by Brianna Crandall — December 27, 2010—In a letter sent December 17 to U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Assistant Secretary David Michaels, American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) President Darryl C. Hill, Ph.D., CSP, applauded him for beginning the task of promulgating an injury and illness prevention program (I2P2) standard, a standard ASSE has reportedly supported pursuing for a long while.
Hill included 10 principles from ASSE members to assist with the I2P2 rulemaking and urged OSHA to consider them as a basis for its standard. According to Hill, “An I2P2 standard must encourage a movement in this nation toward risk-based management of workplace hazards.”
Hill also addresses employee and employer involvement, continual improvement and periodic review, professional qualifications, flexibility for small employers, existing state I2P2 standards, harmonization with voluntary standards, OSHA personnel training, and utilizing the experience of Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) participants.
Hill noted an appropriate I2P2 standard that causes employers to make systematic risk-based assessments of occupational safety and health hazards workers face in workplaces and establish a meaningful plan to address those risks reflects the way the best employers already manage risks.
Employers should and can approach safety and health management in the same way the best companies do, Hill noted. If they do, ASSE believes a significant and positive shift in the way safety and health is managed and enforced, as the principles ASSE outlines indicate, can be achieved.
ASSE asks that the final I2P2 standard improve safety and health management in every workplace. The suggested principles that ASSE says an I2P2 standard must contain if it is to succeed are available in Hill’s letter, linked from the ASSE Web site.
