Rancho Mesa's Alyssa Burley and Associate Account Executive Jack Marrs continue their discussion on the Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP).

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Director/Host: Alyssa Burley

Guest: Jack Marrs

Producer/Editor: Megan Lockhart

Music: “Home” by JHS Pedals, “News Room News” by Spence

Transcript

Alyssa Burley: Hi, this is Alyssa Burley with Rancho Mesa's Media Communications and Client Services Department. Thank you for listening to today's top Rancho Mesa news, brought to you by our Safety and Risk Management Network, StudioOne. Welcome back, everyone. My guest is Jack Marrs, associate account executive with Rancho Mesa. He specializes in risk management for human services organizations. Today, we're going to continue our discussion on the Injury and Illness Prevention Program. Jack, welcome to the show.

Jack Marrs: Thanks for having me, Alyssa.

AB: Of course. So for those who are new listeners, our Human Services group has done a couple of episodes focusing on the Injury and Illness prevention program, also known as the IIP. So today we're going to cover the procedures for identifying and evaluating workplace hazards. Investigating occupational injury and illnesses, and correcting unsafe or unhealthy conditions, work practices and procedures. Alright, Jack. So what should employers know when they are putting together their IIP and they need to address identifying and evaluating workplace hazards?

JM: That's a great question. To start off, employers need to have proper measures in place to identify potential health and safety risks like unsafe conditions and practices within the workplace. These measures typically involve conducting regular inspections to identify any areas of the workplace that may be hazardous. Also, conducting interviews with employees is a great way to identify any potential workplace hazards. During this process, it's important to document any identified hazards and create a plan of action to fix them. According to California State Fund, and this is a direct quote from their website, “inspections should be conducted by personnel who, through experience or training, are able to identify actual and potential hazards and understand safe work practices. They should be knowledgeable in the Cal/OSHA safety orders that apply to workplace to better help you identify potential hazards.” That's the end of the quote. So this is obviously an important part of that trip.

AB: Absolutely. And having somebody who understands OSHA regulations is a must. But also giving employees the responsibility to report unsafe conditions is also highly important. So let's move on to the investigation portion of the IIPP. Let's say you've put in place how you're going to identify and evaluate workplace hazards, but an incident actually ends up occurring. What does the employer need to do in order to conduct a proper investigation?

JM: Well, the investigation should take place after an accident or near-miss has occurred. The investigation should be done by a trained employee who is able to identify the cause of the accident and understand what solution needs to be put in place to prevent a similar incident from happening in the future. When doing an investigation, it's crucial to fill out an investigation report containing the details about what happened. This information is used to not only identify root causes, but much of the data that is collected or need to be documented on the Cal/OSHA logs. Cal/OSHA lists five important steps for proper record keeping on their website. They include for the first one, each employer, unless exempt by size or industry, must record each fatality, injury or illness that is work related, is a new case or meets one or more of the general record criteria specified by OSHA. Two. Record each injury or illness on the OSHA form 300, according to its instructions. Three. Prepare an Injury and Illness incident report known as Form 301 or its equivalent/. Four. Annually review and certify the OSHA Form 300 and post is summary of work related injuries and illnesses, known as the Form 300A, no later than February 1st and keep it posted where employees can see it until April 30th. Five. Maintain the last five years of these records in your files. Lastly, building inventory investigation reports can lead to a stronger ability to identify developing trends and root causes that could lead to additional incidences, if not corrected.

AB: Agreed. And Rancho Mesa clients can utilize the SafetyOne mobile app to document information collected during those investigations from the scene of the incident. It can be written into the IIPP that the supervisor or the foreman fills out the investigation form via SafetyOne. The data has been captured in the company's database and depending on the company's workflow, the safety manager, the office administrator, and even the HR person could all be notified in real time when that investigation report is submitted from the field. So OSHA logs can then be completed in the RM365 HRAdvantage portal to ensure that all the information is accessible when it's needed. Okay, so we've talked about identifying hazards and documenting incident investigations. What should the IIPP say about correcting unsafe conditions in the workplace?

JM: Once your safety team becomes aware of a hazard. It's imperative to take immediate action. If the hazard is not easily fixable, employees should vacate the work area until a solution is implemented. Once a solution is in place, only trained staff members should enter the hazardous area to address the issue. This approach ensures effective hazard management while minimizing the risk associated with its correction.

AB: Alright, so by implementing an effective injury and illness prevention program, workplaces will begin to fulfill their regulatory obligation of maintaining a safe workplace, but also create a culture of safety and accountability. And we're trying to provide our clients and listeners to information that can help them do that.

JM: Exactly. And then our team's next episode will cover the last three critical components of the IAP, which are providing employee training and instruction, procedures to allow employees access to the program, and record keeping and documentation.

AB: Great. And we expect that episode will be released in Q4 of 2023. So keep an eye out for it. Jack, If listeners have questions about their IIPP or their risk management strategies what's the best way to get in touch with you?

JM: You can contact me at (619) 486-6569 or email is fine as well, which is jmarrs@ranchomesa.com.

AB: Alright. Well, Jack, thanks for joining me in StudioOne.

JM: Thanks for having me, Alyssa.

AB: This is Alyssa Burley with Rancho Mesa. Thanks for tuning into our latest episode produced by StudioOne. For more information, visit us at ranchomesa.com, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter.