BOS 3001 Fundamentals of Occupational Safety and Health

Unit I Journal

Weight: 2% of course grade

Instructions

Reflect on the eight elements of Total Safety Management. Which element do you think contributes most to the prevention of workplace accidents? Explain your choice.

Your journal entry must be at least 200 words. No references or citations are necessary.

Unit I Essay

Weight: 8% of course grade

Instructions

Throughout history, there have been workplace tragedies that helped to shape the field of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) as we know it today. For this assignment, you will choose one significant workplace tragedy. To complete the assignment, you will need to address the following items:

Summarize the tragedy you selected and how this event helped to improve workplace safety and health today.

Compare and contrast the safety and health regulatory environment existing at the time of the tragedy with that of today.

Identify existing OSH regulatory and/or consensus standards that have likely helped to prevent a similar tragic event.

Your paper should be at least one page in length, not including title and reference pages. A minimum of two sources must be used, one which may include the textbook. Your paper must be in APA style format.

Unit II Scholarly Activity

Weight: 10% of course grade

Instructions

This assignment is in three parts. All three parts must be completed.

PART 1

Your boss has asked you to review the accident information for the CSU Widget Factory. The information he sent you is provided here.

Using the provided CSU Widget Factory OSHA 300A log, calculate the total recordable incidence rate (TRIR), the days away, restricted, or transferred (DART) rate, the lost workday injury and illness rate (LWDII), and the severity rate (SR). Be sure to show your calculations in a Word document.

PART 2

Using the CSU Widget Factory OSHA 300A log (from Part I), distinguish some of the leading indicators that you would use if examining the CSU Widget Factory Safety Management System. Prepare a summary of your findings, including any suggestions for improvement.

PART 3 

Your boss wants more information on one of the accidents listed on the CSU Widget Factory OSHA 300 log. He has sent you the OSHA Form 301, Injury and Illness Incident Report, for the accident involving William Smith (available here). Mr. Smith’s supervisor filled out the form, but it only includes basic information. To prepare to conduct a more thorough investigation, do the following:

Develop a list of five questions to ask Mr. Smith’s supervisor about the circumstances surrounding the incident. Explain the importance of each question you create.

Select two theories of accident causation, and explain how you would use them to help in the accident investigation.

Your submission must be a minimum of two pages, not including title and reference pages, and follow APA guidelines. All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations.  

Unit II Journal

Weight: 2% of course grade

Instructions

Reflect on your current work environment. Provide an example of a work-related accident that occurred (do not include names of people or employers) and your thoughts on whether or not the accident was preventable.

Your journal entry must be at least 200 words. No references or citations are necessary.

Unit III Journal

Weight: 2% of course grade

Instructions

Reflect on the requirements for the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) in your current workplace or a workplace with which you are familiar. What are some of the challenges in getting workers to wear the right PPE at the right time? What innovative methods to encourage compliance have you seen? What would you suggest be done to encourage compliance?

Your journal entry must be at least 200 words. No references or citations are necessary.

Unit III Scholarly Activity

Weight: 10% of course grade

Instructions

Hazard Analysis

Your boss has asked you to investigate these operations and tasks that he feels have a significant potential for injury in the manufacturing plant:

Operating electric forklifts in narrow aisles.

Repairing the hydraulic system on the gas-powered forklift.

Operating the large sheet metal shear.

For each of the three tasks, do the following:

Identify a minimum of two (or three) hazards of the operation and the injuries that could result from exposure to them.

Determine the control measures that would eliminate the identified hazards or reduce the risk (severity and/or probability) of injury. Be sure to consider all levels in the hierarchy of controls.

Analyze the effectiveness of each control measure by assessing the risks before and after the control is implemented.

Provide your recommendations for which control measures should be implemented and why you chose them.

Your submission must be a minimum of two pages, not including title and reference pages, and follow APA guidelines. All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations.

Unit IV Journal

Weight: 2% of course grade

Instructions

Reflect on how, as a safety professional, you would respond to the overlap in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards and state or local building, electrical, and life safety codes. In your opinion, what might be the most significant challenges?

Your journal entry must be at least 200 words. No references or citations are necessary.

Unit IV Article Critique

Weight: 10% of course grade

Instructions

For this assignment, choose a journal article from the CSU Online Library that relates to one of the following topics:

electrical safety,

fire prevention,

fire protection, or

life safety code.

The article chosen for the review must be from a professional (scholarly) journal and published within the past five years. The Academic One File, Academic Search Complete, and Business Source Complete databases are good sources of journals for safety-related articles. If you are not sure if an article you have chosen meets the assignment requirements, be sure to contact your professor for additional guidance.

Prepare a review and critique of the chosen journal article that includes the following elements:

a brief introduction to the article,

a summary and analysis of the key points in the article,

how the article relates to the concepts presented in the course textbook,

whether or not the article provides support for the relevant Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards surrounding the topic, and

how the article could be used by the safety professional to improve accident prevention efforts.

The assignment submission must be a minimum of two pages in length, not including title and reference pages. APA formatting is required. All sources used, including the course textbook, must be referenced. Paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying in-text citations. For assistance in the search for professional journal articles, this resource from the CSU Online Library may be helpful. 

Unit V Journal

Weight: 2% of course grade

Instructions

Reflect on any experiences you have had working in an environment where hearing protection was required. Did you wear the personal protective equipment (PPE) willingly? Could the type of PPE provided have been improved? If you have never worked in a noisy environment or have never been required to wear PPE, what do you think would be some of the barriers to PPE compliance? How could the barriers be removed?

Your journal entry must be at least 200 words. No references or citations are necessary.

Unit V Scholarly Activity

Weight: 10% of course grade

Instructions

Recognize, Evaluate, and Control Health Hazards

Your boss at the CSU Widget Factory is pleased with how you handled his previous hazard analysis requests. He is now turning his attention to health hazards and has asked you to develop plans to address these two areas of concern:

confined space entry and

noise.

For each area of concern, discuss the following as it applies to the methodologies of health hazards:

how you would identify the presence of specific health hazards,

how you would evaluate the level of risk for each hazard identified, and

the control measures you would recommend to eliminate identified hazards or reduce the risk of exposure to the hazards.

The assignment submission must be a minimum of two pages in length, not including title and reference pages. APA formatting is required. All sources used, including the course textbook, must be referenced. Paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying in-text citations.

Unit VI Journal

Weight: 2% of course grade

Instructions

In 2001, Congress overturned the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)’s extensive ergonomics rules that required virtually all employers to create programs to protect employees against repetitive stress disorders. Reflect on whether you think this was the right or wrong thing to do. Explain your reasoning.

Your journal entry must be at least 200 words. No references or citations are necessary.

Unit VI Assessment

Weight: 8% of course grade

You may open this assessment multiple times, but you may only submit it once. You are encouraged to print the assessment and prepare your answers offline. Alternatively, you may enter and save your answers for a portion of the assessment and continue the assessment at a later time. Once all questions have been answered, click the "Save and Submit" button. The "Save and Submit" button is located at the bottom of the exam.

Unit VII Journal

Weight: 2% of course grade

Instructions

Think about how your current organization, or one with which you are familiar, manages its Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) program. Reflect on how the organization uses a structured injury and illness prevention program framework, or are programs managed reactively, based on the most recent accident or Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspection? What recommendations would you make to improve the existing process? If one does not currently exist, what recommendations would you make to put a program in place?

Your journal entry must be at least 200 words. No references or citations are necessary.

Unit VII Case Study

Weight: 12% of course grade

Instructions

Injury/Illness Prevention Case Study

As the new Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) manager for the CSU Widget Factory, you recently completed a study of the injuries entered on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 300 form over the past 12 months. Your findings revealed the following:

Eight employees were treated for various levels of heat strain during the summer months. Six were working indoors in the warehouse, and two were working outdoors doing grounds maintenance. All were first aid injuries.

There were six forklift accidents that resulted in injuries:

Three dropped loads struck nearby workers. All received first aid.

One forklift flipped over going around a corner, ejecting the operator. The operator lost 10 days of work and was on restricted duty for 30 days.

Two employees working in the warehouse aisles were struck by forklifts. Both were medical treatment injuries.

Five electrical shocks were reported in the machine shop. All occurred during routine equipment maintenance. All were medical treatment injuries, but none resulted in days away from work.

There were nine eye injuries in the machine shop. Five were foreign particles in the eye and four were machine oil splashes. All were reported as first aid injuries.

Six employees in the plating shop were treated for inhalation of solvent vapors. Two resulted in lost workdays, and the others were medical treatment injuries.

From the analysis, select three OSH program areas that should receive immediate attention. For each program area selected, do the following:

Discuss why the specific OSH program area was selected.

Explain how you would identify and assess the hazards related to this program area.

Discuss some possible hazard control measures that could be used to reduce risk.

Identify training requirements for the program area.

Propose methods for ensuring employees comply with safety procedures.

Your submission must be in APA format, and a minimum of three pages in length, not including title and reference pages. At least two reference sources must be used to support your discussion. One of the references can be the course textbook. Additional references should be articles from professional journals, recognized safety organizations, or other OSH textbooks. Contact your professor if you have questions about specific references.

Unit VIII Journal

Weight: 2% of course grade

Instructions

Most people have experienced a time at work when they were made to feel uncomfortable in some way. Looking back at an experience like this that you have had and taking what you have learned from this course, how might you have approached or reacted to the situation differently? Do you feel you are now more equipped to mitigate or respond to a similar situation if it were to present itself again? Why, or why not?

Your journal entry must be at least 200 words. No references or citations are necessary.

Unit VIII Assessment

Weight: 8% of course grade

You may open this assessment multiple times, but you may only submit it once. You are encouraged to print the assessment and prepare your answers offline. Alternatively, you may enter and save your answers for a portion of the assessment and continue the assessment at a later time. Once all questions have been answered, click the "Save and Submit" button. The "Save and Submit" button is located at the bottom of the exam.