Process Improvement, Risk Assessment & Management
Environment, Health & Safety Consutlting
Environment, Health & Safety Consutlting
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Deciding to Get Back to Business
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Friday, June 12, 2020
Here is a simple infographic from the CDC many of our clients have used to help make the decision to get back to business. It is a quick way to help determine how ready your company is.Send Comments
Worker Risk From COVID-19
Lower Exposure Risk (Caution)
Jobs that do not require contact with people known to be, or suspected of being, infected with SARS-CoV-2. Workers in this category have minimal occupational contact with the public and other coworkers. Examples include:
-Remote workers (i.e., those working from home during the pandemic).
-Office workers who do not have frequent close contact with coworkers,
customers, or the public.
-Manufacturing and industrial facility workers who do not have frequent
close contact with coworkers, customers, or the public.
-Healthcare workers providing only telemedicine services.
-Long-distance truck drivers.
Medium Exposure Risk
Jobs that require frequent/close contact with people who may be infected, but who are not known to have or suspected of having COVID-19. Workers in this category include:
-Those who may have frequent contact with travelers who return from
international locations with widespread COVID-19 transmission.
-Those who may have contact with the general public (e.g., in schools,
high population density work environments, and some high-volume retail
settings).
High Exposure Risk
Jobs with a high potential for exposure to known or suspected sources of SARS-CoV-2. Workers in this category include:
-Healthcare delivery and support staff (hospital staff who must enter
patients’ rooms) exposed to known or suspected COVID-19 patients.
-Medical transport workers (ambulance vehicle operators) moving known
or suspected COVID-19 patients in enclosed vehicles.
-Mortuary workers involved in preparing bodies for burial or cremation of
people known to have, or suspected of having, COVID-19 at the time of
death.
Very High Exposure Risk
Jobs with a very high potential for exposure to known or suspected sources of SARS-CoV-2 during specific medical, postmortem, or laboratory procedures. Workers in this category include:
-Healthcare workers (e.g., doctors, nurses, dentists, paramedics,
emergency medical technicians) performing aerosol-generating
procedures (e.g., intubation, cough induction procedures,
bronchoscopies, some dental procedures and exams, or invasive
specimen collection) on known or suspected COVID-19 patients.
-Healthcare or laboratory personnel collecting or handling specimens
from known or suspected COVID-19 patients (e.g., manipulating
cultures from known or suspected COVID-19 patients).
-Morgue workers performing autopsies, which generally involve aerosol-
generating procedures, on the bodies of people who are known to have,
or are suspected of having, COVID-19 at the time of their death.
You can see OSHA's entire article here. Be sure to check the article out for additional information valuable to determining the COVID-19 risk faced by your company's employees.
OSG Consultants is actively working with its clients to develop their safe reopening plans. We can help your company too. Contact us through our website, www.yoursafetyadvisors.com .
Thursday, May 14, 2020
Businesses are getting anxious to reopen and understandably so. There are concerns about the safety of businesses reopening and employees returning to the workplace. It is probably wise to allow employees who are working at home to continue to do so for the time being. As a safety and risk management profesional I appreciate the fact that hazardous activities can be done safely. Being safe requires timing and planning as well as the discipline to stick to the guidelines even if it is not convenient. OSHA has published guidelines for companies to follow when reopening to keep their employees safe. The fist step in deciding to reopen is to determine the level of risk and then decide if that level of risk is acceptable. Here are the risk levels, as published by OSHA, there is also a link to OSHA's entire article at the end of this post.Lower Exposure Risk (Caution)
Jobs that do not require contact with people known to be, or suspected of being, infected with SARS-CoV-2. Workers in this category have minimal occupational contact with the public and other coworkers. Examples include:
-Remote workers (i.e., those working from home during the pandemic).
-Office workers who do not have frequent close contact with coworkers,
customers, or the public.
-Manufacturing and industrial facility workers who do not have frequent
close contact with coworkers, customers, or the public.
-Healthcare workers providing only telemedicine services.
-Long-distance truck drivers.
Medium Exposure Risk
Jobs that require frequent/close contact with people who may be infected, but who are not known to have or suspected of having COVID-19. Workers in this category include:
-Those who may have frequent contact with travelers who return from
international locations with widespread COVID-19 transmission.
-Those who may have contact with the general public (e.g., in schools,
high population density work environments, and some high-volume retail
settings).
High Exposure Risk
Jobs with a high potential for exposure to known or suspected sources of SARS-CoV-2. Workers in this category include:
-Healthcare delivery and support staff (hospital staff who must enter
patients’ rooms) exposed to known or suspected COVID-19 patients.
-Medical transport workers (ambulance vehicle operators) moving known
or suspected COVID-19 patients in enclosed vehicles.
-Mortuary workers involved in preparing bodies for burial or cremation of
people known to have, or suspected of having, COVID-19 at the time of
death.
Very High Exposure Risk
Jobs with a very high potential for exposure to known or suspected sources of SARS-CoV-2 during specific medical, postmortem, or laboratory procedures. Workers in this category include:
-Healthcare workers (e.g., doctors, nurses, dentists, paramedics,
emergency medical technicians) performing aerosol-generating
procedures (e.g., intubation, cough induction procedures,
bronchoscopies, some dental procedures and exams, or invasive
specimen collection) on known or suspected COVID-19 patients.
-Healthcare or laboratory personnel collecting or handling specimens
from known or suspected COVID-19 patients (e.g., manipulating
cultures from known or suspected COVID-19 patients).
-Morgue workers performing autopsies, which generally involve aerosol-
generating procedures, on the bodies of people who are known to have,
or are suspected of having, COVID-19 at the time of their death.
You can see OSHA's entire article here. Be sure to check the article out for additional information valuable to determining the COVID-19 risk faced by your company's employees.
OSG Consultants is actively working with its clients to develop their safe reopening plans. We can help your company too. Contact us through our website, www.yoursafetyadvisors.com .
Getting Back to Business
As much as we need to reopen our businesses to start taking care of our customers and clients and get the cash flowing again we also need to ensure that the folks who work with us to make our businesses successful will be as safe as possible. Here are some things to think about to help make your restart a success.
1. Have the common areas (restrooms, breakrooms, kitchens, meeting rooms, cafeterias, etc.) in your building been sanitized?
2. Do you have a method to ensure social distancing in high traffic areas in place?
3. Are signs posted in areas like copy machine areas or kitchenettes posted to prohibit occupation of the space by more than one person at a time?
4. Are provisions in place to ensure social distancing in meeting rooms?
If possible allow only one person at a time in restrooms.
5. Are hand santiizer stations placed around the facility and at entrances?
6. Are sanitizing wipes available to be used to open doors that cannot be left open?
7. Have employees been provided wellness criteria so they know when to stay home based on their health?
Also take a look at the CDC infographic included with this article.
We have developed comprehensive re-opening plans for many of our clients and would be happy to help your company develop their plan as well. Let us know if we can help, www.yoursafetyadvisors.com .
Wednesday, May 06, 2020
It is encouraging that many states have begun to remove restrictions on economic activity. Companies are now looking to get back to business. The day we have all been waiting for is almost here. Are you ready?As much as we need to reopen our businesses to start taking care of our customers and clients and get the cash flowing again we also need to ensure that the folks who work with us to make our businesses successful will be as safe as possible. Here are some things to think about to help make your restart a success.
1. Have the common areas (restrooms, breakrooms, kitchens, meeting rooms, cafeterias, etc.) in your building been sanitized?
2. Do you have a method to ensure social distancing in high traffic areas in place?
3. Are signs posted in areas like copy machine areas or kitchenettes posted to prohibit occupation of the space by more than one person at a time?
4. Are provisions in place to ensure social distancing in meeting rooms?
If possible allow only one person at a time in restrooms.
5. Are hand santiizer stations placed around the facility and at entrances?
6. Are sanitizing wipes available to be used to open doors that cannot be left open?
7. Have employees been provided wellness criteria so they know when to stay home based on their health?
Also take a look at the CDC infographic included with this article.
We have developed comprehensive re-opening plans for many of our clients and would be happy to help your company develop their plan as well. Let us know if we can help, www.yoursafetyadvisors.com .
I will Survive
April 17 , 2020
No I am not talking about Gloria Gaynor's hit song from 1978. What I am talking about is how my consulting firm will come through the COVID-19 crisis. I can make this statement with confidence because we did several things to position oursleves to survive. It all started with an all hands meeting the day the PA governor announced the lock down. The staff and I sat down with out business continuity plan. We determined what our critical success factors were, the things that still had to get done on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, if we were to come through this with our shirts. We put resources, people and processes as described in our contingency plan into place to keep the company running even though we could not go to the office. This being done we started to look at how we could generate revenue.
We looked at the services we offer and came up with a list of services we could offer remotely and how. Some of our younger staff members really shined here and were thrilled to be able to find ways to work using the technology they love so much. Then we began contacting our existing clients and having discussions with them about their critical succes factors. This generated some revenue opportunities in and of itself. Quite a few of our clients had no clue how to answer this question. We hosted video conferences to help them come up with the answer. Next we looked at how the services can provide remotely relate to each of our client's critical success factors and are contacting them now to have conversations with them about how we can also say "I Will Survive". It is working. We are getting work and building stronger relationships with our clients simply by helping them solve their problems and pull through.
If you would like to discuss business continuity strategies and "re-tooloing" to survive a crisis feel free to contact me either through AdvisoryCloud or my company website.
Friday, April 17, 2020
Ed BulakitesApril 17 , 2020
No I am not talking about Gloria Gaynor's hit song from 1978. What I am talking about is how my consulting firm will come through the COVID-19 crisis. I can make this statement with confidence because we did several things to position oursleves to survive. It all started with an all hands meeting the day the PA governor announced the lock down. The staff and I sat down with out business continuity plan. We determined what our critical success factors were, the things that still had to get done on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, if we were to come through this with our shirts. We put resources, people and processes as described in our contingency plan into place to keep the company running even though we could not go to the office. This being done we started to look at how we could generate revenue.
We looked at the services we offer and came up with a list of services we could offer remotely and how. Some of our younger staff members really shined here and were thrilled to be able to find ways to work using the technology they love so much. Then we began contacting our existing clients and having discussions with them about their critical succes factors. This generated some revenue opportunities in and of itself. Quite a few of our clients had no clue how to answer this question. We hosted video conferences to help them come up with the answer. Next we looked at how the services can provide remotely relate to each of our client's critical success factors and are contacting them now to have conversations with them about how we can also say "I Will Survive". It is working. We are getting work and building stronger relationships with our clients simply by helping them solve their problems and pull through.
If you would like to discuss business continuity strategies and "re-tooloing" to survive a crisis feel free to contact me either through AdvisoryCloud or my company website.
Is Your Company's Safety Program Making Money?
Profitability Through Safety
Thursday, April 16, 2020
f your company's safety program is not making regular contributions to your company's bottom line, your safety department is likely not approaching the problems they are trying to solve properly. When the safety department comes asking for money for a project you should be hearing things like; making these changes will reduce cycle times, we will use less material, quality turn backs will be reduced. If your safety department is still talking about injury avoidance and potential workers' compensation savings as their only justification they are approaching the probem wrong. A while back, I wrote an article explaining how your company's safety program can actually make money for the company. You can access the article through the link below.Profitability Through Safety
Does Your Facility Need to be Disinfected?
April 11 , 2020
Does Your Facility Need to be Disinfected?
If your facility is in need of being disinfected here are some excellent guidelines from the CDC. Don't just guess, rely on the experts.
CDC - Cleaning And Disinfecting Your Facility
Saturday, April 11, 2020
Edward R. BulakitesApril 11 , 2020
Does Your Facility Need to be Disinfected?
If your facility is in need of being disinfected here are some excellent guidelines from the CDC. Don't just guess, rely on the experts.
CDC - Cleaning And Disinfecting Your Facility
