Blind Spots in Mobile Equipment A blind spot is the area around a vehicle or piece of construction equipment that is not visible to the operators, either by direct line-of-sight or indirectly by use of internal and external mirrors. Two recent incidents in the news involving construction equipment backing over...
Housekeeping – Construction Sites Did you know that over two thirds of all accidents involve housekeeping in some way, shape, or form? Approximately 2.5 million disabling injuries happen in the service industry every year with a cost of over 100 billion dollars. Housekeeping is everyone’s job – every trade, every...
First Aid for Burns A burn can be painful or painless, according to the degree. The degree of a burn is determined by its location on the body and the number of skin layers affected. Heat, electricity, chemicals, or radiation can cause a burn. The first response in a burn...
Chemical Fume Hoods A chemical fume hood is critical in a lab. A well-designed hood, when properly installed and maintained, offers a large degree of protection to the user, provided that it is used appropriately and its limitations are understood. A fume hood is a ventilated enclosure in which gases,...
Proper Hearing Protection Hearing loss is the No. 1 sensory disability in the world. The World Health Organization estimates that 16 percent of hearing loss worldwide is attributable to occupational noise exposure. To minimize the risk of incurring hearing loss due to noise, it is important for organizations, employers, and...
Globally Harmonized System (GHS) For many years now, employees could gather limited information about the hazardous chemicals they work with by looking at container labels and reading Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs). However, there was not a set format to govern how the companies that produced or distributed those chemicals...
Spill Clean Up Unplanned release of a chemical can have devastating effects. Skin and eye burns, damage to the lungs, fire and explosion, corrosive damage to materials, pollution of air, soil, and water, and danger to the public are just some of the possible consequences of a chemical spill. Chemical...
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, odorless, toxic gas that interferes with the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood. CO is non-irritating and can overcome persons without warning. Many people die from CO poisoning, usually while using gasoline powered tools and generators in buildings or semi- enclosed spaces without...
Dangers of Hydraulic Hoses Leaks from high-pressure hydraulic lines are not just messy, they are dangerous. Leaks create slip and fall hazards, fire danger, and they contaminate the environment. Leaks can cause skin burns and, under high pressure, can penetrate the skin. The most common causes of leaking hoses are...
Chemical Inventory The Hazard Communication Standard requires employers to make a chemical inventory list of the hazardous chemicals present in the workplace. The chemicals on these lists are identified with markers to easily find the corresponding safety data sheet (SDS). Quick and easy access to the chemical inventory list and...