How To Implement An Effective Workers Compensation Disability Management Program – Strategy 5 Of 10
Perform a Job Safety Analysis On Critical Tasks or Processes
OSHA says that Job Safety Analysis means:
“…carefully studying and recording each step of a job, identifying existing or potential job hazards (both safety and health), and determining the best way to perform the job to reduce or eliminate these hazards. Improved job methods can reduce costs result from employee absenteeism and workers compensation, and can often lead to increased productivity.”
A Job Safety Analysis is designed to be a simple, cost effective method of preparing a detailed work description which establishes a standard procedure for accomplishing a single task. It is a valuable tool for reducing the possibility of an operational error that could result in injury, property damage, or lost production.
Through this technique a step-by-step training guide can be developed which, when properly used, assures that all needed job skills are taught by a trainer-including safe operational procedures. In addition, Job Safety Analysis can be used to identify and correct work hazards which may have been inadvertently introduced by employees in an effort to simplify or speed up a job. Also, Job Safety Analysis can assist supervisors in making decisions relating to line balancing, time standards, and job simplification.
An additional and often overlooked benefit of Job Safety Analysis is that it facilitates operator substitution. Since absenteeism reduces production, cost-efficient operator substitution is important to all operations. Job Safety Analysis helps employees learn not only their assigned jobs but also other job functions as well. As a result, cross-trained employees are available to fill in when there are absentees.
A common misperception of Job Safety Analysis is that it must be performed for each and every job in the facility. As a result, many companies view this as an unrealistic strategy and take little or nor advantage of it. In fact, OSHA has suggested that you follow the following priority when determining which jobs you should analysis first:
- Jobs with the highest rates of accidents and lost - workday injuries;
- Jobs where “close calls” have occurred;
- New job tasks as they are created;
- Jobs where changes have been made in processes and procedures;
- All other jobs.
- Eventually a Job Safety Analysis should be conducted and made available to employees for all jobs in the workplace.
What this means is that you can perform Job Safety Analysis on a step-by-step, planned basis. You are not required to drop what you are doing and perform a Job Safety Analysis on each and every job task in your facility. Eventually this should be your goal. However, realistically you should perform a Job Safety Analysis on those critical tasks or processes that have the highest potential or actual accident rate.
CompEraser comes with on-line, on-demand resources needed to CONTROL the temporary duty program, including this important step in the process. Resources also include the formalization of your safety team, injury prevention, OSHA compliance, safety training, prompt injury response, workers compensation disability management, plus more. These resources are available 24/7 and used irrespective of which workers compensation carrier you select. Its patent-pending technology also provides unique financial reports for monitoring the effectiveness of your safety and health program on an on-going basis. For more information visit our website at www.CompEraser.com.
