2013 OFFSHCOfficers

Chairperson:Stephanie Schroeder

(FAA)

Vice-Chairperson:

Barbara Kiespert(USPS)

Secretary:Adam Cline (OKANG)

OFFHSC Blogwww.offshc.wordpress.com

OFFSHC Newsletter

Volume 1, Issue 6

September 27, 2012

Oklahoma Field Federal Safety and Health Council

OFFSHC 2012SCHEDULE

October 4:Fall Protection Norman, OKNational Weather Service

November 1: Oklahoma City, OKFederal Bureau of Prisons

During the next OFFSHC the National Weather Service (NWS) will be presenting; “Fall Protection for Managers”.

Mr. “B” Ballard, NWS Electronic Maintenance Chief will provide an overview of the minimum obligations.

Next OFFSHC Meeting: October 4, 2012

The National Weather Servivce utilizes fall protection during the maintenance of the Weather Radar sites and many other applications. A tour of the NWS Operations Center

in Norman will follow the meeting.The October meeting will be hosted by the NWS in Norman. The meeting address is:

1200 Westheimer Dr. Norman, OK 73072

For more information: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun

OFFSHC Officers Elected for 2013

During the meeting on September 6, 2012 the OFFSHC elected the following personnel to serve as the 2013 OFFSHC Officers:

Chairperson: Stephanie Schroeder, FAAVice-Chairperson: Barbara Kiespert, USPSSecretary: Adam Cline, OKANG

Thanks again for your vote! The officers are already working towards putting together a great 2013 year for the OFFSHC. Changes for next year include reducing the frequency of the meetings. OFFSHC meetings will be held only on the odd months of the year on the third Thursday of each month. Also each month our presenter will be asked to provide an overview of a best practice related to the discussion topic.

Your VPP activities do not have to cost a lot of money to be effective.

- Barbara Kiespert, USPS

The FREE Lockout/Tagout Course OSHA 7115 offered in the August Newsletter was conducted at the OSU-OKC Public Safety Center. Joe Jackson, CSP instructed 28 safety professionals from the private and government sectors but a few seats were unclaimed. Don’t miss out on free training! The central theme of “Standards are gray; your local procedures should make them black & white” can be applied to any of your safety programs.

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During September the USPS discussed the challenges of implementing an OSHA Voluntary Protection Program on a shoestring (government) budget.

Barbara Kiespert presented some inexpensive ideas for "best

USPS OKC Distribution Center discusses VPP with OFFSHC

practices" and employee involvement activities. The USPS has used the following practices to support VPP:

Creating “Safety Assignments” to encourage employee involvement

Repurposing postage scrolling signs into Safety Signs

Creating a Safety Challenge each month.

Updating Safety Boards with posters about safety made by employees.

Developing CPR/First Aid Team posters with photos of trained

Webinars are widely available for the full spectrum of Safety, Health and Environmental topics. Multiple sites now have webinars available on demand.

Webinars: a quick and easy refresher

Check out these 3 free webinar sites:http://ohsonline.com/webcasts/list/webinars.aspx http://ehstoday.com/webinarshttp://www.aiha.org/news-pubs/synergist/Pages/Webinars.aspx

OFFSHC Newsletter