Effective housekeeping can eliminate some workplace hazards and help get a job done safely and properly. Poor housekeeping frequently contributes to accidents by hiding hazards that cause injuries. Effective housekeeping is an ongoing operation: it is not a hit-and-miss cleanup done occasionally. Periodic “panic” cleanups are costly and ineffective in...
Did you know that over 2/3 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. Effective housekeeping can eliminate some workplace hazards and help get a job done...
Your respirator may be the most important tool of your job. It protects your most precious asset, your health. Yet more often than not, respirators find their way to the bottom of tool bags where they become damaged and/or very dirty inside and out. Both of these conditions compromise the...
OSHA requires employers to identify and protect against breathing hazards. Engineering controls are the preferred form of protection, e.g., ventilation, using less toxic measures, and enclosing operations that create air contaminants. When air measurements reveal that engineering controls haven’t brought air hazards to safe levels, employers must provide employees with...
The OSHA First Aid standard requires trained first-aid providers at all workplaces of any size, if there is no “infirmary, clinic, or hospital in near proximity to the workplace which is used for the treatment of all injured employees.” When an accident happens, a first aid program that meets the...
The OSHA First Aid standard requires trained first-aid providers at all workplaces of any size, if there is no “infirmary, clinic, or hospital in near proximity to the workplace which is used for the treatment of all injured employees.” If an employee is expected to render first aid as part...
OSHA describes suspension trauma as “the development of symptoms such as light-headedness, poor concentration, palpitations, tremulousness, fatigue, nausea, dizziness, headache, sweating, weakness, and occasionally fainting during upright standing.” Suspension trauma, also known as “harness hang syndrome” and “orthostatic intolerance,” occurs after a worker has fallen into a fall arrest harness...
When a worker is suspended in a fall harness, the body has no way of going horizontal. The blood keeps pooling and cannot flow properly. This is suspension trauma. And unless the worker is rescued promptly, venous pooling and orthostatic intolerance occurs. This may result in serious damage to the...
Use of fire extinguishers can come with many risks, so workers must be trained on how to safely use them to put out a fire. The most important thing in to do during a fire situation is to get yourself to safety and call the proper authorities to combat the...
Fire extinguishers can be an important tool in preventing a small fire from growing larger. However, they should not be used to combat large or rapidly spreading fires. The most important thing to do during a fire situation is to get yourself to safety and call the proper authorities to...