Post on 26-May-2018
EPRI Occupational Health and Safety Research Program
Michael J. Miller
Director, Environment
Electric Power Research Institute
EEI Occupational Safety and Health Conference
Orlando, Florida
September 27, 2010
2© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
• Founded in 1973
• Collaborative R&D focused on electricity
industry issues
• Serving over 450 participants in over 42
countries
• U.S. members represent over 90% of
U.S. electricity generated
• Independent, non-profit center for public
interest energy and environmental
research
Electric Power Research Institute
3© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Investor-Owned
64%
International
16%
Municipal
6%
Cooperative
4%
Independent Power
Producer
4%
Federal/State
6%
December 31, 2008
EPRI Membership Funding
4© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Air Quality
Global Climate Change
Land and Groundwater
Occupational Health and
Safety
T&D Environmental Issues
Water and Ecosystems
Renewables
Sustainability
Environment
Transmission Lines and
Substations
Grid Operations and Planning
Distribution
Energy Utilization
Cross Cutting Technologies
Power Delivery & Utilization
Advanced Nuclear
Technology
Chemistry, Low-Level Waste
and Radiation Management
Equipment Reliability
Fuel Reliability
Instrumentation and Control
Material Degradation/Aging
Nondestructive Evaluation
and Material Characterization
Risk and Safety
Management
Used Fuel and High-Level
Waste Management
Nuclear Power
Advanced Coal Plants,
Carbon Capture and Storage
Combustion Turbines
Environmental Controls
Generation Planning
Major Component Reliability
Operations and Maintenance
Generation
Research Portfolio Spans the Entire Electricity Sector
5© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
EPRI OH&S Program
Mission
Provide tools that enable our members to maintain a healthy workforce and safe work environment
Scope
Occupational Injury Surveillance
Ergonomics Research
Occupational Exposure and Health
Employees are the most important assets of any company
6© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Research Planning and Participation
• Business Area Council – Semiannual Meetings
– Safety professionals from participating companies
– Research planning and application of results
• Scientific Advisory Committee – Annual Meetings
– Academia
– Industry Experts
– EEI
• EPRI staff consolidate feedback and develop/implement the research program
7© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Occupational Health and Safety Database
8© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
EPRI Occupational Health and Safety Database
Objectives
• Monitor injury trends
– Standardize data
– Quantify lost time & cost
– Identify predictors
– Strong analytical capability
– Long-term & industry-wide perspective
Current Status
• Data from 17 utilities
– ~1,500,000 person-years
– ~52,000 recordable and lost-time injuries
– 1995-2008
Analytical File
Injury Personnel
Injury
ReportsClaims
Personnel
Files
9© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Database Use & Confidentiality Management
Components
– Continual Recruitment
– Annual Update of Database
– Annual Report
– Tailored Collaboration Projects
– Focused Special Analyses
Confidentiality
– Appropriate use of data
– Access to other researchers
– Reporting of events
– Identifiers removed
– Summary data set (not individually reported)
10© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Years during which participating companies contributed data, 1995–2008
11© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Distribution of Injuries by Occupation, 1995-2008
12© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Injury Rate Trends Over Time by Occupation
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
25.00
30.00
Inju
ry R
ate
per 1
00 E
mpl
oyee
-Yea
rs
Year
Line Workers Mechanics Meter Readers Welders
13© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Patterns of Injuries by Gender, 1995-2008
14© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Medical Claims Costs, 1995-2008
15© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Overall Injury Rates by Work Location
16© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Special Activities and Projects
• Reliability measures and injury data
• Leading indicators (predictive of injury)
• Neck injuries among electric utility workers
• Evaluation of ergonomics intervention
• Injury rate during storm duty
• Injury rate by day of week
• Vehicle-related injury analysis
17© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Potential for Collaboration
EEI and EPRI Injury Databases
• Complementary, not competing
– Serve different purposes
• Different design
– Both have strengths and limitations
– EEI broader coverage
– EPRI more analytical capability
• Goal: Mutually beneficial collaboration
19© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
EPRI Ergonomics Program
Overview
• Ergonomics is the science of evaluating and designing work environments and products around the strengths and limitations of the human user
• EPRI Study Design:
– Laboratory testing (tools)
– Work simulation and testing
• Marquette University
• We Energies
– Site visits to other companies
22© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
EPRI Report
#1005199
November 2001
EPRI Report
#1005430
March 2004
EPRI Report
#1005574
March 2005
Ergonomics Handbooks – Distribution
23© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Substations Ergonomics
• Five site visits, 2008-2010
• Ergonomic recommendations
– Maintenance
– Operations
– Engineering, Design
• New chapter in updated 2010 Distribution Handbook
24© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Racking Breakers: Current Work Practice
25© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Racking Breakers: Modified Racking Tool
26© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Ergonomics Handbooks – Generation
EPRI Report
#1015631
November 2008
EPRI Report
#1014942
March 2008
EPRI Report
#1014042
January 2009
28© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Ergonomics for Wind Farms
Background
• Wind farm projects and number of employees growing
Objectives
• Identify risk factors associated with construction and O & M
• Target key factors
• Minimize risk of injury
29© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Ergonomic Design of Fleet Vehicles
Background
• $10-$100M annual cost per company
– Purchase & upfit
• Motor vehicles are major contributors to occupational injuries
• Problems
– Users not involved at purchase/retrofit
– Insufficient process for selection and purchase
– Lack of ergonomics guidelines for fleet vehicle designs
Poor ergonomics can be costly
30© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Ergonomic Design of Fleet Vehicles
Objectives
• Ergonomic design specification
• Systematic process to select, purchase and maintain fleet vehicles
• Two handbooks
– Ergonomic design of vehicles
– Process guideline
Timeline
• Handbooks in 2011 and 2012
Poor ergonomics can be costly
31© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Fleet Vehicle Ergonomics
• Define users’ needs
– Anthropometry
– Mobile computer study
– Ingress and egress
• Define needs of utility
– Minimize overall cost
– Standardize
– Affect process development
• Establish guidelines for design and process
– Decision models
– Critical dimensions (cab, storage, maintenance, information tech)
32© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Issues Affecting Posture
Room for Stomach Room for Knees
Room for Feet
Storage
Laptop PCs and MDTs
33© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Mobile Computer Laboratory Study
• To reduce injuries,
– Which laptop mounts to purchase?
– Where to position laptop wrt driver?
• Laboratory set-up at Marquette U
– Full-Size Chevy 1500 Silverado cab in lab
– 4 to 5 complete laptop PC mounts from Gamber-Johnson
• Gamber-Johnson has over 50% market share
• Methods
– Evaluate mounts on task by task basis using biomechanical measurements
34© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Vegetation Management Ergonomics
35© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Occupational Exposure and Health
36© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Welding Fume Studies
Background
• 2006 OSHA Hex Chrome Exposure Standard
– Engineering exposure controls by 2010
– Requires exposure determination
• Measurements or use of “objective data”
Project Objective
• Assemble usable and useful “objective data”
• Appropriate documentation
• Categories by all relevant characteristics
– E.g., welding or cutting, chrome content of base metal and welding consumable, worker orientation, job description, ventilation, arc time, voltage
• Final Report Dec 2009 (PID 1019015)
37© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
GMAW (7%) Arc Gouge (10%)
SMAW (63%) GTAW (16%) FCAW (2%)
Types of Welding and Distribution of Personal Air Breathing Samples
LEV
H
M
L
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
H
M
L
% A
bo
ve P
EL
(5
ug
/m3 )
SMAW Combined Indoor and Outdoor, Consumable v. Ventilation v. % Above PEL
39© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Welding Fumes Study—2010 and 2011 Plans
2010 and Beyond
• Local exhaust ventilation (LEV) assessment
– Ineffective if not used properly
– Perceived obstacles for use of LEV
• Potentially interferes with shield environment
• Poor quality welds
– Future work will address these issues, resulting in:
• Technical report
• Training video of proper LEV use
• Multiple metal exposure database
– Will accrue data on exposures and modifying factors for other metals (e.g., manganese, beryllium)
– Expansion of hex chrome work
40© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Utility-wide Exposure Database
Project Objectives
• Leverages industrial hygiene sampling data of individual companies
• Prepares industry for potential future regulations
• Identifies data gaps in exposure monitoring
• Aids in hazard identification/exposure characterization
• Extends from pre-existing work e.g. Chromium (VI)
– Welding fumes multi-metals
– Include other physical, chemical, biological agents
Timeline
• Start in 2010
41© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Future EPRI Research: Heat
Background
• Increase in unsafe acts
• New Cal OSHA proposed standards
Project Objectives
• Develop exposure estimation for typical utility work
• Link exposures to outcomes
– Existing databases injury/illness/productivity/quality
– Field study
Product
• Report
• Incorporate in to Exposure Database
42© 2010 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Future EPRI Research: Noise
Background
• Hearing loss is preventable
• Accounts for 3% of total injuries
• Potential for hearing loss among individuals not participating in hearing conservation program
– Between 85-90 dB
Project Objectives
• Assess time vs. level
• Identify early indicators of noise-induced hearing loss
• Develop intervention strategies