B3. Occupational Injury and Illness

Code 7.0

Procedures and systems shall be in place to prevent, manage, track and report occupational injuries and illnesses, including provisions to encourage worker reporting, classify and record injury and illness cases, provide necessary medical treatment, investigate cases and implement corrective actions to eliminate their causes, and facilitate the return of workers to work.

Elements to Demonstrate Compliance to RBA Code

1. Policy

Ensure facility's health and safety policy includes occupational injury and illness elements including:

• a. Ensuring there is a staffed and funded program to reduce and respond to occupational injuries and illnesses, including injury reporting, recording and classification, and provision of medical treatment.
• b. Management encourages workers to report all work-related injuries and illnesses to the company and provides them with training on how to report all work-related injuries and illnesses do so to the company.
• c. Workers are not penalized or terminated for reporting work-related injuries or illnesses.

2. Procedures & Practices

Procedures & Practices are in place such that:

• a. First Aid kits
  • i. Appropriate and completely stocked placed /assigned first aid kits are available in designated locations for staff and workers to access.
  • ii. First aid kits are unlocked, or if locked, the first responder can always access them.
• b. Appropriate and well-maintained first response equipment is available in designated locations.
• c. Onsite emergency occupational medical clinic
  • i. If applicable, an occupational medical clinic is adequately staffed and supplied to respond to injuries.
  • ii. If the medical clinic is not open or operated 24 hours per day, alternative resources such as outside medical services are communicated to employees.
  • iii. Supplies for the onsite occupational medical clinic are available, adequate, and inspected.
• d. No asbestos blanket is used as first response equipment.
• e. Work-related accidents, near-misses, injuries, and illnesses are accurately tracked, reported, investigated, analyzed, and classified to identify trends and areas for improvement.
• f. A documented corrective action system is in place to effectively reduce recurrence of workplace incidents and has been successful in measurably reducing the injury rate.
• g. The company/facility provides workers with medical evaluations and treatment for work related injuries and illnesses.
• h. The facility assigns injured workers to their former (or equivalent) job when they are physically able to resume work.

3. Controls & Monitoring

Controls & Monitoring should include:

• a. Adequate and effective first response process indicating the severity of medical emergency and response (first aid, infirmary, local external hospital).
• b. An adequate and effective maintenance process is in place for the inspection, maintenance, upkeep, and stocking of all first response equipment and first aid kits.
• c. The frequency for all inspections is at least monthly.

4. Records

Records are maintained including:

• a. Onsite occupational medical clinic inventory list.
• b. First aid kits have an inventory list.
• c. Inspection tracking records are available and up to date.
• d. Licenses and permits for facilities such as clinics and staff, including first responders.
• e. Near misses, first aid events, the number and type of injuries beyond first aid, and any fatalities
• f. Results of investigations, reports to authorities
• g. Corrective action and improvement plans including communication and training.
• h. Trend analysis of the occupational injury and illness data is performed at least annually.

5. Leading Practices

• a. Providing general health and well-being communication and support via onsite clinic as all workers may not have access to materials and professionals.

6. Serious conditions that will result in a severe finding

• Not having first response equipment.
• Not having first aid kits available.
• The in-house infirmary or clinic are missing critical elements.

2.0.0 (2022-06-01)

Changed

• 'No asbestos blanket' conformance requirement added: The four 7.0.0 audit criteria were consolidated into two. The consolidation itself is a net loosening — the standalone permits/licenses provision (old B3.1) and the standalone first-aid-process / first-responder provision (old B3.3) were dropped, and root-cause/corrective-action investigation (old B3.2) is no longer separately scored. However a NEW mandatory 'No asbestos blanket' conformance requirement was added: a facility using an asbestos fire blanket as first response equipment that passed 7.0.0 now fails — a prior pass can become a fail, hence major despite the consolidation being a loosening.

Removed

• Standalone permits/licenses and first-responder-count provisions removed: The 7.0.0 standalone permits/licenses provision (old B3.1) and the standalone first-aid-process / first-responder-count provision (old B3.3) were removed; root-cause/corrective-action investigation (old B3.2) is no longer separately scored. A loosening (it only removes ways to fail), so it does not drive the severity; the asbestos tightening above makes the boundary major.

1.0.0 (2021-01-01)

Changed

• Initial historical baseline — Occupational Injury and Illness (RBA Code of Conduct 7.0): Earliest imported version of the criterion, structured as four audit criteria: required permits, programs, licenses and testing reports for occupational injury and illness; root-cause investigation and corrective/ preventive actions tracked to closure; an effective first aid process with an adequate number of trained/certified first responders and onsite infirmary/clinic provisions; and adequate first response equipment and first aid kits with monthly inspection. No asbestos prohibition and no imminent-harm provisions were present at this release.