Safe Workplace and Safety News

As I was reviewing the end of the year OSHA announcements concerning citations and fines, I noticed that many of them included citations resulting from the lack of required labeling and/or signs.

An OSHA Press release dated December 22, 2006 states that St. Marys Foundry (Saint Marys, Ohio) was cited for workplace safety and health violations with penalties totaling $253,350. Included in that penalty was a citation for "not labeling permit-required confined spaces."

In an OSHA press released dated Dec. 15, 2006 OSHA reports that Universal Form Clamp (Bellwood, Illinois) was cited for workplace safety violations resulting from an investigation following an explosion and fire at the facility that took the life of one worker. The proposed fines total $151,650 and included a serious citation related to hazard communications.

A December 13th OSHA press release announces that OSHA has cited Wheeler Logging Co. of White Swan, Wash., for safety violations. The citations carry proposed penalties totaling $103,400. The citations include one "for failure to label containers of hazardous chemicals."

A December 26th press release from OSHA discusses Holo-Krome Inc. located in West Hartford, Conn. For the third time in six years, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has found widespread safety and health hazards at this facility, including "no annual reviews of lockout procedures to prevent the accidental startup of machinery;" and "no warning signs and asbestos awareness training for workers." The fines for all of the safety violations at Holo-Krome totaled $247,600.

Purchasing an industrial quality label printer, such as the DuraLabel 4TTP, is a good investment, both from a safety perspective and from a financial perspective. It allows you to make the signs and labels you need, as they are needed--it's economical, fast and easy.

Labels: OSHA, OSHA Citations, OSHA Fines, safety labeling

The switch to a global hazmat classification system is moving forward. One of the problems, as reported by The Society for Protective Coatings, is that:

"The proposed switch to the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) will reverse the hazard rankings currently used by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the proprietary Hazardous Materials Identification System (HMIS) developed by the National Paint and Coatings Association (NPCA). In the two current U.S. systems, chemicals with higher assigned numbers pose greater chemical hazards, while in the GHS higher numbers indicate less of a hazard." (Read the complete report.)

OSHA has published A Guide toThe Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) that is available at:

http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/ghs.html

This page provides a lot of information about the harmonization of hazardous chemical labeling, including tables that provide a comparison of MSDS elements for the following:

• Globally Harmonized System
• ISO Safety Data Sheet for Chemical Products 11014-1: 2003 DRAFT
• NSI MSDS Preparation Z400.1- 2004
• OSHA Hazard Communication Standard 29#CFR#1910.1200

Labels: global hazmat classification, hazard identifcation, OSHA, rtk labels

OSHA's responds to letters asking for clarification and interpretation of rules, codes and standards. OSHA then publishes those responses on their web site. The College of American Pathologists asked several interesting questions about labeling requirements which OSHA answered here.

Their questions include:

Is it necessary to label each bottle of reagent even if it will be used in a timely manner?

Are coding systems acceptable in place of writing precautionary information on secondary containers?

Does this requirement apply only to hazardous chemicals or to all chemicals used by a laboratory?

Labels: hazard identifcation, osha information, rtk labels, workplace safety

OSHA had been requiring that employees be specifically trained on the hazards of every hazardous chemical in their work area, instead of being trained on categories of chemicals. A recent ruling by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission has changed this. You can read about it in an article in Occupational Hazards.

The article states: "It is unlikely that OSHA will appeal the commission's unanimous decision, and it is highly unlikely that OSHA will amend the standard to require chemical-specific training. Therefore, employers are free to decide whether to train by hazard category or by specific chemical."

Labels: OSHA, Safety Training

An IEEE technical paper, published in Industry Applications Magazine, provides a unique and interesting view of industrial safety. The paper is titled, "How Do We See Safety?" To help us get a different perspective on safety it quotes several people, such as Mark Twain who said:

"It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you know that ain't so."

If what you "know" to be true is not really true, then you are in an unsafe situation. We tend to trust that "seeing is believing", but are we really seeing safe? The paper uses this example:

Suppose there is a routine task that needs to be done on a regular basis. This task can be done without safety precautions and you have never seen anyone get hurt while performing this task. Safety them becomes a very low value priority.

When I graduated from college with my electrical engineering degree 35 years ago, my first job involved testing newly installed control systems. These were digital controls using mechanical relays. One of the electricians who was working on wiring the control systems would test for voltage by touching the wires. He said that he never got hurt, as long as he used the back of his hand.

How did he see safety? He didn't. In this case he was totally blind to safety.

Read this technical paper to help you expand your ability to "see" safety.

Labels: Safety Training, workplace safety

We've added new content to our web site and re-arranged the menus so that topics are grouped together in a more logical way.

The new content includes a long page on the topic of Workplace Emergency Planning. Based on an OSHA booklet, it provides a complete overview of how to get prepared for the unexpected. Trying to figure out how to respond to an emergency, while you are in the middle of the emergency, is not the best approach, and it could lead to unnecessary injury, death or damage to your facility. This article describes how to create a complete emergency response plan.

We have also added the OSHA VPP Fact Sheet to our web site. This is a PDF document put out by OSHS that describes VPP. We left it in the PDF format so that, if needed, you may print good quality copies of this fact sheet.

Labels: Emergency Planning, Safety Training, VPP

An article in the ISHN e-Newsletter brings out the importance of using the right gloves in winter. Not only is cold a consideration, but vibration from tools, reduced grip strength, and decreased friction all combine during winter to result in an increased safety hazard.

The article is titled: Winter Wear for Safety’s Sake - Cold weather considerations for protecting workers’ hands.

The article points out that "In order to keep the hands warm, gloves are used. Unfortunately, the wrong type of glove can reduce grip strength, and workers may use even more force to compensate for the glove’s effect. In general, the following principle applies:

'When temperatures drop, the likelihood that a previously acceptable level of powered tool use now becomes dangerous increases.'"

Labels: PPE, workplace safety

This month's issue of Occupational Health & Safety magazine has an article called "Step By Step - Overall workplace organization and work practices are often at fault when workers sustain foot injuries." by Fred Elliott

You would think that an article about foot injuries would be an article about workboots. But, as the leading paragraph points out, the problem is more commonly found in workplace organization and practices:

"Crushing, punctures, lacerations, sprains, and even aches and pains are common problems workers have with their feet. Footwear that doesn't match their hazard exposures are a leading reason for these, but overall workplace organization and work practices are often at fault."

Learn what can be done to prevent foot injuries. Many of the recommendations in this article should be part of an overall improvement effort. For example, one recommendation is that there be worker involvement. This is exactly what a Kaizen program does... Kaizen is a method for improving safety, productivity, quality, employee retention, and other areas, through continue improvements made as a result of employee suggestions.

Labels: PPE, workplace safety