Anytime a safety incident occurs in a plant – including ‘near misses’ – laundry operators have a moral duty, as well as a legal obligation, to investigate what happened and why. Then they must take steps to prevent the incident from recurring.

That’s the essence of a forthcoming article in Textile Services magazine on how companies can uncover the root causes of safety mishaps in a laundry operation and take steps to mitigate them. The author is Brian Varner, a consultant who earned a SafeTRSA award in March for advising a Midwest laundry group on a strategy for improving their safety record. The article, titled “Protect Employees by Determining the Root Causes of Safety Issues,” states that the focus of any inquiry by company officials into a safety incident or near miss must center on determining how and, most importantly, why the incident occurred.

Varner’s article leads off with an examination of a hypothetical slip-and-fall injury in a plant that had water on the floor in the cart-wash area. In cases like this, plant managers should begin their review with a focus on determining the root causes for the incident, which in this case centered on a clogged drain. “A proper investigation will always focus on the ‘whys,’” Varner writes. “Why did the employee slip and fall? Why was water in the area and a squeegee not in use? Why isn’t the water draining? Why is the drain clogged? Why wasn’t this discovered sooner? Why didn’t a facility-safety inspection catch this?”

He adds that the more plant managers demand answers to such “why” questions and follow up with changes to address them, the more progress they’ll make in improving safety standards. “The more incidents that are reported, the more problems can be investigated and resolved,” he writes. “The more problems solved, the safer and more cost-effective the operation will be.”

Varner also offers a definition of “root causes.” He cites the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) interpretation as follows: “The root cause of an incident or accident in the workplace is the triggering event or condition that results in a workplace injury, illness or near miss.” He adds that, “OSHA recommends that all employers conduct a root-cause analysis whenever a workplace incident or near miss occurs. When conducting their investigation, employers should seek to identify all the factors that contributed to an event. Such investigations should look beyond the easily identifiable, or surface causes, and identify systematic errors or flaws that enabled the event to occur.”

Ideally, a safety manager will lead the investigation into a safety incident or near miss, he writes. But to prepare for cases in which the safety manager is unavailable, company managers must train others to do the job and complete the report. To ensure a thorough and proper investigation that can withstand OSHA scrutiny, Varner recommends that company managers:

  • Investigate all incidents immediately. “The longer time passes following an accident, the more challenging it is to determine the “root cause.”
  • Inspect the location of the accident – in person. “Managers must inspect the area to identify the root cause.”
  • Keep asking why! “Why did the employee slip? Why was water in the area?” etc.

Once the evidence is gathered, managers should prepare a report that details:

  • Losses: none were recorded in the slip-and-fall accident.
  • Incidents: identify the specific events associated with event, e.g., “The employee slipped and fell in water in the cart-wash area.”

Plant managers must next determine both immediate and long-term actions necessary to prevent future incidents of this kind. The former could include placing signs in the area to alert staff to possible wet conditions and immediately mop up any excess water that appears. That latter could feature a “permanent” solution in the form of a drain-clearing effort, followed by regular inspections by maintenance staff to prevent a recurrence of the clogging problem.

Taking these actions could lead not only to fewer incidents and potential OSHA citations, but they also could lower workers’ compensation insurance premiums, as a company’s safety record improves.

Watch for additional details in the full version of Varner’s article slated for the November/December issue of Textile Services. To subscribe to the award-winning Textile Services magazine, click here.

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