This article originally appeared in Standing Strong at Solvay: May 2018.
Workers and management at Solvay’s University Park, Ill., plant are more aware of potential health and safety problems since they received USW training on hazard mapping last October during the facility’s annual safety day.
USW staffer Ashlee Fitch from the Health, Safety & Environment Department and Jeff Hill, North American representative on the Solvay Global Forum, taught the hazard mapping classes over a two-day period. Solvay broke the workforce into groups so that everyone, including management, could attend one of the sessions.
Hill said that he and Fitch divided the class into groups of three to four people and gave them poster board paper and markers. Each group selected a work area they were familiar with, drew the area on paper and identified with different colored markers where the hazards were located.
“This class got people talking, saying things like, ‘Hey, I didn’t realize what was in this tank.’ It created a lot of awareness. We had management people tell us they didn’t realize they had certain hazards," Hill said.
“There are so many hazards in our workplaces. If we can make ourselves aware of them, we can make the places safer."
He cited one example of this awareness: One employee said he had not realized that there were many potential hazards when he walked between his work area and the lunch area or break room.
“The plant manager told us our hazard mapping class was the best received and had the best feedback,” Hill said. “The company thought Ashlee did well, and it asked her if she would consider returning to the site to do more training at some point.”
Local 7-2011 President Michael Spicknall said the hazard mapping class was well received by the members.
He said that usually management would have everyone sit in a room and offer ideas for root causes at one time, with one person struggling to write it all down.
“They think what they have is as good as the USW’s ‘Looking for Trouble’ training. It’s good, but I don’t think they always dive as deep as ‘Looking for Trouble’ does,” he said.