Directorate/Operations Safety Committee Meeting
October 31, 2007
1:00 p.m.
50B-4205
Meeting Minutes
Mike Chartock |
Dir/Plan & Development |
The meeting commenced at 1:05 p.m.
Supervisor and Employee Responsibilities
Twohey distributed a matrix detailing the responsibilities of employees; line managers, supervisors and mentors; the safety committee; the safety coordinator; and ergo advocates. Twohey emphasized the importance of both supervisor and employee responsibilities, stating that these two groups, particularly supervisors, are expected to take an active role in workplace safety and accident prevention. Chartock noted that workflow management is key to this effort; he offered his office’s comprehensive planning calendar as an example of a way for management to plan workflow with an emphasis on working safely. He added that as a supervisor he tries to think about safety risks in a number of different ways, including employees’ choices of footwear and the Laboratory’s walking surfaces.
Injury Statistics and Job Classifications
Twohey distributed summaries of the FY 2007 Directorate/Ops OSHA Recordable and First Aid Cases. He noted that some job categories had relatively high incidences of first aid and injury cases, while other categories had no cases. More than half of the cases were ergonomic injuries. The group discussed possible reasons for the discrepancies, concurring that some classifications are genuinely more at risk for injuries, while others appear to be more random in nature. Twohey and Janowitz said that they will be with working managers of departments with greater numbers of injuries on safety and accident prevention.
Ergo Advocate Program
Janowitz described the Lab’s ergo advocate program and encouraged committee members to participate. Ergo advocates receive a day of training, and are then expected to assist colleagues with general ergonomic questions and issues and assess everyday situations. Ergo advocates will then refer any issues to their division safety coordinator and/or EH&S professional ergonomic staff. Janowitz said that Reyes has trained as an ergo advocate, and has been very helpful in assessing situations and referring them appropriately.
The meeting adjourned at 1:55 p.m.
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