Unmack Corporation

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

AND SAFETY SERVICES

James Unmack assists clients to improve productivity, achieve regulatory compliance, and control losses by providing the following client services:

• Inspection of worksites to evaluate compliance with OSHA regulations (and Cal/OSHA)
• Audit worker health and safety programs including management systems and worksite OSHA compliance status
• Develop company safety manual containing policies and procedures to attain compliance with OSHA (and Cal/OSHA) regulations
• Conduct employee training on OSHA (and Cal/OSHA) required programs, including injury and illness prevention (IIPP), hazard communication, lockout/tagout, confined space entry, emergency actions, fire prevention, hazardous waste operations and emergency response
• Provide on-call services for technical support; such as conduct exposure assessments for hazardous substances; evaluate noise exposures; perform risk assessments; communicate risk to employees, contractors, and/or community; prepare bid specifications for work involving hazardous materials; assist evaluation and scoring of proposals
• Provide litigation support and expert witness testimony for matters involving industrial hygiene and occupational safety (for example, exposure assessments and modeling, machine guarding, OSHA and Cal/OSHA compliance assessment.)

Worker exposure assessments are used to answer questions about the work environment. The technology and methods for an assessment are adapted to the specific work environment and the information needed to answer the question of OSHA compliance, employee complaint, the cause of an employee injury or illness, or the effectiveness of emission controls. The exposure assessments begin with a basic characterization to describe the work force, the workplace, and the chemical and physical agents in the work environment. A qualitative evaluation is developed from the basic characterization, enabling a prioritization of efforts for the most efficient use of resources and minimization of cost to the client.

Most industrial employers are aware of the benefits of assessing and controlling worker exposures. Not only does this satisfy OSHA requirements for monitoring and limiting exposure, but also produces many desirable benefits that directly and indirectly enhance profitability. Commercial, construction, hazardous waste, and environmental remediation employers reap similar benefits from exposure assessment and control.

Jim Unmack has designed and implemented many employee exposure assessment programs to meet the specific needs of the client. Effective programs must provide insight on the sources, amounts, durations, and exposures to the varying types of occupational exposures such as:

Once the nature, extent, and duration of employee exposures are known, then guidance can be provided for the intelligent design and effective implementation of controls. Selecting the optimum personal protective equipment requires the integration of all the information about the exposures, the workers and the work.

The vast majority of health and safety problems occur during performance of routine operations. Common processes such as spray painting, parts degreasing, and batch mixing have the potential for a variety of chemical, noise, vibration, or safety exposure hazards. Often, this potential goes unrecognized due to the familiarity and routineness of these processes.

Years of experience in evaluating everyday work situations, ranging from automobile repair and bodywork to industrial chemical manufacturing provide a solid basis for the development of control strategies for mitigation of personnel exposures and/or environmental releases. Such measures can be as simple as improved work procedures and employee training or as complex as full-scale designed engineering controls (e.g., ventilation systems, barriers, glove boxes, and others). The degree of complexity of such measures can be tailored to the needs of the client to effectively meet regulatory and worker safety responsibilities. Experience with a broad range of control technologies for chemical emissions allows Mr. Unmack to work with industrial and process engineers to find the control best suited for the client. Some of the many technologies that have been applied in the past include the following controls:

Concerns about the indoor air affecting the health of the occupants have become a big issue. These health concerns often result in medical expenses, reductions in employee productivity, and turnover. When the quality of the indoor air becomes an issue, action must be taken to confirm the indoor space is environmentally healthy or take action to correct identified problems.

To evaluate indoor air quality (IAQ), an assessment must address the many recognized indoor pollutants (bioaerosols, carbon dioxide, formaldehyde, and housekeeping products) and pollutants from outdoor sources such as carbon monoxide, diesel fumes, aero-allergens, new construction materials, and building maintenance products. Other pieces in the workplace environment puzzle are noise, lighting, and those factors associated with climates such as heating and air conditioning, humidity, and air movement.

Solving indoor air quality problems is often detective work that is best conducted in stages in order to control costs. The detective work begins with a walk-through inspection and observation of the facility to identify problems. Once a problem is identified, the resolution of the problem may include the following:

• Conducting interviews or circulating questionnaires to solicit information from building occupants
• Evaluating the building's heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system for air circulation effectiveness and climate control
• Identifying and measuring indoor and outdoor air contaminant concentrations and determining their sources and potential hazard to building occupants
• Developing control strategies for significant pollutants.

The satisfactory resolution of IAQ problems always involves finding the most acceptable of the various available alternatives that may include monitoring, installation of control equipment, or even simple modifications to an existing system or office layout.

An injury and illness prevention program is the heart of a health and safety program, the essence of Section 5 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (P.L. 91-596). In California, it is even the law. All employers are required to provide employment and a place of employment free from recognized hazards. An injury and illness prevention program enables employers to meet that obligation in a systematic way. The program must include the following elements:

A responsible person

A written program

Periodic inspections of the workplace

Methods and procedures for correcting unsafe and unhealthy conditions

Training for employees

A system for ensuring employees comply with safe healthy work practices

A procedure to investigate occupational injuries and illnesses

A system for communicating with employees, including provision for receiving anonymous communication from employees.

With years of experience developing and implementing injury and illness prevention plans, Jim Unmack can evaluate your IIPP and provide guidance to improve weaknesses in the plan or provide you with a whole new plan tailored to your organization.

Lack of optimization at the man-machine interface not only is often a source of repetitive motion injuries and cumulative trauma disorders, but diminishes productivity and adversely impacts profits. Cal/OSHA has issued an ergonomic standard requiring all employers to recognize ergonomic injuries and take action to prevent their recurrence. Jim Unmack can recognize and identify ergonomic problems and can recommend solutions that will improve productivity and reduce the likelihood of injury. Most ergonomic improvements require little capital and return big dividends in worker morale.

The most important element of any health and safety program is a periodic evaluation to ensure the program is delivering the intended results. When the program falls short of the intended results, further development may be necessary. Jim Unmack has the education, training, and experience to thoroughly evaluate and assess health and safety programs. He will review written programs, interview employees, inspect facilities, and provide detailed reports to compare the accomplishments of the program with the intended goals. This most valuable tool allows employers to focus on the weak elements of their health and safety program and achieve the largest improvement for the resources expended.

If no written program exists, results will be inconsistent and losses hard to control. The development and implementation of a health and safety program pay rewards with improvements in productivity and reduced losses. Jim Unmack has experience developing and implementing very successful health and safety programs for employers in government, aerospace, biotechnology and retail commercial sectors of the economy.

The weak areas of worker safety and health programs must be identified before they can be improved. Compliance auditing reviews programs, facilities, and equipment for compliance with OSHA regulations and identifies those areas needing improvement. The compliance audit produces a report prioritizing corrective actions on the basis of liabilities and exposure. While the most obvious benefit of an OSHA compliance audit is the preparation for a visit from the regulatory agency, the greatest benefit is reduced worker compensation costs, and improved productivity and morale. As a former compliance officer, Jim Unmack highlights OSHA's target issues while providing a broad overview of compliance issues most relevant to the business activities. Most employers report recovery of the cost of the audit in very few months through reduction in insurance costs and improvements in productivity.

The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (P.L. 99-499) required OSHA to adopt regulations to protect the health and safety of workers at hazardous waste sites. The regulation adopted by OSHA, Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 1910.120 Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response, requires a site-specific health and safety plan to be prepared for each project and work location. Jim Unmack has experience preparing site-specific health and safety plans that address each of the elements required by OSHA:

Hazard communication programs provide workers with the information to handle chemical hazards in their work environment safely. Based on worker right-to-know, the OSHA hazard communication program requires the following elements:

Properly conducted accident investigations are the key to preventing recurrence. Getting at the root cause of an accident requires a professional knowledgeable in the work that was being done when the accident occurred. Forensic samples are often necessary to determine the course of events that lead up to the accident. Because the results of the accident investigation are often used to apportion blame and may lead to civil litigation and/or criminal prosecution, accuracy and credibility are paramount. Jim Unmack is a credentialed professional to provide you assurance of an accident investigation that will withstand the scrutiny of the court room.

Regulatory agencies have come to realize that worker behavior is as important as facilities and equipment for the preservation of worker health and the prevention of injuries. OSHA is placing more emphasis on training to achieve work practice and administrative control of workplace hazards. All OSHA standards adopted since 1986 require worker training. The intent of these regulations is for employers to provide custom tailored training programs to fit the needs of each particular work setting. Intelligently designed, developed, and implemented training programs have an immediate pay back in reduced losses and improved productivity. Many of my training programs use the client's facilities and equipment to ensure the acceptability and appropriateness of the training.

Mr. Unmack is an instructor for extended education programs at UCLA and California State University Dominguez Hills. He has been teaching laser, microwave and radiofrequency radiation safety since 1968, topics in industrial hygiene since 1976, and the 40-hour hazardous waste safety (HAZWOPER) course since 1984. He brings practical experience to such OSHA-required training as bloodborne pathogens, confined spaces, and lockout/tagout.

The measurement and control of laser, microwave and radiofrequency radiation hazards require a working knowledge of electromagnetic fields and waves. Jim Unmack has a background in electrical engineering and wrote the first manual on laser safety for the Air Force. With his experience and background he can quickly and accurately assess laser, microwave and radiofrequency radiation hazards in the workplace and offer proven solutions to radiation hazard problems. While radiofrequency and microwave problems rarely occur with VDT work stations, radiofrequency machines used to cut and weld plastic, cure resins, and dry grain and pasta are capable of generating harmful fields. Skillful measurement of the electromagnetic fields is necessary to delineate the fields and provide the basis for sound solutions.