© 1998 ehs management partners, inc. all rights reserved 1 a process for developing...

1© 1998 EHS Management Partners, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

A Process for Developing Department-Specific EHS Plans

David E. Downs, CIH, CSP

President

EHS Management Partners, Inc.

Copyright - EHS Management Partners, Inc. 1999 2

Department EHS Plan Strategy

• Context– Division of Rapidly Growing Medical Device

Manufacturer • 2000 employees; growing to 3000 over 2 years

• Operations - assembly, extrusion, metal finishing

• 7-8 facilities in local area

• One EHS Manager, one EHS staff, one Admin

– Needed to establish a means to leverage EHS staff by involving departments more directly


Department EHS Plan Strategy• EHS Management Strategy

– Step 1- EHS Workbook Development• Designed for use at Department Level

• Provide background, requirements, tools

– Step 2 - Develop Dept EHS Plans• Assess departmental EHS Issues

• Determine requirements

• Document and Implement

• Maintenance

– Step 3 - Assessment and Improvement


Context within the EHS Management System

• Management– Approach had management backing

• Planning– Assessment of Dept identified key EHS Aspects

• Implementation– Dept Plan addresses all key implementation issues

• responsibility• resources• training…

• Assessment and Improvement


Design of the Dept-Specific EHS Plan

• Based on two major components

– EHS Workstation Guides

– Department - Specific EHS Plan Template


EHS Workstation Guides

• Developed for each workstation, job, operation• Identify key EHS risks and requirements• Identifies PPE requirements - OSHA Hazard

Assessment • Used for operator training on workstation EHS

risks

• Identifies EHS Aspects for overall Management System planning.


Key Workstation Guide Concepts

• Non-technical language

• Concise - one page

• Consistent document format

• Supplemented by attachments if needed to address additional issues

• Developed as a database application to facilitate data entry


EHS Workstation Guide-Chemical Hazards


EHS Workstation Guide-Physical Hazards


EHS Workstation Guide-Ergonomic Controls


EHS Workstation GuidePPE


EHS Workstation Guide-EHS Aspects

EHS Aspect Categories


Report Generation


EHS Workstation GuideChemical

Data

PhysicalHazards

ErgonomicControls

PPE


EHS Workstation Guides form the basis for the Department EHS Plan

EHSWorkstationGuides

Department-SpecificEHSPlan


Department EHS Plan Components

• Department Manager EHS Statement

• Responsibilities

• Departmental Hazard Overview

• Emergency Procedures

• PPE (Department - Wide)

• Training Matrix


Training Matrix


Department EHS Plan Implementation

• EHS Staff conducted initial Workstation EHS Evaluations– Entered into database during evaluation– High involvement of team leaders and

employees– Capture basic EHS Aspect Data– Communicate needed workstation upgrades



• Work with Department Managers to develop Department-Specific EHS Plan– Manager’s EHS Statement– Department-Wide Issues

• Emergencies

• PPE

• Training Requirements Matrix

– Use Document Template - “Fill-in”



• Conduct Initial Training– Introduction and distribution of Plan– Department-Specific Procedures

• Additional Training based on Training Matrix



• EHS Workstation Guides– Posted at each workstation– Used to train new employees– Used in routine annual training– Used as basis for Behavior Observation


Program Maintenance

• Department Manager has primary ownership of Dept EHS Plan

• Document is maintained by Department– Network Folder

– Annual Review and Renewal

• EHS staff used as consultants on:– new issues

– new workstations

– workstation revisions


Implementation Status

• Over 500 workstations in 18 Departments to be assessed

• Justified additional EHS staff member

• Completed about 50% over the last calendar year

• Goal to be 100 % by end of second quarter 1999.


Conclusions

• Effective in providing needed tools and information to departments

• Good balance of EHS staff expertise and department ownership

• Has established basis for future EHS management at the department level

• EHS Aspect data will be used in EHS MS Planning

© 1998 ehs management partners, inc. all rights reserved 1 a process for developing...

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