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Text Size| 2005 OSHSPA Report > Strategic plans: focusing on performance |
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| Strategic plans: focusing on performance |
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Alaska Alaska Occupational Safety and Health (AKOSH) is in the third year of its five-year strategic plan. The three major strategic goals are:
In addition to construction, AKOSH continues to target enforcement and consultation inspections toward the transportation and warehousing industry. This industry group was targeted as a result of high injury rates revealed through workers’ compensation data analysis. Also, AKOSH provided various training classes to employees in this industry. Arizona Arizona’s strategic plan contains five annual performance goals within two major goals of the plan. Construction continues to be one of the high-hazard industries nationwide and the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health (ADOSH) has directed significant resources to reducing the number of workrelated injuries, illnesses and fatalities in Arizona’s construction industry. ADOSH is committed to building and maintaining partnerships with Arizona organizations and individuals with an interest in workplace safety and health. ADOSH recognizes the division’s effectiveness in reducing workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities depends on the active involvement and support provided by management, labor and government. Arizona has devoted significant resources to increase public awareness of the importance of workplace safety and health by offering partnerships to employers, providing compliance assistance services, improving outreach efforts and encouraging active worker participation. By increasing public confidence in the division, ADOSH expects employers and employees to be more willing to use the services provided that will help to eliminate hazards and provide a safe working environment. In addition, Arizona established a close relationship with the Spanish-speaking media and ADOSH has had articles published periodically to get the word out about its services, accidents that have occurred and accident prevention. California California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) remains committed in its next five-year plan (2004 through 2008) to targeting the construction industry in a continuing effort to reduce fatalities, injuries and illnesses in the industry. In fact, Cal/OSHA anticipates the creation of a dedicated team of inspectors whose primary targets will be employers in the underground economy, with an emphasis on the construction and agricultural industries. The presence of a dedicated team targeting the construction industry should serve to encourage employers to improve health and safety on the job, which – in turn – should result in a reduction of fatalities, injuries and illnesses. The number of Hispanic worker deaths in California continues to decline. Specifically, the number of Hispanic worker deaths in California was down 16 percent from 2001 to 2004. The California downtrend exceeded the national downtrend during the same period. Cal/OSHA met most of its performance goals for 2005. Rates of injuries, illnesses and fatalities demonstrate a declining trend in agriculture, high-hazard industries and residential construction. As part of Cal/OSHA’s high-hazard consultative and high-hazard enforcement program, various efficacy outcome measures have been obtained during the years from employers to measure pre-intervention and post-intervention data. Among these measures are injury and illness rates, injury and illness severity rates, number and type of preventable work-related injuries and illnesses, and pertinent data about workers’ compensation claims made and costs per claim. In reviewing the efficacy data from a sample of high-hazard employers, it has been determined that both the high-hazard consultation program and the high-hazard enforcement program have been effective interventions in reducing injuries, illnesses and workers’ compensation claims for employers that were targeted for consultation or enforcement interventions. These programs have a continuing role to play in Cal/OSHA’s efforts to eliminate workplace hazards and reduce occupational injuries and illnesses. Connecticut Connecticut OSHA (CONN-OSHA) continues to use Bureau of Labor Statistics data to identify high-hazard public-sector workplaces. This is the third year of the five-year strategic plan. It has identified municipal departments and state agencies in the following NAICS codes:
In 2005, the Indiana Department of Labor (IDOL) continued working to reduce occupational hazards through direct interventions. Specific activities included emphasis programs in construction for trenches, scaffolding and fall hazards. Targeted industries were based on the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data and included:
Kentucky Kentucky has managed to achieve the initial five-year goal of decreasing the injury rates for struck-by and falls by 10 percent. In comparing its 2002 baseline with 2004 for "falls," Kentucky had a 35 percent reduction and is also below the national rate for 2004. In comparing the 2002 baseline for "struck-by," Kentucky had a 68.5 percent reduction and fell well-below the national average. Maryland Maryland’s strategic management plan focuses on the following goals: reduce occupational hazards through direct interventions; promote a safety and health culture through compliance assistance, cooperative programs, strong agency leadership, ongoing safety training provided to employers and employees through Maryland Occupational Safety and Health (MOSH) Training and Education; and secure public confidence through the development and delivery of MOSH programs and services. In fiscal-year 2005, Maryland conducted approximately 1,146 inspections in construction and general industry emphasis areas. Of those inspections, 62.4 percent were specifically targeted to strategic emphasis areas. Eighty-eight percent of the fatality and catastrophe investigations were initiated by MOSH within one working day of notification. Employers could not be located/contacted in the 12 percent that were initiated after one working day. Michigan The Michigan OSHA (MIOSHA) strategic plan for fiscal-year 2004 through 2008 calls for targeting both outreach and enforcement resources toward some of the most hazardous industries in Michigan, including: construction, furniture and fixtures, primary metals, fabricated metal products, industrial machine and equipment, and transportation equipment. MIOSHA also directed efforts toward reducing ergonomic-related injuries and illnesses, amputations and noise-induced hearing loss. MIOSHA developed its plan with substantial stakeholder input and used the team concept to develop the performance goals. The goal is to reduce injuries and illnesses in targeted industries by 20 percent at the end of the five-year plan. Workplace fatalities continue to decrease in most areas. MIOSHA has made significant progress toward nearly all program goals. Significant decreases in injuries and illnesses were reported, including: a 21 percent reduction in the three-year average for amputations; a 19 percent reduction in the three-year average for overexertion; and a 28 percent reduction in injury rates in the furniture and fixtures industry, a new strategic-plan emphasis. Minnesota Minnesota OSHA’s (MNOSHA’s) five-year strategic goals for federal fiscal-year 2004 through 2008 support and guide its efforts during the next several years. The goals are to:
New Jersey New Jersey’s five-year strategic plan for fiscal-years 2004 through 2008 has three major strategic goals:
New York’s Public Employee Safety and Health Bureau (PESH) is in its second five-year strategic plan cycle. The goal for this period is to further reduce the injury and illness rates by 10 percent in 623110 (nursing care facilities), NAICS 237310 (highway, street and bridge construction) and 922160/621910 (fire and ambulance services). Specific committees have been established to address each of these disciplines. Nursing care facilities This committee is focusing on county and state veterans’ homes. Each nursing home was provided a review of recordkeeping procedures. In 2005, each facility was visited and the injury and illness logs were corrected as needed. This provided a sound baseline to compare the future year’s data. Based on this data, the first five-year commitment witnessed an employee injury rate reduction of 18.1 percent, which exceeded its goal by more than 80 percent. An injury rate reduction of 10 percent has occurred since 2002, with an overall injury reduction of 33 percent. This committee also focused resources on comprehensive safety and health consultation to the five nursing homes with the highest injury rates. These site visits included a detailed review of the resident handling procedures, because these are the identified tasks that result in the majority of injuries to employees. The committee promotes the development of a "zero lift policy" and strives to reach that level while continually working with the facilities. Outreach activities continue to include Employee Injury Prevention Conferences that focus on providing safe resident/patient handling, workplace violence and emergency response needs for health care. The Nursing Home Strategic Plan committee has ongoing partnerships with the County Nursing Facility of New York, which is an association of county nursing home administrators, and the Civil Service Employees Association, which is the public-sector union that represents the majority of nursing assistants in New York State. These partnerships provide a unique opportunity for government, union and management to work as a team with a focused goal aimed at reducing employee injuries. Highway, streets and bridge construction The primary goal of this strategic plan committee is to build partnerships to reach more employers and ultimately reduce highway department employee injuries. Partnerships with the New York State Association of Counties and the New York State Safety Officers Association have promoted workplace safety initiatives. This committee continues to work with New York State Department of Transportation, Thruway Authority and the Office of General Services providing safety awareness training to employers and employees. Members of this committee also network with equipment manufacturers in an effort to better understand the safe operation of highway equipment. Most counties in New York are self-insured and include the towns and villages within their geographical boundary. By working with individual counties and self-insurance groups, PESH is able to reach many more municipal workers. This committee developed a training program for employers that is available for conduct by PESH staff members or can be delivered independently by local trainers. The specific topics of this training program are ones that most employers requested on a safety and health survey that was begun in federal fiscal-year 2005. A training package includes Microsoft PowerPoint presentations for municipal workers, copies of the appropriate OSHA standard and sample tailgate meeting information. This information is also available on CD for training and distribution. Topics include:
The Fire Protection/Ambulance Service Strategic Plan Committee continues to focus on reducing injuries and fatalities to individuals, both paid employees and volunteers, who provide these services. This committee has established partnerships with the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs, State Office of Fire Prevention and Control, State Emergency Management Office, the New York State Department of Homeland Security CBRNE Task Force and the New York State Safety Officers Association. One area of current focus is the physical ability of interior firefighters when performing strenuous work. This group is now promoting fitness evaluation and training. Recently, they worked with an occupational health physician to better understand the synergistic effect of stress as related to body condition. Future activities will focus on the cause of worker illnesses and fatalities while performing emergency response duties. This group is interested in developing a universal tracking method for training of all fire departments and county and state emergency services and will provide more awareness activities aimed at reducing injuries by preventing firefighter exhaustion. The committee will also examine accountability, hydration, team rotation, mutual assistance, physical fitness and newer/lighter PPE as ways to reduce such stress and will work with fire departments in an effort to reduce injuries through rehabilitation of firefighters by promoting the set-up of rehabilitation stations, incorporating EMS response for structure fires and establishing guidelines for mandatory evaluations after two SCBA bottles are used. North Carolina North Carolina is currently pursuing the goals contained in the state’s Strategic Management Plan representing the second five-year strategic planning cycle, which began in fiscal-year 2004. The success of the strategic planning process is reflected in the state’s 4.1 injury and illness rate in 2004. The overall number of fatalities declined from 90 in fiscal-year 2004 to 72 in fiscal-year 2005. This included a drop in construction fatalities from 35 to 23. The goals for the current five-year Strategic Management Plan include continued reduction of the state’s injury and illness rate and reduction of the workplace fatality rate. One strategy for reaching these goals is by placing emphasis on a number of specific industries and workplace hazards. These include: construction; logging; lumber and wood products, furniture and fixtures; long-term care; and health hazards including lead, crystalline silica, styrene, asbestos and isocyanates. Additional rate reduction strategies include: site-specific targeting of employers with high injury and illness rates; public-sector targeting; safety and health program assistance; partnership development; and expanding the safety and health recognition programs. A multidisciplinary resource allocation, including compliance, consultation, education and training, will also continue to be used. Oregon Oregon OSHA’s (OR-OSHA’s) nationally recognized lab analyzes silica samples received from enforcement inspections, consultations and general technical assistance. Analyzing the sample data from fiscal-year 2005 showed silica over-exposures in a broader base of industries than initially expected, which may cause OR-OSHA to revise target SIC codes in the future. At the end of the first five-year plan (2001 through 2005), data showed an 11 percent reduction in fatalities from the previous five-year period. Targeted efforts, consultation outreach and education have helped achieve this reduction. Puerto Rico By combining results from multiple program areas, Puerto Rico OSHA (PR OSHA) has been successful in meeting the goals and objectives outlined in its strategic plan, and complying with its mandated activities. Most often, the office adapts to ever-changing conditions in the industry and has been able to respond well to emerging issues. For example, due in part to the aggressive efforts and campaigns of the office, the fatality rate in the construction industry remains significantly lower when compared to the average baseline. Tennessee Tennessee OSHA continues to focus resources, through its strategic plan, on the elimination of workplace hazards by intervening in workplaces where serious hazards are observed. Special emphasis programs about fall protection, carbon monoxide, noise, amputations, and trenching and excavation are currently in place. Training employees and employers about safety and health issues continues to be part of the strategic plan. During 2005, Tennessee OSHA trained more than 12,000 people about workplace safety and health topics. This concentration of resources has produced tangible results. Fatalities from falls have decreased by 33 percent and the DART rate in construction and in metal-working industries have been reduced 21.6 percent and 20.1 percent respectively. Utah Utah completed the first year of its second five-year strategic plan. The plan essentially mirrors the federal plan. The plan includes a focus on reductions in amputations, ergonomics-related injuries and blood-lead levels; the second-year results achieved significant reductions in amputations and ergonomics-related injuries. Also of note was a 12 percent decrease in the general industry fatality rate. Vermont Vermont OSHA’s (VOSHA’s) strategic plan for 2004 through 2008 focuses on all food processing and on reducing worker injuries in highway workzones. The Vermont State Police set up radar in highway workzones and issue tickets to speeders. Virginia Virginia Occupational Safety and Health (VOSH) is in the last year of its current strategic plan and is in the process of preparing its new multi-year plan. Washington Washington’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) completed its 2001 through 2005 plan and has adopted a new five-year strategic plan. Some of the 2006 through 2010 performance goals are:
Wyoming’s new five-year strategic plan for fiscal-years 2004 through 2008 measures three areas: fatality reduction, reduction in workplace hazards and injuries, and workplace safety culture. The first strategic goal is to "improve workplace safety and health for all Wyoming workers by reducing fatalities." In the strategic plan, the performance goal is to "reduce workplace fatalities by minimizing occupational hazards, promoting safety and health cultures, and maximizing Workers’ Safety and Compensation Division effectiveness and efficiency." The second strategic goal is to "improve workplace safety and health for all Wyoming workers as evidenced by fewer hazards, reduced exposures, and fewer injuries and illnesses." The third strategic goal is to "promote a safety and health culture in Wyoming through a strong and effective consultation program." The strategic plan performance goal is to increase participants in VPP and SHARP. No progress was achieved in meeting the first goal (fatality reduction): fatalities increased over the benchmark used for comparison. Mixed results were noted with the second goal for reducing workers’ compensation injury claims for companies receiving a Workers’ Safety Compliance or Consultation intervention. And excellent results were achieved in the third strategic goal (CVPP and SHARP growth). A successful method of reducing claims has been the 75/25 plan, where an employer is offered a 75 percent penalty reduction if workers’ compensation claims are reduced by 25 percent during the next 12 months. Next Section: Customer service: increasing program satisfaction» |
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