NIOSH Report Determines Texas Federal Wildfire Firefighter Died of Preventable Heatstroke

Posted by admin on Friday, May 18th, 2012 | Comments (0)

It’s always unfortunate when a firefighter loses his life in the call of duty while trying to save the lives of others. It’s worse when you learn that the death was preventable. Caleb Hamm, elite member of the federal Bureau of Land Management’s “Hot Shot” firefighting team, collapsed while working far away from his colleagues, working together to fight a brush fire threatening the Fort Worth area.

The report indicated that crewmembers were working with fewer breaks than normal, and the common belief amongst the crew was that extra breaks might jeopardize future employment opportunities, and that reporting heatstroke symptoms might result in discipline or reprisals, or cost them reputation or credibility.

The report recommends strategies to address these concerns, as well as strategies to improve heat stress management and response to emergency heatstroke situations.

With most Americans feeling the economic squeeze in every industry from construction to land management to law enforcement to the corporate office, it may be hard to take action when the consequences might be termination. However, the alternative may be a far worse tragedy than unemployment. Work safe and don’t forget to stay cool this summer.

Read the full NIOSH report here.

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Categories : NIOSH News, Personal Protective Equipment
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Canadian Police Hazardous Materials Teams Raid Backyard Drug Lab

Posted by admin on Friday, May 11th, 2012 | Comments (0)

A quick reminder from Greater Victoria, Canada that police need hazardous materials suits too:

Police drug lab experts in full hazardous materials suits and gas masks found unmarked chemicals in five-gallon drums in a backyard shed as part of a search performed in response to a neighbor’s report. Although it is too early to tell what the chemicals were to be used for, the contents were reportedly highly flammable and could have started an explosion if not handled with the full caution dangerous chemicals deserve.

This is an excellent example of the type of hazards that can be experienced by law enforcement officers that might require chemical protection and chemical handling skills in order to properly investigate crimes in progress. The information gathered at this scene will be used to determine what was being prepared for manufacture and distribution, as well as where it was being sourced, and proper care was needed to protect officers and properly preserve the evidence so that it could be tested appropriately and safely without contamination.

(full story available at the Victoria Times Colonist)

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Categories : Chemical Handling, Safety Topics for Work
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Michigan Legislation May Reduce Electrical Safety

Posted by admin on Friday, April 27th, 2012 | Comments (0)

A piece of legislation up for consideration in Michigan would push their current standard of electrical safety back significantly, moving from inspections and review of building and electrical code requirements every three years to every six years. Legislators argue that the current frequency of changes hampers builders and that the extension would add consistency, but the bill has met with significant criticism from many other sources. State fire officials and electrical safety inspectors point out that this would cause an increase in electrical hazard potential in homes, businesses, hospitals, and other facilities affected by the bill; many consumer groups note that the bill would increase home insurance costs due to the reduction in safety.

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Categories : Electrical Safety Topics, Safety at the Workplace, Safety Topics for Work

Basic Electrical Safety at Home

Posted by admin on Friday, April 13th, 2012 | Comments (0)

While we’re mostly focused on protecting you in the workplace, it pays to remember a few basic bits of wisdom when dealing with electrical appliances at home. HGTV’s list of tips should help enhance your electrical safety and save you money at the same time.

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Categories : Electrical Safety Topics

Five DC Firefighters Burned By Bureaucracy

Posted by admin on Friday, April 6th, 2012 | Comments (0)

At American Work Safety, we want workers of all stripes to have the safety equipment they need to do their jobs. That’s why when we heard about this, we were frankly a little appalled at this story by the Washington Examiner:

Apparently, an order placed in October 2010 to be filled by January 2011 resulted in the Washington DC fire department receiving a total of 1,750 fire-resistant shirts costing the city $68,250. Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be surprising; firefighters wear fire-resistant shirts under their turnout gear as an additional layer of protection, similar to how other industrial workers wear flame-resistant shirts under arc flash suits or other protective wear for extra protection. Here’s the surprising part: none of the shirts were given to firefighters. They sat there in boxes for over a full year because they did not have the correct D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services patch applied to them, and thus the Fire Chief forbade them from being worn, leaving them in storage instead of distributing them.

What’s the big deal about this? President Ed Smith of the Washington DC Firefighters’ Union is not amused specifically because this oversight has left the fire crews without important and necessary safety equipment — and resulted in a team of five firefighters being hospitalized last April for serious or critical injuries that may very well have been reduced had they been wearing that extra layer of protection under their turnout gear. Worse, replacement fire-resistant uniform shirts are unlikely to arrive at firehouses until mid-June or later.

The moral of this story? Nothing is as dangerous to a safety program as a bureaucratic program that does not consider safety as its primary objective. Always bear in mind that protecting the lives of your workers with the proper flame resistant apparel today is going to be far less costly than the possible effects of lawsuits and public relations damage should you insist upon safety violations for aesthetics.

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Categories : Flame Resistant, Safety at the Workplace
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ANSI Approves Two New Standards For Fall Protection

Posted by admin on Tuesday, March 6th, 2012 | Comments (0)

The American National Standards Institute has adopted two new standards regarding fall protection, one for personal fall arrest and rescue systems, and the other for assisted-rescue and self-rescue systems, as part of the Z359 Fall Protection Code.

The new Z359.14-2012 standard, Safety Requirements for Self-Retracting Devices for Personal Fall Arrest and Rescue Systems, establishes requirements for performance, design, testing, storage, inspection, and retirement of self-retracting devices such as lanyards, as well as other self-retracting devices intended to be used in personal fall arrest systems on people between 130 and 310 lbs.

According to Tom Wolner, vice president of engineering for Capital Safety and chair of the committee that wrote the Z359.14 standard, this will address different types of lanyards, classify them by performance, evaluate devices that may be exposed to sharp edges, require proper training for users and guidelines for inspection depending on the conditions the device is used under.

The Z359.4-2012 standard for assisted-rescue and self-rescue systems, meanwhile, establishes these requirements for connectors, harnesses, lanyards, anchorage connectors, winches, hoists, descent control devices, rope tackle blocks, and self-retracting lanyards with rescue capability for one or two persons. The focus, according to Wolner, is to emphasize the need for preplanning potential rescue scenarios to develop effective rescue procedures, including an analysis of rescue needs, proper equipment selection, training, and periodic evaluation of training and equipment.

American Work Safety thinks that a properly implemented fall protection program is a vital component of any operation involving working at heights. Contact one of our industrial safety experts for more information on how to properly implement these new standards into your workplace environment.

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Categories : American National Standards Institute, Fall Protection, Safety at the Workplace
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Electrician Survives Power Transformer Explosion Due To Protective Clothing

Posted by admin on Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 | Comments (0)

You, up there on that utility pole. Are you wearing your arc flash suit? Including the hood and the safety glasses? Sure, it might feel silly, but you’ll be grateful if you’re like this woman in New Zealand who had a power transformer explode in her face. Her gear was crisped, but it kept her from suffering much worse burns.

Keep that hood on; it’s part of your kit for a reason, and it’s not worth risking your life over to leave it off.

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Categories : Electrical Safety Topics, Safety at the Workplace

High Visibility Vests – The Right Tool for the Job

Posted by admin on Thursday, February 16th, 2012 | Comments (0)

Just a friendly reminder for anyone working outdoors in high-traffic areas; keep your high-visibility vests or other apparel on and make sure your vest is up to spec. What specs do you need? Per ANSI guidelines:

Class 1 vests are generally designed for workers where traffic does not exceed 25 mph, and there is adequate separation between traffic and worker. For example, parking lot attendants, valets, and warehouse personnel would be required to wear at least a Class 1 vest, although many choose to wear Class 2 vests.

Class 2 vests are designed for individuals operating near roadways where traffic exceeds 25 mph, and where enhanced visibility may be needed in poor weather conditions. Airport ground personnel, highway construction crews on side streets, and traffic safety personnel would all wear Class 2 vests, though some opt for Class 3 vests.

Class 3 vests are designed for maximum worker visibility, and are made for high risk environments where traffic speeds exceed 50 mph, in any weather conditions. Highway construction crews rely on Class 3 vests as a lightweight safety precaution, and many other workers who must venture into high-traffic areas adopt a Class 3 vest or Class 3 work apparel for personal safety reasons.

Of course, you don’t have to work in a high traffic area to want a high-visibility vest; those of us who enjoy walking to work find the experience less hazardous with a good ANSI-rated vest!

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Categories : Uncategorized

Wichita Area Builders Association Claims OSHA is Killing the Construction Industry

Posted by admin on Friday, February 10th, 2012 | Comments (1)

The Wichita Area Builders Association isn’t too happy with OSHA regulations and fines. To be more specific, the increased enforcement of regulations in the construction industry has meant higher fines that they claim are ruining smaller businesses. This has particularly affected roofing contractors, where violations in fall protection are easily visible without formal inspections required, and owners of small businesses claim that they are being unfairly targeted.

Read the full story here, courtesy of the Wichita Eagle.

While people have been accusing OSHA of becoming more strict, the fact remains that little has actually changed; in many cases, OSHA is merely taking a more active stance on enforcing rules that have been in place since 1994. In contrast, OSHA has also been offering on-site consultations and training sessions to ensure these problems don’t occur in the first place, and can be corrected before they ever become an issue. We believe that proper training and equipment can save lives and protect profits, whereas skimping on either can be costly to workers and employers alike. With this in mind, don’t skimp on your fall protection and personal protective equipment budget this season if you’re in the construction industry; OSHA will most certainly be watching.

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Categories : OSHA Safety Topics, Safety at the Workplace, Safety Topics for Work
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California OSHA Reminds Employers To Post Summary of Workplace Illnesses and Injuries

Posted by admin on Monday, February 6th, 2012 | Comments (0)

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Department of Industrial Relations in California would like to remind all employers that Form 300A, which documents the summary of all work-related injuries and illnesses occurring during the previous year, must be posted for employee review from February 1st through April 30th.

The form includes information on workplace injuries, total number of days injured or sick employees spent away from work, total number of individual cases that caused lost time, and the specific types of injury or illness suffered.

The form is intended to provide accurate reporting of injuries and illnesses in a readily reviewable format so that present and former employees can better understand job hazards, and so that employers can determine what additional health and safety measures are needed in order to improve worker safety in future years.

We feel that it is important to have this information available for evaluation so that employers and employees can determine subtle causes of injury and illness that may not be readily apparent, and provide and utilize appropriate personal protective equipment such as respiratory protection or earplugs to improve future worker safety.

(Information provided by the Wall Street Journal MarketWatch and PR Newswire.)

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Categories : OSHA Safety Topics, Safety at the Workplace, Safety Topics for Work, Workplace Injuries Statistics
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Bulwark Care Info

 
Keep your Bulwark clothes in top condition and protect your investment in your fire retardant clothing. FR clothing that's washed properly will retain its fire resistance for the life of the garment. Get the PDF Instructions here.

New NIOSH Study

NIOSH announced a plan to see how worker health affects accident outcomes, i.e., how the health of the worker contributes to the extent of injury or damage. This has significant implications both legally and financially for thousands of businesses. We'll keep you posted.

OSHA Alert!

Fines 7 Companies in December
OSHA is seriously enforcing fall protection standards by fining or proposing fines for seven companies in December 2011 alone. The total amounts to $758,200 in settled and proposed fine amounts.