Project Type: Health & Safety

Multi-Year Strategic and Tactical Support of Corporate Employee Safety Initiatives

Health & Safety Project

Multi-Year Strategic and Tactical Support of Corporate Employee Safety Initiatives

Various Global Locations

Solution Overview

Client:

Large (confidential) aerospace and defense firm

Business Challenge:

Treatment of an escalating trend in employee injury frequencies and the related workers compensation (WC) claim costs.

Solution:

Our client’s CEO authorized the launch of an aggressive injury prevention initiative in 2013. Apex mobilized a team of health and safety professionals to both support and co-lead the effective execution of this initiative over the ensuing four-year period.

Results:

Over the four-year performance period, we helped our client achieve:

  • 18% reduction in WC claim frequency 
  • 20% reduction in WC total incurred costs
  • 9% reduction in the total cost of their Global WC Program

Challenge

Our client’s CEO was presented with an analysis of the company-wide WC claims experience which showed a significant escalation in the frequency of employee injuries and resultant WC claim costs. This analysis provided by corporate risk management included forecast models which predicted a continued escalation if large-scale exposure mitigation efforts were not put in place.

The CEO directed the design, launch, and aggressive execution of a multi-year company-wide injury prevention initiative.

This broad-ranging initiative—which created a demand for safety and accident prevention resources well beyond in-house capabilities—prompted our client to contract Apex Companies for our resource support and subject matter expertise.

Solution

We deployed more than 30 qualified and experienced employee health and safety consultants on either a full‑ or part-time outsourced basis. The goal was to have our team operate as a seamless transparent extension of the client’s safety & health organization.

Several dozen additional Apex staff were also engaged over the next several years to assist with execution of shorter term, defined-scope health and safety projects focused on the client’s primary WC claim frequency and cost drivers. For example, one aspect of this initiative involved machine safeguarding. Apex deployed a global team of professionals to complete safety assessments of over 10,000 pieces of equipment across the United States, Canada, and Australia over an eight-month period. Our objectives were to identify safeguarding gaps and rank order hazards and injury exposures. To maximize the efficiency, consistency, and quality of the assessment process, we used tablet technology to collect shop floor observations as well as a Microsoft Access database to manage the large volume of data collected. This international project came in significantly under budget, due largely to our solid governance and project management model.

Examples of other topics also addressed by the dedicated Apex team over our performance period included fall protection, confined space entry, lockout‑tagout, crane safety, chemical process management, and vehicle-pedestrian safety.

Results

The 18% reduction in WC claim frequency and 20% reduction in WC claim total incurred costs achieved over the project performance period were further maintained several years after the project concluded. It is also notable that Apex executed this project and generated these results while our client was going through several long periods where headcounts were either frozen or actively being reduced.

In addition to a long-term partnership with our client’s EHS organization, Apex also has a long history of working closely with the client’s risk management organization to analyze, prioritize, and deliver health & safety services focused on WC claim frequency and cost containment.

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Annual Contract for Asbestos and Industrial Hygiene Services

Health & Safety Project

Annual Contract for Asbestos and Industrial Hygiene Services

Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA)

Solution Overview

Client:

Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA)

Business Challenge:

A large rapid-transit system company that manages hundreds of miles of track, railcars, and depots all while seeking to safeguard the health and safety of workers and riders.

Solution:

MARTA has partnered with Apex to create and support a custom asbestos program and other comprehensive safety programs and training to accommodate work operations and promote workplace safety for over 20 years.

Results:

MARTA attained the goal of 25% Disadvantaged Business Enterprises participation throughout the last two contract periods.

Challenge

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), the eighth-largest rapid-transit system in the United States, contracted Apex Companies to perform asbestos surveys within over 5 million square feet of building and facility space.

Solution

MARTA has relied on Apex on an annual basis to provide asbestos consulting services for over two decades. Apex has been awarded this contract during an initial contract and four successive contract renewals. As part of our overall Occupational Health and Safety services to MARTA, we have conducted asbestos surveys within virtually every MARTA facility to include over 5 million square feet of building and facility space. In addition to asbestos surveys, Apex provides the following asbestos consulting services to MARTA on an annual basis:

  • Asbestos awareness training for hundreds of MARTA employees.
  • Technical specifications for the abatement of asbestos-containing materials within multiple MARTA facilities.
  • Comprehensive air sampling and reporting relating to asbestos abatement projects and worker and ambient regulatory standards.
  • Monitoring contractors’ activities during abatement activities to ensure compliance with local, state, and federal regulations.
  • Final visual inspections and final air clearance to document the completion of asbestos abatement/maintenance work.
  • Lead-based paint surveys at various rail stations.
  • Industrial hygiene sampling at various rail maintenance facilities.
  • Safety audits at various maintenance and other facilities.

Results

The client has successfully managed its health and safety risks, proactively addressed challenges associated with its facilities, and also achieved its goal of 25% (or better) Disadvantaged Business Enterprises participation during the last two, 5-year contract periods.

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Global Building Materials Manufacturer

Health & Safety Project

Global Building Materials Manufacturer

Confidential Client

Solution Overview

Client:

Confidential building materials manufacturer who provides cement, aggregates, asphalt and concrete products and construction services for infrastructure projects worldwide.

Business Challenge:

  • Evaluate worker exposure to noise, silica, and asbestos.

Solution:

  • Conduct comprehensive employee exposure and building materials evaluations to mitigate any occupational health risks.

Results:

  • Streamlined process for sample collection and assessments
  • Consistent data and insight for compliance tracking and reporting

Challenge

Our client operates aggregate mines, cement plants, and asphalt plants with over 7,000 employees across 43 states. To safeguard their employees, they sought to augment their industrial hygiene (IH) team with assistance conducting employee exposure monitoring to noise, respirable crystalline silica, and asbestos‑containing materials.

Solution

For the past two years, Apex Companies has served as our client’s partner and extension of their IH team to evaluate employee exposures and building materials for compliance with occupational health regulations (e.g., EPA, MSHA, and OSHA). We have also provided limited asbestos-containing building material surveys in accordance with EPA guidelines.

Results

Our managed approach provides our client with:

  • Consistency of both field work and reporting
  • Technically sound approach regarding sample collection
  • Exposure risk expertise
  • Knowledgeable resources to add bench strength to in-house IH team
  • Projects delivered on-time and on budget

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Equipment-Specific Lockout Tagout (LOTO) Procedures

Health & Safety Project

Equipment-Specific Lockout Tagout (LOTO) Procedures

Leading American Bakery Company

Solution Overview

Client:

Leading American Food & Beverage Manufacturing Company

Business Challenge:

  • The client suspected that its LOTO programs and processes were outdated and might not provide adequate protection for workers.

Solution:

  • Apex performed gap assessments and developed and implemented safety LOTO procedures within four bakery facilities.

Results:

  • Apex provided hundreds of machine‑specific LOTO procedures and trained maintenance personnel to verify accuracy and bring equipment to a zero‑energy state.

Challenge

Bakeries and food production facilities require specialized equipment and machinery that is often complex and prone to malfunction. With hundreds of different pieces of machinery across its facilities, the client suspected that it did not have comprehensive written procedures, policies and training in place for all its equipment. The client wanted to address this challenge a proactive manner.

Solution

The Apex Companies project team developed and implemented LOTO procedures throughout four bakery facilities and reviewed hundreds of pieces of machinery and equipment. The OSHA standard for The Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout), Title 29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 1910.147, practices and procedures were used to disable machinery, thereby preventing the release of hazardous energy.

The Apex project team measured for controlling hazardous energies—electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, chemical, thermal, and other energy sources. Safety measures were implemented during the servicing and maintenance of machines and equipment, to limit any unexpected startup or release of stored energy that could result in serious injury.

During the project implementation there were limited to no disruptions made to the operations. In addition, the Apex team provided the bakery facility personnel with a LOTO safety training.

Results

Apex provided hundreds of machine-specific LOTO procedures and trained maintenance personnel to verify accuracy and bring equipment to a zero-energy state without disrupting regular business operations, resulting in an improved safety culture and zero adverse production impacts.

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Creative Approach to Noise Assessment Leads to Substantial Cost Savings for International Logistics Company

Health & Safety Project

Creative Approach to Noise Assessment Leads to Substantial Cost Savings for International Logistics Company

Various Locations

Solution Overview

Client:

  • One of the largest logistics and shipping companies in the United States.
  • Hundreds of shipping centers as well as larger distribution hubs throughout the US and Canada.
  • Roughly 20,000 full time employees and upwards of 40,000 contract employees during high season.

Business Challenge:

  • Avoid implementing a company-wide Hearing Conservation Program (HCP). Ambient levels were on the threshold of 85 dBA, or action limit, where an HCP would need to be implemented.
  • Perform assessments and deliver reports for fifteen sites across the US in less than one month.
  • Source isolation so that octave band analyses and subsequent engineering controls were effective.

Solution:

  • All assessments and reports delivered before project deadline.
  • Apex data allowed the client to utilize engineering controls to abate the hazard.

Results:

  • Direct and indirect cost savings were realized for avoidance of conformance to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration’s Hearing Conservation Program (29 CFR 1910.95).

Challenge

This logistics and shipping company wanted to take a creative approach to managing its hearing conservation program (HCP) to reduce noise impacts in its facilities and reduce the number of workers in its HCP.

Solution

The company contracted Apex Companies to run a pilot study at one of its large distribution hubs, followed by a wide scale assessment at multiple facilities.

Task 1: Apex conducted octave band analyses at equipment sources when in operation. Analyses were conducted during isolation, when no employees/packages were being processed for greatest accuracy. Apex also conducted ambient total sound pressure levels for baseline. Ambient levels adjacent to equipment sources ranged from 81-87 dBA. Moreover, source measurements (at equipment) were identified in excess of 90 dBA with varying predominant octave bands (1,12.5 kHertz, etc.).

Task 2: Apex provided written reports summarizing recorded ambient levels and detailing total sound pressure levels and predominant frequencies. Recorded predominant bands were also detailed to assist in determining most appropriate type of noise control (high vs low frequency) for the equipment. Apex assisted the Director of Industrial Hygiene and the Engineering Department under aggressive reporting timelines to facilitate controls and minimize impacts to business.

Task 3: Apex recorded total ambient sound pressure levels and source 1/3 octave bands post engineering controls to ensure effectiveness of instituted controls for select site.

Results

The company realized substantial cost savings associated with eliminating the noise hazards via engineering controls. Costs associated with elimination of training and program implementation, and reduction of future risk related to cases of occupational hearing loss.

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Cost-Effective Ergonomics Program

Health & Safety Project

Cost-Effective Ergonomics Program

Aerospace and Aircraft Manufacturing Firm

Solution Overview

Client:

Aerospace and Aircraft Manufacturing Firm

Business Challenge:

  • A client needed a cost-effective ergonomic initiative to limit injuries and increase productivity.

Solution:

  • Apex created a comprehensive ergonomic program to identify root cause of work procedures that effect workers movement for potential injuries.

Results:

  • The program implemented new procedures to limit injuries and lost workdays for workers and increased worker morale.

Challenge

Provide strategic insight and develop a cost-effective program to increase productivity while controlling and/or lowering ergonomic related injuries associated with physically demanding tasks of bending, lifting and pulling trailer tongues to transport heavy, and sometimes hazardous, equipment to and from airfield and storage yards.

Solution

The Apex Companies team developed a comprehensive methodology to quantitatively and qualitatively assess the true impact of manually lifting trailer tongues lying on the ground. The quantitative assessments revealed that the client’s work compensation claim costs were over $700,000 in ergonomic related cases. Qualitative assessments identified six key risk factors affecting the shoulders, trunk and back, hand and wrist, and neck associated with pushing, pulling, gripping, bending forward, lifting with one or two hands and rotating the neck.

Results

The program reduced ergonomic risk from 35 to 3 relating to the ergonomic exposure database scoring and improved working postures by reducing neck and trunk rotation and eliminating lifting of tongues from the ground level. In addition, productivity was improved through the increased efficiency of the transport process which reduced entries and exits with forklifts by 50-75% and reduced the cycle time per hook. After effective improvements were made, the worker morale increased while the ergonomic injuries decreased along with the number of Lost & Restricted Workdays.

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Comprehensive Industrial Hygiene Program for a North American Food and Beverage Company

Health & Safety Project

Comprehensive Industrial Hygiene Program for a North American Food and Beverage Company

A Fortune 100 Food & Beverage Company with Over 90 Locations

Solution Overview

Client:

Fortune 100 North American Food & Beverage Company

Business Challenge:

  • The client needed a credible and efficient industrial hygiene program to consistently measure, store and analyze exposure monitoring data.

Solution:

  • Apex Certified Industrial Hygienists conducted exposure assessments every two years in the production and packaging areas.

Results:

  • The program identified four agents that required additional controls and implemented mitigation strategies to limit exposure to facility workers.

Challenge

The client needed a credible and efficient industrial hygiene program to consistently measure, store, and analyze exposure monitoring data.

Solution

Our team of Apex Certified Industrial Hygienists (CIH) began the project by obtaining all occupational hazard exposure information for each designated location and risk-ranked each potential exposure as “acceptable,” “unacceptable,” or “uncertain.”

For all “unacceptable” risk-ranked exposures, new controls were implemented immediately. For exposures risk-ranked as “acceptable,” the CIH re-assessed the exposure every two years to determine if changes to production or packaging affected the risk ranking. And for exposures risk-ranked as “uncertain,” the CIH conducted sampling surveys for the risk of exposure. This process was then repeated every two years for each location. All qualitative risk rankings and exposure monitoring results were recorded in an industrial hygiene exposure assessment database.

Results

This approach has resulted in the identification of three chemical agents and one physical agent that require additional controls. Exposure mitigation strategies, including engineering and administrative control options, have been investigated and business plans have been developed. The strategy includes efforts to align industrial hygiene controls with production efficiency initiatives. Locations to test the control solutions have been identified and the results are currently being tested.

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