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Original Date: 04/07/1997
Revision Date: 04/14/2003
Information : Continuous Improvement in Safety Performance
Due to a unique way of analyzing the incident rate of accidents at Rock Island Arsenal’s (RIA’s) operations, the safety department recognized that the injuries, although declining significantly, were not decreasing at a rate that paralleled the reduction of hours of exposure. The total incident rate had flat lined, the first-aid incident rate was decreasing, but the OSHA recordable incident rate was increasing slightly. By profiling a three-year window, the department identified a decrease of hours of exposure of 32%, while the incident rate had only decreased by 26%.
In early Spring 1997, the Safety department implemented the Continuous Improvement in Safety Performance (CISP) program. CISP is a structured and disciplined approach for setting performance goals, identifying major problem areas, setting action plans to achieve the goals set, and accounting for the results of the program to ensure continuous improvements. CISP refocuses on accountability, accident prevention, safety awareness, employee involvement, and goals and objectives. The CISP program has created focused charting to not only identify incidents, but to break these incidents into analysis by job classification, anatomical location, injury type, and specific events.
By further breaking out these results, identification of a specific job’s rate of strain/sprain, laceration, or contusion can assist in the review of practices associated with specific tasks. An action plan will be used to educate and improve processes to accomplish annual goals of the program.
Early results from these processes have identified changes in ergonomic needs such as full hand triggers for sprayers instead of the two fingered triggered sprayers previously used; lighter weight supply hoses on hand tools; and pull down levers on equipment to replace push out or up levers. Expectations of the CISP program include continuous improvement in safety performance; compensation cost avoidance; the ability to be benchmarked against world-class industries; and enhancements to employee moral, overall efficiencies, improved productivity, and the ability to maintain RIA’s safe worker reputation.
For more information see the
Point of Contact for this survey.
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