Safety Talk

What’s at Stake?

Working at heights without fall protection is irresponsible and dangerous. You could end up getting yourself killed or injuring or killing someone else. In fact, thousands of workplace injuries and deaths could be prevented each year by wearing fall protection.

What’s the Danger?

How many unsafe activities and conditions do you see in this photo? The one that stands out the most is the total lack of fall protection and regard for personal safety this worker is demonstrating

Most workplace deaths and serious fall-related injuries happen because of falls from heights.

How to Protect Yourself

4 Ways to Stop Falls from Heights

1. Always use fall protection when working at heights.

Employees working at heights 6 feet/3 meters or more, must use fall protection—guardrails, safety nets, or personal fall arrest system.

You want to choose a harness, lanyard and connectors that will either stop you from falling, such as a positioning device, or arrest your fall, i.e. a shockabsorbing lanyard.

2. Choose your lanyard wisely.

Think about the total fall distance when selecting a lanyard and anchor point. Lanyards must limit free fall to no more than 6-feet and 1,800 pounds of force.

To do this, always select the shortest possible lanyard. Using a longer lanyard will lead to a longer fall and more force on your body upon impact. How much force? A 200-pound worker falling 10-feet is subject to 8,000 pounds of force on impact.

3. Use a Solid Anchorage Point.

Anchor points literally anchor you and your protective equipment to the structure you’re working from in the event of a fall. You want to choose ones that will support you if you fall, be high enough to prevent you from hitting the ground if your lanyard deploys, and will prevent you from slamming into other structures as you swing and dangle after falling.

Anchor points for vertical lifelines or lanyards must be able to hold 5,000 pounds of force. Guardrails and conduit DO NOT make safe anchor points.

Each worker must be attached to a separate vertical lifeline. The buddy system doesn’t apply here.

4. Deal with Damaged Equipment

First, inspect all equipment prior to each use. Look for frays in the webbing, burns, chemical damage, and other signs of wear and tear.

Next, check your connectors. It should take two actions to open a snap hook or carabiner, not just a single click and push. This prevents the lanyard from rolling out of the hook in a fall. Do not use equipment that is damaged.

NEVER use fall protection equipment that has been in a fall. If your harness or lanyard have been in a fall, report the fall to your supervisor and turn in your equipment.

Finally, look to see if guardrails, ladder cages, safety nets and hole covers are in place and secure. Report any issues to your supervisor right away.

Final Word

Don’t leave your safety up in the air! Wear the right fall protection whenever you are working from heights!

Safety Talk

What’s at Stake?

Workplace traffic can be every bit as dangerous as that found on the city streets. In a collision between a 2000-pound industrial vehicle and a 200-pound person, the pedestrian is very likely to come out the loser.

What’s the Danger?

Low light and poor visibility, high traffic volume, increased stopping distances and decreased vehicle responsiveness, are just some of the factors that up the danger level for pedestrians in the workplace.

Here’s a chilling real-life example of a deadly pedestrian incident at work. An Arizona woman lay dead for three days while her husband frantically searched for her. Truck driver Sheila Ross was struck and accidentally pushed and pinned inside a lettuce truck while it was being loaded. No one witnessed the collision and apparently the forklift operator was unaware of the incident. Sheila’s body was discovered three days later by a dock worker. The weight of the material that pinned her down, caused her to suffocate.

How to Protect Yourself

Here are 8 reminders about pedestrian safety to take with you as you walk through your day:

1. Wear a reflective vest.
2. Stick to walkways and designated crosswalks. Don’t take shortcuts.
3. Stay alert. Don’t get so lost in conversation, your phone, or deep thought that you don’t notice the hazards around you.
4. Remove your earbuds. Forklift operators often sound horns to warn pedestrians, but if you’re wearing earbuds and listening to music, you’re not only less likely to hear a horn, you may also be unaware of what’s going on around you and walk right into the path of moving machinery.
5. Look ALL ways before crossing a traffic lane, including behind and beside you for any vehicles turning in from alleys or side streets.
6. Avoid approaching a forklift from the side. If the forklift suddenly backs up and turns sharply, someone approaching from the side can easily be struck.
7. Don’t rely on traffic control devices. A “walk” sign only means that you may proceed if it’s safe to do so.
8. Never assume that vehicle drivers see you and never assume they will stop. Make eye contact with drivers and wait for permission to pass, even if the vehicle has stopped.

Final Word

As a forklift operator, you do everything you can to warn workers on foot of your presence. One of your coworkers, is in a world of her own. She is always looking at her phone as she walks through the warehouse, and has walked in front of your forklift more than once. How should you handle it?

Safety Talk

What’s at Stake?

Flammable and combustible materials, such as gasoline, solvents, and paints, pose real danger to persons and property because they ignite easily and burn rapidly. Keep in mind, it is the vapors from these materials, not the liquids themselves, that ignite and burn. These vapors often can’t be seen or detected by smell.

What’s the Danger?

When an injury is caused from the impact of being hit by something it is considered a struck-by incident. When an injury happens from being pulled into or crushed between two or more objects it is considered a caughtbetween incident.

• Flammable liquids and gases can ignite at temperatures under 100 °F or 37.8 °C—a temperature close to room temperature and easily reachable on most days during the summer.
• Combustible liquids at temperatures above 100 °F or 37.8 °C, can release enough vapor to form burnable mixtures with air.
• Spray mists of flammable and combustible liquids in air can burn at any temperature if there is an ignition source

How to Protect Yourself

Understanding what you’re working with and how to prevent ignition is key to working safely with flammables and combustibles.

Safe Use

• Read the container label and the safety data sheet (SDS) for each flammable and combustible substance you work with.
• Avoid ignition sources such as open flames, smoking materials, hot surfaces, sparks and static electricity. Don’t smoke near flammable and combustible liquids.
• Wear the right personal protective equipment (PPE) and use the right ventilation systems.
• Use grounding and bonding wires to prevent static electricity buildup.
• Know the location of the fire extinguishing equipment and the spill control station before you begin work. Familiarize yourself with the equipment and how to use it.

Safe Storage

Store flammable and combustibles separately in a temperature-controlled area that is well-ventilated and away from sources of heat and electricity.

Use a special storage room or an approved safety container with vaportight caps and flame arrestors.

Examine containers periodically to ensure labels are on and readable and containers are in good condition—no rust, holes, damage or leaks.

Safe Disposal

• Read the SDS to learn the safest way to dispose of flammables and combustibles.
• Never pour either into the drain, sewer, garbage or ground. ƒ Dispose of clothing and other materials that have been contaminated according to company policy.

Final Word

Don’t let your safety go up in flames. Know the hazards of flammables and combustibles you work with and how to use, transport, and store them safely.

Date: July 19, 2017

Slides Click here

Speaker: Matthew Allen, M.Eng., P.Eng.

The presentation will review the elements of managing confined spaces in industrial settings and the frequent challenges faced by property and operations managers in changing old worker habits to fit the more rigorous modern regulatory requirements. Commonly debated aspects will be reviewed in terms of spaces that are often miscategorised and not properly managed as a result. The challenges of ensuring proper rescue and response resources will also be discussed along with some common sense solutions for balancing compliance with day-to-day realities in industrial settings.

Participants can expect to learn:

• What are the frequently misclassified confined spaces;
• How to avoid the need for entry in the first place;
• The tough realities of ensuring safety and emergency response during entries.

About the speaker
Matthew Allen, M.Eng., P.Eng.

Matthew Allen is a Consulting Engineer bringing over 18 years of experience in chemical, materials and environmental engineering. He’s Vice President of Strategic Development for Health, Environmental & Regulatory Services at Intertek. His strengths include chemicals and hazardous materials management; health & safety; environmental emergency planning; spills response and remediation. Matthew has spoken and written on various topics ranging from the management of hazardous material, to risk and liability management of spills and pollution prevention (P2) in industry. Matthew is also a national instructor with the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering (CSSE).

Safety Talk

Instructions: Here’s a Handout explaining machine guarding that you can distribute to your workers as part of the general machine safety training you provide to your work crews. Although the Handout deals with a particular type of machine—namely, mechanical power presses— it deals with machine guarding in a general way so that you can use it even if you don’t have presses at your own workplace

Is This Machine Safely Guarded?

Do you think it’s a good idea for the worker in this picture to be sticking his hand into that machine?

Sticking your hands into a machine is an excellent way to lose your fingers and maybe your whole hand.

The good news is that the machine in this picture, a mechanical power press, has a guard to prevent workers from reaching inside.

The bad news is that the guard obviously isn’t narrow enough to keep a worker from reaching in.

So the story of why this photo exists should come as no surprise. A government safety inspector took the photo. And why was he at the worksite? Answer: He was responding to an actual incident in which a worker reached through the guard and into the machine and got his hand chopped off. The sad thing is that the accident wouldn’t have happened if the guard had been narrow enough.

What’s at Stake?

How Power Press Injuries Happen

Power presses are machines that shear, punch, stamp, form, or assemble metal or other material by means of tools or dies attached to slides. Of course, what works on metal works equally well on human flesh. That’s why power presses cause so many workplace amputations and crushing injuries each year. 4 ways you can get mutilated by a power press:

1. You can get caught by the tool and die.
2. You can get trapped by other moving parts of the machine.
3. You can get hit by a metal object launched by the machine after the tool breaks down.
4. Your limbs, clothes, hair, or jewelry can get entangled in the rotating parts of the machine.

How Injuries are Prevented

4 Most Common Machine Guards

The principal method of preventing power press and other machine injuries is to use machine guards, or barriers that block workers’ access to the danger areas. There are 4 basic kinds of machine guard:

Guards are physical barriers that block workers’ access to the danger area. There are 4 basic kinds of guards:

1. Fixed guards that are a permanent part of the machine.

(Note: The machine guard in our “Spot the OSHA Violation” quiz above is also a fixed guard; but its openings are too wide to keep a worker from reaching into the guard and making contact with the point of operation).

2. Adjustable guards that allow for flexibility in accommodating different sizes of stock fed into the machine.

3. Interlocked guards that automatically shut off or stop the machine when a tripping mechanism is activated and keeping it stopped until the guard is put back in place.

4. Self-adjusting guards in which the size of the opening in the barrier adjusts to accommodate the stock, e.g., enlarges to allow larger stock to enter.

Date: June 21, 2017

Slides Download

Speaker: Paul Lalonde, Partner, Emond Harnden

The use of “medical marijuana” is on the rise and the Trudeau election promise of “legalizing marijuana” is underway. This seminar will help HR and OHS managers understand and manage the many workplace legal risks associated with marijuana and other substances, legal and otherwise. We will cover:

• The current state of the law;
• Who’s using medical marijuana and why;
• Drug use and fitness for duty;
• The human rights duty to accommodate; and
• Alcohol and drug testing policies.

About the speaker
Paul Lalonde, Partner, Emond Harnden

Paul serves a large client base in the public, broader public and private sectors, including employers who operate in the construction industry. He provides counsel in a wide range of labour and employment matters, and has gained considerable experience in the areas of employee and labour relations as well as occupational health and safety, and workplace safety and insurance.

Paul provides strategic advice and counsel to employers faced with union organizing campaigns, and frequently represents employers in unfair labour practice complaints, applications for certification, and other proceedings before labour boards. He also has considerable collective bargaining experience, often acting as the spokesperson for his clients at the bargaining table, and when necessary providing strategic advice in strike and lockout situations, and representation at interest arbitration proceedings.

Paul also provides advice and representation in wrongful dismissal, employment standards, and human rights matters, and assists employers with the development and implementation of strategies to minimize the costs associated with terminations and workplace accidents, and in achieving compliance with the numerous and seemingly ever increasing statutory and other legal obligations that are imposed on employers.

¿QUE ESTÁ EN RIESGO?

Ah, la belleza de la primavera, las flores floreciendo y los árboles brotando. Sin embargo, esta belleza a menudo viene a expensas de fuertes tormentas, tornados, lluvias torrenciales e inundaciones. Si no tiene un plan y no usa su cabeza, podría terminar muerto. Es así de simple.

¿CUÁL ES EL PELIGRO?

Más de 1.000 tornados ocurren cada año, con un número de muertes que varía dependiendo de cuán activa y seria sea la temporada de tornados. Puede ser menos de 20 en algunos años o más de 500. Esa fue la trágica realidad en 2011, cuando 553 personas perdieron la vida.

Los tornados son feroces, rápidos y aterradores, pero ¿le sorprendería saber que las inundaciones repentinas son sistemáticamente una de las principales causas de muertes relacionadas con el clima en los EE.UU. Aproximadamente 200 personas mueren cada año por inundaciones repentinas y más del 50 por ciento de los ahogamientos relacionados con las inundaciones están relacionados con los vehículos.

El rayo es otro subproducto mortal del clima primaveral. Al igual que los tornados y las inundaciones, los relámpagos pueden ocurrir en cualquier mes, pero la primavera es una época especialmente activa. Los relámpagos matan a un promedio de 30 personas al año.

COMO PROTEGERSE

El primer paso para protegerse de las tormentas de primavera es estar preparado y alerta. Preste atención al cielo, a las condiciones meteorológicas y a las advertencias y alertas meteorológicas.

Prepare un kit de suministros de emergencia con al menos 72 horas de comida y agua. No es raro quedarse varado o sin agua y electricidad durante tres o más días después de una emergencia climática.

Si el meteorólogo le aconseja que se ponga a cubierto, hágalo inmediatamente. Sepa dónde buscar refugio en el trabajo y en casa. En caso de tormentas eléctricas, protéjase del viento, los relámpagos y el posible granizo. Refúgiese dentro de un edificio o área cubierta. Manténgase alejado de las ventanas. Recuerde, aunque no esté lloviendo, puede ser alcanzado por un rayo; por lo tanto, vaya rápidamente a un lugar seguro si ve un rayo.

En caso de un tornado, se quiere ir al piso más bajo posible. Si hay un sótano, vaya a él y agáchese debajo de las escaleras si es posible. Si no hay un sótano, o no tienes tiempo de llegar a uno, ve a la habitación interior más cercana, como un armario o un baño. Aléjese de las ventanas. Use una manta o un colchón para protegerse de los escombros que vuelan. Si es posible, trate de evitar estar en un edificio con un techo de gran amplitud, como un auditorio, una iglesia o un salón. Estos techos son vulnerables a derrumbarse en un tornado.

Si está conduciendo, parquee su vehículo de forma segura y llegue a un edificio. Si no puede llegar a un edificio, aléjese del auto, acuéstese en un lugar plano y boca abajo en un terreno bajo y manténgase alejado de otros autos o árboles.

Debido al deshielo de la nieve y a las fuertes lluvias de las tormentas, las inundaciones son comunes en la primavera. Sólo seis pulgadas de agua de inundación rápida pueden derribar a un adulto. La gente subestima la fuerza y el poder del agua. Sólo se necesitan 12 pulgadas de agua corriente para arrastrar un auto pequeño y dos pies de agua corriente pueden arrastrar la mayoría de los vehículos. NUNCA es seguro conducir o caminar sobre las aguas de la inundación. El mejor consejo cuando se encuentre con agua estancada en el camino es “¡De la vuelta, no se ahogue!”

CONCLUSIÓN

Tómese su tiempo para aprender sobre los peligros del clima primaveral que son comunes en su área. Con un poco de previsión, planificación y conciencia puede reducir el caos del tiempo impredecible y a menudo mortal de la primavera.

Recorded: Wednesday March 22, 2017
Slides: Click Here
Title: How to Make Online Training Stick
Speaker: Natae Bugg, MS, CSP, Senior Manager, Safety Training and Solutions at SafetyNow

Whether you’ve just started using online training as part of your safety program or you’ve been using it for years.

Whether your completion rates for online courses are still picking up steam or are almost at 100%.

Even if your training program checks off all the boxes for compliance on required topics, there’s a lingering thought in the back of your mind:

“Do my workers really understand and retain the training material enough to apply it and truly be safe on the job?”

In other words, is the training bringing about the desired behaviour or behaviour change that will reduce errors, unsafe acts, and ultimately incidents and injuries?

One way to ensure the answer is “YES” is to understand what makes online training memorable and what factors lead to the greatest understanding and retention of online training materials.

In this webinar, the final in our four-part series on online training, Natae covers:

• • Training challenges that diminish understanding and retention of online learning.
  • Tips for overcoming these challenges, including making thoughtful assignments and the use of gamification to increase understanding and engagement.
  • The Smart Seven – A guide for choosing the best online content.

About the Speaker:

Natae Bugg is a CSP with almost 17 years of experience in the field of safety and health. She has worked as a safety and training manager in various fields, including construction, telecommunications and biotechnology. She was part of a team that helped launch a company-wide online safety training initiative to 26,000 employees as part of her tenure with T-Mobile. She currently works at SafetyNow, overseeing the development of training, compliance and reinforcement materials.

Recorded: February 8, 2017

Speaker: Heather Hettiarachchi, LL.B, M.Sc

Slides: Download

This webinar provides an overview of employer obligations in relation to workplace bullying and harassment with an emphasis on BC’s legislation in this regard. Upon completion of the webinar, participants will be able to:

• • Define workplace bullying and harassment
  • Understand the effects of workplace bullying and harassment
  • Understand employer, worker and supervisor obligations in relation to workplace bullying and harassment
  • Understand how to deal with a complaint of bullying and harassment.

About the SpeakerHeather Hettiarachchi, LL.B; M.ScHeather is a lawyer, investigator and mediator, with a unique combination of legal expertise and extensive hands-on human resources management and labour relations experience. Prior to being called to the BC Bar, she was a Human Resources Manager at the University of British Columbia and Labour Relations Advisor to Vancouver Community College.Heather provides legal advice on all aspects of employment and labour issues arising in the union and non-union context through her law firm, Integritas Workplace Law. Heather also provides workplace mediation services, general human resources support to employers, and workplace investigation services. Heather is a frequent speaker and webinar presenter and regularly contributes articles on workplace issues.Want help from Heather? Contact her at:

Phone: 604-816-8577

Website: www.integritasworkplacelaw.com

LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/heatherhettiarachchi

About the Speaker

Heather Hettiarachchi, LL.B; M.Sc

Heather is a lawyer, investigator and mediator, with a unique combination of legal expertise and extensive hands-on human resources management and labour relations experience. Prior to being called to the British Columbia Bar, she was a Human Resources Manager at the University of British Columbia and Labour Relations Advisor to Vancouver Community College.

Heather provides legal advice on all aspects of employment and labour issues arising in the union and non-union context through her law firm, Integritas Workplace Law. Heather also provides workplace mediation services, general human resources support to employers, and workplace investigation services. Heather is a frequent speaker and webinar presenter and regularly contributes articles on workplace issues.

Want help from Heather? Contact her at:

Phone: 604-816-8577

Website: www.integritasworkplacelaw.com

LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/heatherhettiarachchi

Recorded: Wednesday Jan. 18, 2017
Slides: Click Here
Title: Recorded Webinar: Using Technology to Engage and Train Millennials
Speaker: Natae Bugg, MS, CSP, Senior Manager, Safety Training and Solutions at SafetyNow

There seems to be a stigma around training millennials (those born between 1980 and 2000, give or take a few years). Millennials are thought to be hard to engage and even harder to keep interested because of their need for instant gratification and short attention spans. Although this generation as a whole may be wired differently than earlier generations that didn’t grow up immersed in technology, it doesn’t mean they’re untrainable.

In fact, it may surprise you to learn:

• Most millennials actually WANT training from their employers.
• Regular training is one of the best ways to reduce turnover and boost productivity in millennial employees.

As with any group, though, knowing your audience, tailoring training content and offering options when it comes to delivery will lead to a more successful outcome.

In this webinar, we cover:

• Statistics and characteristics of millennials in the workforce
• Ways to tailor content and use technology to grab and keep millennials’ interest
• Why delivery methods matter and what training methods work best with millennials.

About Our Speaker:
Natae Bugg is a CSP with almost 17 years of experience in the field of safety and health. She has worked as a safety and training manager in various fields, including construction, telecommunications and biotechnology. She was part of a team that helped launch a company wide online safety training initiative to 26,000 employees as part of her tenure with T-Mobile. She currently works at SafetyNow overseeing the development of training, compliance and reinforcement materials.

Therapists from rehabilitation provider Tx:Team demonstrate appropriate techniques for moving and lifting patients in the hospital. Use these techniques to reduce the strain on your back when you need to help a patient move.

What’s At Stake ?

Many of the machines you operate, tasks you perform, and areas where you work generate too much noise. As a result, noise, or excessive sound, is one of the biggest workplace health problems. Millions of workers are exposed to damaging noise every day; and hearing loss represents a significant percentage of all work-related illnesses.

What’s The Danger ?

Exposure to high levels of noise can cause permanent hearing loss. Neither surgery nor a hearing aid can help correct this type of hearing loss. Short-term exposure to loud noise can also cause a temporary change in hearing—your ears may feel stuffed up, for example—or you might hear a ringing in your ears, called tinnitus.

These short-term problems may go away within a few minutes or hours after leaving the noise. However, repeated exposures to loud noise can lead to permanent tinnitus and/or hearing loss.

Loud noise also causes an increase in stress levels and makes it harder to concentrate, which can lead to distraction, an increase in errors and lead to accidents and injuries.

Hearing loss can interfere with hearing and understanding of directions, warnings and alarms, along with your ability to communicate with your co-workers. This can put you and your co-workers at increased risk for accidents and injuries.

How to Protect Yourself

First, learn how to recognize when an area is too loud.

• If you have to shout to have a conversation with a person three feet or one metre away from you, the area is likely too loud and hearing protection should be worn.
• You hear a ringing or humming in your ears after you leave work that could last a few minutes or several hours, depending on the noise level.
• You experience temporary hearing loss when you leave work. Sounds are muffled or you may not be able to hear at all for a period of time; or you have to turn up the radio on the way home, or TV once you get home, to understand what is being said or hear the music.

Second, always wear hearing protection every time you are in a high-noise area. Your employer should recommend and provide options for hearing protection, including different styles of earplugs, canal caps and ear muffs. It is your responsibility to wear and care for your PPE according to the training provided by your employer.

Finally, recognize the signs of hearing loss and speak to your supervisor immediately if you experience any of them. They include:

• Difficulty hearing higher-pitched voices or sounds.
• Difficulty hearing and understanding what people are saying in places with a lot of background noise, like restaurants or parties, for example.
• In normal conversation, you hear someone speaking but the words seem muffled or you have to ask them to repeat themselves often.
• You have to turn up the TV or radio to hear as clearly as you used to.
• Ringing, roaring, hissing or buzzing in the ear, as well as ear pain, itching or irritation.
• Finally, vertigo, or feeling as though you are spinning, could be a sign of hearing damage.

FINAL WORD

While noise-induced hearing loss affects millions of workers, it doesn’t have to. It is entirely preventable if you work smart and wear your hearing protection every time you are in a high noise area.

Safety Talk

What’s At Stake ?

Most of us don’t give much thought to the chemicals we are at risk for exposure to at work. But did you know that workers in North America are exposed to 650,000 chemicals and chemical exposure causes 50,000 deaths and 200,000 injuries every year?

What’s The Danger ?

Chemical hazards and toxic substances pose a wide range of physical and health hazards. Chemicals can be flammable, corrosive or reactive and cause fires and explosions. This safety talk is going to focus on health hazards—including irritation to the eyes, nose and throat; rashes and life threatening allergic reactions; organ failure; blindness; and cancer.

Chemicals can be solids, liquids, gases, dusts, fumes, fibres, vapors or mists. What form they are in determines how they can enter your body and the type of damage they can do.

There are four ways a chemical can enter your body:

1. Inhalation: Breathing contaminated air can cause immediate effects such as eye, nose, throat and lung irritation or asthma. Longterm effects of inhaling hazardous chemicals, such as asbestos, can cause a deadly form of lung cancer.
2. Contact: When corrosive chemicals like strong acids and bases come in contact with your skin or eyes, they can cause burns ranging from minor to severe. Allergic reactions and contact dermatitis after exposure to chemicals such as nickel and latex are two other negative results of chemical contact.
3. Ingestion: This happens when you swallow chemicals that have contaminated your food or your hands.
4. Injection: This occurs when a sharp object, like a contaminated needle or a piece of broken glass, punctures the skin and the chemical goes directly into your bloodstream.

How to Prote ct Yourself

Once you know how chemicals can enter your body, you can take steps to protect against exposure.

To prevent chemical inhalation:

• Use exhaust, ventilation and enclosures, like fume hoods or biosafety cabinets, to safely take fumes, fibres, vapors and mists up and away from your breathing zone.
• Wear masks and respirators as instructed.
• Follow safe work practices to control dust, fumes, and vapors. For example, use wet methods on hazardous materials such as asbestos before removing it, or when cutting silica.

To prevent contact hazards:

• Wear eye, face and hand protection when working with hazardous chemicals.
• Use barrier creams and alternatives to latex gloves.
• Check with your supervisor about your workplace’s policy on wearing contact lenses. In some cases, it’s much safer to take them out before working with chemicals.

To prevent ingestion:

• Never eat or drink, take medication or apply makeup or lip moisturizer when working with or around chemicals.
• Wash your hands whenever you take off your PPE, when you finish a task, and before you eat or drink.

To prevent injection:

• Wear PPE as required.
• Clean up broken glass with a broom and dust pan or tongs and never your hands!
• In healthcare settings, use safe needle systems and never recap needles.
• Always use designated sharps disposal containers.

FINAL WORD

When you recognize the ways chemicals can enter your body, you can take steps to make sure you aren’t leaving yourself exposed to chemical hazards.

Safety Talk

What’s At Stake ?

Falls from heights injure or kill at least one worker every day in North America. In the construction industry, falls are the leading cause of worker fatalities in both the United States and Canada. If you are lucky enough to survive a fall, you are often left disabled, paralyzed, or unable to work or enjoy activities outside of work with your family and friends.

What’s The Danger ?

Falls can occur from ladders, scaffolds, roofs or other elevations. They are a risk faced daily by construction workers, painters, window washers, firefighters, and anyone else who works at heights.

You don’t have to be very high off the ground to die from a fall. In fact, more than 50 percent of fall deaths in the construction industry occur from falls of 20 feet (6 metres) or less. That’s about the height of a common job site extension ladder.

Seven Deadly Mistakes:

1. Improper ladder selection, setup and use.
2. Using defective ladders and protective equipment.
3. Not wearing proper fall protection equipment.
4. Forgetting to inspect ladders and equipment before use.
5. Working in areas where protective devices such as warning lines, guardrails and covers on floor and wall openings and around skylights and at roof edges, are missing.
6. Using scaffolds that have not been constructed by trained scaffold erectors and inspected regularly by a competent person.
7. Not following the safe work practices and training provided to you by your employer.

How to Protect Yourself

1. Choose the right type, length, and rating of ladder for the job and set up the ladder correctly each time.
2. Look for loose or missing hardware and rungs on ladders, as well as rust, corrosion or other damage to the rungs, side rails and other parts of the ladder.
3. Report missing guardrails, floor covers or warning lines and don’t work in that area until it’s safe to do so.
4. Wear fall protection equipment when it is required. Wear it consistently and wear it properly. If you have questions about when or how to wear it, ask your supervisor.
5. Inspect harnesses and lanyards for damage to the webbing and stitching. Look for frayed edges, broken fibres, pulled stitches, cuts, burns, or chemical damage. Broken webbing strands generally appear as tufts on the webbing surface.
6. Remember to inspect the metal parts of fall protection equipment for distortion and sharp edges. Check for pitting or cracks that show signs of chemical corrosion.
7. Finally, never use fall protection equipment that has already saved a worker. Any equipment, including ropes, involved in a fall must be replaced.

FINAL WORD

By not falling for the seven deadly mistakes, using the right equipment for the task, and following safe work practices, you can work safely from heights.

Working or playing where it is hot puts stress on your body’s cooling system. When heat is combined with other stresses such as hard physical work, loss of fluids, fatigue or some pre-existing medical conditions, it may lead to heat-related illness, disability and even death.

In many industries, falling asleep on the job for even 30 seconds can cause a serious mistake. Yet studies show that 30 to 50% of night shift workers report falling asleep at least once a week while on the job. Sleep issues affect truck and bus drivers, airline pilots, factory workers, police, emergency workers, healthcare providers, hotel employees and anyone else on night or changing shifts.

Shift workers face many challenges, including physical and mental fatigue.

Download this special report, and learn why shift work can be dangerous and what you can do to make the experience safe for employees.

In this whitepaper, you’ll learn effective ways to improve workplace cleanliness and drastically reduce accident rates related to slips, trips and falls (and save the time you would have spent researching these topics). This whitepaper will give you everything you need to host an engaging safety talk.

In this special report, you’ll learn what articles safety professionals like you find the most important and save the time you would have spent researching these topics.
After reading this you’ll be prepared to handle a variety of safety concerns including:

• Creating a hazardous chemical inventory
• How to contest an OSHA citation)
• Near Miss Management program
• And more

January 1 to June 30, 2016: Determined to cut recordables, the new foreman of Hyde N. Seek Construction deliberately fails to keep OSHA logs or submit OSHA 301 reports for 3 injuries that meet OSHA recordability and reportability criteria.

SCENARIO

• January 1 to June 30, 2016: Determined to cut recordables, the new foreman of Hyde N. Seek Construction deliberately fails to keep OSHA logs or submit OSHA 301 reports for 3 injuries that meet OSHA recordability and reportability criteria.
• June 1, 2017: An OSHA inspector discovers the violations.

QUESTION

Can OSHA cite Hyde N. Seek for recordkeeping violations?

ANSWER

No. Until very recently, the answer would have been yes. But on April 3, 2017, the rules changed.

EXPLANATION

OSHA Recordkeeping Regulations (Section 1904.33) require employers to keep accurate illness and injury records (that is, Form 300 Logs, Form 300A Summaries and Form 301 Reports) over a 5-year retention period. OSHA has a 6-month window to cite employers for recordkeeping violations.

KEY QUESTION

What the Regulations (at least in their original version) didn’t explain is exactly when the 6-month window begins to run.

THE PREVIOUS RULE

In 2012, a federal court ruled that the 6-month window starts running when the violation actually occurs. OSHA responded by changing the rule to provide that OSHA recordkeeping violations are “ongoing” and that the window period begins when OSHA first discovers the violation.

THE NEW RULE

On April 3, 2017, the new President signed a congressional action (H.J. Res. 83) nullifying the OSHA modification and restoring the 2012 court ruling that the 6-month window begins when the employer commits the violation.

PRACTICAL IMPACT

The new rule doesn’t change the substance of OSHA recordkeeping requirements. But in giving OSHA only 6 months to uncover violations, it makes the rules much harder to enforce (as illustrated by the scenario above).

And that’s not just speculation. After the 2012 court ruling establishing the 6-month window as starting with the violation date, OSHA recordkeeping citations fell a precipitous 75%! Citations quickly regained their normal levels after OSHA changed the window to 6 months from the date of discovery by an inspector.

New resources available for Safe + Sound Week
To help employers participate and plan events for Safe + Sound Week, June 12-18, OSHA has updated its webpage with sample activities, social media resources, and tools. The page also features an interactive map of events occurring across the country. Employers are encouraged to host events and activities that showcase the core elements of an effective safety and health program – management leadership, worker participation, and finding and fixing workplace hazards. Visit the Safe + Sound Week page for more information and to register events.

OSHA to delay enforcement of crystalline silica standard in the construction industry
OSHA announced it will delay in the enforcement of the crystalline silica standard in construction from June 23 to Sept. 23. The three-month delay will allow for more outreach to be conducted and guidance provided to employers. The compliance deadlines for general industry and maritime, set for June 2018, remain unchanged. For more information, read the news release.

NIOSH online network helps healthcare facilities address bloodborne pathogens and other hazards
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has established a web-based injury and exposure monitoring system available at no cost to healthcare facilities. This secure system enables participating facilities to analyze worker injury and exposure data that they already collect. Trends for traumatic injury and hazardous exposures are visualized using a chart function. The system allows facilities to track five common work-related injuries and exposures in healthcare: sharps injuries; blood and body fluid exposure; slips, trips, and falls; patient handling injuries; and workplace violence. Visit the OHSN webpage for more information and to begin the enrollment process.

A stressed-out work environment isn’t a safe and healthy one. Luckily, there are some quick and simple ways you can help everyone learn to manage their stress better.
Download our latest Safety resource and find out how you can better manage stress in your organization.

Training is an important part of any safety program. Training helps teach employees how to perform their work more safely. It also allows you to teach employees the company’s policies and attitudes about on-the-job safety. Setting up a training program may appear to be difficult and overwhelming. But this does not have to be the case. Download our latest Special report and find out more.

Download our Special Cold Stress Report and learn about cold weather tips that supervisors need to be familiar with:

Learn to recognize some of the environmental and workplace conditions that may be dangerous. For example, it needn’t be bone chillingly cold, with a howling wind, in order for workers to be at risk for developing hypothermia. It can happen in above-freezing temperatures.

Learn the signs and symptoms of cold-induced illnesses and injuries and what to do to help workers.

Train workers about cold-induced illnesses, injuries and more.

Brand names mentioned or seen in the training materials do not constitute endorsement of the device, equipment, or product.

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had aligned its Hazard Communication Standard with the United Nation’s Globally Harmonized System  of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), with an employee training which commenced on  Dec. 1, 2013.

The third deadline is aimed at all distributors. By December 1, 2015, distributors should not be shipping containers labeled by the chemical manufacturer or importer without GHS labels

Download our special report now to find out more what this means to you and your organization.

A cold environment challenges workers in many ways. During winter there are many hazards that workers may pose when carrying out their day to day duties. Some of these include driving in the snow, visibility in the snow and other environmental conditions.

Download our latest report and learn about:

1. Seven Statistics on Working in Winter
2. Five Safety Tips for Driving on Black Ice
3. Common Winter Driving Errors
4. Twelve Tips for Safer Winter Driving
5. Headlights To See and Be Seen
6. Go Slow in the Cold