Kahlilah Guyah, CEO, founder and principal consultant at EHS Compliance Services Inc. in Austin, Texas, shares best practices in identifying, analyzing and mitigating potential hazards.

What makes an electrical contractor’s risk assessment program successful?

To create a successful program, safety professionals should establish a common definition of risk assessment across the organization. One of the most well-known guidances is “ANSI/ASSE Z590.3—Prevention through Design: Guidelines for Addressing Occupational Hazards and Risks in Design and Redesign Processes.”

There may be individual processes associated with evaluating hazards related to specific tasks and equipment, and these individual processes must be considered in the overarching risk assessment process. There are often silos within the risk assessment processes that do not readily connect, often leading to risks being overlooked when the actual work is being performed.

Once risk assessments have been completed, it’s imperative for workers to be able to access the results and even more important to understand what the results mean from a practical standpoint in their day-to-day tasks. The risk assessment process must be reviewed and updated on an annual basis or when a change to a task, equipment or process is made.

What are the most common operational risks your firm sees that could potentially result in fatalities and injuries? 

Many organizations don’t comply with the personal protective equipment (PPE) assessment requirements found in OSHA’s 29 CFR 1910.132(d). Best practice dictates that organizations use the hierarchy of controls to reduce exposure to hazards, which requires using PPE as the last and least effective means of protecting workers. What we often find is that higher levels of controls for protecting workers from hazards are never considered and PPE is often the only level of protection available.

Hazards at work sites include slips, trips and falls, which have been the top OSHA citation for over a decade and are a leading cause of fatalities on work sites. Understandably, musculoskeletal injuries account for the largest number of injuries. Moreover, many ECs work on construction sites with risks that include struck-by hazards, electrocution and caught in-between hazards.

These operational risks can be reduced through a comprehensive and integrated risk assessment—one that focuses not only on the electrical contractors’ work, but also work by other trades that may be hazardous to the electrical contractor’s employees.

What are some hurdles ECs might face when mitigating risks and how can they best overcome them?

One of the largest hurdles in conducting comprehensive and integrated risk assessments is the time that they require. However, many tasks performed by electrical contractors are repetitive, and once a risk assessment has been conducted, it can be used as a baseline for future work.

Another hurdle is ensuring workers are adequately trained to perform their duties in relation to the risk assessment process. We’ve helped clients both develop their risk assessment processes as well as provide training.

The final hurdle is often the cost associated with instituting higher levels of risk treatment for workers’ protection. Coming up with innovative and cost-effective solutions is one of the ways we’ve helped our clients reduce risk across their operations.

When conducting a training needs analysis, what are some common gaps?

Electrical contractors often have the hazards associated with the electrical work well controlled. We often find gaps in “secondary areas” that require additional training for workers, such as fall protection, chemical exposure, PPE, training and recordkeeping.

Do you have any advice for safety professionals?

It’s not simply about delivering information, but it’s also about confirming that information is received and can be applied by the training participant in the work they do.

Electrical contractors also need to understand the training audience. What are their needs? Are there differing native languages or abilities that will require alternative media or presentation style? Is the training accessible and meeting universal design standards?

Anything else you would like ECs to consider when it comes to safety?

Safety is at its best when it is approached like any other business imperative: incorporated into how work is performed each and every day. It’s not something additional—it’s seamlessly integrated into each work process.