How To Improve Your Hazard Communication
May 23rd, 2011A new research study from Belgium has made some very important findings about Chemical Safety in the workplace.
The study, entitled “Workers’ Perception of Chemical Risks: A Focus Group Study,” was published in a recent issue of Risk Analysis, the journal of the Society for Risk Analysis.
These are the key findings of this study:
Training Analysis Can Influence Incident Rates
April 13th, 2011If you want to use training to help employees work more safely and avoid incidents, you need to analyze your training from the start to ensure that it is an appropriate and effective tool. It must be appropriate to the hazards and risks and the people that need the training.
To …
6 Steps Towards a Safe & Healthy Workplace
March 16th, 2011Safe and healthy workers are productive, satisfied workers and by taking six steps one can make the workplace even safer.
Employee–driven Safety = A Safer Workplace
February 8th, 2011The more workers participate in the Occupational Health and Safety program, the safer the workplace.
Using policies and procedures to address Health and Safety in the workplace has its advantages, but behaviour-based Safety will prove to be a growing component in successful Health & Safety management systems in years to come.
Here …
How to influence worker OHS attitudes
November 17th, 2010We can all agree that the development and maintenance of good Health and Safety attitudes is an important aspect of workplace Health and Safety. The correct attitude will provide you with the foundation on which you will implement interventions that will minimize hazards, prevent incidents, and create a safer, healthier …
SAQA Cracks Whip in Registration Circus
October 15th, 2010SAQA’s draft policy for professional bodies and designations, is out for comment before 15 October 2010.
The policy aims to bring order to the current circus of self regulation, and would present major hurdles, perhaps even a dead end to self-appointed ‘registrars’ like OHSAP.
Some professional membership bodies and registrars have made …
Hot Work Safety Recommendations
August 18th, 2010Hot Work includes operations such as electric arc and gas welding, brazing, torch cutting, grinding (large portable grinders on metal), and torch soldering with an open flame. These operations create heat, sparks, and/or hot slag that have the potential to ignite flammable and combustible materials in the work area.
So, “Hot …
The Day After OHSAP
July 15th, 2010I received an IoSM letter titled “Registration for Occupational Safety Professionals: Why and How?” promoting OHSAP and written by the chairman of the Occupational Safety Professional Council (OSPC).
Reading through the letter, it made me think of the time the Israelites wanted a king, and despite the prophet’s best efforts to …
The OHSAP Mysteries
June 23rd, 2010What is OHSAP?
OHSAP is the acronym for Registration for Occupational Hygiene, Safety and Associated Professions.
Why should you care?
In the draft Construction Regulations there is under definitions, an entry that reads as follows:
‘occupational safety practitioner’ would mean “a person competent in occupational safety, AND certified as such by an institution accredited …
When to write a procedure
November 23rd, 2009I’m sure that most of us have at some stage in our career had the opportunity to smile about the ability of our organization to churn out procedures that no-one will probably ever use.
If you agree with the above statement then you will also agree that at the heart of …
Health and Safety training has to be engaging
October 13th, 2009When health and safety training is not engaging, it is not effective. Training facilitators should base their methods on a simple principle: If you can not make training interesting, it would not be heard, the lessons would not stick, and you would waste time and resources.
There is always more that …
Ben Fouche is a serial entrepreneur. He is a founder of Advantage ACT, Implex Legal Compliance Solutions as well as Sheqafrica.com.