Is This a Safe Place for a Smoke? What’s wrong with this picture?

Well, you can’t say he wasn’t warned! Maybe he doesn’t speak English; maybe he just flat missed the “NO SMOKING” warning he’s directly facing; or maybe he’s so hard up for a cig that he just doesn’t care if lighting up could detonate an explosion.

The Moral: There’s no such thing as a safe place to smoke. But when workers ply the nasty habit around flammables, they endanger not only themselves but everybody in the vicinity.

WHAT’S AT STAKE: 3 Reasons to Pay Attention

1. Your work area contains flammable liquids like fuels, solvents and cleaning chemicals that can explode and burst into flames if something causes them to ignite.

2. The things you do while working with or near flammable liquids can ignite fires and explosions—like smoking near them a la the gentleman in the photo.

3. Although we’ve taken steps to protect you—like installing ventilation and storing flammables in specially designed containers—you need to do your part by controlling “ignition sources.”

8 FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS SAFETY DO’s & DON’T’s

To prevent explosions and fires when working with or near flammable liquids:

• DO look at the label of the container to determine the kind of flammable liquid inside
• DON’T store or use flammable liquids near an ignition source
• DO make sure all storage drums are grounded to prevent static electricity when transferring flammable liquids from one container to another
• DON’T smoke when using or near flammable liquids
• DO place fire extinguishers near areas where flammable liquids are stored
• DON’T fill containers of flammable liquid past 80% of the container’s capacity
• DO transport flammable liquids in the back of a truck or trunk of a car rather than inside the vehicle
• DON’T use flammable liquids unless you’ve been trained to do so properly