Best practices in health and safety communication - Essay Example

February 20, Best Practices in Health and Safety Communication Health and safety is very important in organizations and it therefore important that management sees it as utmost priority. Every organization should have a safety manual which would act as a guide as to how matters regarding safety are dealt with. Safety manuals will differ but they have one thing in common and it is the health and safety of not only its employees but other stakeholders like contractors, suppliers, customers and visitors who do business with them.

I visited the web site of the United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration’s Metal Working Fluids: Safety and Health Best Practices Manual. This manual addresses the following topics which are outlined below. The information seen on the web page indicates that the best practices manual is “not a standard or regulation and it creates no legal obligation.” It is basically advisory in nature. The web page indicates that the Occupational Safety and Health act as enforced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA) or an OSHA-approved State Plan requires that employers are in compliance with safety and health standards that are hazard specific.

It also requires that the employer provides safe working environment that are free from recognized hazards that are likely to cause death or serious physical injury. Employers can be treated as violating or disregarding their general duties if any recognized hazards exist and the necessary steps are not taken to address them. Information on the web page further indicates that failure to implement any of the guidelines in the Act is not in itself a violation of the “General Duty Clause”. The web page indicates that there is a Metalworking Fluids Standard Advisory Committee (MWFSAC) which appears to be part of OSHA.

Additional information on the web page include information on how to contact employer representatives, public representatives, worker representatives, staff representatives and Alternates. The topics covered in the manual are: The introduction which covers information on what the manual addresses and additional health and safety hazards The basics of metal working fluids – the different types which includes: straight oil, soluble oil, semi-synthetic and synthetic and information on the signs that a fluid may no longer be safe for use.

Principles of fluid selection which provides details on how to obtain safety and health information about a fluid as well as the health and safety concerns that should be considered. Required and recommended exposure limits Health effects including: general, skin disorders, respiratory diseases and cancer. Engineering and work practice controls Personal protective equipment Establishing a metalworking fluid management program: indicating why, what and how. Instituting an exposure monitoring program Medical Monitoring which indicates why, what, who and how.

Training – why, what and when The manual also includes sections for references, bibliography and appendices. The details of all the above are given on the web page. Additionally, links are provided to the regulations, publications, training, enforcement, Newsroom, Small Business, Data & Statistics, Workers and the department’s home page. Reference Occupational Health & Safety Administration. (n.d.) Metalworking Fluids: Safety and Health Best Practices Manual. Retrieved from: http://www.osha.

gov/SLTC/metalworkingfluids/metalworkingfluids_manual.html#k