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...
Air Tool Safety Air tools are powered by compressed air and include chippers, drills, hammers, sanders, spray guns, air ratchets, grinders, nibblers, needle scalers, and many more. There are several dangers associated with the use of Air tools. First and foremost is the danger of getting hit by one of...
55 Gallon Drum Safety Industrial drums of any size pose a significant workplace risk for anyone employed in warehousing or material handling occupations. With the average 55-gallon drum weighing between 400-600 lbs., manually transporting, decanting, or otherwise handling drums is not only physically demanding, but a potentially dangerous task for...
Safety Cans Are you using a red plastic gas can? If so, you may be living with a ticking time bomb. Deadly explosions causing catastrophic burn injuries and deaths are occurring across America due to the absence of a flame arrester in the canister. Gasoline is an extremely flammable liquid...
Safety Boots Foot protection means guarding your toes, ankles, and feet from injury. Believe it or not, your feet have 26 bones for support and 38 joints for movement in each foot. Feet also have blood vessels, ligaments, muscles, and nerves, which is why it hurts when you stub your...
Handling Fires Fire can be one of our deadliest enemies. It can mutilate us, kill us, and destroy in a few minutes what took a lifetime to build. Fire can take away our work places and our jobs. How can fires be stopped? The answer is prevention. However, to prevent...
Electrical Hazards Electricity is an essential source of energy for most work-related operations. However, fewer sources have a greater potential to cause harm than electricity. Working safely with electricity is possible if you are trained in, understand, and follow certain basic ground rules. Electrical hazards are doubly hazardous in that...
Housekeeping In the workplace, ‘good housekeeping’ is the term used for keeping the worksite clean, neat, and free of hazards that can cause injury. This isn’t just a matter of appearances – it’s a serious safety issue. In fact, we can easily earn OSHA’s “seal of disapproval” – a citation...
Back Injury Prevention Back injuries are the most common injury in the workplace and the cause of most missed work time. The injury can be caused by a strain, spasm, or sprain to the ligaments or muscles of the back. This can happen due to lifting something that’s too heavy...