Health and Safety Training Manual

Administrative Policies and Procedures	General Safety Rules	Occupational Health
Agricultural Safety Rules	Appendices	Complete Manual

Section 1 - Administrative Policies and Procedures:

Agriculture Safety Program Compliance & Responsibilities

Administrative Management Support

The senior administration of Oregon State University fully supports the concept of agriculture safety and accident prevention for faculty, staff, students and visitors and encourages all feasible means of achieving a safe and healthful working and learning environment.

Compliance with Safety Regulations

It is the policy of the University to maintain, within reason, facilities and practices that are in compliance with local, state, and federal health and safety regulations. In the absence of appropriate statutes or regulations, standards of nationally recognized professional health and safety organizations will serve as a guide.

Supervisor’s Responsibility

Although the President has the ultimate responsibility for the safety of staff, faculty, and students, a great deal of safety responsibility has been delegated to supervisors. A supervisor may be a dean, department head, director, manager, administrator or any other faculty or staff person who is in charge of one or more employees.

Supervisors are directly responsible and accountable for the welfare of employees and students assigned to them and for the administration of health and safety regulations and university safety procedures within their areas of control. One of the criteria for evaluation of administrative personnel shall be their administration of safety procedures and accident prevention efforts.

It is the responsibility of every supervisor to provide and document the initial and continuing safety training necessary to allow employees to perform their work safely. This must be a joint effort between the supervisor and employee and must include frequent work observations by the supervisor and prompt correction of observed unsafe work habits.

New employees experience a high number of injuries, primarily because they may be unfamiliar with proper safe work procedures. To reduce this vulnerability, supervisors must ensure that new employees receive the appropriate initial safety training. The Office of Environmental Health and Safety can provide additional safety information.

The safety responsibilities for supervisors in the work areas and for the employees they control should include the following duties. The acceptance of these duties, and the safety attitude of supervisors will determine the success of the Ag safety program.

Supervisor’s Duties:

• Make every reasonable effort to ensure the safety of employees and students under your control and make their workplace free of recognized hazards. For those hazards that are not within your ability to correct, notify your supervisor about the condition(s).
• Evaluate the physical capability of potential new employees to perform the tasks required. This is not discrimination. It is an expected responsibility to make a reasonable determination of a potential employee's skills and physical ability to perform the tasks required by the position.
• Provide job training in work area safety procedures for all your employees, especially for new and reassigned employees with new job activities.
• Conduct regular work area safety inspections with assistance from of Environmental Health and Safety, if needed, to discover and correct unsafe conditions and work practices.
• Investigate injury accidents, not to find fault, but to determine cause and to pursue the correction of any safety deficiencies.
• Report all injuries on a Report of Accident form and send it to Human Resources. If an injury to an employee requires physician's treatment or will result in lost work, a SAIF 801 claim form should also be completed and sent with the Report of Accident form.
• Promote safe practices and attitudes among employees and students. If protective equipment must be used, promote its use by example.
• Consider safe work habits and attitude toward the job as a part of all performance ratings.
• Respond to employees' concerns for safety in a positive manner and take appropriate corrective action.

The Employee’s and Student’s Responsibilities

Employees of the university must have a common goal of keeping accidents to a minimum. Most accidental injuries in the work environment are caused by unsafe work habits. Therefore, all employees should continually strive to develop habits and procedures that will reduce exposure to potential injury. Employees are urged to make safe performance an essential element of every task. As part of their safety responsibilities, employees are expected to do the following:

• Conduct their work safely and try to maintain their work areas hazard-free.
• Wear personal protective equipment as prescribed by their supervisors; such equipment will be provided by the university.
• Report hazards or unsafe work practices to supervisors or to Environmental Health and Safety.
• Maintain reasonable physical body conditioning for the tasks of the work environment.
• Cooperate fully with supervisors in conducting investigations of accidents so that unsafe conditions or work procedures may be corrected.
• Participate in physical restoration or vocational programs following lost-time injuries to achieve an early return to work.
• Follow all safety rules and report all injuries to their supervisor.

Safelty Training Manual

College of Agricultural Sciences
Oregon State University