Safe Workplace and Safety News

This is the safety news blog for the Safe Workplace web site. We cover workplace safety related news with a focus on how safety, or a lack of safety, impacts employers, employees and their families. We also cover topics such as safety training, safety tools, and legal issues related to safety. For regular safety news and information enter your email address in the box above the Subscribe button to the right (then click on the button).

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Watch Out For The Unexpected

It is often the things we don't think about that get people hurt. For example, what happens when an aerosol can is exposed to high temperatures....?

The is a quote from Daily Record in Dunn, NC:

"Teen Burned In Fryer Accident Still Critical

An Erwin teen injured in an accident at Andy's in Dunn Sunday remains in critical condition at UNC Hospitals' burn unit in Chapel Hill.

Corbett Hicks, an employee at the Andy's in Harnett Crossing Shopping Center, was severely burned last Sunday afternoon as he was cleaning one of the restaurant's deep fryers. Corbett turned 19 Saturday, according to his mother.

Corbett's mother, Teressa Hicks, said her son was in critical condition and has been sedated since the accident.

"It burned his face, his chest, his stomach, both arms front and back and his left thigh to the knee," Mrs. Hicks said. "He will respond when I speak to him, but as far as talking to him, I've not been able to.

Unconfirmed reports say the accident occurred around 4 p.m. Sunday when an aerosol can of cooking spray fell into a grease-cleaning machine and exploded."

(Read the entire article at: The Daily Record)

Would you have been able to anticipate this and established a procedure or guidelines to prevent this incident? If you were the safety director for this restaurant, what would you have done (before this happened) that might have made a difference?

Labels: fire safety, workplace safety

posted by Steve Hudgik | Workplace Safety Post 0 Comments | Add Comment | links

Thursday, August 07, 2008

What To Do When Responding To A Fire

When responding to or fighting a fire, firefighters are in a dangerous situation. They know they are in a dangerous situation, yet firefighters do not always follow the proper safety procedures. An article in yesterday's issue of Fire Rescue 1 magazine looks into this behavior and presents conclusions that are useful to all of us.

The article states:

"Working safely makes sense. Firefighter death and injury statistics don't. Within the fire service, activists are well aware of the issues. They have created programs for defensive driving, seat belt awareness, safety officer training, wellness, and a host of others. The programs are internationally supported and recognized. But still death and injury statistics are relatively unchanged. How can that be the case? We have the information we need to prevent many of these situations so what is in the way?"

"One would think that the chance of serious injury or death would be enough to motivate safe practices. Since the stats prove this isn't always the case, we have to explore other reasons for failure to comply with safety recommendations. That brings us to the idea of workplace culture and whether proactive attitudes toward safety planning and action are automatic."

Read the entire article online. It is titled: A Workplace Culture Based on Safety.

Labels: fire safety, Industrial Safety, workplace safety