Prevention is the Cure

Fay Feeney, CSP, ARM

Principal & ASSE Professional Member

2007© ESG All Rights Reserved

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Agenda Public Relations Basics

Prevention

USPS (Large Employer – Federal)

Anthony Forest Products (Small Employer –

Private)

Benefits of Preventing Employee Injuries:

Trust, Respect, Credibility, License to Operate

How to Leverage your Safety Success with your

Employees, Executives, & Customers

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Public Relations Basics:Communicating your Success

Business Goal

Communicate your Safety Success

Audience

Senior Leaders, Employees, Clients

Message

Who is the Messenger?

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Public Relations Basics:You are the Expert in Your Field

Effective Business Communications is Strategic

1. Put People First

As humans we related to the human element in stories.

2. Be Solutions-Oriented

Work with your executive team to provide good information before, during and after your safety efforts. Show them how their participation and allocation of monies are solving Workers’ Compensation issues.

3. Time is Not on Your Side

The 24/7 business cycle puts executives on overload. Have a concise and fact filled story to tell.

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Regulatory and Voluntary Safety Standards:

Why You Should CareRegulatory

•CAL/OSHA IIPP – Illness & Injury Prevention Program•General Industry Standard Order 3203

•Federal - 29 CFR 1910 OSHA General Industry

•Global – China, India and beyond

Voluntary•ANSI Z10 – Safety Management System•OHSAS 18001 - certification•Carbon Offsets

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Safety Management System

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Safety and Health Programs:Who Owns Them?

Pro-activity is necessary to reduce accidents, injuries, illnesses, and their related costs.

Emphasis on safety and health issues can start at the top or at the operating management level of your organization to produce needed change.

Would your executive team avoid their responsibility in: Production? Sales and Marketing? Quality control? Human Resources?

Safety and Health Programs must be integrated with the other core business processes and supported by the executive team.

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Safety and Health:Quick Quiz for Executives

I have a clear vision of an accident-free workplace.

When I really need to understand a safety issue, I talk with some of my line people about it.

I always know the status of safety and safety projects in my organization and those involved know how I feel about that status.

I know whenever an accident occurs and consider it my role to get involved in addressing the issues it raises.

I know that my actions say more than my words about safety, so I always act out my belief that safety is a key organizational value.

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Success

"The real success story here is that these savings reflect the thousands of Oregon construction workers who went home injury-free day after day as a result of the hard work of all those involved.“

Christy Witzke, SAIF Group Insurance and State Agency operations manager, about the Oregon agency's collaboration with Associated General Contractors in returning $11.7 million to member businesses

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USPS (Large Federal Employer)Overview of the US Postal Service

The USPS has more than 700,000 employees, making it the second largest employer in America (4th largest in the world)

The USPS has 675 mail processing facilities and more than 38,000 retail sites. USPS transports and delivers more than 206 billion pieces of mail per year, with delivery to 141 million addresses six days per week.

The Postal Service is not subsidized by federal, state or local governments. It is an entirely self-sustaining federal agency.

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USPS: Strategic Groundwork

OSHA, the American Postal Workers

Union (APWU), the National Postal Mail

Handlers Union (NMHU) and the U.S.

Postal Service (USPS) entered into an

Ergonomic Strategic Partnership in 2003 –

a major initiative triggered by high injury

level.

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USPS: Ergonomic Risk Reduction Process

The vision: "Postal employees will be able to do

their job without pain and enjoy their retirement

without physical restriction.“

ERRP creates self-sustaining teams and imparts

ergonomic identification and resolution skills to the

employees (management, labor unions, and

individual craft employees) of the Postal Service.

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USPS: Small Capital Investment Work: Loading trays and tubs

Task: Lifting trays and tubs from pallets on the floor

Opportunity: Reduce risk of bending & lifting from below knee height.

Solution: Provide a pallet lifter to elevate trays to waist level. Less than $5,000

Before After

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USPS: Simple ChangeOpportunity: Reduce Risk of tubs stacked above shoulder height resulting in

forceful lifting with the hands

Solution: Supervisors should ensure employees follow safety guidelines.

Do not fill containers above the ¾ capacity mark on the

containers.

Before After

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USPS: Safety Success Story“By bringing management, unions and employees together to cooperatively identify potential hazards and ergonomic health risks, the Postal Service, through this partnership, is transforming its workplace safety and health ergonomic program into a model for both the public and private sector.”

Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Edwin G. Foulke, Jr

Achievements

After 3 yrs 27 ERRP sites reported the most dramatic results: 38% reduction in the MSD Recordable rate

40% reduction in Handling & Lifting rate

$1.8M savings in workers’ comp medical costs (39% reduction)

77,000 employees have been trained

71% reduction in work day loss at ERRP sites

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Contact the public relations and marketing

communications departments to develop external and

internal communications plan

Communicate monthly with employees on project update

Have a page on the USPS web site on the program and its

successes

Contact local and national media on results and activities,

get them involved

Educate the communities where the USPS is located and

let them know about pro-active efforts

USPS: Opportunities for PR

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Anthony Forest Products: Small Private Employer

Anthony Forest Products Company, an integrated forest products company, has saved over $1 million in the last five years (2001-2006) by working with the OSHA On-site Consultation Program!

The company, founded in 1916, has spent approximately $50,000 to date on safety improvements and employee training costs. The return on that investment in safety and health is huge!

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Anthony Forest Products

OSHA’s Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program recognizes small employers who operate an exemplary safety and health management system.

Upon receiving SHARP recognition, your worksite will be exempt from programmed inspections during the period that your SHARP certification is valid.

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Anthony Forest ProductsAnthony currently has five Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) work sites located in three states:

Arkansas Louisiana Texas

The company’s SHARP sites include: Pine lumber producing mill in Urbana, AR Engineered wood laminating plant in El Dorado, AR Wood chip mill in Plain Dealing, LA Wood chip mill in Troup, TX Pine lumber producing mill in Atlanta, TX

These five SHARP sites employ between 10 and 100 workers/site.

Total company work force = 450 employees.

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Anthony Forest ProductsWhat Employees are saying about Safety:

"This makes you feel that the Company is serious. The Company wants a quality operation and that makes you feel secure about AFP." "I have been with AFP for 15 years, and we have come a long way with safety!“

"Employees are aware of not only their own safety, but also that of their co-workers.“

"We have a great safety program because the importance of safety is communicated to the employees". "Because the employees work together and look out for the safety of one another, we have a great record and receive a lot of awards and rewards". "The Atlanta mill being safe and meeting all the OSHA requirements for the SHARP Award has gotten us a lot of national attention".

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Anthony Forest Products: SuccessesIn 2005, the laminating plant in Urbana, AR logged in almost 212,000 hours in which they had exactly zero accidents under guidelines established by OSHA.

Prior to their becoming a SHARP company, their Worker’s Compensation Experience Modifier Rate (EMR) rate was almost 1.0. after SHARP the EMR rate is 0.63.

Since working with OSHA's On-site Consultation Program, the plant has logged more than 630,000 work hours with no lost time due to injuries. The facility's Days Away, Restricted and/or Transferred case rate (DART) was 2.34 in 1998, and is now 0.0.

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Anthony Forest Products: What They DidOSHA regulatory aspects that were addressed during the

comprehensive On-site Consultation visits included Machine guarding, (protecting points of operation and pinch

points); Lockout / Tagout (identifying energy sources, designating

authorized personnel; Developing proper start-up/shutdown procedures); Powered industrial trucks (operating procedures and safe

driving criteria, vehicle maintenance checks); Walking and working surfaces (upgrading stairs, walkways,

platforms by adding proper railing systems, toe boards, etc.); Personal protective equipment (PPE). PPE assessments to

identify proper safety equipment for the job performed.

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AFP: Safety Success Story"Anthony Forest Products' investment in employee safety and health was the right thing to do, and I am certain it will provide great benefits in morale, productivity, and competitiveness."

Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Edwin G. Foulke, Jr.

Becoming a member of SHARP has: Enhanced the company’s safety program by involving

employees and reducing incidents; Strengthened already good relationships between

management and employees.

Building employee involvement include training Anthony’s workforce on safety policies and procedures, and increasing their knowledge of OSHA standards including hazard recognition.

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Document the company’s goals and objectives related to

EH&S

Engage Public Relations expertise for external

communications for reputation management and company

credibility; exploit these successes in EH&S in the marketing

and advertising campaigns

Identify the messages, the audience and the speakers

Develop your marketing stories by documenting your

successes and the achievements of your employees

AFP: Opportunities for PR

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Findings One measurement for attracting and retaining talent is how

companies treat their own employees. You have an opportunity to leverage your safety success

using Public Relations expertise and knowledge globally. You can be a resource to help others learn your story so that

they to can prevent injuries and illnesses in the workplace “Socially responsible activities” (SRA) is universally seen as

the most important action an organization can to do to build trust. SRA surpassed providing “a fair price for products or services” and “attentiveness to customers” in most markets.

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Resources / Recommended Reading OSHA SHARP & Consultation Information

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/safetyhealth/index.html

Partnership Improves Ergonomics at USPS - June 12, 2007 http://www.occupationalhazards.com/News/Article/67419/

Partnership_Improves_Ergonomics_at_USPS.aspx

The 2007 Edelman Trust Barometer is the firm’s eighth trust and credibility survey. http://www.edelman.com/trust/2007/Trust2007Release.doc

Consultant to USPS ERRP www.ergoworld.com/

Cindy Roth Ergonomic Technologies Corporation

6851 Jericho Turnpike, Suite 200Syosset, NY 11791Phone (516) 682-8558

Anthony Forest Products VP, Human Resources, Safety & Environment: Lynda Anthony Head Quarters P.O. Box 1877 (71731)

309 N. Washington (71730)El Dorado, AR USA P: 1(800) 221-2326 Ext# 223

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Thank You