Glossary of Loss Control Terms

AB 1127: Assembly Bill 1127 is a law that was passed in January 2000, and allows for the criminal prosecution of negligent managers, supervisors, or any individual with the responsibility to ensure employee safety.

Accident: An unexpected and unintended event that results in bodily injury or property damage.

Administrative Controls: Controls that include the development of policies, standards, procedures, and guidelines to control risks, such as, job rotation, limiting exposure time, increasing frequency or length of breaks, team lifting policy, etc.

Arising Out of the Act of Employment (AOE): An employee's accidental injury or occupational disease originates while he or she is engaged in the line of duty in the business of the employer, upon the employer's premises, or elsewhere by the direction, express or implied, of the employer.

Audiometric Testing or Examination: A test used to measure hearing ability.

Best Practice Recommendation:General recommendations should be considered as a means to improve an operation when exposures present no threat to human life or the potential for severity. General recommendations are considered “Best Practices” or suggestions to assist a company in its safety efforts, decrease its incident frequency or improve a competitive edge through proactive workers’ compensation practices.

Bloodborne Pathogens: Pathogenic microorganisms are present in human blood and can cause disease in humans and can include, but are not limited to, hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Cal/OSHA Consultation Program: Consultative assistance is provided to employers through on-site visits, telephone support, publications, e-tools, and educational outreach. All services provided by Cal/OSHA Consultation are provided free of charge to California employers.

Cal/OSHA Enforcement: The Cal/OSHA enforcement unit has jurisdiction over every employment and place of employment in California which is necessary to adequately enforce and administer all occupational safety and health standards and regulations. The Cal/OSHA enforcement unit conducts inspections of California workplaces in response to a report of an industrial accident, a complaint about an occupational safety and health hazard, or as part of an inspection program targeting industries which have a high rate of occupational hazards, fatalities, injuries, or illnesses.

Combustible Liquid: Any liquid having a flash point above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Confined Space: Many workplaces contain spaces that are considered confined because their configurations hinder the activities of employees who must enter, work in, and exit them. If existing ventilation is insufficient to remove dangerous air contamination, oxygen enrichment and/or oxygen deficiency which may exist or develop, and access or egress for the removal of a suddenly disabled employee is difficult due to the location and/or size of the opening or openings, then it is a confined space.

Disfigurement: Impairment of or injury to the beauty, symmetry, or appearance of a person that renders the person unsightly, misshapen, imperfect, or deformed in some manner or otherwise causes a detrimental change in the external form of the person. Any such injury is required to be reported to OSHA.

Direct Cause (Causation): The hazard or action which results in immediate injury, ill-health, damage or other loss.

DMV Pull Program: This program allows a company to monitor the driving records of employees who drive for a company. The record will be generated at the time of enrollment in the program, annually, and when an action or activity is added to the driving record. For more details, visit the website for the California Department of Motor Vehicles at http://dmv.ca.gov/vehindustry/epn/epngeninfo.htm#programwork.

Engineering Controls: Engineering controls eliminate or reduce exposure to a chemical or physical hazard through the use or substitution of engineered machinery or equipment. This is the first and most preferred method of control. Examples include self-capping syringe needles, ventilation systems, automation, etc.

Ergonomics: This is the science of adapting workstations, tools, equipment, and job practices to be compatible with the individual worker and thus reducing the risk of injury – the process of fitting a job to a worker and not a worker to a job.

Flammable Liquid: Any liquid having a flash point below 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Flash Point: The minimum temperature at which a liquid gives off vapor within a test vessel in sufficient concentration to form an ignitable mixture with air near the surface of the liquid. The flash point is normally an indication of susceptibility to ignition.

Gate: A movable barrier that protects the operator at the point of operation before the machine cycle can be started.

General Recommendation: General recommendations should be considered as a means to improve an operation when exposures present no threat to human life or the potential for severity. General recommendations are considered “Best Practices” or suggestions to assist a company in its safety efforts, decrease its incident frequency, or improve a competitive edge through proactive workers’ compensation practices.

GFCI: Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter.

Guarding: Covered, shielded, fenced, enclosed or otherwise protected by means of suitable covers or casings, barriers, rails or screens, mats or platforms intended to prevent or impede the approach of persons or objects to a point of danger.

Hazard: A source or a situation with a potential for harm in terms of human injury or ill-health, damage to property, damage to the environment, or a combination.

Hazard Communication (HazComm): When employees may be exposed to a hazardous substance in the workplace, employers must provide information to their employees about those substances through a hazard communication program, labels, and other forms of warning, material safety data sheets, information, and training.

Hearing Conservation Program: This program is designed to assess noise levels and should include testing to determine what work locations have hazardous or high noise levels potentially harmful to hearing, training, and hearing protection – they are designed to conserve employees’ hearing.

Illness: An occupational disease is any chronic ailment that occurs as a result of work or occupational activity.

Incident: Any unplanned event resulting in, or having a potential for injury, ill-health, damage, or other loss.

Injury: An injury is any wound or damage to the body resulting from an event in the work environment. Some common injury types are: cut, abrasion, fracture, and burn. Sprain and strain injuries to muscles, joints, and connective tissues are classified as injuries when they result from a slip, trip, fall, or other similar accidents.

Injury and Illness Prevention (IIP) Program: In California, every employer has a legal obligation to provide and maintain a safe and healthful workplace for employees, according to the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973. As of 1991, a written effective Injury and Illness Prevention (IIP) Program is required for every California employer. An effective IIP Program helps assure the safety and health of employees while on the job.

Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) or Job Safety Analysis (JSA): A method that can be used to identify, analyze, and record the steps involved in performing a specific job, the existing or potential safety and health hazards associated with each step, and the recommended action (or actions) or procedure (or procedures) that will eliminate or reduce the hazards and the risk of a workplace injury or illness.

Lag time: Late reporting of a reportable injury to a company’s workers’ compensation insurance carrier.

Light Duty: Work prescribed by an employee's attending physician to fall within certain physical restrictions while the employee continues to heal from a compensable work-related injury or occupational disease.

Lock Out/Tag Out (LO/TO) or Lock Out/Block-Out: Lockout/Tag-out means that any energy source – whether electrical, hydraulic, mechanical, compressed air, or any other source that might cause unexpected movement – must be disengaged or blocked, and electrical sources must be de-energized and locked or positively sealed in the “off” position. Even a locked-out machine, however, may not be safe if there are parts of the machine that are not blocked to prevent inadvertent movement. Potential energy that may need to be blocked can come from suspended parts, subject to gravity, or may be energy stored in springs.

Lost Time Injuries: A work-related injury that results in time lost from work after the first day of the accident.

Loss Ratio: A figure determined by dividing losses by premium. The loss ratio usually applies to a one-year period and is expressed as a percentage. Loss ratios can be expressed in terms of paid losses to standard premium or incurred losses to earned premium.

Machine Guarding: A cover or other system that prevents objects from getting caught in the moving parts of machinery.

Mandatory Recommendation: A recommendation to correct an uncontrolled exposure to human life and/or when the potential for severity is present. These types of recommendations should be written when failure of compliance would increase the chance of a severe or catastrophic loss.

Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS): Information provided by chemical manufacturers that indicate possible hazards resulting from use of the material.

Modified Duty: Work prescribed by an employee's attending physician to fall within certain physical restrictions while the employee continues to heal from a compensable work-related injury or occupational disease.

Motor Vehicle Report (MVR): A print-out containing information obtained from an individual’s driving record from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

Near Miss: An event that does not result in an injury or property damage but has the potential to do so. Near misses should be reported and investigated in the same manner as any other accident.

Noise Action Level: When the time weighted average of noise during a normal work day reaches 85 decibels, and an employer is required to implement a Hearing Conservation Program.

Noise Testing: Sound level meter or with dosimeter that indicates how much noise an individual employee is exposed to.

Occupational Disease: An illness or disease caused by exposure to a physical, chemical, or biological agent in the workplace.

Occupational Safety and Health Standard: A standard which requires conditions, or the adoption or use of one or more practices, means, methods, operations, or processes, reasonably necessary or appropriate to provide safe or healthful employment and places of employment.

OSHA: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration aims to ensure employee safety and health in the United States by working with employers and employees to create better working environments. State plans are OSHA-approved job safety and health programs operated by individual states instead of by federal OSHA. State plans must provide standards and enforcement programs as well as voluntary compliance activities, that are “at least as effective as” the federal OSHA program. States with approved plans cover most private sector employees as well as state and local government workers in the state. Twenty-six states including California operate state plans. For more information on state plans, visit OSHA’s website at www.osha.gov or Cal OSHA’s website at http://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/dosh1.html.

OSHA Log 300: Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses. Must be kept on file for five years following the year to which it pertains.

OSHA Log 300A: Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses Form. Must be completed and posted by February 1 of the year following the year covered by the form and kept posted until April 30 of that year. Then kept on file for 5 years following the year to which it pertains.

Permissible Exposure Limits (PEL): For noise exposure or for air quality (sampling), these are the legally required OSHA permissible exposure limits. It is the exposure standards that express the airborne concentration of a material to which nearly all healthy persons can be exposed day-after-day without adverse effects.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Includes devices or garments worn to protect workers from injury or illness, such as, hard hat, gloves, safety glasses, respirators, etc.

Pre-Employment Post-Offer Physical: A physical that is given to a potential employee following a formal job offer that tests the individual’s ability to perform the necessary job functions of a particular position.

Presenteeism: The counterpart of Absenteeism. It is defined as the measure of lost productivity cost due to employees who actually show up for work but who are not fully engaged and productive mainly because of personal health and life issue distractions. Currently, Presenteeism is estimated to be up to 7-and-a-half times more costly to employers than absenteeism, according to www.ezinearticles.com. This can also be a cause of employee injuries at work.

Risk: The probability of injury or damage or other negative consequence caused by external or internal factors that may be prevented through pro-active measures.

Root Cause (Causation): The event or chain of events which ultimately lead to a final outcome of an incident or near miss.

Root Cause Analysis (RCA): A method of problem-solving to determine the actual cause or causes for an undesirable event/injury/damage). RCA can be used after an event to determine the causation of an incident or near miss as a process to identify and correct the issues and avoid any reoccurrence of incident or incidents. RCA’s can also be done on a pro-active basis to forecast an event before it happens.

Safety Culture: A term often used to describe the way in which safety is managed in the workplace and often reflects the attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, and values that employees share in relation to safety.

Safety Can: A spring-loaded self-closing metal container, 5 gallons or less, that will allow the escape of vapor when heated.

SCBA: Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus.

Standard Precautions: An approach to infection control. According to the concept of standard precautions, all human blood and certain human body fluids are treated as if known to be infectious for HIV, HBV, HCV and other bloodborne pathogens.

Stress: Stress can be generally defined as any change to one’s experiences. It is mental and physical strain produced by our response to demands from life. Common stress reactions include frustration, anger, tension, irritability, inability to concentrate, and a variety of physical symptoms that include headache and a fast heartbeat. Whether you perceive the change as positive (winning the lottery) or negative (financial hardships), your body's response may be very similar. Stress that lasts for long periods of time (chronic stress) can have negative health effects.

Universal Precautions: An approach to infection control. According to the concept of universal precautions, all human blood and certain human body fluids are treated as if known to be infectious for HIV, HBV, HCV and other bloodborne pathogens.

Unsafe Act: Any act that could, or does, result in an injury or property damage.

Unsafe Condition: A hazardous physical condition or circumstance which could directly permit the occurrence of an incident.

Wellness: Wellness is the condition of good physical and mental health, especially when maintained by proper diet, exercise, and habits. Wellness encompasses the entire body.

Work Practice Controls: These controls include the development of policies, standards, procedures, and guidelines to control risks, such as, job rotation, limiting exposure time, increasing frequency or length of breaks, team lifting policy, etc.

Worksite Health Promotion: Worksite health promotion is an investment in human capital. Employees are more likely to be on the job and perform well when they are in optimal physical and psychological health. Scientific research shows that there is a direct link between a company's productivity and the health of its employees.