Books and White Paper
Fred Manuele’s review for Risk Assessment: Challenges and Opportunities:
When you have been in the safety industry for over 50 years you see trends come and go. You also see leaders in those trends who stay the course and see the long game for what will be the best practice going forward. Risk assessment has been around for 50 years. In the past decade it has evolved considerably moving from a relatively new concept for general industry, to several benchmark methods used in different industries, and giving rise to more advanced concerns of legal aspects, implementation questions, legacy equipment issues, and others.
One of the long-time leaders of this movement is Bruce Main, PE, CSP who crafts his professional experiences around all facets of risk assessment. Developing language for safety standards, out in the field with companies completing risk assessments, training others on how to do it themselves, expert witness work in litigation and finally, sharing lessons learned and knowledge by writing books on the topic.
With a new groundswell of interest in risk assessment in the past year it is important to look back on what worthy resources are already out there and available to us.
Risk Assessment: Challenges and Opportunities lives in the messy world of the risk assessment process. Based on lessons learned from applied research and engineering practice, Bruce Main reviews the basic concepts of risk assessment, and then dives into challenges that often derail efforts to implement the risk assessment process. This essential book emphasizes and examines through real world examples the many opportunities for gains in productivity, costs and safety that can be obtained by using the risk assessment process.
This book identifies and clarifies some of the recent challenges associated with the risk assessment process. The concepts and principles of risk assessment are not complex, yet people struggle with the process. They get frustrated with the subjectivity, the ambiguity, and the time that the process can absorb if it gets off track. The book is written for the engineer, safety practitioner, manager or other person in a company who has been given the task of leading the risk assessment effort and subsequently struggles to understand or execute the process. The book brings together some of the requirements, theory and practical applications of the risk assessment process.
Risk Assessment: Challenges and Opportunities discusses the root causes of some common problems in deploying the risk assessment process as well as provides practical guidance on solutions to these challenges. Real world examples illustrate the methods and results, or lack thereof when the process has not been followed. The challenges of the risk assessment process are many and complex, yet at the same time the challenges make risk assessment quite interesting and current.
Safety professionals will do well to read this book.
Fred A. Manuele, PE, CSP
The current requirements for the control of hazardous energy appear at 29 CFR 1910.147 The control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout) under OSHA, and in the industry consensus standard ANSI/ASSE Z244.1 The Control of Hazardous Energy: Lockout, Tagout and Alternative Methods. Unfortunately, significant differences between the requirements in these documents have created confusion as to how employers should effectively control hazardous energy to protect employees.
The purposes of this book are to:
Assist readers to understand the differences between OSHA’s requirements for the control of hazardous energy and industry’s understanding and application of these requirements; and
Educate the reader on the industry accepted standard of care, alternative methods and risk assessment as contained in ANSI Z244.1.
This book reviews the following:
History of the developments related to both ANSI Z244.1 and 1910.147 requirements.
Content comparisons between 1910.147 and historical and current version of ANSI Z244.1.
Extensive analyses of the industry and OSHA standards highlighting the practical implications of OSHA’s interpretations and positions related to the control of hazardous energy.
Service and maintenance construct.
Summaries of key legal cases related to 1910.147.
International activity on the control of hazardous energy.
Potential solutions to the problems identified.
Control of Hazardous Energy dse Report
Abstract
As manufacturing becomes more complex and automation increases, safety practices must also evolve. For many years, a primary tenet of machinery safety has been “guard it or lockout tagout” (LOTO) – a practice of completely isolating hazardous energy. Often turning off and isolating all the power is the best solution to protect against unexpected startup of equipment. However, with advances in technology and design practices, Alternative Methods are being used throughout industries to provide effective protection. Alternative methods can be thought of as methods where energy is controlled as opposed to isolated. In many cases Alternative methods were born of a need within industry to allow specific tasks to be done safely, without powering down the entire system.
As U.S. industries, safety practitioners, and OSHA grapple with the many considerations associated with implementing and using Alternative Methods in lieu of LOTO, one common thread continues to be a lack of understanding and information about the use of Alternative Methods.
A survey consisting of 30 questions was conducted specifically to enhance the current state of understanding about the control of hazardous energy including the use of Alternative Methods. The research results and findings are included in this paper, as well as conclusions drawn within the context of practical solutions that yield acceptable risk in the workplace.
There were 276 responses from a variety of industries and company sizes. Highlights of the results include:
Although there remain some skeptics, the vast majority of respondents are using Alternative Methods as a means to control of hazardous energy.
A significant majority of respondents agreed that OSHA should consider adopting ANSI Z244.1 and incorporating risk assessment and the hazard control hierarchy to determine the most feasible methods for controlling hazardous energy.
Both small and large companies are currently able to implement Alternative Methods with the skill set of their current employees.
Most companies using Alternative Methods have some level of documentation or analysis to support the use.
The survey results support the tenet that effective risk reduction is rarely just one solution, but typically several, and will often include both Alternative Methods and LOTO.
Based on the results of this survey, the time for debate on the question of whether Alternative Methods should be allowed or disallowed has past. As shown in this survey, Alternative Methods are currently included in machinery, equipment and processes, and are already being used throughout industry to keep workers safe from harm.