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Hot topics?
Hot topics? CH&S Netways
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ave you ever noticed that sometimes your hot topic is not necessarily the hot topic that is flying around the various safety communication networks? Are alternatively if you follow the various media – the Safety List Serve,1 trade journals, or even the news media – your hot topic is exactly the same as everyone else’s? Both cases seem to be prevalent. It does make you wonder why? As for the second scenario, it is probably due to exposure, i.e., something has happened and everyone begins to think about the issue. Someone in the area got cited for a violation or there was a well-publicized accident or event and it got people thinking about there own workplaces. Examples of this type of scenario include: a laboratory fire at a neighboring university, a confined space entry that had tragic consequences, or personal protective equipment failed. Each of these examples has the tendency to make the safety and health professional go into work the next day and think about how their program or emergency plan would hold up to such a event. This is part of our own internal auditing that we do each day to try and ensure that our colleagues, employees, and others return home safely at the end of each day. But what of the other scenario, your hot topic is not necessarily the hot topic that is being circulated. In this case information is much harder to find, or you may have to trample through a number of archive materials in order to find out information. Of course there are lots of resources. – (Aren’t Google, Clusty, and Ask Jeeves just wonderful for this sort of exercise?) The Safety List Serve is also a wonderful resource both in terms of asking the question and the archive itself or the resources at the University of Vermont Risk Management Web Site.2
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ß Division of Chemical Health and Safety of the American Chemical Society Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
But the real question is how does something become a hot topic? There are a number of ways to figure out a trend other than by watching accident trends. It is our goal to try and find out what will be a hot topic before the accident occurs. One way is to look at what is happening in other industries. You can find out the hot topics by industry by going to OHSA page on hot topics arranged by industry.3 At this site you can browse what the concerns of industries totally unrelated to your own or those that are close to you or if you are in an academic environment industries related to the research that is being conducted in your department. In addition to this site, you can always look at the potential enforcement calendars of OSHA, MSA, and EPA – these will provide insight into the areas that they have found of concern during various reviews, complaints, and inspections. Finally, you can look at your near miss events – this is a wonderful resource to look at the gaps of your own safety, environment and health programs. Near misses are the warning signs of the gaps in the programs. The trick is to really understand what the warning sign is telling you before the really bad event happens. So – what is a hot topic? It is that topic which is keeping you up at night. The one that you have a feeling about but really can put your finger on it just quite yet. Follow the trends, look at your resources and when in doubt ask the question.
REFERENCES 1. http://list.uvm.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=safety&D= 1&F=&H=0&O=T&S=&T=1. 2. http://www.uvm.edu/riskmgmt/. 3. http://infoventures.com/osh/hot-ind.html.
1871-5532/$32.00 doi:10.1016/j.jchas.2006.01.006
H
ave you ever noticed that sometimes your hot topic is not necessarily the hot topic that is flying around the various safety communication networks? Are alternatively if you follow the various media – the Safety List Serve,1 trade journals, or even the news media – your hot topic is exactly the same as everyone else’s? Both cases seem to be prevalent. It does make you wonder why? As for the second scenario, it is probably due to exposure, i.e., something has happened and everyone begins to think about the issue. Someone in the area got cited for a violation or there was a well-publicized accident or event and it got people thinking about there own workplaces. Examples of this type of scenario include: a laboratory fire at a neighboring university, a confined space entry that had tragic consequences, or personal protective equipment failed. Each of these examples has the tendency to make the safety and health professional go into work the next day and think about how their program or emergency plan would hold up to such a event. This is part of our own internal auditing that we do each day to try and ensure that our colleagues, employees, and others return home safely at the end of each day. But what of the other scenario, your hot topic is not necessarily the hot topic that is being circulated. In this case information is much harder to find, or you may have to trample through a number of archive materials in order to find out information. Of course there are lots of resources. – (Aren’t Google, Clusty, and Ask Jeeves just wonderful for this sort of exercise?) The Safety List Serve is also a wonderful resource both in terms of asking the question and the archive itself or the resources at the University of Vermont Risk Management Web Site.2
32
ß Division of Chemical Health and Safety of the American Chemical Society Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
But the real question is how does something become a hot topic? There are a number of ways to figure out a trend other than by watching accident trends. It is our goal to try and find out what will be a hot topic before the accident occurs. One way is to look at what is happening in other industries. You can find out the hot topics by industry by going to OHSA page on hot topics arranged by industry.3 At this site you can browse what the concerns of industries totally unrelated to your own or those that are close to you or if you are in an academic environment industries related to the research that is being conducted in your department. In addition to this site, you can always look at the potential enforcement calendars of OSHA, MSA, and EPA – these will provide insight into the areas that they have found of concern during various reviews, complaints, and inspections. Finally, you can look at your near miss events – this is a wonderful resource to look at the gaps of your own safety, environment and health programs. Near misses are the warning signs of the gaps in the programs. The trick is to really understand what the warning sign is telling you before the really bad event happens. So – what is a hot topic? It is that topic which is keeping you up at night. The one that you have a feeling about but really can put your finger on it just quite yet. Follow the trends, look at your resources and when in doubt ask the question.
REFERENCES 1. http://list.uvm.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=safety&D= 1&F=&H=0&O=T&S=&T=1. 2. http://www.uvm.edu/riskmgmt/. 3. http://infoventures.com/osh/hot-ind.html.
1871-5532/$32.00 doi:10.1016/j.jchas.2006.01.006