It should not be surprising that Dankert, Harrington and George frequently detect the dangers associated with working at height. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that falls at a lower level accounted for 14 percent of all deaths in 2014, and OSHA standards related to scaffolding and ladders are regularly among the most frequently cited violations. Dankert, a senior consultant at Arizona-based NSC, said the dangers associated with working at heights can be caused by a lack of understanding. Employers may not know that they have to provide fall protection, or that fall protection equipment cannot be used correctly or that it is not connected to anything. Some employers do not even have a written fall protection procedure or process. Employers should i
Some of those places can be amazing. Dankert recently visited a manufacturing facility that was expanding and had added a new 12-foot cooler to its ceiling along with three existing ones. But something was missing. The old equipment had adequate protection against falls, including swing doors and a railing for when maintenance work is needed, but the new cooler does not. "The danger of falling was not about doing the job and falling off the roof: it was the equipment at the top of that roof," Dankert said. "These are hidden places you don't go to very often, and you just don't think about it." Dankert cites this case as an example of the need for security professionals to have a seat at the table when making decisions about design or purchases. Your contribution, he said, can save employers time and money. More tips: buy the right size equipment for workers and keep in mind that although some work environments may have anchor points available, other locations may need an engineer to install them. Remind employees to get hooked to the anchor point when working at height, and closely monitor how well personal protective equipment is maintained. Environments with sharp edges, chemicals or welding, for example, can weaken a harness. Inspect the equipment regularly and remove the damaged PPE from service. "Fall protection is like another PPE, it's not good forever," said Dankert. In some situations, it may be beneficial to give up the use of personal fall protection equipment and instead build a platform with standard railings and a swinging door in front of a fixed staircase. Although such a platform costs money, Dankert said, it can be less expensive than creating a fall protection plan, buying PPE and training and retraining employees.
The disorder that blocks fire exits, corridors and emergency exits is a cleaning problem that George, who is based in the United Kingdom as NSC's international consulting services manager, frequently sees. Another common danger? Excessive stacking of rack loads in a warehouse that brings them too close to a sprinkler, which can limit the efficiency of the sprinkler in an emergency. Disorder, leaks or standing water can also contribute to slips, trips and falls. Workers should not wait for cleaning or sanitation teams to handle these problems, Dankert said. Instead, they should clean as they go. "The fact that it is a dirty process does not mean that you should not clean up spills," he said. If the disorder or spillage requires specialized training for cleaning, then employees should alert their supervisor, who can send appropriate personnel. In addition, Dankert recommends reserving a few minutes at the end of each shift, or a Friday afternoon, to clean before leaving.
When it comes to storage, employers should make sure that the appropriate areas are available, says Harrington, a senior NSC consultant based in Illinois. Harrington said he often sees that electrical rooms are used inappropriately for storage, with supplies that block electrical installations. Even if the separation between stored supplies and circuit breakers is appropriate, Harrington said, employers should consider situations that could arise in which someone would need easy access to that room. "Think of an emergency where the lights are off, something went wrong and it's full of chairs," he said. “I would not recommend storing anything in an electrical room beyond what is used in that room. I would not recommend it at all. "
Locked switches are not the only electrical hazard that NSC consultants see frequently. Many electrical hazards detected are related to the inappropriate use of extension cables. Dankert often witnesses "chain connection", using multiple extension cables or strips for a device. In a manufacturing facility that visited Dankert, he saw up to five extension cables chained. "It was almost like Christmas tree lights," he said. "All you really saw were all these electrical wires everywhere." Because the employer is a prototype equipment developer, the manufacturing floor design was changed regularly. And in most other aspects, the employer was aware of safety: the extension cables used were new and of great caliber, and the facilities were very clean. "They were trying to do the right thing, but it also made me think that it is not really temporary," Dankert said. And that's the point: Although extension cords can be useful for temporarily supplying power for certain operations, the keyword is "temporarily." When a cable is used for several weeks or months, Dankert said, OSHA does not consider the use to be temporary. This opens the door to a violation.
Beyond that, extension cords that lie on the ground for prolonged periods are a trip hazard. They may also be subject to traffic abuse if they are hit by forklifts or feet, which can wear out the insulation and create risk of unloading. When the cables are connected in a chain, they can easily extract electricity from the circuits, causing the cables to heat up and potentially cause a fire. Employers should assess whether extension cords are actually being used for temporary measures, perhaps to power a fan on a particularly hot day. In that case, Dankert said, the cable must be collected at the end of the shift and stored. It recommends establishing a system to periodically inspect extension cables and train employees in that system to ensure that the cables are kept in good working condition and that the worn cables are taken out of service. Workers should ensure that they use the correct extension cord for the job. Usually, a more expensive cable has a heavier gauge, allowing you to take more energy without heating. The same applies to the use of a single power strip to plug several different devices: the power strip may not be rated for the combined power required for all the high-power devices that are plugged in. If extension cords are not used for temporary repair, employers should consider bringing an electrician to connect a line and an outlet.
What is the main cause of the risks associated with forklifts in the workplace?
According to George's experience, it is when workers feel compelled to work quickly.
"What dictates its activity is production," he said. "Everyone is under pressure, and when you're under pressure, they start taking shortcuts."
Shortcuts include driving with a load that is too large or driving distracted. The end result may be hitting a shelf, damaging a wall or product, or even injuring a co-worker.
The way employers react to these events is critical, but their responses often fail, say NSC consultants. George said that a common attitude after an incident is to blame the individual and instill discipline. The forklift driver is retrained, retested and then put back into the system. But employers cannot identify the root cause, which is often not enough personnel or trucks to manage the current workload.
To compound these problems is the lack of maintenance and daily inspections of trucks, and not separating vehicles from pedestrians, said George. Trucks should be inspected periodically to ensure they are working properly, and employers must create designated walkways.
Appropriate lockout / tagout procedures can help prevent serious injuries, but only if those procedures are followed.
"Many organizations have the best procedures, but it is the implementation of the procedures that fails," said George.
Some examples:
An employee can go home for the day with the padlock on, and the next worker on duty cuts the lock. Workers can simply use a tag on older equipment for which secure blocking is more difficult. Instead of installing a chain to lock a valve in place, a cable that can be easily cut can be used. Even if all blocking / labeling steps are followed, defective equipment can cause failures. George recalled a case in which an electrician doing wiring work was surprised. The equipment was locked, but the instruments I was using to verify the system were manipulated and could not read that the system was alive and not isolated. The worker touched a power cord, causing a third degree burn.Violation of lockout / tagout procedures is often reduced to three reasons:
Complacency A hurry to finish the job Not be familiar with the team. Employers must train employees in blocking / labeling and ensure they are qualified to carry out the procedures, George emphasized.
Chemicals can be expensive, and workers in some industries will never know when they will need to use a certain chemical again in the future. But according to Harrington, this kind of thinking can lead to serious risks. "Before you know it, you have all these chemicals that nobody wants or needs," he said. "There will be literally hundreds of chemicals on the shelves." He added that while it may be easy to overlook a small 5 gram bottle, those 5 grams can become unstable over time. For example, after about a year, the ether can be degraded into explosive peroxide. When an organization buys and uses chemicals, it needs to have a control system, Harrington said. You need to know what the chemicals are for and why they were ordered. The OSHA risk communication standard requires facilities to maintain an inventory of all products. Mark the expiration date of the chemist and use the chemical for that date or dispose of it properly. This is more than a security issue, Harrington said: storing a large cache of unwanted chemicals can be illegal. It can also be very expensive to get rid of large amounts of expired chemicals. Another potential danger is transferring chemicals from one container to another. Even if employees feel comfortable with the chemicals and have worked with them for years, the containers must be labeled as required by the Hazcom standard.
Confined spaces can present a series of dangers. George said many tragedies involving confined spaces have occurred because an employer did not issue a permit or did not conduct a risk assessment. In a scenario that George found, the dangerous atmosphere of a confined space was not properly evaluated because the equipment being used was outdated. There was a fire. "I've seen people enter the drains without a permit, and I didn't even know it was a confined space," he said. "Someone came in to pick something up and he collapses because the waiting person was distracted." If the risk assessment and the permitting process are successful, and all steps are followed, employers will have no problems, said George. "Everything is planned." "If you don't plan it correctly, plan a disaster."
