Make sure you’re safe when you are working alone. Here are some Do’s and Don’ts to keep in mind.
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News & Views
Year: 2019
As we settle into the Holiday season and we celebrate with those holiday parties, keep safety a priority. Travelling with family and friends exposes everyone to risks of bad weather, bad conditions, busy traffic, frustrated and impaired drivers.
When winter temperatures drop significantly below normal, staying warm and safe can become a challenge. Exposure to cold temperatures, whether indoors or outside, can cause serious or life-threatening health problems. Infants and the elderly are particularly at risk, but anyone can be affected.
In efforts to reduce traffic and pollution in major cities, alternative transportation is becoming more and more popular. In most cities, the average person now has access
to more alternative transportation options than ever before. Some of these options might include: E-bikes (Electric Bikes), E-scooters (Electric Scooters), and ride sharing
such as Uber, Lyft, and Zip cars.
Festive celebrations, flickering lights and winter decorations are hallmarks of the holiday season, but they also
present fire risks that can quickly turn this festive time of year into a devastating one. Below we look at some
ways that we can prevent house fires this holiday season.
Happy Thanksgiving! Below are some tips to keep in mind as you and your family prepare for the holiday feast.
- You’ve heard extensive talk about a safety culture that promotes a safe workplace where employees take ownership of their personal safety, as well as others.
- You’ve heard about the need for safety at home, work, and play and how important it is to go home to your loved ones every day.
- You’ve heard discussions about the big 4 or focus four hazards that cause the most fatalities in the workplace.
- You’ve heard discussions stemmed from a lack of training, and the need for an employee to seek the training.
Moving from a safety policy to a safety culture requires guidelines that are aligned with the organizational brand, mission statement, principles, and values.
Daylight Saving Time has ended. Even after getting an extra hour of sleep, our
internal body clocks can take up to a week to acclimate to this schedule shift. This
may result in feeling temporarily sluggish which can impact our reaction time,
decision making skills, and concentration. Studies have shown that accidents
increase around this time. By being aware of this, we can prevent incidents by
staying alert and adding a little extra focus on our tasks.
Each year there are around 28,000 injuries related to leaf disposal!
Hand tools account for over 50,000 injuries per year.
More than 250,000 people fell while at heights.
There are over 204 billion leaf bearing trees in the United States or around 650 trees per person.
Everyday activities including work, play, school, shopping, travel, and just about
everything we do involves some sort of safety risk. So how do we protect ourselves
and others from these potential injuries?
October has been designated “Fire Prevention Month” to commemorate the infamous Great Chicago Fire that occurred in October of 1871. More than 300 people died in that fire and almost one-third of Chicago burned.
Fire extinguishers must be certified annually in accordance with local, state, and national codes and regulations. This is a thorough examination by a licensed Fire Extinguisher Inspector. The certification process requires inspectors to verify the extinguisher is fully pressurized, free from damage, and weighed appropriately. Annual inspections also require a pull test on the pin and seal replacement—this must be verified with a dated inspection tag. If the extinguisher fails to meet these requirements, it must be replaced.
Inspections, Investigations and Audits are a necessary part of the Safety process and therefore should be completed to the best of your ability. Compliance Inspections cause a lot of grief, but should be viewed as learning opportunities and improvements. There should be nothing to fear if you are doing what is expected and required. Investigations are used to determine the facts of a situation and typically answer the questions who, what, when, where, why and how. Audits should be viewed as a checks and balance between a process or procedure and the employees doing that activity. All three items can be stressful, intimidating and somewhat time consuming but when the focus is on learning and improvement, the results should be positive.
You feel it in the air. Labor Day has passed, leaves are starting to turn, days are getting cooler, and pumpkin spice is taking over the coffee shops. Fall is here, which also means school is back in session. Each school year 23.5 million children return to school nation-wide. During this time, school children are most at risk for injury when approaching or leaving the school bus and within school zones. Help make this school year safer for everyone by following these safety tips:
Save yourself, Save your project, Save your team, Save your client, Save your company.
Everyone has been involved in a safety issue at one time or another at work or on a project. How many times was the issue due to an accident? How many violations were revealed during an OSHA inspection? What about your company’s internal safety audit, what did it find? Did you see someone else at fault or maybe yourself at fault? Is a fellow worker in danger? What is the one thing in common in all of these questions? PEOPLE.
Think about your daily responsibilities and the people who are counting on you to come home safely. Working safe is a very small price to pay for being able to improve and maintain your lifestyle. There is no job that is worth the risk of injury.
Complacency can be defined as self-satisfaction, often combined with a lack of awareness of hazards. Complacency is extremely hazardous in the workplace. We get so used to things being done the same way that we do not always look at the hazards that may surround us. We also may underestimate the risk of tasks that we perform regularly, or fail to notice a change in our environment when we become complacent in our daily routines.
Situational awareness is being aware of what is happening around you in terms of where you are, where you are supposed to be, and whether anyone or anything around you is a threat to your health and safety.
Outdoor workers can be exposed to hot and humid conditions and are at risk of special hazards. Employers and employees should know the potential hazards in their workplaces and how to manage them.
A review of the OSHA stats regarding fatalities readily highlights trends on how workers are being hurt or killed. In fact in the latest report, three of the first five incidents listed, show workers who died from some sort of fall. It is important to remember here that non-work related injuries and fatalities often mirror the OSHA
statistics.
Here are a few examples showing how ladders are commonly misused. Many injuries and fatalities occur every day while working from ladders at relatively low heights. Working at any height is dangerous if safe ladder practices are not followed.
A near miss is an unplanned event that did not result in injury, illness, or
damage – but had the potential to do so. Only a fortunate break in the
chain of events prevented an injury, fatality, or damage; in other words, a
miss that was, nonetheless, very near. Other familiar terms for these events is a “close call”, or in the case of moving objects, “near collision” or a near hit.
Thousands of earthquakes occur every day. However, major earthquakes are much less common. There is no effective warning system for earthquakes, so it is important to have an emergency plan in place and know how to behave when an earthquake strikes.
By identifying these hazards, and understanding how they happen, we can take steps to protect ourselves. According to OSHA, an Electrical Hazard can be defined as a serious workplace hazard that exposes workers to burns, electrocution, shock, arc flash / arc blast, fire, or explosions.
At SSOE, we believe in our employee’s wellbeing. We understand that our employees are our most valuable asset.
Employees need to wear the proper respirator when working in environments with insufficient oxygen or where harmful dusts, fogs, smokes, mists, fumes, gases, vapors, or sprays are present. These types of hazardous exposures may cause
cancer, lung impairment, other diseases, or even death.
Aerial lifts include scissor lifts, articulating booms, bucket trucks, and cherry pickers. Many workers are killed or seriously injured because:
- Employees were not wearing a harness and fell out of the equipment.
- They were in the equipment when it tipped over and rode it to the ground.
- They were operating in close proximity to overhead lines and got electrocuted when the equipment touched a power line or electrical wires.
- Employees were crushed or struck by the equipment and another object.
High-visibility clothing started in the highway industry where workers were exposed to vehicle traffic and needed to be seen in all light conditions. Today, high-visibility clothing is worn in any situation where we want visibility on a worker and can be required on all construction projects to bring attention to the user.
Summer Time!! Yes folks, it’s that time again! Time for warm weather, grilling, picnics, water activities, travel, and outdoor fun! If you practice common sense and safety in all of your activities you will keep looking good, feeling good, and you won’t miss out on any of the fun.
When packing and making plans for a work road trip or vacation, don’t forget to
include “Safety” in all your preparations and activities. Vacations offer time to escape from everyday concerns and provide time to rest and rejuvenate our bodies and minds. However, many of the hazards associated with everyday life will also follow you on your travels, so be sure to include “Safety” in all your plans. Even seasoned “road warriors” need to prepare for safe and secure travels.
New Ladder Safety Standards
The new rule brought forward by OSHA sets out a requirement for employers to have
ladder safety or personal fall arrest systems for fixed ladders that extend more than 24
feet. It phases out the use of cages or wells for fall protection, and everything is to be
implemented under a very precise timeline.
The revised ruling establishes a phase out of ladder wells and cages over the next 20
years per OSHA 1910.128(b)(9)(i).
In the United States there are two regulatory agencies that can cite employers for not properly protecting employees. Both agencies fall under the United States Department of Labor; Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). These regulatory agencies are responsible for enforcing the safety and health laws to protect employees.
Fatalities caused by falls from elevation continue to be a leading cause of death for construction employees, accounting for 366 of the 971 construction fatalities recorded in 2017 (BLS data). Those deaths were preventable.
Just as motorists are allowed to drive their vehicles on public roadways, farmers are legally allowed to operate their farm equipment on those same roads. In rural areas, you may encounter farm equipment, and other slow moving vehicles. The best thing to remember as you follow a slow moving vehicle is to be patient and slow down.
Orange You 4 Safety? #orange4safety
Distracted driving is any activity that diverts attention from driving; talking or texting on your phone, eating and drinking, talking to people in your vehicle, changing the radio station, loud music, grooming, young children in the back seat, watching a video – anything that takes your attention away from the task of safe driving. Police are on the lookout, especially this month, for distracted drivers.
A Helping Hand….
Slips, Trips, and Falls can happen anywhere at work, home, or play. Often times these will happen when we are in a hurry, taking shortcuts, or simply not paying attention. All of these can be avoided if we just slowdown. Our lives can get so busy that we’re thinking of other things, therefore leaving us distracted.
It’s SSOE’s policy to provide employees, visitors, and contractors with a safe and healthy environment.
Many people are concerned about the possibility of a public health emergency such as a natural disaster, act of terrorism, or disease outbreak. You can take steps now to help you prepare for an emergency and cope if an emergency happens. To help you prepare,
we’ve provided step-by-step actions you can take before-hand to protect yourself and your loved ones.
Do you know how to do your job correctly? How do you know?
Ready to spring forward? Daylight Savings Time 2019 will begin for most of the U.S. on Sunday, March 10th, at 2 a.m. Nowadays, with our cell phones, computers, and electronics changing their time automatically, it can be easy to forget the opportunity to perform important annual upkeep in your home. To keep your family and home safe, as well as prepared, make time for this short safety checklist.
Last week we introduced you to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), which is specialized clothing or equipment worn for protection against health and safety hazards. PPE is designed to protect many parts of the body, i.e., eyes, head, face, hands, feet, and ears. Following are a few more details regarding PPE.
What is Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)?
PPE is equipment worn to minimize exposure to hazards that cause serious workplace injuries and illnesses. These injuries and illnesses may result from contact with chemical, radiological, physical, electrical, mechanical, or other workplace hazards.
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a poisonous, colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas. It has no detectable odor and is often mixed with other gases that do. Carbon monoxide can be inhaled without even knowing it. CO is emitted from burning natural gas, gasoline, kerosene, oil, propane, coal, or wood. Forges, blast furnaces, and coke ovens produce CO, but one of the most common sources of exposure is the internal combustion engine.
CO can be found in the home.
Many times, a violent act is preceded by a threat. The threats can be explicit or veiled, spoken or unspoken, specific or vague. Observed behavior might suggest the potential for some type of violent act to occur. Off-handed remarks or comments made to people close to the individual may suggest problematic behavior. Dealing with threats or threatening behavior, whether that is detecting, evaluating or finding ways to address it, may be the most important steps to prevent violence.
Slips, trips, and falls are the second highest cause of accidental deaths and injuries, behind motor vehicle accidents. Each year, almost two million disabling injuries and thousands of minor injuries occur on stairways. While slips, trips, and falls are the cause of numerous injuries and deaths every day, they are among the easiest to correct.
Winter weather and slippery conditions are here. Walking on snow and ice covered
sidewalks, parking lots, and work sites cause a substantial number of falls for workers and pedestrians. It is important to avoid routine behaviors and to be on guard for changing conditions and hazards. Wet or icy surfaces, uneven pavement, snow covered hazards, glare, and poor visibility all increase the risk for falls and injury. A minor fall may only result in bruised pride, however the potential is always there for serious injuries, such as broken bones or even fatal injuries.
Stop and think about your favorite winning sports team. How do they do it? Do they have a superstar that will always carry the team? Sometimes but not likely! Consistently winning teams are made up of individual players who all maintain a high level of intensity and share a collective mindset that they will not be defeated, and that is how they succeed as a team. Every team member puts in the hard work and practice that gives them the confidence and ability to make the winning plays when the game is on the line.