colorado and the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) in Washington, deal with some of the world’s most volatile and dangerous substances on a daily basis, and safety culture and incident prevention are paramount.

“If we give people an opportunity for hands-on practice—in a safe environment, with no risk of injury—people will learn, but learn safely,” said David Stavru, construction safety and health manager at SRR in South Carolina. SRR is remediating radioactive

16

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

and chemical waste from Cold War nuclear weapons production.

A New Respect for Training The construction workforce at SRR has more than 28 million hours without a lost-time injury.

The last one occurred in 1998—17 years ago!

“The vast majority of folks appreciate the hands-on opportunities and gain a new respect for the training,” Stavru said. “The genesis of our mock-ups was in lifting practices.

Our work involves lots of it and we wanted a safe environment for our guys to practice proper communication and coordination of movement.” SRR employees participate in role-playing scenarios, cooperating in mock radiological environments to lift and maneuver prop equipment.

Many VPP sites are construction sites and sites that require employees to interact with hazardous materials. To improve their safety and health management systems, some have examined past workplace incidents for teachable moments. For projects that have adopted an interactive approach to hazard training, using past incidents for training scenarios drive home the consequences of neglecting safety. Allowing trainees to navigate real-life examples with the ability to “fail safely,” reinforces project safety culture. For example, installing a real-looking mock valve that weighs as much as the real thing,

but at ground level instead of two stories up, can prevent a drop or fall.

With interactive training, safety instructors have more opportunities to teach key lessons.

By observing employees during a live-training scenario, instructors can relay commands, observe reactions and pause simulations to provide feedback. This interaction increases the number of ways instructors can identify insufficiently trained employees.

“What we do is dangerous,” explains Walter Carnes, project environmental, safety and health (ES&H) manager at the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant.

The plant, now in final testing before starting operations, will destroy most of the United States’ remaining stockpile of mustard agent.

The plant’s multi-step process involves the dismantling, cleaning and rendering of World War I and II-era chemical munitions for safe disposal. At all stages, employees must exercise utmost caution and maintain strict discipline.

‘We Can Trust You to Work Safely’ “We have to know that when you are on a job site, we can trust you to work safely,” Carnes said. “Simulator training gives us confidence because you’ve already safely performed these tasks in front of an instructor.”

At Pueblo, employees undertake toxic area training and learn airlock procedures

that replicate conditions inside the facility.

The project received VPP Star status for construction in 2009. In early 2015, Star status was earned for the operations phase.

“The key to earning and retaining Star status is employee involvement,” said project manager Rick Holmes. “More than 120 team members participated in the development of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s application. This level of engagement ensured an increasingly safe work environment in addition to achieving Star status.”

There are many effective rote-learning tools available in today’s ES&H marketplace.

However, many project managers say repetitive classroom instruction can become tedious and lead to employee disconnect. In recent years, a number of VPP Star-approved project sites have accompanied traditional classroom training with interactive methods.

“You can buy off-the-shelf videos all day long.

They are quality-made and get the message across,” said Dick Nugent, ES&H manager at the VPP Star-approved Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) project, where the U.S. Department of Energy is building a complex of industrial buildings to treat and immobilize liquid radioactive waste into glass-like logs. “However, what we’ve found over the years is that employees can become kind of numb watching these professional videos because they don’t always relate to the work we are doing,” Nugent said.

Most importantly, interactive training with realworld examples educates participants about the implications of a workplace incident.

VPP Star sites such as Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, Pueblo Chemical AgentDestruction Pilot Plant and Savannah River Remediation have adopted these successful practices and been recognized by OSHA and the Department of Energy for exhibiting the highest values in occupational safety and health.

Bechtel is among the most respected engineering, project management and construction companies in the world. We stand apart for our ability to get the job done right—no matter how big, how complex or how remote.

Bechtel operates through four global business units that specialize in infrastructure; mining and metals; nuclear, security and environmental and oil, gas and chemicals. Since its founding in 1898, Bechtel has worked on more than

When employees can practice correct procedures in a hands-on simulation or mock site, project safety culture improves.

25,000 projects in 160 countries on all seven continents. Today, our 58,000 colleagues team with customers, partners and suppliers on diverse projects in nearly 40 countries. For more information, visit www.bechtel.com.

Identifying Threats, Recommending Controls In the basketball-court-sized WTP hazard simulator, trainees must identify threats in carefully-staged environments and recommend controls in timed exercises.

Accompanied by an instructor, employees observe staged worksites and situations, evaluating each for gaps in safety coverage and suggesting improvements such as moving a ladder to a safer position or separating flammable materials from heat sources.

WTP received VPP Star status in 2011, the VPP “Superior” Star in 2012 and the Star of Excellence in 2015.

Interactive hazard training is an opportunity for sites to get the most out of employee training, and cultivate a successful project safety and health management system. Employees can engage with training rather than reading or passively watching a video. These methods improve instructor feedback and assessment of employee proficiency.

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

17

FATALITY AND

CATASTROPHIC

EVENT N O I T N E V PRE 18

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

BY STEVE WILLIAMS,B.S. SENIOR INSIGHT DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST ACCELERATED DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS, INC. HOUSTON, TEXAS

Human Performance and Catastrophic Event Prevention I assume, since you are reading this, that you, like myself, have an interest in improving safety and reducing the pain and suffering associated with injuries. Although applying engineering designs in ways that make safe operation less dependent on error-free human performance is most desirable, we know that this is not always possible. This article will address some advanced aspects of human safety performance, specifically, how perceptions of risk are formed.

If human performance becomes an issue at some point on your safety journey, you shouldn’t have any trouble justifying your efforts in that direction. If you want to tackle the human performance slice of the safety pie, you may need to prove to the organization that you are on the right track. To accomplish this, you will need to go back through the injury and unplanned event reports for the last year or two with key members of the organization.

By doing this, you will be able to determine how many had a human performance issue as a contributing factor. More specifically, how many were preventable with better awareness? Once this is done, you can begin to ask the question: Awareness of what?

Perception Formation as the Key to Risk Recognition In my experience, when we talk about preventable fatalities, catastrophic events or even recordable injuries, there was a risk present that, for “whatever reason” was not accurately perceived.

I would be the first to agree the ways perceptions are formed is a complex issue and that there are things that we do not know. On the other hand, there are things

relative to perception formation that we do know. For example, we know that we take in sensory input from the five senses: sight, sound, taste, touch and smell. We know that these form streams of information that go into our brains. As you read this article, the words on the page are forming a stream of information that enters your brain. These words are being perceived by you to have greater or lesser value. If your cell phone rings while you are reading this, that is a second stream of incoming information and you will quickly decide which stream of incoming information gets your attention or focus. One of the issues with people not accurately perceiving risk is not focusing attention where it needs to be.

Perceptual Bias We also know that before perceptions are formed, the incoming streams seem to be filtered through things like emotion, bias, our sense of urgency relative to a particular task or situation and other factors. This might explain why a person might do something that is totally out of the norm for them and why they often cannot tell you later why they did what they did.

If you would like a simple example of how an incoming information stream might get filtered through bias and maybe even a little emotion, allow me to offer this. Imagine a horizontal line on a piece of paper with the word “good” written on the left side and the word “bad” written on the right side. I am going to furnish you with two streams of incoming information in the form of one word each. My bet is that for most people in the U.S., one of these words will go onto the good side of the paper and the other will go to the bad side. The two words are Democrats and Republicans.

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

19

High Ris

k

k

is R w lo

We also know that before perceptions are formed, the incoming streams seem to be filtered through things like emotion, bias, our sense of urgency and other factors.

Hopefully you can see from this demonstration that those incoming information streams are filtered through bias as our perceptions are formed. What has this got to do with safety? What if the bias in those filters were not political but was more along the lines of “it won’t happen to me?”

And, what if that type of bias leads us to routinely look at a task with less than certain data and make “best case assumptions?”

What if that kind of thinking had been rewarded and reinforced for years by the highest levels of management? Shortly, I will present a case study and ask you to draw your own conclusions.

Confirmation Bias For those not already familiar with the concept of confirmation bias, it suggests that we tend to see or perceive what we are expecting to see or perceive. A good example of this would be people in cars leaving a stop sign only to collide with a motorcycle rider who had the right of way. In most cases, the driver of the car will tell you that they simply did not see the motorcycle. Why? They were expecting to see a car. Proportionally, these type of accidents have become fewer in the last couple of decades. I would suggest that the reason for this is two-fold. First, there are more motorcycles on the road today so we have become more conditioned to accurately perceive their presence. Second, a large number of the motorcycles today share the big twin type engine designs made popular

by Harley Davidson. As you have no doubt heard, these big twins are often fitted with loud pipes which give car and truck drivers a second stream of incoming information (audio) with which to perceive their presence on the road.

On the subject of perceptions, so far we have mentioned focus. Focus means choosing the correct incoming information stream and

deciding how that incoming information might get filtered at a particular time. It would probably be a mistake to believe that these stay absolutely constant with people, irrespective of what their stated priority for safety might be.

Perception Formation and Risk / Hazard Recognition The third facet of perception formation might be how that incoming information stream is categorized after being filtered to form the actual perception relative to risk. In other words, we have to focus on a particular task or situation to form an incoming information stream. If we are looking the other way at birds flying overhead, no risk perception related to that task is formed.

For the streams where there is focus on a specific task, the incoming information stream gets filtered (or mentally processed) as we mentioned earlier, and that stream seems to then flow into a perceptual category relative to risk. To better understand this, we might once again draw a horizontal line or continuum with “high risk” on one side and “low risk” on the other side, with moderate being somewhere in the middle. For any particular task or situation we focus on, that incoming stream of information gets filtered and a perception of the risk is formed that falls somewhere along our continuum (see Figure 1).

Hopefully we can agree that when a preventable fatality or a catastrophic event happens, there was in fact, risk present that was not accurately perceived. Let me give you a concrete example. In October of 2008, the Texas Gulf Coast was hit by Hurricane Ike. We knew this was going to be a serious storm, there were even law enforcement officers going door-to-door along the coast to warn people that they were under a mandatory evacuation. The law enforcement

FIGURE 1 This Task High Risk--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Low Risk

?

20

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

officers then left the area themselves. Most of those people along the coast did as they were told and left. However, seventy-two people misjudged the level of risk, attempted to ride out the storm and died as a result.

Before I get into Accelerated Development Systems, Inc.’s case study, I need to let you know that everything I will mention here, and more, is a matter of public record and readily available if you care to do the research. We are not giving away any secrets. I will begin by acknowledging that our role in this transformation was not that important. What turned this situation around was what a few key people did with what we had given them.

The Case Study This study involves a large refinery in Texas that had averaged a fatality a year for thirty years. In addition to these thirty, fifteen more people perished in a single explosion event in 2005, bringing the total to fortyfive fatalities over a thirty year period (Curly, 2009). Another interesting fact: this facility had implemented a conventional behaviorbased safety (BBS) process ten years earlier that was still active. When implemented, that BBS process did reduce the recordable injuries, but apparently did nothing to lessen the rate of fatalities. I am a big advocate of BBS methods and believe on a deep level that they should be an integral part of every safety portfolio. But, I have to admit, BBS has a limited capacity. These shortfalls are particularly visible in the area of enhancing perceptual accuracy and other factors that influence the thinking that drives behavior such as levels of awareness and impulsedriven actions.

With forty-five fatalities in a thirty year period, we were dealing with a culture where there were very significant problems relative to people accurately perceiving risk, whether it was a condition or behavior. We were engaged in January of 2009 and, although that facility has changed owners, there has not been a fatality in a little over six years at the time this article was written in September 2015. To be accurate, it’s important to note that the United Steel Workers (USW) began training on their Triangle of Prevention (T.O.P.) process at about the same time our training began. The T.O.P. process is not only focused on finding and correcting unsafe conditions proactively, there is an in-depth

FIGURE 2 Degree of Certainty Highly Certain--------------------------------------Not Really Sure What Are We Assuming?

Worst Case------------------------------------------------Best Case Have we considered all the incoming information streams that might affect this task?

accident investigation component primarily focused on conditions. This wound up being a particularly good fit since our process focused more on factors that influence human performance such as levels of awareness, impulse management and perceptual accuracy or hazard recognition.

So, how do we go about striving for more accurate perceptions? This team consisted of mostly hourly or union people with a management sponsor and a salaried safety engineer on board. After we trained this team, a few of the union people took these advanced concepts—levels of awareness, impulse management and perceptual accuracy—and trained everyone in the plant in a four hour session. Since we have to limit the scope of this article, I will only be discussing enhancing perceptual accuracy, which was what the team deemed to be the most potent of these three concepts. After reviewing the fatalities, they agreed that all of them, and most of their recordable injuries, were preventable. They also concluded that almost all had a human performance component as a contributing factor. To better understand this question, the group formulated a rather complex risk matrix/perception enhancement model which they called “Exception to Safe Work Practices.” Below this rather complex model, they had wording which essentially stated that there was a concern for the way that a certain job was being approached. The document went on to say that if the job could not be stopped for a deeper review, the supervisor or manager of that job would sign this “exception” document. By signing the document, (which as far as I know never actually happened) that supervisor or manager was acknowledging the serious

safety concern, but insisting that the work proceed without further review.

How Did It Work In Practice?

This created a more systematic approach than what had been happening in the past.

Previously, if a concern was raised, it was often dismissed and the work proceeded unchecked.

This new approach offered a systematic way to stop work. It was also now done in a way that eliminated the chance of discipline for insubordination since no one was refusing to do the job. The original complex model was shortlived. It soon morphed into a much simpler version with fewer parameters and in some cases, the written instruments created were not used at all. By this time, what was on the “Exception to Safe Work Practices” document was well understood and there was always the option to get the “exception” paper signed if need be. I thought at first that this was bad news, but, the reality was that a simpler, less formal approach turned out to be something people were more likely to actually use in the field.

The Idea of Ideal Complexity This brings us to the idea of “ideal complexity.”

Almost every organization has some sort of formal risk-assessment instrument or model they either designed or adopted to help people better recognize, or more accurately perceive the level of risk. The question is, how often and to what degree are people in the field actually using it? The idea of “ideal complexity” therefore, would mean a personal risk-recognition tool that was complex enough to be effective and simple enough that people were actually using it, especially those people who were typically exposed to the most risk (hourly people).

The questions that arose most in the field were: What is our degree of certainty? What THE LEADER

vpppa.org

21

FIGURE 3 Degree of Certainty Highly Certain------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Not Really Sure

What Are We Assuming?

Worst Case---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Best Case Have we considered all the incoming information streams that might affect this task?

are we assuming? Have we considered all the incoming information streams that could affect this job? (Jewell, 2009a) Later, some of our other teams put those questions into graphic form as seen in Figure 2.

If you are an OSH professional, there is a good chance that, at some point in your career, you may be placed in a union environment. When that happens, it is not unusual to hear some managers say that some of the union’s safety concerns are driven by a motive to slow down a job rather than a concern for safety. While that may have some validity in some organizations, in this case, experiencing forty-five fatalities in thirty years made that notion an easy one to push back against (see Figure 3).

The idea here is that the higher our degree of certainty about a situation, or of being able to perform a task, the more we can allow ourselves to make “best case assumptions.” (see Figure 4) Conversely, the less certain we are about a situation or activity, the more we need to be considering worst-case scenarios. Some safety professionals might argue that the safest thing to do is always insist on a very high degree of certainty and assume the worst-case scenario.

That might be the safest option, and even necessary on very high-risk tasks such as lifting distillation towers into place. However, it is unrealistic and a very hard sell for day-to-day activities, which is where most of the thirty fatalities in question happened. Parameters allow

FIGURE 4 Degree of Certainty Highly Certain--------------------------------------Not Really Sure

What Are We Assuming?

Worst Case------------------------------------------------Best Case Have we considered all the incoming information streams that might affect this task?

22

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

people to see that where they get into trouble is routinely making best-case assumptions with a low level of certainty, as depicted in Figure 5.

The team at this refinery discovered that they had a culture where it had become routine not to consider all the factors that could affect the completion of a task and to make best-case assumptions. In addition, this was going on without the needed degree of certainty relative to potential outcomes on tasks they were about to perform.

It might be worth mentioning that not only did the fatalities at this facility abruptly stop, the two years that followed implementation proved to be the safest in the fifty-plus year history of that refinery, which has since been sold (Rushing, 2011). Having the USW’s T.O.P. incident investigation process no doubt helped, and we helped facilitate the team through the creation of an employee-designed advanced safety process that went deeper than BBS. The bulk of the credit belongs to a small group of what I consider to be exceptional union people. In addition, this could not have happened without a few progressive-thinking and exceptional managers and engineers that helped create the right environment for this change to take place. They created a systematic way to openly challenge and refuse to act on some of these questionable perceptions and decisions and, more importantly, they used what they had created.

We have deliberately left out the discussion about the explosion in 2005 that took 15 lives since there have been several articles and books written about that event. Suffice it to say, this too was preventable, had a human performance component and may in fact have

been prevented if this team’s risk perception enhancement approach had been in use at that time. If you would like to learn more about the 2005 event, the book by Andrew Hopkins titled “Failure to Learn” explores factors that led to that event in great detail. While I am not convinced that all his conclusions are accurate, the actions and conditions leading up to the event are well documented.

The thirty fatalities which this discussion addressed were a mixture of contractors and company people. What is interesting, is that most of these fatalities happened on what were considered to be routine tasks and continued even after the explosion in 2005, with the last fatalities claiming the lives of two company people in 2008.

In Summary Hopefully we have created some interest in the relationship between risk recognition and perception formation as a frontier worthy of further exploration. Hopefully, you will also begin to tinker with the idea of “ideal complexity” relative to your risk recognition instruments, while keeping in mind what groups of people are most likely to be injured.

This case study shows that even in a situation where systemic problems at a high level are creating a “best-case assumptions” culture, safety can begin to be managed from the bottom up.

Most safety professionals that I have had contact with recognize BBS as an important step in the evolution of safety enhancement methods, but one with significant limitations.

I will ask the reader to draw their own conclusions on these next questions: Has the time come to take the next step to explore other innovative human performance enhancement methods that go beyond BBS? If so, what will that look like, and will you be someone that helps make it happen?

Refining crude oil would fall easily into the high-risk category of jobs. The point here is that having the right tools and motivated people in place prevents injuries and fatalities, and allow us to perform work safely in the refining business.

FIGURE 5 Degree of Certainty Highly Certain--------------------------------------Not Really Sure

What Are We Assuming?

Worst Case------------------------------------------------Best Case Have we considered all the incoming information streams that might affect this task?

4. Rushing, C. (2011). Site Safety Engineer in performance reports to the Design and Implementation team.

For the past 23 years, Steve Williams has worked with some of the largest corporations in the world, helping their people implement advanced safety processes focused on human performance enhancement (advanced meaning beyond behavior-based).

References

1. Curly, K. (2009, Jan.). USW Health and Safety Co-chair in a recorded message to the plant population.

2. Jewell, L. (2009a). USW Health and Safety Rep in training sessions delivered to plant population.

3. Jewell, L. (2009b). USW Health and Safety Rep feedback from the field

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

23

Members of the project team included (left to right) Ben Davis, Karen Engebretson, William Hughes, Marco Nicacio, Ches Phillips and Dennis Riste. Not pictured: Pete Carlson and Mike Copeland.

WASHINGTON RIVER PROTECTION

Advanced Tool

24

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

BY: MARK MCKENNA COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST, WASHINGTON RIVER PROTECTION SOLUTIONS (WRPS), AND PROJECT TEAM WINNER: 2015 VPPPA INNOVATION AWARD

SOLUTIONS DEVELOPS that Significantly Reduces Radiation Exposure Managing the Hanford tank farms is among the largest and most complex environmental restoration projects in the nation. WRPS’ mission is to reduce the risk to the environment by retrieving and treating 56 million gallons of waste generated from 45 years of plutonium production activities in support of the nation’s defense program. As part of the project, WRPS is also developing a complex system to feed the waste to the waste treatment plant for immobilization and eventual disposal at a national repository.

W

ashington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), the U.S. Department of Energy’s Tank Operations contractor at the 586-square-mile Hanford Site in Washington state, received the VPP Innovation Award for developing a revolutionary surveying tool that reduces workers’ exposure to radiation by 50 percent.

WRPS was recognized for designing, fabricating and deploying a tool that reduces exposure while surveying long-length pieces of

equipment used to retrieve highly radioactive and chemical waste from Hanford’s tank farms.

The VPPPA Innovation Award is presented to an individual, company or worksite that has developed and implemented an innovation, encouraged others to try new approaches and emphasized the value of creativity and flexibility in the resolution of worker safety and health problems.

“We’re honored to receive an award that recognizes the tank farm team’s dedication to

identifying innovative solutions that help us perform hazardous work safely and efficiently on an everyday basis,” said Mark Lindholm, acting WRPS president and project manager.

“It’s an excellent example of how committed our employees are to keeping each other safe.”

Hanford’s tank waste is stored in 177 underground tanks—149 aging single-shell tanks and 28 newer and safer double-shell tanks. The tanks range in capacity from 55,000 to more than one million gallons, and currently

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

25

ABOVE: WRPS’ Stacy Thursby (3rd from left) holds the VPPPA Innovation Award at the VPPPA national conference Awards Reception in Grapevine, Texas.

Other WRPS representatives at the conference were, left to right, Ben Davis, Karen Engebretson, Kliss McNeel, Brian Ivey, Steve Ellingson and Chris Thursby RIGHT: Use of the new tool and the associated process has allowed workers to move into lower dose areas while performing characterization surveys. This includes the HPTs who are now positioned away from the highly radioactive long-length equipment and behind concrete blocks for shielding while remotely recording the dose rates of the equipment.

A close-up photo of the tool

26

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

Pump removal from a tank

contain enough waste to fill an area the size of a football field to a depth of more than 150 feet. The majority of liquid has been removed from the single-shell tanks and transferred to double-shell tanks, leaving behind a diverse mix of saltcake (peanut butter-like sludge) and other hardened materials.

Because the tank waste poses a serious health risk, all work inside of them is performed remotely. To retrieve the tank waste, WRPS uses a variety of methods that require the use of longlength equipment including pumps, corrosiondetection probes, screens and high-pressure water jets for dissolving and mobilizing waste so it can be pumped out of the tank.

Consequently, most of the equipment used during the waste retrieval process is highly contaminated and significant radiation exposures can occur during handling. Surveys must be performed on the equipment in order to minimize exposure to personnel and to successfully facilitate disposal.

The innovative tool features lightweight piping with nine survey points built in to properly position electronic dosimeters so that dose rates can be remotely recorded. The tool is then moved down the length of the long-length equipment until the survey is completed.

“With the new process, the long-length equipment is staged between two-foot-thick concrete blocks, and the workers use the new tool to survey the equipment remotely with electronic dosimeters,” said Owen Berglund, a project manager for WRPS’ radiological controls department.

Radiation exposure is measured in mrem units, one thousandth of a Roentgen Equivalent Man. Recent surveys indicated that workers who typically receive up to 75 mrem of dose exposure during the process received less than 10 mrem when the new tool was used.

WRPS estimates the process improvement can save more than 1,500 mrem of exposure over the next year, and similar savings are projected for each of the subsequent years over the life of the project. These are significant savings, considering the administrative control levels for a radiological worker at Hanford has been set at 500 mrem a year. In addition to minimizing exposure to workers, the tool can cut the amount of time it takes to survey a large piece of equipment by 50 percent.

Karen Engebretson, a member of WRPS’ radiological controls team, says collaboration among several WRPS organizations was key in creating the tool, “Our project team included

workers from the company’s radiological control, construction and waste management organizations working together to design, construct and test the tool. The first-of-a-kind tool reduces worker exposure during storage, shipment and disposal.”

WRPS is preparing to retrieve waste from side-by-side tank farms known as A and AX. The farms contain a total of 10 tanks, each with a capacity of a million gallons. Retrieval is expected to start in 2017, and the new tool will be used to perform surveys during retrieval preparation activities.

Lindholm said WRPS will continue to explore innovative solutions to complicated tank farm issues that will enhance safety, reduce costs and accelerate cleanup. “We’ll never stop looking for safer and smarter ways to work,” he said.

WRPS is a limited liability company owned by AECOM and Energy Solutions, with AREVA as its primary subcontractor. The partnership brings decades of experience to the job.

In addition to the innovation award, WRPS was awarded the VPPPA Star of Excellence at the national conference. The Star of Excellence is awarded to VPP Star sites that have injury/illness

The innovative tool features lightweight piping with nine survey points built in to properly position electronic dosimeters so that dose rates can be remotely recorded. rates greater than 75 percent below the national average, demonstrate outstanding mentoring and innovation and support the continuous improvement of the DOE VPP system. WRPS achieved VPP Star status in 2014.

Mark McKenna is a communications specialist for Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), the tank farms contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection. Mark has 20 years of experience in communications, having worked for three Hanford contractors and three daily newspapers.

His responsibilities at WRPS include internal and external communications and media relations.

Pump removal from a tank

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

27

BY CHRISTOPHER J. COLBURN, MENG, CSP MANAGER, ENVIRONMENTAL, HEALTH AND SAFETY窶年ORTH AMERICA, AGCO CORPORATION, AND VPPPA DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE FOR REGION IV

OPERATIONAL MISMATCH AND INCIDENT PREVENTION

28

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

I would like to begin with a question—a question that is somewhat revealing and provocative—“Do you believe that there is a mismatch between work imagined and work as completed in your organization?”

The default answer would be “No, of course not—not in my organization.” But is that necessarily true? I am reminded of a story I once heard about a plant manager who would go out on the operations floor of a manufacturing facility and ask his supervisors, “Are your employees working safe today?” The supervisors would, more often than not, respond, “Yes, of course they are.” Then he would ask, “How do you know?”

The responses were often interesting. I use this same technique today, and I have gotten some pretty interesting answers. The most common, and the one which gives me the greatest opportunity to expound on the subject is, “because no one has gotten hurt.”

The Absence of Injury Does Not Indicate the Presence of Safety Many times, people are lulled into the belief that because no one has gotten hurt, the workplace is often safe enough. I have two fundamental problems with that: 1) Is there ever really a point where a worksite is “safe enough?” and 2) The absence of injury does not indicate the presence of safety. Just because no one has gotten injured, does not mean that there is not the potential for someone to suffer an injury. There are several definitions of safety that can be found in publications. A couple of my favorites include Todd Conklin’s definition from the book Pre-Accident Investigations: An Introduction to Organizational Safety, in which he states, “Safety is not the absence of events; safety is the presence of defenses.” Conklin’s definition, in my opinion, is somewhat of an extension of the definition found in the ISO Guide 51:1999E which defines safety as “Freedom from unacceptable risk.” Regardless of the definition you prefer, the message is very similar—safety is not measured by the lack of incidents or injuries. Organizations who feel they are the most secure due to their “incidentfree streak” are often the ones at the greatest risk. Success does not always indicate a lack of failure. Sometimes, there is a good degree of luck involved.

Take, for example, a worker who is using a deficient tool. That worker may use that deficient tool on a daily basis and successfully completes work, until one day, the situation occurs that James Reason writes about in his book: Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents: “Latent conditions, such as poor design, gaps in supervision, undetected manufacturing defects or maintenance failures, unworkable procedures, clumsy automations, shortfalls

in training, less than adequate tools and equipment, may be present for many years before they combine with local circumstances and active failures to penetrate the system’s layers of defenses.”

The worker may have had the perception of safety; after all, he has been using the tool for a period of time without incident. He may even believe it is acceptable to use the tool because the supervisor, or even the safety manager, walked by and said nothing to him about using the tool. We assume that the supervisor or manager did not see the tool which he or she inadvertently, tacitly approved the use of.

Then, one day, the tool fails and the worker is injured and everyone is left wondering “What happened?” What happened was that a hazard existed in the workplace due to an inadequate tool. That hazard then manifested itself, with the catalyst of an active failure, into an incident which injured the worker.

To examine this a little further, what if the injury does not require treatment beyond first-aid? Would it be reported? If it does not impact the incident rate (IR) of the facility, it may even fall through the cracks and not get the attention of an incident investigation.

The incident may have happened in a way that allowed an impact at the most opportune angle, or the worker was able to pull back just in time to reduce the amount of impact force, reducing the seriousness of the injury. The remaining question is, “What happens next time?” Will the next worker, in the same work environment, using a similar tool, be so lucky?

The probability is 50/50 that they will. Are you willing to accept those odds?

How Did the Failure Occur?

The event described in the previous example contains a variety of causal factors that

Regardless of the definition you prefer, the message is very similar, in that, safety is not measured by the lack of incidents or injuries.

proceeded the failure. One could argue that the failure was the result of the worker’s poor judgment in using the tool. Perhaps the supervisor is culpable; after all, isn’t he or she responsible for ensuring that workers are following procedures and not engaging in “at-risk” behavior? Maybe it was the safety manager who failed. What happened to the inspection process? Isn’t there a system in place to ensure the tools are inspected at some frequency? After all, the worker had been using the tool for a period of time, successfully completing the work, without injury. This “blame game” finger-pointing can go on and on without anyone pointing to the right issue and without anyone asking the right question. The question is not a “why” question, it is a question of “how.”

How did the organization, as a whole, allow this event to occur? How did the organization set the worker up for failure? It is important to understand that being truly successful in any organization requires the collective group to function as a team and work towards a common goal. Despite how well one team member may perform, victory is only achieved if the mission is achieved. Consider a physician conducting a surgery—the surgeon may perform perfectly; the surgery may be flawlessly executed and therefore deemed THE LEADER

vpppa.org

29

FIGURE 1 Resource Effect Blunt End—MGT/ Support

Sharp End—Operations

Work Imagined

VP/GM

Director

Work Completed

Manager

Supervisor

Crew Chief

Line Worker

Resource Availability

The reality is that, in many organizations, the mismatch is due to spatial separation. The spatial separation may be real or imagined, but it exists in some form in most organizations.

30

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

successful. However, if the patient dies, regardless of the surgeon’s flawless execution, the mission has not been achieved.

Understanding the Mismatch Back to my original question, “Do you believe that there is a mismatch between work as imagined and work as completed in your organization?” I am of the opinion that more often than not, there is a mismatch and the gap may be greater than you ever imagined.

Let’s consider this by expanding on the “sharp end” concept offered by Sidney Dekker in his book, The Field Guide to Understanding Human Error.

The work structure graphic (Figure 1) illustrates most organizations. At one end of the spectrum there is the management and support function. This is the “blunt end” of the operation. These folks are the furthest removed from the work and are involved in activities such as planning schedules, ordering materials and directing the day-today operations of the organization. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there is the “sharp end.” This is where the work is being completed and where value is actually added to the product or service being provided to generate revenue for the organization.

Both ends are necessary to sustain life in the organization; it is a symbiotic relationship. Unfortunately, this structure often fosters two very different views about what is happening within the body of the organization. On the blunt end, there is the way that work is imagined. This is where the standard operating procedures (SOP)

are created, the process is engineered and where the components, parts and supplies are purchased. After all, if the blunt end is where the instructions are written and supplies procured, how could the work be done any other way than how it is outlined in the SOP? Enter the adaptive worker on the sharp end of the organization. These are the wellintentioned individuals in the organization that truly make the organization function.

There are many companies functioning today that are making great products and providing great services, in large part, due to the quality of the worker on the sharp end of the organization. These individuals want to do a good job, they don’t want to get hurt, they want the company to be successful and to work diligently day-in and day-out to achieve their goals. Both ends of the organization have well-intentioned people who want the organization to be successful. The reality is that, in many organizations, the mismatch is due to spatial separation. The spatial separation may be real or imagined, but it exists in some form in most organizations.

When the mismatch occurs, the worker on the sharp end may not have the proper tools, equipment, knowledge or ability to do the job. The well-intentioned worker then becomes adaptive. The worker may feel that work cannot stop; after all, there are production pressures vertically from management and horizontally from other workers who may be inconvenienced. This adaptive, motivated individual then creates inventive and ingenious ways to do the work, but often at their own safety detriment. The worker may be successful for some period of time, but inevitably, a failure occurs, an incident happens and the organization is left wondering “What happened?” and “What was the worker thinking?” He or she was simply adapting to the environment.

Incidents are rarely the sole result of an individual failure, but are most often akin to an organizational failure.

In considering the work structure (Figure 1), notice the organizational hierarchy along the spectrum. Who among the list of individuals in the organizational hierarchy are the most likely to be injured? I hope we would all agree that those on the sharp end have the greatest risk exposure. With that thought in mind, who has the greatest decision impact and control over resources? Those individuals

on the blunt end of the organization have the greatest impact. Thus, the mismatch exists; those with the most impact, the most influence, often have a work-imagined view that is not consistent with how the work is really completed.

Closing the Gap This gap exists, to some degree, in most organizations. So, what does one do to address this issue?

1. Recognize that the mismatch exists.

Ignoring the issue does not eliminate or reduce the presence of the problem. An outof-sight, out-of-mind attitude may make you feel better—until an incident occurs.

The reality is, if you knew and did not react, you are culpable. Any person faced with the circumstances of an incident or hazard who has the opportunity to intervene, but fails to act on that opportunity, has then become a contributor to any damage that may result.

2. Stop playing the “blame game” and start asking the right questions. Seek to understand the “how” and not just

the “why.” Humans make errors; the only way to eliminate human error is to eliminate the human. When an incident occurs, react with intent, not to find fault, but to find lessons to be learned.

Fix the work, not the worker. Ensure that your incident investigations are meaningful and effective. The quality of an organization’s incident investigation process is a good indicator of the status of their overall condition and safety management system.

3. Create an environment of learning.

Those workers on the sharp end know what can cause an organization the greatest amount of heartache. They often have an idea of where the next incident may occur.

The importance of employee involvement in the health and safety management system cannot be overstated. The idea is to identify potential issues before they become issues. Identifying incident precursors, near-misses or whatever terminology your organization uses for these events, is a key element in identifying and preventing

incidents before they manifest themselves in the first place.

These are just a few of the many steps that can be used to look at work differently and close the gap left by this mismatch between work imagined and work completed. This is not an easy thing to do, and takes a great deal of effort to get it right. You will not get it perfect from the start, but don’t let perfection get in the way of improvement.

As a friend recently told me, “The only time that success comes before work is in the dictionary.”

Christopher J. Colburn is the North American environmental, health and safety manager for the AGCO Corporation. Chris is directly responsible for the EHS aspects of all North American operations and supports operations globally as the leader of AGCO’s Global EHS FOCUS Team. Chris has guided transformational change initiatives in several companies including Hunter Douglas and Cooper Tire and Rubber Company and also has mentored a number of worksites into OSHA VPP.

VPP is much more than a statement of principles and standards,

it’s the way we do business.

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

31

OSHA’S TOP

32

(as of 9/8/15 for Federal Sites)

VIOLATIONS

1

5

9

Fall Protection

Lockout/Tagout

Machine Guarding

6,721 (code 1910.501)

3,002 (code 1910.147)

2,295 (code 1910.212)

2

6

10

Hazard Communications

Powered Industrial Trucks

Electrical—General Requirements

5,192 (code 1910.1200)

2,760 (code 1910.178)

1,973 (code 1910.303 B2)

3

7

Scaffolding

Ladders

4,295 (code 1926.451)

2,489 (code 1926.1053)

4

8

Respiratory Protection

Electrical Wiring Methods

3,305 (code 1910.134)

2,404 (code 1910.305)

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

member info corner

VPPPA’s Got Talent

S

ing your way to VPPPA’s 32nd Annual National VPPPA Safety & Health Conference! VPPPA’s Got Talent was so successful for our 31st conference, that we are doing it again! Congratulations to our winner, Annette Eaves from UCOR, Oak Ridge, TN! She did a truly outstanding job with her rendition of the national anthem and got the conference off to a fantastic start.

This is an opportunity to showcase our members’ singing skills at the 32nd conference in Kissimmee, FL, August 29–September 1, 2016!

VPPPA will once again be taking auditions from our members to sing the national anthem during the Opening General Session at the Gaylord Palms.

The winner will receive a complimentary conference registration, lodging at the Gaylord Palms and round-trip airfare to the conference.

Submit entries and questions to membership@ vpppa.org or contact the Membership Department at (703) 761-1146. Good luck!

Here’s How To Enter Submit a 90 second clip via YouTube, Dropbox or CD by Dec. 4, 2015, to be considered. For the first round, participants may sing any song they choose. The judges will narrow down the entries to a top five, and then it’ll all be in your hands! The top five contestants will be asked to submit a clip of themselves singing the national anthem which will then be posted on VPPPA’s YouTube page for voting. Members will vote from the top five finalists and the winner will be determined by who has the most likes at the end of the voting period.

• Submissions: Now through Dec. 4, 2015 • Five Finalists Chosen: Dec. 11, 2015 • Voting: Feb. 1–Feb. 26, 2016 The rules and requirements to enter this competition are as follows: • Participants must be a member in good standing with VPPPA and located within the continental U.S. • The contest is for solo performances only, no groups or duets • Introduce yourself by including your member number and contact information at the beginning of your audition video

• Participants must have permission from their companies to enter the competition and attend the conference • Submissions are the property of VPPPA after they have been entered and may be used for promotional purposes • Song rendition must be either a cappella or acoustic and must be no longer than 90 seconds • No nudity, alcohol, firearms or bad language may be shown or heard in audition • Must be 18 years or older • Must be a U.S. citizen

Contest Winners Twitter Contest The conference’s Twitter contest was hotly contested! There were so many great tweets about the conference.

It was a pleasure to see attendees be so passionate about workshops, the general sessions, keynote speakers and even the food! Thank you to all who tweeted about the conference.

Congratulations to Katlin Hanson for winning the Twitter contest and receiving a gift card!

“Take a Selfie with a Board Member” Contest We had an overwhelmingly positive response to our first ever selfie contest!

There were even a few people who were able to snag a selfie with all twelve of the National Board of Directors! The national office staff really appreciated your pictures and the board members thoroughly enjoyed meeting each person that they were featured in a selfie with.

Congratulations to the winners of the contest: • Mark Landers • Brian Murray • Nicole Vigil All three winners received a gift card.

We’re looking forward to seeing even more photos next year!

Top: Annette Eaves performs a flawless rendition of the national anthem at the commencement of the national conference’s Opening General Session.

Bottom: Conference attendees stand for the national anthem.

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

33

member spotlight

Rae Badeaux, Managing Director of Operations, A.I.M.

BY BENJAMIN MASSOUD, COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR, VPPPA, INC.

With 15 years of experience at A.I.M., Rae has been one of the many forces behind the success of the company.

A.I.M. stands for “always in mind,” as in, it’s important to make safety a constant state of mind. It’s more than just a catchy acronym for a company, it’s truly the way the business operates. “We not only sell it, we live it,” asserts A.I.M.’s Managing Director of Operations Rae Badeaux. “We are ideagenerators, visionaries when it comes to promoting the value of safety, and because of that, employees can concentrate on their daily tasks as well as utilize us to make their workplace safe.” Located in Thibodaux, LA, A.I.M. specializes in customizable promotional products including t-shirts, tools, bags and awards—but it’d be a mistake to classify it as just a vendor. A.I.M. also partners with companies to promote the value of safety through employee-participation programs. One of the programs, EmPart, an OSHA-compliant program, requires the staff

The A.I.M. team gathered for a group picture at the 31st Annual National VPPPA Safety & Health Conference.

34

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

to meet with a site to inquire about what aspects of the job it wants employees to be more involved in. After establishing goals, A.I.M. assigns trackable items for the sites to achieve. As a site’s employees participate in action items, they earn points they can later redeem to claim a reward. Because A.I.M. understands every site is different and has their own set of requirements, each client’s program is customized to meet its needs.

“Whatever their wish list is, if it’s to get employees certified for different things or to increase employee involvement in the safety programs, we assign actions to that objective.

Every quarter they get a renewed tracking card. Everything is custom. Then, we assess their needs on a quarterly or yearly basis,” says Rae. It seems to be working—A.I.M has achieved 90 percent participation rate for one of its programs.

It Takes One To Know One Another big component of A.I.M.’s service consists of supplying sites with comprehensive VPP education. But what could possibly qualify a company that sells promotional products to serve as a resource for other companies’ safety and health programs? In 2004, A.I.M. became the first promotional products company in the nation to receive VPP Star site status. “As a salesperson, I always promoted safety through products and programs we sold. However, safety took on a whole new meaning to me in our pursuit of being a Star site,” says Rae. As a VPP Star site, A.I.M. understands the various challenges that other companies encounter with the VPP process. She continues, “We’re able to better serve our clients by knowing what stresses they go through in the application and audits.” A.I.M’s OSHA-compliant “12 Weeks to Star” program provides clients with a multitude of VPP products and educational tools, including VPP banners and flags, “VPP 101” DVDs and VPP pocket books, to inspire sites to strive for greatness in VPP.

More importantly, the program contains a week-by-week guide to marketing, educating and employee participation, to assist a site in achieving Star status, or passing an approval.

As A.I.M. prepares to go through its third approval in November, the company recognizes the many advantages VPPPA provides. More specifically, A.I.M. displays its products, programs and ideas to thousands of attendees at all eleven VPPPA conferences each year. As the secretary/historian of the Region VI Board, Rae acknowledges that the VPPPA network allows her to seek out other VPPPA board members for resources and guidance with VPP.

Be Flexible With 15 years of experience at A.I.M., Rae has been one of the many forces behind the success of the company. Her duties include developing marketing strategies, sorting out employee affairs and managing the day-today operations such as the budget, client relations and even selling. As part of her job, she has the opportunity to travel to different conferences and events to meet people throughout the safety and health industry. In fact, the conferences are where a good amount of clients are acquired. “I always tell clients or potential clients, we are not the cheapest, but we are the best; we’re not flawless, but we will fix it. We are very passionate, as well as extremely grateful to partner with each company that entrusts us with their business to make safety a state of mind on and off the job,” explains Rae. Although she thoroughly enjoys the duties she’s tasked with, they sure are a far cry from what she had originally planned on doing with her career. Rae initially interviewed with A.I.M. for an accounting position. During the interview, the owner, Sully Sullivan, was impressed with how passionate and upbeat she was, and suggested that she would be great at sales. “I was scared to death of public speaking and I had no sales background,” recalls Rae. “But I owned it and gave it 150 percent. Life is up and down—it’s important to be flexible.”

It didn’t hurt that she had a great mentor in Sully Sullivan—a man who believed so strongly in his work, that he felt that his job was more important than a doctor’s because

he created safety measures that prevented workers from visiting the emergency room.

Going Above and Beyond A.I.M.’s mission statement is “We do what others can’t and won’t do.” It seems it also does what others wouldn’t even think to do.

Realizing that teaching the importance of safety to children encourages them to start developing positive habits early on, A.I.M. created a participation program for kids called “Smart Kids Always Think Safety” (SKATS).

SKATS is designed to educate employees’ children and grandchildren on hazards they may come across in their everyday lives, as well as help them build self-esteem. Each quarter, the children are given booklets containing safety topics and a quiz card. After studying the booklets, they answer the quiz card and send it back to A.I.M. As a reward, the children receive prizes for participating. Some of the

topics include bicycle and scooter safety, internet safety and sports safety.

Naturally, it’s tough for most people to stay motivated while working at the same company for over a decade. But Rae is not most people. “I do a self-evaluation every year—professionally and spiritually—I ask myself what I can do to improve. I think, a lot of times, people just get to the point where they just stop—stop learning and growing. I always take life experiences and I learn from them. I think about where I am currently in my life, and decide where I want to grow to next year, and then I do it,” declares Rae. If she is this determined on developing herself, just imagine how dedicated Rae is to continue improving a company that she’s spent 15 years at. In February, A.I.M. will celebrate its 30th anniversary, and with employees like Rae, another successful 30 years should be no problem.

Your Biggest Safety Challenges Solved

Download a Free Guide

Providing the best PPE

is no guarantee

A guide to addressing the human factors in your PPE program

www.safestart.com/solved THE LEADER

vpppa.org

35

chapter round-ups

COMPILED BY BENJAMIN MASSOUD, COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR, VPPPA, INC.

Region I Massachusetts Staffing Association Working with VPP Site to Eliminate Hazards to Temporary Workers On August 18, 2015, Kathy Flannery, project manager for Massachusetts Consultation Program coordinated with Jack Popp, vice president—Technical Services, Hasbro East Longmeadow, a VPP Star site in East Longmeadow, MA, to host a visit with members of the Massachusetts Staffing Association (MSA). The visit included: an introduction to Hasbro East Longmeadow operations; a tour of the facility with emphasis on safety, health and ergonomics; training and a Q&A discussion on integrating temporary workers into a site’s safety and health culture and system. The tour provided the MSA members with valuable exposure to a world-class manufacturing operation and an opportunity to discuss injury and illness prevention strategies and implementations

with the Hasbro safety and health staff members. The tour provided valuable insight into the hazards that temporary workers could be exposed to and strategies for eliminating these hazards.

Some of the folks attending were Jean Cho, MA OSHA Consultation Program safety supervisor; Vivian Raymond, senior account executive of CoWork Staffing Services; Daphne Phalon, director of HR/ risk manager at The Davis Companies and a member of the American Staffing Association (ASA) Safety Committee and Jori Blumsack, chief operating officer from The Vesume Group and president of MSA. As a member of the ASA Safety Committee, Ms. Phalon meets periodically with several OSHA representatives and other staffing agency leaders to work cooperatively to improve safety for temporary workers. In 2014, OSHA and ASA signed an alliance to help achieve this goal. At the signing of the alliance agreement, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels stated “Through this alliance with ASA, we will increase outreach to staffing firms and host employers and provide information and

Members of the Masachusetts Staffing Association visit Hasbro East Longmeadow Operations.

36

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

education that is vital to protecting temporary workers.” The Massachusetts Staffing Agency, a chapter of the ASA, is partnering with OSHA to help achieve this goal.

Ms. Raymond of CoWork Staffing Agency is currently working closely with one of the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) sites. Placing clients at a SHARP site provides a level of confidence that those workers are protected from workplace safety and health hazards.

A series of safety roundtables started this fall in Massachusetts, specific to the challenges faced by staffing agencies and strategies that can be implemented to protect workers.

Regional Meeting Updates The chapter meeting committee updates and elections took place during the Region I conference in May. Returning board members are: • Stephen Gauthier, General Electric Aviation—Chairperson • Karen Girardin, L.L. Bean—Treasurer • Glen Garfield, United Technologies Aerospace System—Hourly Representative from a VPP site with a CBA • Jack Popp, Hasbro Inc.—Director-at-Large

The hourly representative from a site without a CBA position remains open.

OSHA’s Timothy Irving and Lynnda Ignacio provided VPP updates to Region I members including the introduction of the newly appointed Regional Administrator Kim Stille.

New VPP sites were also recognized by OSHA: • Milford Power, LP Milford CT, Hallmark Cards DC, Enfield CT and General Electric Co. Somersworth, NH. Region I also recognized both FLEXcon and Covanta for their participation in VPP over the past 20 years.

OSHA also presented the Star among Star (SAS) awards to the following recipients: • Covanta Energy, Preston, CT • Covanta, Haverhill, MA • Covanta, Pittsfield, MA • Huntsman LLC, Derry, NH • Hypertherm Inc., Lebanon, NH • NextEra Energy, Bellingham, MA • Pratt & Whitney, North Berwick, ME • L.L. Bean Inc., Bangor, ME • Raytheon Missile Defense Centre, Woburn, MA Every year Region I awards three students with a scholarship valued at $1,000. This year’s winners were: • Joseph Gervais Scholarship—Sierra Santomango Greene, ME University of Maine (daughter of an L.L. Bean Employee) • Eric Bartsch Memorial Scholarship— Michael Bellows, E. Hartford, CT, University of Connecticut (son of a Dominion Nuclear employee) • Caswell Plante Scholarship—Victoria Morris, Ludlow, MA, Mercyhurst University, Erie, PA (daughter of a Coca-Cola employee) Lastly, a special recognition goes out to Mr. Robert Sands. Robert retired from OSHA after 28 years, twelve of which he provided leadership for Region I VPP. Congratulations, Bob! Contributed by Steve Gauthier, Region I Chairperson

Region II Details for Region II’s conference are finalized!

The conference will take place May 23–25 at the Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City, NJ. There are a lot of exciting things going on in Region II: Delta Airlines in Albany, NY, had a flag raising ceremony on September 29; there was a VPPPA presentation given by Kevin O’Brien and Paul Kniskern at the National

Association of Women in Construction and we have a new mentor match! Genzyme, Ridgefield, NJ, will be mentored by Pfizer, Pearl River, NY. Access Health Systems, Latham, NY, will be hosting an SGE training session next spring, April 12–14, 2016. Visit OSHA’s website for more information and to sign up: www.osha.gov/dcsp/vpp/sge/sge_training.html.

We ask for your continued support for the Norman Deitch AED Fund. We are soliciting donations from members to purchase AEDs for worthwhile community groups in honor of Norman Deitch’s many years of service.

Donations of any amount will be accepted and are greatly appreciated. You may also purchase an AED bracelet to support the fund.

Contributed by Brenda Wiederkehr, Region II Chairperson

Region V The presentations from the breakout sessions at the 2015 Region V conference are available on our website (www.vppregionv.org).

Thank you to all the presenters who volunteered to share their success stories and best practices. The Region V board would like to congratulate Bill Linneweh from Hendrickson, chairperson, and Jim Harmon from General Electric, treasurer, on their reelections to the regional board. We welcome and congratulate new board member Tina Kennedy from Flint Hills Resources in Peru, IL, as our hourly representative union site and extend a big thank you to outgoing board member Stephanie Keaton of Columbus, OH, for her time and support for our board. For additional information regarding the Region V board and how you can volunteer with Region V, be sure to check out our website.

A BETTER WAY TO REACH THE DUCTWORK INTRODUCING THE NEW LIFTPOD FT SERIES.

Meet the next generation of personal portable lifts—the JLG® LiftPod® FT Series, designed to increase job efficiency throughout your facility.

Discover this affordable safety solution at www.jlg.com/en/facilities-17

jlg3783-7LPFT-QP-vpppaD1.indd 1

6/16/15 1:31 THE PM LEADER

vpppa.org

37

Congratulations to the newest Region V VPP Star site, OSHA—Lansing Area Office!

We’d also like to extend our congratulations to Bill Nelson of Hendrickson, the Region V SGE of the year; Jammie Stephens of RR Donnelly, the winner of the Safety Champion Award and DSM Coatings of Frankfort, IN, for the Outreach and Mentoring Award.

Thank you to Eric Siefker of Protec Coating Company for his many hours of service to the Region V board and conference planning.

Congratulations to Region V VPP re-approved Star sites for 2015: • 88th Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) Command Staff • CF Industries Seneca • CF Peru Terminal • Delta Air Lines Passenger Service • Frito-Lay Canton • GE Healthcare Waukesha South Operations • IP Menomonee Falls Technical Center • Marathon Petroleum Company Findlay Office Complex • Ruscilli Construction Co. Inc. • Sandvik Hyperion • Sherwin Williams Cincinnati Plant • Stepan Millsdale Plant • Steris Corp Pinecone Biological Ops • Thomas-Marker • Vantage Oleochemicals Contributed by Steve Washburn, Region V Director-at-Large

Region VI In September, Region VI had its outreach booth set up at the Louisiana Governor’s Safety & Health Conference in Baton Rouge, LA. In November, Region VI will have an outreach booth set up at the DiVal Safety Summit Houston in Houston, TX. We are pleased to announce that Region VI had 35 participants in our SGE training course in May of this year. If you are interested in becoming an SGE, there are three upcoming SGE training sessions: November 17–19, at U.S. DOL OSHA in Lubbock, TX; January 12–14 at Cintas in Searcy, AR, and on March 15–17 at USPS—OK District Office in Oklahoma City, OK. Congratulations to the new Star and re-approved sites in our region: • 76th Commodities Maintenance Support Group (CMXG)—Tinker AFB, OK • 76th Maintenance Support Group (MXSG) OKC Air Logistics—Tinker AFB, OK

38

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

• 76th Propulsion Maintenance Group (PMXG) Oklahoma—Tinker AFB, OK • ConocoPhillips Co Global Aviation Services—Houston, TX • Cintas location 774—Fort Smith, AR • GE PII Pipeline Solutions—Houston, TX • Shermco Industries—Irving, TX Re-approvals: • Akzo Nobel Surface Company Houston Facility—Houston, TX • Brock Services LLC at Valero Three Rivers RFNY—Three Rivers, TX • EQUISTAR CHEMICALS, LP— Channelview, TX • El Dorado Nitrogen—Baytown, TX • GE Engine Services McAllen LP— Mcallen, TX • LANXESS Corporation—Baytown Site— Baytown, TX • Pace Industries, Harrison Arkansas Division—Harrison, AR • Pratt & Whitney-Dallas Airfoil Repair Operations—Grand Prairie, TX • Rock Tenn Company, Harrison Folding Carton Plant—Harrison, AR • The Dow Chemical Company, Louisiana Operations—Plaquemine, LA • Westlake Chemical CRPRTN—Westlake Polymers LP—Sulphur, LA In order to better support VPP, we need the help of VPP sites in your region.

Congressional offices value hearing from constituents in their state or district. Reaching out to senators and representatives that are key in your region can be as simple as filling out an online form or making a quick phone call. It is preferable to leave an email message with your concerns in writing, but instructions for calling and emailing offices are included here: www.regionvivpp.org/ education/vpp-act-outreach-information Our goal is to only have constituents contacting their representatives. For senators, this means comments from people from their state only. For representatives, only people in their districts. If you have any questions, please contact Charlie Doss at cdoss@vpppa.org or (703) 761-1146.

Contributed by Kirk Crandall, Region VI Director-at-Large

Region VII Region VII has been very busy, lately! We helped with an SGE class at the National Conference in Grapevine, TX, an application

workshop and SSQ workshop in Kansas City, MO, on October 15. Additionally, the Lake Stockton Healthcare Facility in Stockton, KS, conducted a flag raising ceremony in October.

As of now, we have seven companies being mentored by Region VII mentors.

We also had 42 attendees at the national conference networking meeting. The award winners at the networking meeting were: • Greg Swoyer—SSQ Workshop • Scott Hall—App Workshop • David Kruse—$25 Visa • Kirk Buzzard—$50 Best Buy • Marty Bates—1016 Conference Registration • Dirk Wilkins—$25 Visa • Kyle Lang—Golf • Patrick Mazur—$25 Visa • Bobby Williams—$25 Visa Contributed by Bill Turner, Region VII Vice Chairperson

Region VIII Director-at-Large Shelly Ettel attended the June board meeting and congressional outreach. Region VIII remains active in VPPPA’s government affairs and is continually reaching out to key legislative officials.

Moreover, our “What’s Great in Region Eight” benchmarking events continue to be a success.

Our last outreach event for 2015 is scheduled at Champion Health, Colorado Springs, CO, where the Denver Broncos’ Dr. Leahy will demonstrate Active Release Techniques® (ART) and how it can be incorporated into a wellness or health plan. We are expecting 10–20 VPP and non-VPP companies to be in attendance.

It was great seeing you all in Texas. It’s always nice to see Region VIII represented at the national conference. We trust you learned, networked and made some friends. Holly Hodnik, Ball Corporation, has been appointed as secretary, and Lindsay Kalis, RK Mechanical, has been appointed as representative, nonunion. Both will serve out the remainder or the term until next year’s election.

Region VIII would like to thank our Regional VPP Manager U.S. Department of Labor— OSHA, Region VIII, Brad Baptiste for his commitment to safety and health excellence.

It’s his leadership and passion that continues to fuel the fire. In addition, we are grateful for the partnership we have established with Wyoming and Utah OSHA. We look forward to seeing you in Denver next year.

We’re proud to announce that 37 out of 72 VPP sites in Region VIII had no OSHArecordable injuries in 2014! Way to go, Region VIII! The next SGE class will be at Hellman & Associates, LLC in Wheat Ridge, CO, April 5–7, 2016. Applications must be submitted by January 15th.

Plains End, LLC located in Arvada, CO, has been officially approved as a VPP Merit level participant by the Assistant Secretary of Labor. Congratulations to all of the hardworking employees and managers at Plains End for this achievement.

Contributed by Mark Moya, Region VIII Chairperson

Region IX The regional board will be working to formalize the mentoring program and help ensure that sites get more active in mentoring. Additionally, the regional board is working to provide a presence at VPP celebrations. If you have a celebration coming up in the region, let members of the board know so they can make arrangements to attend.

The board continues to do outreach in a variety of forms to help stakeholders understand the VPP process and get more involved.

representative from a site with a collective bargaining and Max VanValey of Oldcastle Precast was elected as director-at-large. In 2016, there will be four open positions: chapter chairperson, labor representative-non bargaining, and two director-at-large positions.

Over the past year, Region X hosted three SGE training workshops creating a total 36 new SGEs in the region who are now available to assist OSHA or the Department of Energy with VPP audits. Jack Griffith, Liz Norton and Rocky Simmons assisted Jacob Ewer conducting the training at the HAMMER Training Facility in Richland, WA. Region X presented several deserving awards this year: • Region X Chairperson Award: Jack Griffith CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company, Richland, WA • Safety and Health Outreach Award: Rick Callor, AECOM, ID • Innovation Award: CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company WA “After School Matters” program.

• S&H Outreach Award: CHPRC: After School Matters Region X would also like to recognize the Department of Energy Award winners from Region X: • Superior Star, issued to Star sites with accident incident rates at 50% below industry rates • Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) • Star of Excellence: • Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) • CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) • Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) • Washington Closure Hanford (WCH) • Analytical Technical Laboratory (ATL) • Intermech • Mission Support Alliance (MSA Hammer) • Mission Support Alliance (MSA-SAS) Contributed by Jack Griffith, Region X Treasurer and Communications Chair

Contributed by Mark D. Norton, Ambassador to the Region IX Board

Region X Vice Chairperson Michelle Steeler presented Bonnie Anderson, Region X chairperson with a Special Service Award. Bonnie announced her retirement and resigned in October 2015.

Bonnie has served on the Region X board since 2003 as a member of the conference planning committee and director from a site without a bargaining agent and later became the chairperson serving from from 2008–2015.

Michelle Steeler, vice chairperson, will be acting chairperson until a confirmation by the Region X board at the next regular meeting.

Following confirmation, the vice chairperson position will be filled by a qualified candidate approved by the Board of Directors. There were four other open BOD positions filled at the 21st Northwest Safety and Health Summit: Rocky Simmons of Mission Support Alliance was elected as secretary, Jack Griffith of CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company was elected as treasurer, Liz Norton of Washington River Protection Solutions was elected as labor THE LEADER

vpppa.org

39

calendar of events

November

January

November

January

VPPPA’s New Website is Live

Membership Benefits Mailing

December

January 12–14, 2016

Mid-December

January 15, 2016

Membership Renewals

Applications for Region VIII SGE Training Session due

December 4, 2015 Submissions for “VPPPA’s Got Talent” due

December 11, 2015 Finalists selected for “VPPPA’s Got Talent”

Region VI SGE Training Session Cintas, Searcy, AR

February February 1–26, 2016 Voting for “VPPPA’s Got Talent”

March March 15–17, 2016 Region VI SGE Training Session USPS—OK District Office, Oklahoma City, OK

April April 5–7, 2016 Region VIII SGE Training Session Hellman & Associates, LLC, Wheat Ridge, CO

April 12–14, 2016.

Region II SGE Training Session Access Health Systems, Latham, NY

April 26–28, 2016 Region VIII VPPPA Chapter Conference Hilton Denver Tech Center, Greenwood Village, CO

40

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

VPPPA Contacts April 26–28, 2016

May 17–19, 2016

Region IX VPPPA Chapter Conference Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa Chandler, AZ

Region X VPPPA Chapter Conference Boise Centre and the Grove Hotel Boise, ID

April 26–29, 2016

May 23–25, 2016

Region III VPPPA Chapter Conference Dover Downs Hotel & Casino Dover, DE

Region II VPPPA Chapter Conference Tropicana Casino Atlantic City, NJ

May

May 24–26, 2016

May 16–18, 2016

Region V VPPPA Chapter Conference Hyatt Regency O’Hare Rosemont, IL

Region I VPPPA Chapter Conference Radisson Hotel Manchester Downtown Manchester, NH

June

May 16–18, 2016

June 21–23, 2016

Region VII VPPPA Chapter Conference Des Moines Marriott Des Moines, IA

Region IV VPPPA Chapter Conference Lexington Convention Center and Hyatt Regency Lexington Lexington, KY

May 16–19, 2016 Region VI VPPPA Chapter Conference Fort Worth Convention Center and Omni Fort Worth Hotel Fort Worth, TX

To reach the VPPPA National Office, call (703) 761-1146 or visit www.vpppa.org. To reach a particular staff member, please refer to the contact information below.

R. Davis Layne Senior Advisor Sara A. Taylor, CMP staylor@vpppa.org Director of Operations Ext. 107 Amanda McVicker amcvicker@vpppa.org Senior Conference Coordinator Ext. 112 Sarah Neely sneely@vpppa.org Communications Manager Ext. 121 Benjamin Massoud bmassoud@vpppa.org Communications Coordinator Ext. 117 Charlie Doss cdoss@vpppa.org Government Affairs Manager Ext. 113 Tom Webb twebb@vpppa.org Strategic Development & Member Services Manager Ext. 114 Katlyn Pagliuca kpagliuca@vpppa.org Member Services Coordinator Ext. 115 Heidi Hill hhill@vpppa.org Event Sales & Advertising Coordinator Ext. 111 Marianne Trinh mtrinh@vpppa.org Senior Accountant Ext. 106 Michael Khosrofian mkhosrofian@vpppa.org Accountant Ext. 104 Bryant Walker bwalker@vpppa.org Information & Data Analyst Manager Ext. 110 Courtney Malveaux, Esq cmalveaux@vpppa.org Government Relations Counsel Ext. 105

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

41

infographic corner

So far in 2015, there has been over

$50 million

4,679

in damages in the handling and transportation of

hazardous materials.

(Hazmat Intelligence Portal, U.S. Department of Transportation)

workers died on the job in 2014. (OSHA)

The total number of recordable cases for

nonfatal injuries and illnesses

in private industry was 3,007,300 in 2013.

(Bureau of Labor Statistics) 42

THE LEADER

vpppa.org

The World Health Organization (WHO) says

radon, a radioactive gas,

causes up to 15 percent of lung cancers worldwide.

7600-E Leesburg Pike, Suite 100 Falls Church, VA 22043-2004 Tel: (703) 761-1146 Fax: (703) 761-1148 www.vpppa.org VPPPA, a nonprofit 501(c) (3) charitable organization, promotes advances in worker safety and health excellence through best practices and cooperative efforts among workers, employers, the government and communities.

SCAN QR CODE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT VPPPA, INC.

http://bit.ly/jVQcBo

PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER

Work shouldn’t hurt.

Save your knees with our ergonomic products!

Soft Knees Knee Pads

Disposable Knee Pads

Ergokneel Handy Mats

Pak•A• Ladder

Garden Kneeling Strip

Extreme Standing Mats

Ergokneel Ground Blankets

Ergomotion Soft Top Surgical Lift Mat

Aircraft Mats

Pocket Kneeler with Lanyard

888-456-3372 • www.safeworker.com