Building the Emergency Response Team
Jen Seitz, Director of Administration and Finance, and Paul Kirksey, EPIC’s EH&S manager, are working to bring a higher level of safety and certifications in-house. In addition to standard OSHA training, they are working to have someone from EPIC on hand to be certified to teach safety classes. Seitz, for example, will be receiving her state level certification in Blood Borne Pathogens in the next coming months. She will then be able to teach a workshop at EPIC.
We are looking to always have someone from the team at the facility. “Having someone who is typically here really early, like me; I am here by 5:30a.m. or 6 a.m.. Alternatively we also want people who are here later in the day, like Tracy who is here ‘til 6p.m. or 7p.m. at night,” said Seitz. “And we will open it up to other people, but we want that team to be individuals that are here the majority of the time.”
In-House Training
The shift to in-house training will mean more programs tailored to the needs of EPIC employees and it will be the most cost effective option.
Paul Kirksey is now teaching Forklift Safety. He plans on teaching safety courses on Lock-out/Tag-out Training, and the new Global Harmonized System program. “We always contracted out our forklift safety until this past January,” said Kirksey.” This year we developed a program to bring it in house.””
Paul taught the forklift class using the program “Blue Prints for Safety.”
“The next training will be on Lock-out/ tag-out Safety and is also based off of ‘Blue Print for Safety.’ We bought the training program so we can modify it to fit EPIC and then we will train employees internally,” said Kirksey.
Hazardous chemical labeling must follow the new The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). This system establishes a worldwide agreed hazard classification. Each employee must be trained by the end of the year. Kirksey will be doing the training.
“Little by little we are starting to bring safety in house -and we need to – because we are growing,” concluded Kirksey. “This is going to be an important topic for EPIC as we continue to expand.”