raising standards Three Requirements For A By: John Poole, Jr. Safe Workplace Management commitment, employee involvement and planning. I If you are an employer or a manager, it is your responsibility to provide a safe work environ-ment not only for your cleaning staff, but for all your employees. To do so, there are three things that have to happen. First, management commitment must exist and it must be continuous (not a one time thing). Second, the cleaning organization must comply with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Haz-ard Communication Standard and have a written hazard communication program in place. Finally, employees must be involved in de-veloping, understanding and executing the program. Management Commitment One of the five main CIMS management principles is dedicated to Management Commitment, but really it is woven into the entire standard. Without management commitment, it would be difficult to achieve the other four principles, especially the one that focuses on safety. Employees count on managers to lead with a safety strategy and plan. By committing to this charge, managers will prevent injuries and illnesses among cleaning staff and building occupants and reduce worker’s compensations costs and insurance charges. Also, a safer, healthier workplace keeps workers and occupants feeling well, enhanc-ing productivity. Written Hazard Communication Program All cleaning organizations should develop, implement and maintain a written hazard communication program. This program details how managers will communicate workplace hazards to work-ers, in compliance with the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard. When addressing cleaning products, for example, this includes labeling all chemical containers, ensuring workers have access to Safety Data Sheets (SDS) and training work-ers on safe chemical handling. To identify a comprehensive list of haz-ards for cleaning workers, managers can conduct a job safety analysis, also known as a “JSA.” A type of risk assessment, a JSA includes walking through specific tasks and looking for existing and potential job hazards. Once hazards are identified, managers can decide what actions are necessary to eliminate, control or minimize hazards that could lead to accidents, injuries, damage to the environment or occupational illness. There is a Hierarchy of Control when it comes to correcting, preventing and con-trolling identified hazards, starting with the most effective control and ending with the least effective: Elimination (the most effective) — Takes the hazard out of the building or facility (e.g., removing an object that was causing a trip hazard). Substitution — Replaces a hazard with something safer (e.g., swap a dangerous chemical with a safe one). Engineering controls — Keeps a hazard from reaching a worker (e.g., barricading a dangerous area). Administrative controls — Helps control hazards by alerting workers with signage, or additional training. Personal protective equipment, or PPE (the least effective) — Places protective equipment on workers’ bodies, but does not eliminate or change the hazard. During emergencies, hazards are created June 2014 that are not encountered or planned for the average workday. These emergency-related hazards may be caused by natural disasters (floods, torna-does, etc.), by human error or attack (chemi-cal spills, terrorist activities, etc.) or within a facility’s own systems due to unforeseen circumstances or events. Managers must prepare for possible emer-gencies and plan the best way to control or prevent the hazards they present (see CIMS, section 2.1). All hazard control and prevention plans as well as emergency and disaster response planning must be included in the written hazard communication program, to be up-dated and shared with workers annually. Employee Involvement Management commitment and a docu-mented hazard communication plan, both critical to a safe and healthy workplace, are not all that is needed to keep workplace inju-ries and the associated costs at bay. Employees play the biggest and most cru-cial role in ensuring the plan is followed. Cleaning workers are the eyes and ears of your cleaning operation — they know build-ings, and they are the first to notice when something is not right. It is up to managers to involve and engage workers in developing and reviewing all safety programs to help eliminate risks. John M. Poole Jr. has 40 years of experience in the industry. A trainer and consultant, he is a Master Registered Executive Housekeeper with the Interna-tional Executive Housekeepers Association, a Regis-tered Building Services Manager-Life designee with Building Service Contractors Association Interna-tional, an ISSA I.C.E. and a CIMS assessor. He is also a member of the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration and an NFSI Certified Safety Walkway Auditor with the National Floor Safety Institute . 10 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ®
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