Unexpected emergencies occur every day in many facilities, including laboratories, offices, and residential buildings. It might be a fire, flood, earthquake, shooting, tornado, or hazardous chemical spill. If you don’t know what to do during an emergency the odds increase that you or others around you will be injured or killed.
A helicopter transfer may be needed due to the remoteness of the patient when they need medical attention, or the severity of their need requires rapid transfer to hospital care. Sometimes they need to move to a different hospital for treatment. Whatever the specifics of the case, these medical needs are urgent and often life threatening. The fastest and safest way to get them to the care they need is by helicopter. But it’s not without risks.
A scientist was conducting an experiment using a portable fluorescent lighting rack. The lighting rack was plugged into an electric timer, which was plugged into the wall. However, since the timer only accepted a two-prong plug, an adapter was used to allow the three-prong plug of the lighting rack to be used with the two-prong outlet of the timer.
A postdoc was badly scalded by water while removing items from the top autoclave of a tower-style autoclave. To autoclave her own materials, the doctor began to remove a load that belonged to another laboratory while standing on a low step-stool. The load in the autoclave consisted of a Nalgene tub that contained liter bottles of media with water around them. The water in the tub was near boiling temperature, and as the doctor attempted to remove it, the contents spilled down her torso and thighs.
We are all vulnerable to disasters–whether they’re the work of Mother Nature in the form of earthquake, tsunami, hurricane, tornado or flood or deliberate acts of mankind in the form of arson, bombing or other act of terrorism. Surviving such disasters often hinges on being prepared.
When a serious incident happens in the workplace, everyone will be busy dealing with the emergency. Helping injured victims, assessing if the danger has abated, trying to piece together what happened. So, it’s critical to be prepared to investigate an incident before one occurs.
Poisoning, accidental or intentional, causes significant harm or death to many US and Canadian people. Poisoning takes many forms as harmful chemicals can be breathed in, swallowed, touched or injected.
Two workers entered an unprotected trench (11 feet deep x 8 feet wide) to set new sections of pipe. Only one would survive.
One cubic yard of soil can weigh as much as a car and the pressure on the chest can make it impossible for a worker to breathe, even if his or her head is above the level of the collapsed soil. Often, it’s impossible to rescue a trench collapse victim quickly enough to prevent death.
There are some obvious hazards in this picture, yet it’s still a good tool for training and learning. Share this image with your crew and see how many hazards they spot. Then discuss why they are hazardous, how these hazards can be corrected, and what they would do if they were asked to work in this excavation.
Trenching and excavation work puts workers in mortal danger if the excavation is not inspected and cave-in protections are not in place. Use this daily checklist as a starting point and edit the list as necessary for location specific regulations and work performed.
Use this checklist as a starting point and edit the list as necessary for location specific regulations and work performed.
Slips, trips, and falls are consistently rank as one of the top 2 causes of injuries and deaths on the job. Our contributor, Zachary O’Dell from SafetyLine asks, “Have you taken these 6 precautions to avoid injuries in your own workplace?”
Hazardous walking and working surfaces account for hundreds of thousands of injuries and hundreds of deaths every year. This translates into billions of dollars spent on work comp, lost-time injuries, and days away from work. Set yourself, your employees, and your organization up for success by doing your part to keep these surfaces safe.
An excavation is any man-made cut, cavity, trench, or depression in an earth surface formed by earth removal. Trench is a narrow excavation (in relation to its length) made below the surface of the ground. In general, the depth is greater than the width.
A trench is an excavation, too, if it isn’t more than 15 feet (4.5 meters) wide at the bottom. And, if you install forms or other structures in an excavation that reduce its width to less than 15 feet, measured at the bottom, the excavation is also considered a trench.
Few experiences may be as frightening as when a crane becomes unbalanced while a load is being lifted or when the crane collapses under the weight of an excessive load. An unbalanced load or crane collapse can cause death to the operator, other construction workers, can cause damage to property or equipment.
Hazardous Locations are defined as premises, buildings or parts thereof where fire or explosion hazards may exist due to the presence of flammable gases or vapors, flammable liquids, combustible dusts, or easily ignitable fibers.
Hazardous Locations are defined as premises, buildings or parts thereof where fire or explosion hazards may exist due to the presence of flammable gases or vapors, flammable liquids, combustible dusts, or easily ignitable fibers.
Aerial lifts are commonly used by utility workers. Aerial lifts include boom-supported aerial platforms, such as cherry pickers or bucket trucks, and elevating platforms, such as scissor lifts.
Infographic - summer safety
Flammable and combustible liquids are responsible for workplace fires and fires at home. You may not realize it, but you probably have at least a few containers hanging out in your garage, basement, or under the kitchen sink.
One of the biggest challenges when you are investigating an incident is sorting out the irrelevant information from the relevant information. One way to do this is by using a systematic approach to investigate all incidents that focuses on finding the root causes.
The use, storage, and handling of flammable and combustible materials is critical to the safety of workers, property, the community, and the environment. This is a general checklist designed to give you a starting point.
What do these dual personality containers and a woman in Utah drinking sweet tea and a BBQ joint have in common?
Since it's your first time, you may want to checkout some of the video tutorials.
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