A manufacturer of industrial and pharmaceutical food coatings is facing $192,000 in proposed fines after an employee lost his hand when he contacted an unguarded rotating valve on a dust collection hopper. The plant was issued a repeat citation alleging a lack of machine guarding because a similar violation occurred in 2005. OSHA also issued a willful violation alleging failure to develop and implement required machine shutdown and lockout procedures. Twenty-five serious citations allege a variety of violations including locked, unmarked and obstructed emergency doors and routes, trip and fall hazards and confined space hazards.

[Mantrose-Haeuser Co. Inc., Attleboro, MA. Release number 08-34-BOS/BOS 2008-027, Jan. 24, 2008]

This shocking video from prevent.it.ca opens with the actor in the photo explaining how she’s not going to be getting married on the weekend because she is about to have a “terrible accident.” The actor then picks up a boiling hot deep fryer, saying she should first have cleaned up spilled grease on the floor, and suddenly slips and falls, dumping the pot’s scalding contents onto her face and body. The video closes with the statement “there really are no accidents.” This is a disturbing, but extremely effective video that you can use to bring home to your workers the importance of promptly cleaning up any spills.

One of the safety violations in this image is almost screaming at you, it’s so obvious. Never, and I mean never, use a forklift to lift a person, especially if that person is sitting inside another forklift, and that forklift is lifting yet another piece of heavy equipment! It’s a trifecta of a disaster waiting to happen.

Some forklifts are designed to lift personnel but this is clearly not one of them. Other hazards in this image include:

1. Overhead power lines, which we don’t know for sure, but it’s a safe bet to say they haven’t been de-energized.
2. No traffic control – unless you count all the bystanders and gawkers.
3. It doesn’t appear there are wheel chocks, or anything else, holding the bottom forklift in place to keep it from rolling away.
4. The weight of the second forklift, the man in the forklift, and the equipment being lifted is likely well over the rated capacity of the lift.

Operating a forklift comes with its own set of safety challenges, there’s no need to add more!

These workers are taking a potentially deadly risk by tying off to one another. If one were to fall, the other would surely follow and the chance of the fall protection equipment and/or anchor point failing is SKY HIGH!

The only thing a worker should ever tie off to is an anchorage point that meets or exceeds requirements set forth by federal or jurisdictional regulations. A co-worker’s harness is NOT designed to be used as anchorage point.

Most safety regulations and voluntary consensus standards necessitate anchorages and anchorage connectors:

• Must support 5,000 pounds (22.2 kN) per employee attached; or
• Be designed, installed and used under the supervision of a qualified person as part of a complete personal fall arrest system which maintains a safety factor of at least two; and
• Be located high enough for a worker to avoid contact with a lower level should a fall occur

Look closely and you can see the top of the ladder at the bottom left of this picture. The only thing this ladder was good for was getting this risky soul up onto the ledge he’s standing on. If he’s not careful he could earn his wings or end up with multiple broken bones, bruises, and a concussion. This balancing act should be stopped immediately and someone should help this worker get safely on his feet before his light is turned off for good.

This light fixture is in a tricky place for safe ladder use and for safely changing the bulb in this light fixture. How did he manage to get the bulb up there with him? Did he carry it while trying to balance on the two ledges? Did he have to bend over while balancing on the ledges, so someone could hand the bulb to him?

This, and other dangerous tasks, should always be discussed and planned beforehand to determine the safest way to get the work done.

Winter weather means snow and ice, which can cause slips-and-falls. So, this time of year, it’s important to take steps to ensure that outdoor areas of the workplace, such as stairs, sidewalks, parking lots, etc., are clear of snow and ice or treated with sand or de-icer.Otherwise, workers, customers, visitors, etc. may take a spill and injure themselves.

This picture shows a company parking lot in Utah, which resembles an ice skating rink due to the coat of ice that seems to cover the entire lot. Given these conditions, it’s no surprise that the man in the picture slipped and fell. This incident could have been prevented if the company had spread de-icer or salt to melt the ice and prevent new ice from forming.

In addition, the company could’ve spread sand in the lot to provide traction for anyone walking there. Failure to prevent minor incidents is setting the stage.

It’s almost hard to know where to begin this one – but once the shock and awe wears off, it’s obvious there’s a lot wrong with this picture.

First, the workers in this picture aren’t wearing any sort of PPE. No hard hats, safety, glasses, fall protection, or safety shoes, just to state the obvious.

Second, the obvious unsafe use of a ladder. Only one person should be on a ladder at a time. The area around the ladder’s base is not cleared of trip and fall hazards. You should never stand on the top two rungs of a stepladder.

Third, while we don’t know for sure, it does look a bit stormy in the background. Lightning and other weather-related hazards could very likely be present. If that’s the case, these workers should seek shelter immediately or they all three could end up being a lightning rod!

Whoever set this ladder up must have been so focused on getting the job done that he or she forgot to follow basic safety procedures. The lack of any sort of barricade to ward off oncoming vehicle traffic is the most glaring safety misstep.

We can’t see what this ladder is being leaned against but we can assume it’s a branch in the tree. Makes you wonder how sturdy the branch is, but even then, the area around the top (and bottom) of a ladder must be clear.

Finally, non-self-supporting ladders, must lean against a wall or other support, and be positioned at such an angle that the horizontal distance from the top support to the foot of the ladder is about 1⁄4 the working length of the ladder.

If this photo had been taken after June of 2013 or sometime before June of 2014, there wouldn’t be an issue with this fire extinguisher. However, it was taken recently and is well past time for an inspection. 

While the extinguisher may work, as it says on the inspection tag, “Void 1 year from Mo. Punched.” At a minimum, fire extinguishers must be visually inspected monthly, with a maintenance check done annually. Rechargeable fire extinguishers require more in-depth inspections every six years. This involves conducting a hydrostatic test, which requires the fire extinguishers to be emptied, placed under water and subjected to pressures exceeding their ratings.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/OSHA/comments/6jbgdu/i_mean_the_tag_is_even_dusty/

In a potentially crowded place such as a busy restaurant, unintended contact between workers is a definite possibility. The guy carrying the bussing tray isn’t watching where he’s walking and the server on the other side of the wall probably won’t have time to react and avoid a collision. It could be worse. She could have hot plates of food on her serving tray instead of what appears to be cold beverages. Luckily this is a set up shot illustrating a hazard and the need for maintaining situational awareness. (WorkSafeBC photo)

Unfamiliar Work Areas Can Be Dangerous

Talk about living on the edge. The person who snapped this picture must have done a double take or uttered “blimey” after witnessing this guy walking along the edge of a steep roof without fall protection. A fall from even a short height can be fatal. We’re willing to bet that this worker would be looking at a hospital stay at minimum if he lost his footing on this roof. The positioning of this ladder is a little dicey too, but that’s another story… (Health and Safety Executive, Great Britain)

Forklifts are remarkably effective tools in millions of workplaces, but like any other tool, they are prone to being misused, as this photograph illustrates. In this case, a forklift’s forks are being used to support scaffolding without the entire platform being securely bolted or otherwise safely attached to the forks. This type of setup may be convenient, but it’s not safe. (Naval Safety Center)

This photograph illustrates a problem that’s been in the news lately—housekeeping staff putting their lives at risk by attempting to clean the outside surfaces of windows in Singapore. We’re not sure where this picture was taken, or who to credit for it, but it shows how dangerous climbing out onto a window ledge can be. What good is a sparklingly clean window if the person who attended to it is lying severely injured or dead on the ground below?

Everyone knows how dangerous it is to text while behind the wheel of a moving car. This guy has upped the ante by taking his hands off the handlebars of his motorbike while texting! This biker is traveling at between 50 and 60 miles per hour (80 to 95 km/h), meaning that he is covering at least 73 feet or 22 meters every second with his eyes off the road. (Naval Safety Center)

Here’s a housekeeping hazard waiting to play out. This worker is wearing a hardhat and maintaining at least three points of contact with a ladder, but he could be one rung away from making contact with a sharp piece of metal. Should he bump into this object with his shoulder or an unprotected eye, the shock and pain could easily cause him to lose his grip and fall backwards, with potentially disastrous results. (ELCOSH)

Perhaps a tutorial on physics would benefit these daredevils. Riding in the back of this cube van with the back door closed would be dangerous enough, but if the driver suddenly swerved or hit the brakes hard, these movers could be ejected into traffic in a heartbeat. We wonder if they arrived at their destination without a police intervention.

(Naval Safety Center)

One wouldn’t normally expect to get hurt reaching for a fire extinguisher or first aid kit, but that outcome is a distinct possibility here. There’s an excavation between the safety equipment and anyone needing to access it, along with some rebar and other clutter. This is definitely not the picture of safety. (WorkSafeVictoria, Australia)

Okay, so this guy needs to gain access to the second floor window of this home in England, but his ladder isn’t long enough. Instead of borrowing the proper ladder, he lashes this short one to a not-very-sturdy garden gate and then uses a step ladder to access it. Would you trust this arrangement? Neither would we.

(WorkSafeVictoria, Australia)

Oh, the possibilities… A sudden gust of wind, a moment’s inattention, a loss of balance and this construction worker’s “tightrope training” session could go from death defying to death defining. This unbelievable photograph was snapped more than 30 floors above Sydney, Australia. (WorkSafeVictoria, Australia)

Where do we start with this one? Not only are the workers not using eye protection while chipping ice, they are also not using fall protection while standing on the slippery surface of a ship’s deck. Damage to the deck is also likely should these workers get a little overzealous in their ice-breaking activities.

(Naval Safety Center)

Just one little misstep is all it would take for this worker’s day to come crashing down in a painful, even deadly way. Sadly, such complete disregard for safety plays out thousands of times every day across the world and someone, somewhere, doesn’t make it home from work. (WorkSafeVictoria, Australia)

“Watch your step please” reads the sign outside this Illinois business. Given the condition of the steps leading up to it, that’s pretty sound advice! We wonder what type of business it is—hopefully not a doctor’s office or an injury attorney’s office. (Naval Safety Center)

Sure, leaving this telescopic boom on the flat deck is easier than unloading it and placing it on firm ground. But anything could go wrong, causing this machine and its load to fall and possibly take out a few windows and people in the process. (WorkSafeVictoria, Australia)

Will this flimsy makeshift car hoist hold out? Who knows, but we wouldn’t want to be the guy under it attempting to find out. We hope his helper doesn’t join him in the danger zone but he certainly seems to be walking towards potential trouble. (WorkSafeVictoria, Australia)

What do you do when you have a little truck, a long ladder and a need to transport said ladder. Certainly not this! Imagine if this flimsy arrangement failed in traffic. The possibilities for mayhem are nearly endless. (WorkSafeVictoria, Australia)