Toxic Materials If you look up the word ‘toxic’ in most any dictionary, you’ll find that it means “poisonous.” Most people want nothing to do with poisonous materials, but many people work with them every day. In fact, toxic materials have thousands of uses in industry. Many of the benefits...
Cold Weather Safety Employees who work outdoors during the winter months must deal with the hazard of exposure to the cold. Prolonged exposure to freezing temperatures can result in health problems as serious as trench foot, frostbite, and hypothermia. There are several ways of preventing employee exposure to cold weather...
Lockout/Tagout Safety If you operate, clean, service, adjust, or repair machinery and equipment, be aware of the hazards to which you’re exposing yourself. Any powered equipment that could put you in danger is a hazard that can be prevented when lockout/tagout/tryout procedures are followed. Before working on or near energized...
Noise Safety Noise is unwanted sound that can affect job performance, safety, and your health. Psychological effects of noise include annoyance and disruption of concentration. Physical effects include loss of hearing, pain, nausea, and interference with communications when the exposure is severe. Most workers take good hearing for granted. Hearing...
Spill Prevention and Response Spills in the workplace cause hazards from slips and falls, exposure to the spilled material, and accidental release into the environment. Know the proper storage, handling, use, and spill response for the materials in your workplace. Read the safety data sheets (SDSs) that explain correct spill...
Working in Cold Weather Summer and fall are gone and the winter months are upon us. Even though it’s cold outside we still have to work and get the job done. There are several things we can do to keep warm and prevent accidents related to cold weather. Employees who...
Silica Dust Hazards Silica exposure remains a serious threat to nearly 2 million U.S. workers, including more than 100,000 workers in high risk jobs such as abrasive blasting, foundry work, stonecutting, rock drilling, quarry work, and tunnelling. Crystalline silica is a basic component of soil, sand, granite, and many other...
Machinery Safety According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 1,100 workers in the United States were killed last year by contact with equipment or by being caught up in running machinery. That’s 20% of all fatalities in the workplace. Over a thousand people killed in ways that could have...
Using Scaffolding Safely Every year nearly 100 fatalities and 10,000 injuries occur on scaffolding across the country, despite numerous safety regulations aimed to prevent such incidents. There are a number of different scaffold types, having different rules and regulations surrounding their assembly, fall prevention requirements, and inspection procedures. The good...
Rules for Safe Ladder Use There is absolutely no reason for anybody to get hurt, disabled, or killed while using a ladder. Yet it happens every single day. Somebody steps on the safety sticker that says “This is not a step!” and ends up with a broken leg. Another worker...