EHS Support was retained to support the acquisition of a leading producer of pressure-treated wood products. The company supplies North America’s railroad operators with railway ties, timbers, and recycling services, and electrical utilities and telecommunications companies with utility poles. The project objective was to provide technical support for the company’s health and safety program for their facilities that manufacture treated rail and bridge ties. Technical support was provided by evaluating, developing, and implementing written safety programs, industrial hygiene services, and health and safety compliance auditing.
Project Background
The company is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of treated wood products, and the company and individual facilities are subject to the regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and state plans.
The focus of the technical support was related to on-site management, compliance and high-risk health and safety program development, training and implementation, health assessments, and overall management of the environmental, health, and safety (EHS) program until an EHS Supervisor was hired.
Work Scope
EHS Support personnel were retained to act as the facility’s EHS Supervisors and to provide support to staff filling that role.
Specifically, the scope consisted of development and implementation of health and safety programs (e.g., lockout/tagout and confined space procedures, machine guarding, hazard communications) and training.
Support also involved follow-up sites visits to each location to audit compliance and the implementation of the health and safety programs. Gaps in programs implementation were identified, and corresponding corrective actions were defined and communicated to each responsible party. Additional follow-up visits were conducted to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of the corrective actions that were implemented.
Improvements in compliance included machine guarding, fall protection, lockout/tagout, electrical safety, and personal protective equipment, just to name a few. Additionally, exposure assessments were conducted to determine exposure to chemicals and noise.
Project Result
With the involvement of on-site EHS Support personnel, health and safety compliance program gaps were managed, new programs (such as confined space and lockout/tagout) were devised and implemented, potential noise and chemical exposures were mitigated, required training was conducted, and integration for new health and safety managers was completed.