Citation

Parker DL, Yamin SC, Xi M, Brosseau LM, Gordon R, Most IG, Stanley R. J. Occup. Environ. Med. 2016; 58(9): 885-891.

Affiliation

HealthPartners Institute, Bloomington, Minnesota (Dr Parker, Mr Yamin, Dr Xi, Mr Gordon); University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences (Dr Brosseau); University of New England, School of Public Health (Dr Most); and MEMIC, Loss Control Division, Portland, Maine (Mr Stanley).

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/JOM.0000000000000836

PMID

27466709

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this nationwide intervention was to improve machine safety in small metal fabrication businesses (3 to 150 employees). The failure to implement machine safety programs related to guarding and lockout/tagout (LOTO) are frequent causes of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) citations and may result in serious traumatic injury.

METHODS: Insurance safety consultants conducted a standardized evaluation of machine guarding, safety programs, and LOTO. Businesses received a baseline evaluation, two intervention visits, and a 12-month follow-up evaluation.

RESULTS: The intervention was completed by 160 businesses. Adding a safety committee was associated with a 10% point increase in business-level machine scores (P < 0.0001) and a 33% point increase in LOTO program scores (P < 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS: Insurance safety consultants proved effective at disseminating a machine safety and LOTO intervention via management-employee safety committees.This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0, where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0.

Language: en