How Can the Cannabis Industry Improve Health & Safety Compliance?
/The cannabis industry has been growing at an exponential rate with no end in sight. Currently, marijuana is legal for recreational and/or medical use in 34 states and the District of Columbia. Another key factor driving the growth of the market is cannabidiol (CBD), a component of marijuana that is used for medicinal and wellness purposes. The CBD product category is vast and includes topicals (primarily for pain relief), skin care, tinctures, capsules, gummies, CBD-infused foods, pet care, and pharmaceuticals - including the first ever FDA-approved cannabis-derived medicine, which contains CBD and is used to treat rare, severe forms of epilepsy in children.
As a result of this huge market growth, Leafly’s annual Cannabis Jobs Report found that as of January 2020, the legal cannabis industry supports 243,700 full-time American jobs, and with the creation of 33,700 new jobs nationwide in 2019, legal marijuana became the fastest-growing industry in America. This rapid expansion in employment has amplified the need for safety awareness and injury prevention. More specifically, this is especially true for areas involved with the cultivation, distribution, laboratory testing, manufacturing, and retail of marijuana.
Cannabis Worker Safety
Per the “General Duty Clause” from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), an employer must furnish to each of their employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm. With that said, cannabis employers are not exempt from this requirement. Therefore, many of the hazards that are found in other industries are synonymous with those known to be present in the cannabis industry. Cannabis employers can look to the hazards present in other industries as a resource when building occupational safety and health programs.
Areas of safety that should be addressed include, but are not limited to:
Walking-working Surfaces
Slips, trips and falls
Working at heights
Scaffolding
Ergonomics
Repetitive motion
Machine Guarding
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Hazard assessments
Confined Spaces
Electrical
General awareness
Lock out/Tag out
Arc flash
Industrial Hygiene
Indoor air quality
Exposure control
Injury and Illness Reporting
OSHA logs
Hazard Communication (HAZCOM)
Right to know – safety data sheets, labeling
Material Handling
Powered industrial trucks
Hearing Conservation
Job Safety Analyses
Machines, equipment and operations
Risk Management
Pandemic
Acts of God
Safety Programs & Training for Cannabis Companies
If the required health and safety programs with associated policies/procedures have not been written or implemented, then, consequently, the training that is necessary for your workers has not been completed and documented. The programs and training relevant to cannabis/marijuana businesses might include:
Electrical
HAZCOM
Permit-required confined space
Respiratory protection
Bloodborne pathogen and exposure control
Hearing conservation
Chemical hygiene
Fire prevention
Emergency action
Fall protection
Risk management
Injury and illness prevention
Unfortunately, the consequences to not having an overall compliant health and safety management system established can be many and quite severe. First and foremost, there is the consideration of life and health. Obviously, work related deaths, injuries, and illnesses can also cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in regulatory fines, lawsuits and legal fees. Also, such events will reduce employee morale, thus causing less output which has a financial effect in another way. Not to mention that once an incident is on the OSHA radar, repeated inspections can occur, which may lead to additional violations and more citations. A good reputation which is worked so hard for can be lost very quickly.
How can cannabis businesses improve workplace safety?
It is very important to identify and correct the health and safety risks within the facility or workplace. Equally important, the necessary management systems and training must be in place in addition to providing a working environment that is proactively safe.
A knowledgable health and safety consulting firm, like KERAMIDA, can be a valuable resource to cannabis companies by providing all the necessary resources to establish an effective and compliant safety culture inherent to the operations at your facility. We recommend, and regularly assist businesses with, the following steps:
Complete an onsite health and safety assessment to determine first, if any immediately dangerous to life and health conditions exist, then document any compliance findings categorizing them from minor to most critical.
Establish an action plan to correct all findings from the onsite health and safety assessment.
Complete a job hazard analysis for each operation, deciding on the proper PPE for employees, and then training accordingly.
Develop the required health and safety programs, policies, procedures and associated training. This includes presenting such training.
Perform air monitoring as needed in areas potentially at risk for mold, sensitizers/allergens, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, pesticides and other chemicals. This includes monitoring indoor air quality as well. Also, perform noise surveys as applicable.
Develop risk management plans to reduce the potential for all recognized types of violence, harassment, intimidation and any other threatening behavior.
KERAMIDA is a full-service Security, Environmental, Health and Safety consulting firm that has many years of experience pertaining to safety compliance. KERAMIDA has qualified professionals on staff that are ready to help you recognize and reduce the risks of job site hazards through hazard identification, management, and prevention. Contact us for a quick response or call (800) 508-8034 to speak with one of our safety professionals today.
Blog Author
Andrew Tirmenstein
Senior Project Manager, Security, Health and Safety Services
KERAMIDA Inc.
Contact Andrew at atirmenstein@keramida.com.
