Safe Workplace and Safety News

This is the safety news blog for the Safe Workplace web site. We cover workplace safety related news with a focus on how safety, or a lack of safety, impacts employers, employees and their families. We also cover topics such as safety training, safety tools, and legal issues related to safety. For regular safety news and information enter your email address in the box above the Subscribe button to the right (then click on the button).

Monday, January 16, 2012

OSHA promotes Injury and Illness Prevention Programs (I2P2)

OSHA has reaffirmed its commitment to Injury and Illness Prevention Program (I2P2) through the release of a white paper. The purpose of the white paper is to demonstrate the value of I2P2. OSHA has been heading towards requiring that most workplaces implement I2P2 with the intention of to proactively improving health and safety.

What is I2P2?

The following is the introductory descriptiuon from OSHA's white paper:

An injury and illness prevention program, is a proactive process to help employers find and fix workplace hazards before workers are hurt. We know these programs can be effective at reducing injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. Many workplaces have already adopted such approaches, for example as part of OSHA’s cooperative programs. Not only do these employers experience dramatic decreases in workplace injuries, but they often report a transformed workplace culture that can lead to higher productivity and quality, reduced turnover, reduced costs, and greater employee satisfaction.

Thirty-four states and many nations around the world already require or encourage employers to
implement such programs. The key elements common to all of these programs are management
leadership, worker participation, hazard identification and assessment, hazard prevention and
control, education and training, and program evaluation and improvement.

Based on the positive experience of employers with existing programs, OSHA believes that
injury and illness prevention programs provide the foundation for breakthrough changes in the
way employers identify and control hazards, leading to a significantly improved workplace
health and safety environment. Adoption of an injury and illness prevention program will result
in workers suffering fewer injuries, illnesses and fatalities. In addition, employers will improve
their compliance with existing regulations, and will experience many of the financial benefits of
a safer and healthier workplace cited in published studies and reports by individual companies,
including significant reductions in workers’ compensation premiums.

Past Posts:
Employer OSHA Obligations
Revised OSHA Materials On Health And Safety

Labels: occupational safety standards, OSHA, OSHA Training Programs