Author: Jeffrey Dalto

MSHA Part 46 Training Certification Process

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surface mine image

Let’s start by clearing up a source of confusion: there is no MSHA Part 46 certification process. We know people search the Internet for this a lot because tools on Google says it’s true, and we know that a lot of people call our offices asking question about MSHA Part 46 certification. So begin by putting that question aside.

However, there really is something called MSHA Part 46. Employees working at surface mines have to be provided and must complete mining safety training that aligns with Part 46 requirements. And mine owners must provide training mining safety training to their employees as well as complete other compliance requirements, including documentation of their Part 46 training. So, that’s what we’re going to tell you about in this article.

To set the scene, MSHA is the Mine Safety and Health Administration. It’s the mining equivalent of OSHA. And MSHA’s 30 CFR Part 46 are MSHA’s regulations for safety training provided to miners and other employees at surface mines.

We describe what a surface mine  and surface mining are here and what MSHA Part 46 is here.

And with those starters covered, let’s learn more about MSHA Part 46.

We’ve got a free Guide to MSHA Training Requirements that you can download at the bottom of this article, too. 

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Visuals for Better Paper Manufacturing Training

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paper manufacturing machine image
Pulp and paper manufacturing is a competitive business (that’s true of tissue and corrugated board as well). You’ve got to be an expert in many things–operations excellence, health and safety, environmental regulations, training, and more.

That’s true no matter where in the world you’re doing business.

In addition, American pulp and paper manufacturers have one arguable competitive disadvantage: they have to pay their workers more than workers in many other nations are paid. As a result, it’s important to provide the best possible training to this pulp and paper manufacturing workforce so they will have advanced skills that allow them to create a product, including value-added products, with more efficiency.

That’s where we come in. We’re experts in pulp and paper training and we’ve been doing it for more than 15 years.

With our training, you can onboard new hires more rapidly, efficiently, and effectively than you can otherwise. And that’s going to matter as the experienced Baby Boomers at your company are retiring and they’re being replaced by intelligent, capable, even college-educated millennials who have a lot to offer but don’t have a lot of relevant job experience.

Our training will help you cross-train workers so they know how to perform multiple different jobs. This will ease succession planning but will also spark motivation, creativity, and innovation from your workers.

It will, as a customer of ours who’s a training lead at a major American paper products manufacturing company has said to me, “turn your machine operators into machine engineers.”

In this article, we’re going to demonstrate a few visual design techniques that make our paper manufacturing training materials so compelling, engaging, and effective. This is actually the second of a two-article series looking at how to design visuals for effective paper manufacturing training. You may also want to check our earlier article, Better Paper Manufacturing Training Through Visual Learning.

Feel free to watch the short sample video, which shows some highlights of our online job training courses, before you begin. You’ll see we make online training materials for pulp, paper, tissue, and corrugated board manufacturing, but also for things like environment, health, and safety; HR and soft skills; general manufacturing; and more.

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ASSE Safety 2017 Day Three Summary (Thursday, June 22)

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This is our third and final daily summary of the ASSE’s Safety 2017 conference.

You can also read our summary of ASSE Safety 2017 Day One and ASSE Safety 2017 Day Two.

Here’s a quick overview of some of the presentations I was lucky enough to catch on Thursday. Feel free to use the comments section at the bottom to talk about sessions you attended.

ASSE Training & Communications Practice Specialty Leadership Meeting

I’m not a member of the leadership for this practice specialty, but current head Michael Coleman was nice enough to shoot me an email and invite me to sit in.

A lot of things were discussed, including news on potential ASSE name and logo changes (stay tuned for more on that), and some things going on to make communications and knowledge share within ASSE and this practice specialty easier and more efficient.

I also learned that Michael Coleman’s preparing to step down as leader of this practice specialty and that Morgan Bliss of Central Washington University is preparing to step into the leadership role. I met Morgan and she seemed great, so I wish her luck in her new role.

Insights from Leadership Development Training for Frontline Supervisors

Lori Guasta presented data from training she helped design, develop, and deliver to frontline supervisors in mines. The purpose was to help these supervisors develop leadership skills so they could lead employees more effectively.

In doing so, Lori presented a lot of interesting information about how people see the world, communicate, and otherwise interact.

Her training breaks workplace relationships down into three parts:

  1. Person–the kind of person you (as a leader) are and/or want to be
  2. People–interacting with and leading others
  3. Environment–how your organization, including its culture, affects the two items above

And, if I wrote this all down quickly enough, here’s the outline of her 2-day course:

  1. Embracing differences
  2. Values, motivation, attitudes, and personality
  3. Generational differences
  4. Adult learning styles
  5. Communication
  6. Team building
  7. Motivation, feedback, and recognition
  8. Mentoring/coaching
  9. Accountability and vision
  10. Strategies to promote positive safety culture

Closing General Session–Why We Make Mistakes

Joseph Hallinan explained some features of human psychology that are often very helpful but sometimes cause us to make mistakes, including safety mistakes at work.

His primary message is that there’s an element of “mistake-making” that’s baked into humans, and as a result we should design systems that are safe even with those mistakes occurring.

He explained three traits that cause humans to sometimes make mistakes:

  1. Inattentional blindness–“If you don’t see something often, you often don’t see it”
  2. Selective memory–Memory is not an “exact science,” but is instead constantly being reshaped, pruned, and reinterpreted, sometimes to create a narrative that’s not objectively true
  3. Blind spots–Things we’re prone to overlook

Given this, he suggested the following:

  • Know your limitations
  • Realize humans are fallible and build that expectation into design
  • Impose constraints, including things like checklists

What about You?

What sessions did you see? Let us know in the comments section below. And we hope to see you today!

And help yourself to the free guide below, which is based in large part on ASSE/ANSI Z490.1.

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Effective EHS Training: A Step-by-Step Guide

Learn how to design, create, deliver, and evaluate effective EHS training by following these best practices with our free step-by-step guide.

Download Free Guide

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What Is Surface Mining?

Jeffrey Dalto 6 Comments

surface mine image
Ever wonder to yourself: what is surface mining?

If so, maybe that’s because you’re a surface miner, will be a surface miner soon, or will soon work at a surface mine as a contractor. And if so, this is the article for you. We’re going to explain what surface mining is and give you some information about the MSHA Part 46 training requirements for surface mines to boot.

If you read through this and are still wondering about the surface mining definition, leave a note in the comments below.

And let us know if you’d like some additional information about online safety training for surface mining too (MSHA Part 46 training). If you ARE interested, feel free to start  by downloading our Free Guide to MSHA Training Requirements from the bottom of this article.

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ASSE Safety 2017 Day Two Summary (Wednesday, June 21)

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This is our second daily summary of the ASSE’s Safety 2017 conference. You can also read our summary of ASSE Safety 2017 Day One.

(Note: The conference is now over, so we’ve now published three daily overviews: ASSE Safety 2017 Day 1, ASSE Safety 2017 Day 2, and ASSE Safety 2017 Day 3).

Here’s a quick overview of some of the presentations I was lucky enough to catch on Wednesday.

Keynote Presentation by Mel Robbins

Confession-I missed this. I stayed in the hotel and wrote the Day One summary. But I DID hear from a handful of people who attended, and they seemed to enjoy it. A key point seemed to be something about facing up to challenges in life, counting to 5, then moving ahead to succeed. Never a bad reminder–keep trying. I’ve been there, to be sure.

Flash Presentation on Safety and Business Excellence by Kathy Seabrook

I have caught a number of presentations framing safety within the context of business excellence and find the idea intriguing. Well done, Kathy.

Critical Hazards Field Guide by Kirk Mahan

Georgia-Pacific has made a strong effort to reduce critical injuries and fatalities and have addressed five critical hazards that they have found lead to most at their facilities. Kirk showed a field guide G-P created to explain those hazards. G-P uses these field guides to spark discussions with workers.

The hazards? Uncontrolled energy, falls from heights, struck by mobile equipment, fires and explosions, and exposures to chemical and/or thermal releases.

Strategic Training Design with a Bar Napkin, a Magic Wand, and Speed Dating

A really good presentation by Sharon Kemerer and Kery Mortenson of Baxter Healthcare of how they created a training program to reduce safety incidents. Got into a lot of good instructional design tips and methods.

The program involved a focus on business goals, a desired end state, impact mapping, and a rapid gap analysis.

The completed training included modules on commitment to safety; high-impact safety conversations; hazard identification; and root-cause analyses.

A good one. Worth searching this PPT out.

Establishing an Electrical Safety Training Program

Paul Zoubek quickly walked us through a handy seven-step program in 15 short minutes. Well done, Paul.

Risk Mitigation and Wearables

I got to this short, 15-minute session a few minutes late and really regretted it, because what I DID hear sounded interesting and had lots of useful information and data. Hats off to speaker Rachel Michael. I’m going to search out her PowerPoint.

Plenary Session on Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) and Human and Organizational Performance (HOP)

This was well-designed and the four-person panel (with one moderator) were really very helpful. This was so interesting I’m going to write a shorter, separate blog post about it shortly, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, did you see this one? What were your thoughts?

Team-Based Safety Training Activities

Instructor Linda Tapp taught us a handful of team-based safety training activities that we could apply in different settings in our own trainings. And, hats off to her, she did so by having us participate in the activities as teams–learning by doing, you know!

A fun and useful session.

Using Real-Life Events and Social Media to Create High-Impact Safety Training

Joseph Sanna and JoAnn Goshorn shared some tips for telling real-life stories and mining social media to create safety training that catches people’s hearts and makes them pay attention.

JoAnn Goshorn shared her family’s own story–her father was injured while cutting down a tree–as a way to demonstrate how accidents affect a large number of people. I admired and appreciated Goshorn for sharing her story.

What about You?

What sessions did you see? Let us know in the comments section below. And we hope to see you today!

And help yourself to the free guide below, which is based in large part on ASSE/ANSI Z490.1.

OEE-guide-btn

Effective EHS Training: A Step-by-Step Guide

Learn how to design, create, deliver, and evaluate effective EHS training by following these best practices with our free step-by-step guide.

Download Free Guide

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MSHA New Miner Training Requirements

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Surface Mining Image for MSHA Part 46 New Miner Training Blog Post

The MSHA Part 46 regulations, also known as 30 CFR Part 46, mandate safety training for new miners, tasks that are new to a miner, site-specific hazards at a mine, and annual refresher safety training for all miners at surface mines in the United States.

In this article, we’re going to look at the MSHA New Miner training requirements, which is also known in MSHA-speak as the Part 46 New Miner Training Plan.

We’ll put all the information you need right on the surface so you won’t have to go digging for it! Ha! Get that?

If you want to skip the reading and information and jump ahead, you can buy, view, and complete Online MSHA Part 46 New Miner and Annual Refresher Training here.

OK, here we go with our introduction to the part 46 training regulations from our good friends at MSHA.

Don’t forget to download the Free Guide to MSHA Training Requirements at the bottom of this article! 

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ASSE Safety 2017 Day One Summary (Tuesday, June 20)

Jeffrey Dalto 1 Comment

We recently attended the ASSE’s Safety 2017 conference in lovely Denver, CO. If you were there, maybe you swung by our booth or ran into Senior L&D Specialist Jeff Dalto at one of the presentations.

A well-deserved hats off to the ASSE, all the presenters, and all the staff involved in putting on a a great conference, including the folks who work for the Denver Convention Center. It’s obviously a lot of work, it went off without a hitch, plus they dialed up some beautiful weather for us as well!

The biggest problem I had while down at ASSE was choosing between the different presentations I wanted to see. There were so many good ones, I missed some I really wanted to see (notably, one by Pamela Walaski on scaling a safety and health management system for small and medium-sized companies, but I’m happy to say she wrote a great article in the most recent issues of Professional Safety magazine on the same topic).

Before I list the presentations I saw, I want to congratulation Samantha Horseman of Saudi Aramco. She won the Safety Management Innovation Award and then gave her prize to the ASSE Foundation. Admirable stuff all the way around–good on her, and an inspiration to all of us. Kudos and huzzah!

OK, here’s what I’ve seen since I’ve been there.

(Note: The conference is now over, so we’ve now published three daily overviews: ASSE Safety 2017 Day 1, ASSE Safety 2017 Day 2, and ASSE Safety 2017 Day 3).

Keynote Presentation by Philosopher Tom Morris

Author of many books, including “The Oasis Within,” Morris was a lively, engaging, funny speaker who listed his “7 Cs for Success”: Conception, Confidence, Concentration, Consistency, Emotional Commitment, Character, and Capacity to Enjoy. A bonus for mentioning ancient philosopher Zeno and recent NFL running back Jerome Bettis in the same speech.

Jonathan Klane’s “Flash Session” on Non-Fiction Storytelling in Safety

Klane is with Arizona State University (“Forks Up!”) and gave a good, quick reminder of the value of telling stories while talking about safety and/or delivering safety training. And even though it wasn’t the stated intention of his presentation, he also demonstrated well the value of determining what “problem” you’re trying to fix before developing safety training.

I am working with Klane and others to create ANSI/ASSE Z490.2, the standard on virtual safety training, so it was neat to be able to meet him face-to-face.

Roundtable on the ISO 45001 Standard

Moderated by the ASSE’s one-and-only Tim Fisher, this roundtable with Victory Troy, Todd Hohn, and Kathy Seabrook was well-attended and included a few quick summaries of key clauses within the upcoming standard on safety and health management and a good Q&A session.

The speakers mentioned this was the third year in a row they’ve given a status update on ISO 45001 at an ASSE conference, and that this will be the last. Why? Because they expect the standard to be done and final within 12 months. So watch for that, it’s a big event.

Go here for more information on ISO 45001.

What Safety Professionals Need to Know about Environmental Regulations

Salvatore Caccavalle did an admirable job of introducing attendees to the basic framework of environmental regulations in the US, noting that many safety professionals have to be aware of and comply with these regulations (often without a true environmental expert on staff).

Did you know we have a new library of online Environmental training courses? Read this blog post to find out more about our new online environmental training library and environmental regulations in general.

A baseball fan, Caccavalle exposed his love for his hometown Boston Red Sox and even dated one environmental reg as “the same year as the Miracle Mets.” It’s always good to see folks have a life outside work.

Humor in Safety/Safety Training

Speaker Tim Page-Bottorff did a nice job of reminding attendees that safety and safety training can be fun, and in fact should be. He demonstrated a few ways to make safety training more engaging, more active/participatory, and more memorable.

Job well done. Remember, folks, it doesn’t have to be wooden or put folks to sleep. And, in fact, it shouldn’t.

Safety Differently

Probably my favorite session of the day, and that’s saying a lot for the final presentation of the day. Ron Gantt did a nice job of asking attendees to consider turning our conceptions of safety “upside down.”

Gannt asked us to consider safely differently than we have in the past, with a focus on:

  • The definition of safety
  • The role of “the people” in safety (meaning workers)
  • The focus on the organization

Gantt’s unusual definition of safety is “the capacity to be successful in varying conditions.” He believes that people are often considered the problem in safety but instead should be considered the solution. And he thinks safety professionals and the organization should do everything they can to support the people, while believing that the organization has an ethical role to support the safety of the people.

I’ve read Gannt’s stuff for a few years now and see him on LinkedIn from time to time, so this was a real treat for me to see him live.

For more about Gannt’s ideas, check out the Safety Differently website.

What about You?

What sessions did you see? Let us know in the comments section below. And we hope to see you today!

And help yourself to the free guide below, which is based in large part on ASSE/ANSI Z490.1.

Finally, remember you can check out more daily overviews: ASSE Safety 2017 Day 2 and ASSE Safety 2017 Day 3.

OEE-guide-btn

Effective EHS Training: A Step-by-Step Guide

Learn how to design, create, deliver, and evaluate effective EHS training by following these best practices with our free step-by-step guide.

Download Free Guide

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OSHA Makes Available New, Helpful PSM Guidelines

Jeffrey Dalto Leave a comment

OSHA Compliance Requirements OSHA has released three new guidance documents to help small business comply with the Process Safety Management (PSM) regulation.

In brief, there are resources for PSM for small businesses, PSM for storage facilities, and PSM for explosives and pyrotechnics manufacturing.

A little help from OSHA is always a good thing and is to be commended. Thanks, OSHA!

We’ve got links to the three OSHA guidances plus some links to resources we’ve created over time to help with PSM compliance as well. There’s even a free PSM Compliance Checklist for you below.

Read on below for more information and resources.

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How to Operate a Forklift: Pre-Operation, Traveling, Load Handling, and Maintenance

Jeffrey Dalto 1 Comment
Safe Forklift Operation Image

In this article, we set out to explain how to operate a forklift. If you’ve been wanting to learn how to drive a forklift, then this is a great starting point for you.

You’ll learn valuable and helpful information in this article, but please know that you won’t know how to drive a forklift safely just as a result of reading this article. That takes more extensive forklift operator training, including demonstrations from a skilled instructor, practice forklift operation by you, and a forklift operator skill demonstration evaluated by your instructor.

But, as we said, if you’re looking for a great and helpful 101-level introduction of how to operate a forklift, then you’re in the right place.

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OSHA To Delay Enforcement of Silica Standard for Construction Industry

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OSHA recently announced that they’re delaying the enforcement of 1926.1153, the Crystalline Silica Standard for the Construction Industry.

According to OSHA, they’re pushing back enforcement of 1926.1153 until September 23, 2017. They intend to use that time to conduct “additional outreach and provide educational materials and guidance for employers.”

If you want to keep up with further changes, the best thing to do is sign up for this email notification system from OSHA. I signed up for a similar one on the Online Reporting Requirements recently and can confirm it worked well.

Read on below for more information and resources.

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The New Convergence Incident Management Software (IMS): Coming Soon

Jeffrey Dalto Leave a comment

Need help keeping track of workplace incidents, such as injuries, illnesses, property damage, and more?

How about reporting and acting upon near-misses and safety observations?

If so, you’ll be happy to know that our new Incident Management Software (IMS) is coming soon.

 

Here are a few of the things you’ll be able to do with our new IMS:

  • Create, edit, manage, and track the status of incident reports
  • Attach associated incident documents and images, including digital photos and videos
  • Select involved personnel directly from the system
  • Document OSHA-recordable and MSHA-recordable injuries and illnesses, and submit those directly to OSHA and MSHA
  • Identify root causes
  • Prescribe, record, and track corrective actions

So, stay tuned for more!

Until then, you may be interested in reading our HOW TO CONDUCT AN INCIDENT INVESTIGATION blog article. And don’t forget to download our free Job Hazard Analysis Guide, below.

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Job Hazard Analysis Guide

Learn how to perform a job hazard analysis on the job with our free step-by-step guide.

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OSHA Forklift Certification and Training Requirements

Jeffrey Dalto 2 Comments
Forklift Lifting and Tilting Mast Image

According to an OSHA Powered Industrial Trucks (Forklifts) eTool:

Only trained and competent operators shall be permitted to operate a powered industrial truck.

But what are the OSHA forklift training requirements? When is a person eligible for an OSHA forklift certification?

We explain everything you need to know about OSHA forklift training in this article. So if you want to know the OSHA forklift certification requirements, strap on your seat belt and spend the next couple of minutes with us.

PLUS, if you scroll to the bottom of this article, you’ll see a big black download button that you can use to download four forklift inspection and refueling/recharging checklists. All for free. What a bargain! 

To be clear before you begin, OSHA DOES NOT give out forklift certifications. However, OSHA’s Powered Industrial Trucks standard (29 CFR 1910.178) DOES explain the minimum requirements employers must meet in setting up the training requirements that their employees who operate forklfits and other PITs must meet.

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