The FPA's third annual safety conference opened May 3 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago with US Occupational Safety and Health Administration area director Gary J. Anderson. Speaking on OSHA's priorities for 2004, Anderson highlighted the agency's main focus of reducing fatality rates and injury/illness rates. OSHA plans to accomplish this goal by direct intervention; compliance assistance, cooperative programs and strong leadership; and strengthened agency capabilities and infrastructure. OSHA will also target non-traditional issues this year, which include workplace motor-vehicle accidents, workplace violence, and emergency preparedness and response.

An added employer benefit Anderson mentioned was the ability to take advantage of OSHA's funded consultation program. It's a good resource for smaller businesses, who can have an OSHA representative come to their facility and check it over free of charge. If the representative finds anything wrong during the consultation, the employer has a given period to fix what's wrong. More info: www.osha.gov

From the center for Ergonomics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Phyllis M. King, Ph.D., spoke on ergonomics guidelines for the printing industry based on a 2002 OSHA training grant. Back in November 2000, ergo-nomic regulations were released to become effective on January 16, 2001. On March 9, 2001, these ergonomic regulations were rescinded by Congress with the following contentious points: risk factors, job protection and medical management, grandfathering existing programs, and costs.

In response, the Printing Industries of America (PIA) and Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF) signed an alliance with OSHA in June 2002 to develop and disseminate best practices as well as training materials. This alliance would also encourage participation in voluntary programs, promote a national dialogue on ergonomics, and meet quarterly to discuss progress. To date, a guidebook containing a leader's manual, fact sheets for supervisors and employees, pocket cards, videotape, and a PowerPoint presentation have been created by the PIA, GATF and OSHA alliance.

Mike DeRosier, corporate product safety manager of Paper Converting Machine Co. (PCMC), gave a presentation on nip safety and an employee's risks around nip points without adequate guarding and safe operating procedures. Key aspects in the presentation were nip-point safety and the proper location for machinery guards to protect operators from key nip areas. DeRosier said, "Guards should be integral parts of the machine, well constructed and foolproof, fail-safe, tamper-proof, should not be hazardous, and not be interfaced."

Chris Marshall of Cornerstone Environmental Health & Safety, a company that assists clients with EPA and OSHA compliance, spoke on the "root cause of accidents" type of investigation. The Root Cause Accident Investigation Procedure is a procedure that should be used in all facilities to investigate accidents and will, in turn, decrease future accidents. Marshall says, you should always have more than one person doing the investigation so it doesn't seem biased. "You want them to feel that you're on their side even if you know they screwed up," states Marshall.

ACT Enterprises' Lisa Kunz gave a presentation on Behavior Based Safety (BBS), which incorporates physical, procedural and human elements. According to Kunz, behavior is involved in nearly all injuries. For example, 90 percent of NASA's injuries are due to human error. To prevent these errors from continuously occurring, you must address risk behaviors within your company and apply the BBS program, she says.

Howie Eberts from US OSHA ended the safety conference by speaking on the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP), a process for achieving safety and health excellence. OSHA offers this program as a partnership with companies that comply with the standards of the program. The four basic elements are management commitment and employee involvement, worksite analysis, hazard prevention and control, and training. For more information on this program, visit the OSHA Web site found above.

Security consultant Charles Miller opened the first annual FPA human resources conference May 4 with planning for workplace security. Miller said, since the terrorist events in the United States, it's important to have a sound worksite security plan for your company. "Without a well-thought-out plan in place, terrorism has the potential to negatively impact the operability of your business and welfare of your employees," stated Miller.

Gil Abramson of Hogan & Hartson, LLP, a labor and employment attorney, presented an update on labor and employment issues. The new Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA) basics, which go into effect on August 23, 2004, consist of the federal minimum wage being $5.15/hour, overtime pay to be 11/2 times "regular rate" for all hours over 40 in a workweek, and exemptions including outdated salary requirements, "short" and "long" tests, and confusing, litigation-intensive duties tests.

The human resources conference ended May 5 with speaker Hunter Lott of Encore Information Network with his panel-discussion format entitled "Please Sue Me." Lott told of different companies being sued for various HR-related reasons but explained the root of the problem was employer policies; therefore they deserved to be sued. He also gave the group common scenarios of which to be aware; many participants were able to relate from personal experience. HR procedures and changes were discussed as well as the Top 10 challenges in human resources for 2004 (see page 21).nd