How can I use language driven data from SALUS forms to understand deeper KPI

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# Hazard Communication - Using Plain (Clear) Language (cont.) ## What is plain language? (cont.) active Plain language is not: - oversimplifying - dumbing down - dull - unsophisticated ## Why use plain language? Everyone has the right to the knowledge that helps them perform their work in a safe manner or helps them remain healthy. It is important that people understand what they are reading, whether they are reading a safety document at work, or filling out a medical form for their doctor. When readers do not understand the information, they are not making informed decisions. This gap creates communication barriers and contributes to frustration, errors, and misunderstandings. Adopting plain language principles allows information to be easily understood, acted on, and inclusive of all literacy levels. ## Who benefits from using plain language? Plain language benefits everyone, including: - people who may not read well - people who do not see well - people who do not speak that language as their first language - people who may not have time to read a lengthy document (e.g., people who are working on an active job site) - people with disabilities Several communication barriers affect people's ability to understand. Writing plainly helps remove these barriers. When plain language is used, writing becomes more accessible to everyone. Readers are more likely to understand and comply with the information presented and act on the information with fewer mistakes. How does plain language apply to health and safety? Hazard Communication - Using Plain (Clear) Language CCOHS

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# Health and Safety Programs - Leading and Lagging Indicators (cont.) ## How do leading and lagging indicators apply to a health and safety program? (cont.) Leading indicators are proactive, preventative, and predictive measures taken to identify and eliminate hazards in the workplace. Leading indicators look forward to future health and safety performance with the goal of continually improving. Workplaces can use leading indicators to determine the effectiveness of their health and safety programs and to highlight any issues that should be corrected before an incident occurs. Examples of leading indicators include: - Engagement in training programs and orientation - Percentage of managers with occupational health and safety training - Percentage of workers with health and safety training - Frequency of health and safety meetings - Frequency of ergonomic assessments - Frequency of safety audits - Workplace culture When using leading indicators, it is important to make sure the metrics are based on impact. For example, instead of measuring the number and attendance of safety meetings and training sessions - measure the impact of the safety meeting and training by determining the number of people who engaged in the meeting and how many met the key learning objectives of the training. ## What are the benefits and limitations of leading indicators? Some benefits of using leading indicators include: - Focusing on future safety performance and continuous improvement. - Assisting in proactively identifying and understanding the factors that affect the risk of injury and illness and how to prevent them. - Connecting key performance indicators to specific health and safety program goals. - Increasing accountability for goals, whether it is through compliance, improvement, or continuous learning. Some limitations of using leading indicators include: Lacking understanding and experience around how to identify, apply, and benefit from leading indicat…

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CCOHS CCHST Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Centre canadien d'hygiène et de sécurité au travail Health and Safety Programs # Hazard Communication - Using Plain (Clear) Language ## On this page What is plain language? Why use plain language? Who benefits from using plain language? How does plain language apply to health and safety? How are plain language principles applied? ## What is plain language? What is information design and how does it apply to plain language writing? How do I know if my document is written plainly? Where can I find more information about plain language? Simply put, plain language is a style of writing that puts the intended reader first. Plain language allows the reader to locate, understand, and act on the information presented. Plain language looks at the whole message from the reader's perspective, including wording, structure, and design elements. Plain language is also known as clear language. Using plain language can help workplaces communicate their safe work procedures or policies more effectively. It can help make sure that directions are followed, and provide information in a manner that is easily understood. Documents written in plain language should be clear, concise, well organized, and easily convey the message to the reader. Plain language is: - direct - effective - thoughtful - well organized Hazard Communication - Using Plain (Clear) Language CCOHS

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# What are examples of responsibilities of safety coordinators? (cont.) ## What is the purpose of a health and safety committee? (cont.) - Establishing how often a committee will meet, conduct inspections, etc. - How the employer will respond to the committee's recommendations. Each organization should set up their own terms of reference. More information is available in the health and safety committee documents listed below: - Joint Health and Safety Committee - What is a Joint Health and Safety Committee? - Joint Health and Safety Committee - Creation - Joint Health and Safety Committee - Effective and Efficient - Joint Health and Safety Committee - Measuring Effectiveness - Joint Health and Safety Committee - Structure The health and safety committee members should be active participants in consulting, developing, implementing, and monitoring all phases of the health and safety program. ## Why are safe work procedures established? Government health and safety regulations represent minimum requirements. In almost all cases, organizations will exceed these regulations with rules or procedures that are specific to the organization, the work being done, the equipment used, etc. We need rules - to protect the health and safety of workers - but there are dangers in having either too few or too many rules. Too few rules may be interpreted as a sign that health and safety are not important, or that common sense is all that is required to achieve them. Too many rules may be seen as not treating workers as thinking adults and makes enforcement of all rules less likely. Following are some guidelines for establishing rules: - Rules should be specific to health safety concerns in the workplace. - The health and safety committee should participate in their formulation. - Rules should be stated in clearly understandable terms. - Rules are best stated in positive terms ("workers shall" not "workers shall not"). - The reasons for the rule should be explained. -…

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# What are the benefits of doing a job safety analysis? The initial benefits of developing a job safety analysis will become clear in the preparation stage. The analysis process may identify previously undetected hazards and increase the job knowledge of those participating. Safety and health awareness is raised, communication between workers and supervisors is improved, and acceptance of safe work procedures is promoted. A job safety analysis, or a written work procedure based on it, can form the basis for regular contact between supervisors and workers. It can serve as a teaching aid for initial job training and as a briefing guide for infrequent jobs. It may be used as a health and safety inspection or observation standard. In particular, a job safety analysis will assist in completing comprehensive incident investigations. A job safety analysis is a good opportunity to observe a worker actually perform the job. The major advantage of observing the task is that it does not rely on individual memory and that observing or performing the process prompts the recognition of hazards. For infrequently performed or new jobs, observation may not be practical. Another approach is to have a group of experienced workers and supervisors complete the analysis through discussion. An advantage of this method is that more people are involved in a wider base of experience and promoting a more ready acceptance of the resulting work procedure. Members of the health and safety committee should also participate in this process. ## Who should conduct a job safety analysis? A job safety analysis can be conducted by a supervisor, health and safety specialist, or health and safety committee member. Generally, a small team which includes experienced workers and supervisors can analyze a job together through observation and discussion. By collaborating with the workers who are performing the job, there will be an increased acceptance of the resulting procedure and controls. In additio…

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# Hazard and Risk - General (cont.) ## What is risk? (cont.) These risks are expressed as a probability or likelihood of developing a disease or getting injured, whereas hazard refers to the agent responsible (i.e. smoking). Factors that influence the degree or likelihood of risk are: - the nature of the exposure: how much a person is exposed to a hazardous thing or condition (e.g., several times a day or once a year), - how the person is exposed (e.g., breathing in a vapour, skin contact), and - the severity of the effect. For example, one substance may cause skin cancer, while another may cause skin irritation. Cancer is a much more serious effect than irritation. ## What is a risk assessment? Risk assessment is the process where you: - Identify hazards and risk factors that have the potential to cause harm (hazard identification). - Analyze and evaluate the risk associated with that hazard (risk analysis, and risk evaluation). - Determine appropriate ways to eliminate the hazard, or control the risk when the hazard cannot be eliminated (risk control). The OSH Answers document on Risk Assessment has details on how to conduct an assessment and establish priorities. ## Are there other terms used to describe these processes? It is common to see the process of identifying hazards and assessing the corresponding risk to be described in various ways, including "hazard assessment", "hazard and risk assessment", "all hazards risk assessment", etc. Regardless of the terminology used, the critical steps are to make sure the workplace has taken a systematic approach that looks for any hazards (existing or potential), has take appropriate steps to determine the level of risk of these hazards, and then taken measures to control the risk or eliminate the hazard. Documentation from CCOHS will use the terms "hazard identification and "risk assessment" to describe the process of first looking for hazards, then determining the level of risk from that hazard. Hazar…

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# How is a risk assessment done? In general, to do an assessment, you should: 1. Assemble a risk assessment team. Assessments should be done by a competent person or team of individuals who have a good working knowledge of the situation being studied. Include the supervisors and workers who work with the process under review on the team or as sources of information, as these individuals are the most familiar with the operation. The health and safety committee or representative should also be consulted. 2. Select the job or process to assess. Refer to the above section, "When should a risk assessment be done", to help prioritize your assessments. Ideally, risk assessments should be done for all jobs. Jobs or tasks with higher injury and illness rates, worker concerns, and other factors should be considered first. 3. Break down the job or process into tasks. Divide the job or process into tasks or basic steps to better understand the hazards. 4. Identify the hazards of each task. After the basic steps or tasks have been recorded, identify the hazards of each step or task. List the hazards based on observations and inspections, previous causes of incidents and injuries, feedback from workers and supervisors directly involved in the task, and other considerations. 5. Assess the risk of each hazard. For each hazard, determine the likelihood of harm, such as an injury or illness occurring, and its severity. Use a risk assessment method appropriate for your workplace (see further below for details on risk assessment methods). Consider normal operational situations as well as non-standard events such as maintenance, shutdowns, power outages, emergencies, extreme weather, etc. Review all available health and safety information about the hazard, such as Safety Data Sheet (SDS), manufacturer's literature, information from reputable organizations, results of testing, workplace inspection reports, records of workplace incidents (accidents), including information about the …

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# Hazard and Risk - Hazard Identification (cont.) ## What types of hazards are there? (cont.) - Biological - bacteria, viruses, fungi, insects, plants, and animals. - Chemical - depends on the physical, chemical, and toxic properties of the product - Ergonomic - repetitive movements, improper setup of workstations, etc. - Physical - radiation, magnetic fields, temperature extremes, pressure extremes (high pressure or vacuum), noise, vibration, etc. - Psychosocial - stress, violence, harassment, etc. - Safety. - slipping or tripping hazards, inappropriate machine guarding, equipment malfunctions or breakdowns. ## How do I know what is a hazard? Another way to look at health and safety in your workplace is to ask yourself the following questions. These are examples only. You may find other items or situations that can be a hazard. List any item that should be examined. During the risk assessment process, the level of harm will be assessed. What materials or situations do I come into contact with? Possibilities could include: - Electricity. - Chemicals (liquids, gases, solids, mists, vapours, etc.). - Temperature extremes of heat or cold (such as working outdoors, bakeries, foundries, or meat processing). - lonizing and non-ionizing radiation (such as x-rays, ultraviolet (sun) rays). - Asphyxiants (oxygen deficiency) - Working on or near water or ice-covered water. What materials or equipment could I be struck by? - Moving objects (such as forklifts, overhead cranes, vehicles). - Flying objects (such as sparks or shards from grinding). - Falling material (such as tools and equipment from above). What objects or equipment could strike or hit my body, or that part of my body might be caught in, on, or between? - Stationary or moving objects. - Protruding objects. - Sharp or jagged edges. Hazard and Risk - Hazard Identification CCOHS

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# What are examples of responsibilities of safety coordinators? (cont.) ## Why are safe work procedures established? (cont.) Compliance with health and safety rules should be considered a condition of employment. Rules must be explained to new workers when they start work or if they are transferred or retrained. After a suitable interval, these workers should be briefed to ensure they understand the rules applicable to their work. The employer must establish procedures for dealing with repeat rule violators. Supervisors are responsible for correcting unsafe acts, such as a breach of rules, and they must be supported in this duty. Points that should be considered in establishing procedures on this issue are: - Ensure that workers are aware of the rule. - Ensure that workers are not encouraged, coerced, or forced to disregard the rule by fellow workers. - All rules are to be followed. - All violations will be managed. Action is taken promptly. The role of discipline is that of education, not punishment. - While having guidelines for penalties for the first offence or infractions may be desirable, some flexibility is required when applying the guidelines since each case will vary in its circumstances. - Action is done confidentially, consistently, and recorded. ## How do you establish safe work procedures? Safe work procedures are the safest way of doing a job, job instruction, monitoring performance, and incident investigation. Job safety analysis (JSA), also known as "job hazard analysis", is the first step in developing the correct procedure. In this analysis, each task of a specific job is examined to identify hazards and to determine the safest way to do the job. Job safety analysis involves the following steps: 1. Select the job. 2. Break down the job into a sequence of steps. 3. Identify the hazards. 4. Define preventive measures. - The analysis should be conducted on all critical tasks or jobs as a first priority. Critical jobs include: - Th…