Safety Education for Employees

The Solution Is Obvious

 

- OSHA Act

Provide a safe and healthful workplace Free of recognized hazards

Then shouldn't we be educating employees about the OSHA rules, the hazards, looking for and correcting hazards? Shouldn't we want employees to bring hazards to our Attention so we can fix them before someone gets hurt? Shouldn't we want employees to report more close call or near miss? Don't we want to find the problems so we can fix them before someone gets seriously hurt? Shouldn't this be a Goal you want to continue to improve?

A primary goal of any safety action is to remove, reduce, or otherwise manage hazards. It’s obvious then that the first step must be to recognize the hazard!  While it is extremely important to identify hazards in the planning stage, Hazards are not static, they change over time as environmental, equipment, human, and management factors change! Hazard Recognition is a never ending necessity at all stages and levels in each and every task!

Increase workplace inspections to identify new or previously missed hazards, Find and fix more hazards, Train employees about hazards and JSA procedures (more than once so they remember! Find a positive way to increase reporting of near miss or close calls and investigate a near miss just as you would an OSHA recordable or lost time (in a timely manner) and then recheck that JSA you wrote to perform that task. If that JSA is well written, employees have been well trained on the tasks, hazards, and controls to prevent accidents, and you have a close call or near miss........then you missed something and need to address it.

• How many inspections you do and how many hazards are being found and how long it takes to get hazards corrected are leading indicators of how effective your inspection and hazard reporting programs are
• How many training sessions and how well the employees retain the information are leading indicators of how effective your training program is. If your hazard reporting is low, but you still have close call or accidents, then perhaps you should focus training on hazards or unsafe acts
• How many hazards are found and corrected in a timely manner are leading indicators of how effective your safety program really is

Safety Goals

• To Increase the number of inspections for hazards by X % over the previous year
• To increase the number of hazard reports received by X% over the previous year
• To increase the number of close call or near miss reports received by X% over the previous year
• To investigate all hazardous events within X number of days of the occurrence

What Gets Measured Gets Done

What Gets Celebrated Gets Done Well

Author: Deborah Grow, Safety Consultant

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Slips, Trips, and Falls

Slips, Trips, and Falls

Develop a safety initiative to address these types of hazards

 

Slips, trips and falls is the number 1 reason for an industrial injury in the United States. Thousands of disabling injuries—and even deaths—occur each year as a result of slips, trips, and falls:

• From heights, on stairs, and on level ground

• At work and at home

 

 

Pay Attention to Your Movements and Surroundings

· Focus on where you're going, what you're doing, and what lies ahead.

· Expect the unexpected.

· Take responsibility for fixing, removing, or avoiding hazards in your path.

· Wear sturdy shoes with nonskid soles and flat heels.

· Avoid baggy or loose pants you could trip over.

· Walk, don't run.

· Wipe your feet when you come in from rain or snow.

· Report or replace any burned out lights or inadequate lighting.

· Watch out for floors that are uneven, have holes, etc.

· Keep your hands at your sides, not in your pockets, for balance.

· Don't carry loads you can't see over.

· Walk slowly on slippery surfaces. —Slide your feet and avoid sharp turns.

· Sit in chairs with all four chair legs on the floor.

· Make sure all wheels or casters are on the floor.

 

 

 

Author: Deborah Grow, Safety Consultant

Need help with Safety? Let’s schedule a free consultation!

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Fall Protection still top of the OSHA Top 10

Falls are still #1

Who Falls?

•53% of the falls occurred a distance of 10 feet or less.

•Most victims were not using fall protection.•More accidents occur in the morning than any other time of day.

•Falls are the leading causes of fatalities and catastrophes investigated by OSHA

Need help conducting your fall evaluation?  Need help with your fall protection program?  New requirements published November 2016 requires a "competent person".  Contact me for assistance

Author: Deborah Grow, Safety Specialist

Private Safety Consultant, assistant Damon Fall Protection and Coordinator EHS Network ~ Kansas.   Extensive safety experience in General Industry, Construction, D.O.T. Compliance, and OSHA consultation project.  Contact Deborah if you would like to schedule a consultation

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Secure Storage Racks

Securing Storage Racks

Potential standards: OSHA 5a1, 29CFR 1910.176(b), or ANSI MH16.1: 2012

Many companies don't comply with this rule because they don't seem to be aware of it.  I'm asked about the requirement to secure storage racks often.

ANSI MH 16.1.2012 1.4.7 Column Base Plates and Anchors

The bottom of all columns shall be furnished with column base plates, as specified in Section 7.1. All rack columns shall be anchored to the floor with anchor bolts, which shall be designed in accordance with Section 7.3, to resist all applicable forces as described in Section 2.1 or Section 2.2.

You will not find that requirement specifically stated in the federal OSHA standards. About the closest thing you could cite from the OSHA regulations would be Subpart N – Material Handling and Storage, paragraph 1910.176(b) – which states that “materials shall not create a hazard”.  But that would be a stretch at best.

There is, however, an appropriate reference document that could be (and often is) used by OSHA in conjunction with paragraph (5)(a)(1) of the OSH Act of 1970 (also known as the General Duty Clause) to cite employers for pallet racks and other types of industrial steel shelving (like pipe racks, bin storage racks, and parts shelves) that are not adequately secured from falling over.

The document is ANSI/RMI MH16.1 – Specification for the Design, Testing and Utilization of Industrial Steel Storage Racks.

There is a copy of the October 2012 version of this ANSI standard on the website of a university at the following web address:

http://scholarsmine.mst.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=ccfss-rmi

The ANSI document contains recommendations for securing storage racks of various types and heights to increase their stability and decrease the chance they will be accidentally pushed or pulled over. This is typically achieved by two means; first is to insert anchor bolts into the floor through holes in the base plates provided by the steel storage rack manufactures.  And second is to secure the racks to either the wall (if a single row is positioned along a wall) or to each other (if positioned back-to-back) to provide additional stability (see examples in the photos). 

The exact means and methods to be used to secure shelves and racks are usually dictated by several factors, including but not limited to the height/base width ratio of the racks, whether or not the racks are loaded/unloaded with forklifts, and even if there is a potential for seismic activity in the area.

Two good training videos you may want to consider including in your Material Handling Training:

Reach racking collapse	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXvWARWM-OE
Warehouse Rack Safety Standards	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01WL-aTHUNA