The employer has the responsibility to protect employees from all identified hazards in the workplace.
“Each employer shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees.”
Air quality listed as "extremely hazardous" certainly meets this requirement. If employers who require employees to work in this hazard must attempt to eliminate the hazard with engineering controls. This may include sealing up leaky doorways and windows, and using an air filtration system.
If the hazard cannot be eliminated with engineering controls, then the employer must provide respirators to employees. Face coverings do not protect from smoke. Particulate filtering respirators must be used.
]]>Who Can Perform Respirator Fit Tests?
Who Can Train Employees To Use Respirators?
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COVID19 can spread through a community with frightening quickness. In this video, you will learn how a funeral and a birthday party led to 16 cases and three deaths.
Reference
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XO Safety Academy has released the Coronavirus Safety For Employees Online Course. This course will provide employees with valuable information about the Coronavirus, and the methods and procedures for protecting themselves.
This course includes:
Protect your employees from the spread of coronavirus with this free Stop The Spread Of Germs Poster.
English Spanish Chinese Vietnamese
English 8.5" x 11" 11" x 17" Arabic 8.5" x 11" 11" x 17" Bengali 8.5" x 11" 11" x 17" Chinese 8.5" x 11" 11" x 17" French 8.5" x 11" 11" by 17" Spanish 8.5" by 11" 11" x 17"
English 8.5" x 11" Spanish 8.5" x 11" 11" x 17"
]]>There has been much discussion on the new coronavirsus (known as COVID-19) breakout. Now over 37 locations internationally have been infected with the virus with more incidents reported every day. The WHO (World Health Organization) has warned of a possible pandemic from COVID-19.
Most of the common symptoms of the coronavirus are typical of a cold or flu, fever, dry cough and fatigue. Although in some cases people will start to get worse within the next five days and may experience severe shortness of breath, acute respiratory failure, kidney failure and possible death. Although WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has stated "there have only been 44 deaths" outside of China in yesterdays' news conference.
One of the biggest things to do is avoid contact with anyone that has been know to travel in the areas where the virus has been spreading, or anyone who may have been in contact with someone who has. If someone around you has a cough or looks ill, it would be best to stay away as well.
You should take the same precautions you would with the flu, regularly wash your hands, clean surfaces, cover your cough so that the germs don't spread.
The CDC Website and the WHO Website have a variety of resources to help keep you informed on the COVID-19.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention Website
World Health Organization Website
Coronavirus: More New Cases are Now Reported Outside China Than Inside by Bill Chappell with NPR
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The effectiveness of your safety training course relies on the quality of your materials. Playing a video and distributing a quiz is not a great solution. As a trainer, you want to use a variety of materials to create a memorable learning event.
In this video, Jeremy discusses the many options available, and how to incorporate them into your course. This includes:
In this course, we will walk you through the rules, regulations, and requirements for performing qualitative respirator fit tests at your facility. Fit test kit types included are:
This course is a great way to get your employee up to speed on performing respirator fit tests are your facility.
]]>In order to improve safety ANSI released a new standard for Aerial and Scissor lifts. This new Standard A92.22 and A92.24will combined the old standards ANSI/SAIA A92.3, ANSI/SAIA 92.5, ANSI/SAIA 92.6 and ANSI/SAIA 92.8.
Aerial Lifts and Scissor Lifts will now be referred to as MEWP's (Mobile Elevating Work Platforms). They will be divided into two classifications (Group A Group B) and then three categories (Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3).
Group A will be defined as MEWP's "in which the vertical projection of the center of the platform area" always stays within the tipping lines (i.e. Scissor Lifts).
Group B is characterized as "MEWP's not in Group A". These are vehicles were the platform can extend out past the tipping point (i.e. Aerial Lifts. Boom Lifts).
Here is a brief video explaining the new classifications:
Some of the biggest changes will be in the training and certification process. Those that are not the operators of the MEWP, are now described as "occupants" and will need to be trained on the hazards of working on an MEWP and what to do in case of an emergency.
Supervisors will also need training to ensure that the operator and occupants are acting safely while working on the MEWP. They will be required to understand the rules and regulations of this new standard as well as become familiar with the operators manual and the importance of ensuring that it is stored on the MEWP.
Operators will need to be able to demonstrate the ability to perform a work site inspection and well as a pre-start inspection on the MEWP.
Here is a quick rundown of the new requirements:
A qualified person must now perform a rick assessment prior to the use of an MEWP. This should include a description of the job, location and time frame for the job. Hazards and risks should be evaluated and a description of safe work practices and what safety precautions will be taken.
An rescue plan must also be in place prior to beginning work in the event of a fall. The plan must be written and reviewed by all workers on the job site. The plan may include self-rescue, assisted rescue (by other trained workers) or emergency services rescue.
There are new design changes rolling out for new MEWP's being made. Some models may have reduced speeds or or reduced lift. A sensor will be added to sound an alarm when the safe load limit is exceeded and will prevent normal operations of the vehicle.Another new sensor will disable boom functions if the slope limit is exceeded, or, if outdoors and the wind speed is exceeded.
Chains will no longer be allowed as a means to block off the entrance, new MEWP's will have a gated entrance. If the vehicle will be used outdoors or in rough terrain, the will need to have foam filled or solid tires. Exceptions can be made for an indoor only MEWP.
The new standards can be purchased form ANSI.org, or clicking the links below. This new standard will be going into effect on 12/2019, one year after the approval was finalized and will replace all previous versions.
Check out our updated Aerial Lift Compliance Kit
JLG Training Standard ANSI A92.24 & CSA B354.8
New ANSI Standards for 2019 - Time is Running Out By: Mark Gates
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In an effort to help reduce falls from Aerial Lifts, NIOSH has come up with a training solution, a computer simulator. It is a free program that helps to recognize common hazards when working on an Aerial Lift.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 2011-2014, 87 workers died from operating a aerial or scissor lift. Of those deaths, 48 were due to slips, trips, and falls.
You can click on the NIOSH link below to download the program. You use a keyboard to steer your aerial lift through various stages of a construction work site and try to place the bucket where it belongs while avoiding random hazards throughout.
Training is required for anyone that operates an aerial lift. While this simulator is great for a refresher for experienced lift operators, it is not to be used in place of hands-on training to operate aerial lifts.
You can see what the training standards are from OSHA and ANSI, on the links below.
NIOSH Aerial Lift Hazard Recognition Simulator
American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Standards
US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries query system (fatal data)Externa. Date accessed: July 18, 2016.
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The Reagan Administration found this video alarmist, and had copies confiscated. Fortunately, it was hidden by activists, and is available today.
Download your own copy at archive.org.
OSHA has resources available on their Silica Standard for General Industry Page, including letters of interpretations, OSHA standards, and fact sheets.
Check out XO Safety's Silica resources:
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At 0:58, you see members of the OKC training staff lift their closed fists into the air, which is a sign to activate their catastrophic injury emergency action plan. Equipment is brought out to stabilize Nerlens neck and back, and a stretcher is brought to remove him from the floor.
Every business, even NBA franchises, must provide emergency action plans for their employees. A great job by the OKC training staff, a dedicated group of professionals.
]]>OSHA has issued it's final rule regarding crane operator certification requirements. While this new standard seems long and daunting, it really boils down to a few main points.
OSHA is no longer requiring crane operators to be certified by type and capacity. Now the wording states that crane operators need to have certification by "type" or "type and capacity".
It is now a permanent requirement that it is the employer's duty to evaluate their operators. This allows them to continuously evaluate them in order to ensure they maintain the knowledge to safely operate the crane. This is in addition to the required certification.
The employer evaluation is due to the fact that certification is for base-line knowledge of crane operations and is not sufficient to ensure competency. Since work sites vary there is really no way for a third-party certification to be able to test for all the situations that crane operators will face.
Similarly, an employer must re-evaluate a crane operator if they are to use a different crane that would require:
"significantly different skills, knowledge, or ability to identify and avert risk."
While some may interpret that to mean that each time an operator uses a different crane that they must be re-evaluated, OSHA does not intend for it to be a complete full re-evaluation. It is meant to be an evaluation to ensure that the operator has the skills, knowledge, and ability to identify and advert risk in the new tasks that they are to perform or for the crane that they will be operating. All evaluations will be documented and kept by the employer on the work site and for as long as they are employed by the employer. However, the employer has the flexibility to decide how to capture and store these evaluations.
Operators-in-training will now be able to perform a "critical lift" if the operator is under direct supervision of a trainer. This means that they will be able to perform lifts where the equipment, load line, or load could possibly get within 20 feet of a power line that is 350 kV or within 50 feet of a power line that is over 350 kV. They can use the equipment to hoist personnel, in multiple-equipment lifts, if the equipment is used over a shaft, cofferdam, or in a tank farm (1926.1408 (a)(1)(i-iv)).
There will be no changes in certification/training requirements for derricks, sideboom cranes, or low-capacity cranes (cranes less than 2,000 lbs.). They must still be trained in accordance to 1926.1430, simply, employers are required to:
"train each operator ... on the safe operation of equipment the individual will operate."
OSHA is also changing the qualifications for trainers with this new standard. They are no longer requiring that the trainer passes the written part of the certification process or be a certified operator. They are now requiring the trainer:
“have the knowledge, training, and experience necessary to direct the operator-in-training on the equipment in use.”
This is in large part to due to the fact that many non-certified trainers are either retired/semi-retired or have let their certification run out because they have moved onto another position that no longer requires them to have that certification. It in no way means that they are not capable of being able to train others on the proper controls and operations of a crane.
There are changes in the language and how the standard will be laid out in order to help the flow of the new standard and for clarification on certain points. OSHA has been working on this new standard for many years in order to help ensure that all workers go home safe everyday.
OSHA Final Rule for Crane Operator Certification Requirements
FAQ's - Cranes and Derricks in Construction: Operator Qualification
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Did you ever hear of the tragedy of the OSHA PEL's?
The current Permissible Exposure Limits for chemicals were issued in 1970, based on science of the 1950's. Since then OSHA, due to corporate lobbying and political influence, has not been able to update most of these limits.
For example, Toluene is a paint thinner, which has a PEL of 200 ppm. The current American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists has a current recommended exposure limit of 20 ppm, which is over 10 times less than OSHA's.
Fortunately, the safety data sheets list these and other recommendations. Check Section 8 to see what the current recommended safe exposure limits are.
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Yesterday we spent the morning at Honeymoon Collective Tattoo Studio. Tattoo businesses have an interesting combination of occupational safety and health department regulatory requirements.
We worked on getting their hazard communication program established, and shot some amazing video. We will be back for the bloodborne pathogens.
How can we help your business today?
]]>Anchor attachments would entail using an anchor (i.e. structure or human body) to attach to a tether to prevent the tool from dropping.
Tool Attachments would secure a tool being used at height to a tether to prevent a tool from falling.
Tool Tethers are a length of material that would connect a tool attachment to an anchor to secure it.
Containers would be utilized to move tools and/or equipment in a secure bucket or bag.
The main intent behind this new standard is to prevent injuries and fatalities due to falling objects.
In addition to ANSI and ISEA other companies helped to create this new standard such as Ergodyne, 3M Co., Guardian Fall Protection Inc., Hammerhead Industries Inc., Radians Inc., Ty-Flot Inc., and West Coast Corp.
121.2018 is available online at ANSI or ISEA
Protecting Workers From Falling Tools Goal of New Safety Standard by Bruce Rolfsen
]]>This includes five images and a video. Add and tag to increase awareness of heat stress and its hazards.
Download Free Heat Stress Social Media Posts
Download Free Heat Stress Social Media Video
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This database has complied information from several government agencies and organizations. You can search for chemicals by name or identification number, learn the permissible exposure limits (PEL's) for specific chemicals, and additional resources for each substance.
The worker was testing cranes in the early afternoon and was struck by a piece of steel from the spillway. Co-workers preformed first aid until first responders arrived on the scene, but they were not able to revive the employee.
The accident remains under investigation. PUD has said that they will provide grief counselors for employees. They have withheld the identity of the worker involved in the accident.
Wentatchee World by Pete O'Cain
NWC Life Channel by Steve Hair
OSHA Crane, Derrick and Hoist Safety Topics Page
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The stars of HGTV's hit show "Fixer Upper" were fined $40,000 for failing to comply with EPA safety standards for lead. Their company, Magnolia, will also have to spend $160,000 renovating lead based paint hazards that are near children.
This includes any foreseeable condition, which may include failure of engineering controls or foreseeable emergencies.
If exposure to respirable silica exceeds the action level, employers must
The first option is to use the OSHA recommended equipment controls for cutting and grinding, and wear a respirator with a protection factor of at least 10.
No air sampling is required for this option.
If Option 1 is not feasible, the employer can implement their own plan, but it must include:
Here's a Forklift Safety Development Board we have been messing around with. It's a work in progress, but it's a great example of what you can do with this simple tool.
Coming Up: Affordable Safety Training is working on a line of project plans utilizing this tool. We think you will find it useful and look forward to debuting it.
Daily Herald Archive / Getty Images
Kate More of BuzzFeed released a brilliant article on women who were occupationally exposed to radium. This piece details the history of the women who were assigned to work at the United States Radium Corporation, painting radium on watches and military dials.
Here are some highlights:
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A construction worker was killed when the trench he was working in collapsed around him.
This incident highlights the importance of using trench shielding to protect workers from cave ins. Protective devices save lives.
Construction Worker Dies After Being Trapped in 20 Foot Deep Trench - WJLA - Washington DC
]]>OSHA has a great free Heat Safety Tool available for both iPhone and Android devices. It allows employers to get current heat stress conditions, or enter their own parameters. It also provides reminders and protective measures you can take to keep employees safe and cool. (Water! Shade!)
This free poster, available in English and Spanish, covers the symptoms of heat stress, heat stroke, heat stress protective measures, and what to do in the event of a heat emergency. It's a great heat stress awareness tool.
Heat Stress Work Site Training Poster (English)
Heat Stress Work Site Training Poster (Spanish)
A helpful guide for performing heat stress safety training. Includes lesson plans and toolbox talks.
OSHA Heat Illness Prevention Training Guide (English)
OSHA Heat Illness Prevention Training Guide (Spanish)
The work location of the construction worker before he fell to his death.
Photo From - ABC7 News, New York
On April 1st, 2015, a worker was smoothing concrete on the sixth floor of a building. He was working, without a harness, on an unprotected edge. The worker fell to his death. This company has several previous warnings about violating fall protection regulations.
On Monday, the owner of the construction company was indicted for manslaughter. He faces 15 years in prison. This shows how important safety is, not only for the employees, but for management. Willful violations of OSHA safety regulations can put you in jail.
OSHA recommends that employees be allowed to use the facilities that correspond with their gender identity. They also encourage employers to provide additional options, such as:
Access to facilities is a key component of many OSHA standards. Employers need to find solutions that are safe and convenient for all employees, including transgender employees.