Discussion Board Responses

I will post two of my friends posts and all you have to do is to do a small response for each one of them

First Student (Albraa)

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was enacted by congress following the Occupational Safety Act of 1970, signed into law by President Richard Nixon. Its mission is to facilitate safety and health for workers in their working environment by drafting and enforcing standards, training and outreach initiatives, and assistance.

The modes of enforcement of safety standards spelled out by OSHA are chiefly through inspection conducted by Compliance Safety and Health Officers who assess fines and sanctions for violations of its regulations (EPA, n.d). Of particular interest are highly hazardous industries. OSHA also ensures compliance via partnership programs like the Voluntary Protection Program and Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program.

The Environmental Protection Agency is an autonomous agency of the United States federal government for environmental protection. Its mission is to eliminate the threats presented by run-away pollution to ensure sustainability for posterity. To protect our people and the environment from harmful effects of radiation and pollution (EPA, n.d).

EPA works in collaboration with state, federal and local authorities to ensure environmental standards. EPA carries out its enforcement efforts in the form of fines, sanctions, and similar measures. The agency involves all stakeholders in voluntary pollution mitigation initiatives (EPA, n.d).

Barack Obama signed the OE13650 on August 1, 2013, directing the federal government to work in sync with state and local partners to share information, update policies, and harmonize best practices. Under this executive order, the following programs concern community/ environmental and safety: EPA’s Risk Management Program (RMP), has the goal of decreasing chemical risks under the clean air act. The program requires manufacturers of certain fire hazard and toxic substances to put in place risk management contingencies. Through the Emergency Planning and Community Right to know Act, EPA ensures the carrying out of emergency planning and preparedness for local, state and community levels. The program ensures locals know of hazards in their locality and how to respond in case of emergencies (EO 13650, 2013).

As provided for by the Process Safety Management (PSM), OSHA spells out the standards how the handling of hazardous substances to forestall disasters through their careless release. Guidelines are given on the manufacture and packaging of biohazards.

Federal agencies oversee a number of programs to militate against chemical accidents, prevent chemical attacks terrorist, and prepare handlers of chemicals and the wider community to respond appropriately to accidents involving chemicals State, local, and community enforce proper zoning of chemical plants and response.

Process safety management is a regulation sponsored by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Its main Purpose is setting standards to reduce the adverse effects of huge amounts of toxic, radioactive, explosives and fire hazards. Process safety management is tools to assist prevent the release of hazardous chemicals as defined by the EPA or OSHA (29 CFR 1910.119). The regulations encompass procedures, design recommendations, auditing guidelines et cetera.

Create a skeleton of the “eight step process” with incident command principles

The knowledge on the response to an incident involving the release of hazardous substances for any Occupational safety Professional is paramount. When an HAZMAT situation arises, it is an industry standard to follow an eight –step process (Chan et al., 2014).

STEP 1: Site Management & Control

STEP 2: Identifying the Problem

STEP 3: Hazard & Risk Evaluation

STEP 4: Protective Clothing & Equipment

STEP 5: Information Management & Resource Coordination

STEP 6: Implementing Response Objectives

STEP 7: Decontamination

STEP 8: Terminating the Incident

References

Chan, K. C., Lim, G. H., & Leong, M. (2014). Medical Response to Hazmat Incidents. Hazmat Medical Life Support,95-101. doi:10.1142/9789814583169_0012

EPA(n.d). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/

EO 13650. (2013). Chemical Executive Order. Retrieved from https://www.osha.gov/chemicalexecutiveorder/

29 CFR 1910.119. Retrieved from https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standar…

Second Student (Noor)

1. Research and discuss the origin of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), its mission and agency vision. Differentiate the enforcement and compliance assistance elements of the Agency.

the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is a United States Department of labor agency which ensures a conducive and healthy working environment for all workers in the country. It was established by the Congress through the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 after President Nixon signed it into law. OSHA’s mission statement is to “assure safe and healthful conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and providing training, outreach, education, and compliance assistance.” (Healey, Higgins, Macdonald, & Connors, 2015). It thus requires the employers to provide safe working conditions for all employees. OSHA’s vision is to make the United States’ workforce the safest in the world.

OSHA’s compliance assistance element offers services and products to assist employers in complying with its requirements thus reducing workplace illness, injuries, and fatalities. The resources include its website, guidance document, consultative services, publications, and compliance assistance specialists. On the other hand, the enforcement element ensures that the standards in the OSH Act are followed to the latter. All the employers have to follow the “general duty standards” which safeguards the safety of the employees. The enforcement element thus ensures that the standards set by the Act are followed by punishing the offenders while the compliance element helps employers to comply the set standards (Healey, Higgins, Macdonald, & Connors, 2015).

2. Research and discuss the origin of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), its mission, and agency vision. Define its jurisdictional authority and enforcement elements.

The EPA was established on December 2, 1970, after an executive order from President Richard Nixon. It was born in the wake of an increase in concern about environmental pollution in the country. After its establishing, it created monitoring and guiding standards which were used for environmental protection. The Environmental Protection Agency’s mission is to protect human health and the environment. Its vision is to have zero environmental pollution by adopting a clean power plan in the country. The organization is provided with the administrative roles of dealing with water pollution, pesticides, radioactive wastes, noise pollution, and even solid waste issues. Therefore, the EPA develops and regulates standards which government environmental issues. The organization also has the sole responsibility of identifying parties involved in polluting the environment and taking legal actions against them. It thus deals with issues of environmental crime in the country (Ringquist, 2016).

1. Review Executive Order 13650. List and discuss 3 highlights of the executive order focusing on community/environmental health and safety. In addition, discuss Federal government collaboration, integration, and compliance and outreach efforts.

The Executive Order 13650 was issued by President Obama with the aim of improving chemical facility safety. This was after a deadly explosion at a fertilizer distribution facility in Texas. The Executive Order strengthens community planning and preparedness in case of a disaster, enhances federal operational coordination, modernize policies and regulations, and also improve data management. The Executive Order also involves adopting stakeholder’s feedback and coming up with the best practices. The federal government incorporates working groups which includes representatives from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Department of Transportation (DOT). They are provided with the task of gathering concerns, comments, complains, and suggestions which are culminated in a report used to improve chemical facility safety. The federal government thus takes all the necessary steps provided by the members to improve the safety of all the chemical facilities in the country (Jennings, & Matthiessen, 2015).

4 Research and review 29 CFR 1910.119, Process Safety of Highly Hazardous Chemicals. Define and discuss its origin, purpose, scope, and goals of the standard.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemicals standard, 29 CFR 1910.119 provides guidelines for handling highly hazardous chemicals. The Act was established in 1990 after a series of hazardous chemical accidents in the late 1980s. It provides the necessary safety requirements for the facilities to meet so that they can handle explosive chemicals, hazardous toxic, and reactive flammable considering the safety of its employees and the entire community. The set standards apply to all industries except oil or gas well drilling and unoccupied facilities. It states the responsibilities of the workers, contractor, and employers in meeting the safety standards. Employees have to process safety information as a way of ensuring they understand the dangers involving highly hazardous chemicals. The other key provision of the organization is the process of hazard analysis through evaluation, identifying, and controlling hazards events involving highly hazards chemicals. As per the set standards, employees are expected to be trained on the safety measures they should adopt when working in such conditions (Hill, 2016, January).

Reference

Healey, J. M., Higgins, E. L., Macdonald, K. E., & Connors, B. F. (2015). Beyond Traditional Biosafety. Applied Biosafety, 20(4), 205-207.

Hill, J. (2016, January). OSHA Process Safety Management-Understanding Requirements and Preparing for an Inspection. In ASSE Professional Development Conference and Exposition. American Society of Safety Engineers.

Jennings, K., & Matthiessen, C. (2015). Update: EPA actions—chemical safety and security Executive Order. Process Safety Progress, 34(2), 196-198.

Ringquist, E. J. (2016). Environmental Protection at the State Level: Politics and Progress in Controlling Pollution: Politics and Progress in Controlling Pollution. Routledge.