Semester

Summer

Date of Graduation

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Industrial and Managements Systems Engineering

Committee Chair

Gary Winn

Abstract

This research aimed at an improved method for evaluating the West Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Local Emphasis Program (WV OSHA LEP) for Logging in West Virginia. The LEP currently uses for assessment: loggers' training, inspections at logging sites, number of fatalities and 75% of loggers' participation to determine the program's effectiveness annually. The research here proposes the use of a larger data capture to evaluate the impact of the LEP on loggers' safety.;A heuristic method using the Iceberg model of safety was applied to assess loggers' safety based on the desired safety outcome measures outlined in the OSHA directive 2012-11(CPL 04). In this context, loggers' safety is understood and better assessed when fatalities and other safety related incidents or costs such as injuries, near misses, unsafe acts and conditions, days lost or transferred from job, healthcare costs and workers' compensation claims are tracked and monitored. This new predictive model identifies that minor and non-fatal incidents play a role in predicting major incidents and fatalities thus allowing the use of more appropriate safety indicators to determine the success of the program.;A quantitative research method was used to accumulate and sort data relating to loggers' training, operations, inspections, fatalities, violations and loss data in West Virginia. Based on ten years of records kept by WV OSHA, West Virginia Division of Forestry (WV DOF) and West Virginia Insurance Commission (WV IC), a bi-variate regression analysis was used to determine the best fit model that predicted an association between the program's inputs (independent variables X: Training and Inspections) and any combination of expected or desired safety outcomes (dependent variables Y: fatality rates, violations and medical costs) with the aid of Microsoft Excel, Minitab and SAS computer programs.;The resulting statistics and fit charts revealed that, the model of association between the rates of planned inspections and rates of medical costs of logging injuries has the best fit with correlation 'r' = -0.88, R 2(adj) =78.9% and P value =0.044 indicating significance. Other good fit models of association with the rate of inspections were rates of violations, cost of violations and rates of unplanned inspections (due to complaints and accidents). Therefore, the research suggests that the rates of medical costs of logging injuries, serious and repeat violations, cost of violations and unplanned inspections be considered as better measures of severity and unsafe acts/conditions to track the success of the LEP during its evaluation.;Based on research findings, it was concluded that though the current evaluation method helps WV OSHA to meet the guidelines of the Federal OSHA strategic goal for LEPs, it does little to measure the impact of the program on the safety of workers in the West Virginia logging industry.

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