@article{ref1,
title="A new model for outreach to small industrial firms: safety audit results from the National Machine Guarding Program",
journal="Occupational and environmental medicine",
year="2014",
author="Yamin, Samuel and Parker, Dianne and Brosseau, Lisa and Xi, Min and Gordon, Bob",
volume="71",
number="Suppl 1",
pages="A57-A57",
abstract="OBJECTIVES: Small industrial firms frequently lack occupational safety and health (OSH) expertise. In addition, development of effective, widely applicable OSH interventions for small businesses has proven to be a persistent challenge. The National Machine Guarding Program is an intervention currently underway to address these issues among small (3-150 employees) metal fabrication businesses. <br><br>METHOD: A partnership was formed with workers' compensation insurers to recruit businesses for an intervention designed to prevent machine-related injuries and improve safety programs such as lockout/tagout. Participants receive a baseline evaluation, two intervention visits, and a follow-up evaluation. Pooled results from baseline safety assessments will be presented. <br><br>RESULTS: 221 businesses from 29 U.S. states were enrolled. At baseline, the mean score for machine safety audit was 73.7%, however, only 67.5% of items concerning point of operation safeguards were present on average. For shop-wide safety programs and policies, mean audit score was 43.4%. Safety program/policy scores were significantly lower among smaller businesses, whereas machine safeguarding equipment scores were similar across all size strata. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: The National Machine Guarding Program represents a new intervention model for widespread outreach to small industrial firms. Baseline safety audit results show a need for improvement in shop-wide safety programs and in critical areas of machine safeguarding. Preliminary results indicate that this is an effective model for recruiting small metal fabrication businesses into a nationwide intervention. Effectiveness of intervention programs in improving these aspects of injury prevention will be evaluated to determine whether broader application is warranted.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1351-0711",
doi="10.1136/oemed-2014-102362.177",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2014-102362.177"
}