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Walking and Working Surfaces
The following information is a general overview of major points and standards developed from OSHA 29 CFR Part 1910, Subpart D. Walking and Working Surfaces for General Industry.
Key Terms:
General Requirements:
Floor Openings, Wall Openings, and Holes:
Railing, Toeboard, and Cover Specifications:
Stairways:
Ladders:
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Hazard assessment cannot be stressed enough. Every time we set foot into the workplace we must evaluate our surroundings and work operations for threats to our safety.
On Thursday April 23, two painters in Akron, Ohio were dropped off at a vacant house under renovation at 10 p.m. The painting job was fairly straight forward, they were to paint all of the floors on the inside of the house. The house had no electric service, and since they were going to work throughout the night, they decided to use a generator to provide electric to their portable lights. The two men placed a gas generator in the fruit-cellar of the basement of the house. The room that housed the generator had a small open window which the two men obviously thought would be enough ventilation for the exhaust fumes. There were no other open windows in the entire house. On Friday morning, the contractor arrived at the residence to check on the painters' progress and found the two men lying on the floor inside of the house. The man immediately called 911. When police, fire, and EMS arrived, one of the painters was declared dead on the scene and the other was barely breathing. Carbon dioxide levels are considered hazardous at 35ppm (parts per million). The initial levels detected by responders was over 700ppm.
This is just another tragic example of a deadly workplace accident that most certainly could have been avoided with a little fore-thought and safety planning. Again, we must make safety in the workplace our first priority. The following is a link to the reported story.
Fumes Suspected in Death
The Heroic Safety Huddle - Hazard Assessment
Hazard assessment and identification are the keys to ensuring a safe workplace. Construction sites and industrial sites are large operations that are very dynamic in nature. Therefore, multiple hazards usually exist or can be created in the course of operations. Even small businesses have existing hazards that need to be addressed. Taking the time to identify all existing and potential hazards is the first and most basic step in developing a safe workplace.
Everyday, before operations begin, a hazard assessment should be completed by a competent person. A competent person is defined by OSHA as; a person who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them. Employees are also encouraged to survey their work environment before starting a shift and reporting any existing or potential hazards to their manager.
The following list is a general checklist that can be used by managers and employees to increase their focus on areas that generally contain hazards. All employers are encouraged to add any areas of their workplace that may not be addressed on the following list.
Never begin any work operations until all identified hazards have been mitigated or eliminated. Make all employees aware of any hazards found immediately after identification. Remove any damaged tools, equipment, or machinery from service until repairs, or servicing can be completed. Keep daily records of all hazard assessments for liability reasons. Be detailed in documentation to cover what hazards where identified, steps taken to mitigate or eliminate, and all employees notified of the hazards.
Hazard assessment should be completed daily. This list is to be used as a starting point. Please add any potential hazardous work areas that may be pertinent to your workplace.
Be safe out there!
Heroic Safety Solutions
Based on growing demand, Heroic Safety Solutions is now going to be publishing a weekly safety article that can be used for Monday morning safety huddles. The article will be published on Thursday and will pertain to the following week.
The Safety Huddle article will be written on different safety topics covering a wide range of industries. The articles will be brief overviews of major OSHA standards. The Safety Huddle article will provide employers with a way to conduct trainings on OSHA regulated topics on a weekly basis.
Heroic recommends that employers should print off the article and distribute it to all managers who can then review the topic with the employees that they manage. Provide a sign-in sheet so that these training sessions can be filed and attendance can be recorded.
If you would like to receive the Safety Huddle articles on a weekly basis, please subscribe to the Heroic Safety Blog. Heroic makes every effort to promote safety in all forms of industry and construction. However, if there are topics that you think we may have overlooked, or there is a topic you would like to train on, please email us at contactus@heroicsafety.com and give us your thoughts. Many safety consulting firms provide safety training articles for a price. Heroic Safety Solutions believes that it is our duty to promote workplace safety, so we are proud to offer this service for free.
Please remember, safety in the workplace is everyone's responsibility. The Heroic Safety Huddle is not intended to replace workplace safety programs, protocols, certified trainings, etc. The Safety Huddle is designed to provide a basis of safety topics that should be expanded upon by each employer.
We look forward to providing this service and hearing your comments. Be safe out there! Thank you.
Starting a Personal Protective Equipment program for general industry? Follow the following checklist to ensure your program is OSHA compliant and your related trainings are efficient.
PPE Program and Training Checklist:
Contractors need to understand their role in ensuring construction safety. Construction sites are dynamic in nature, and generally are plagued with multiple serious health and safety hazards. All employees are entitled to a sanitary and non-hazardous work environment. OSHA's 1926 subpart C defines the basic responsibilities of the construction contractor. The following is a list of basic safety standards that contractors must meet to increase safety on the job site.
Contact a reliable safety consultant to get more details on how to initiate these basic safety programs.
When it comes to running a safety program, most safety managers do not give a lot of thought to the potential dangers associated with storing and handling flammable liquids. Whether these liquids are fuels, alcohols, or degreasers, they have the potential to start fires, explode, or cause serious health effects. Most companies do not realize it, but there are many standards created by OSHA that regulate how flammable liquids are to be handled and stored in the workplace. Managers should get used to the terms D.O.T. approved safety cans, bonding and grounding, and ventilation. If one is to look into the OSHA standards for flammable liquids, they will see these terms throughout the text. OSHA can and will give citations to companies that do not utilize flammable liquids properly.
Our recommendation is to get a basic understanding of these regulations first. Start with a comprehensive fire safety policy and training protocol. Then put approved safety cans and flammable liquid cabinets into service. Once that is taken care of, start with bonding and grounding applications, and then move into more advanced control processes. Contact a local safety expert to advise you on how to develop you policies and trainings. Conduct a site safety assessment to locate flammable liquid hazards as well as other hazards that exist in your workplace. Flammable liquids pose serious threats to your employees and company property. Take control of them now. Below is a link to an excellent article written by Gary Marcus in EHS Today. This article gives a very basic understanding of how to safely handle and store flammable liquids.
http://ehstoday.com/fire_emergencyresponse/hazardous-materials/guide-handling-flammables-0409/
Worthington Industries presents an outside the box solution to safety programs. An article in EHS Today by Terry Leberfinger reported that Worthington Industries has been using a radical program for increasing safety and lowering accidents and safety related costs in their workplace. A leading diversified metals processing company with 8,000 employees and 64 facilities worldwide have been relying on their employees to define safety in the workplace.
Traditional safety programs start from the top and work their way down to baseline employees. Company administrators decide where the hazards exist, create policies to manage those hazards, and implement trainings and media to enforce the policies. Since 2001, Worthington has been working from the ground up. The train-of-thought here is that safety programs need to be defined by those that are facing hazards and responsible for abating them. They call it the Safe Works program.
Highlights of Safe Works:
In the seven years that Worthington has been supporting the Safe Works program they have had:
This form of proactive, outside the box thinking is starting safety down a new path. Congratulations to Worthington Industries to a job well done.
Read the whole article at EHS Today. http://ehstoday.com/safety/best-practices/workplace-safety-trust-employees-0309/
The Department of Labor has tagged April as the Drug-Free month in the United States. Does drug testing really increase safety in the workplace? This is a very controversial issue in workplaces across America. Instead of just dropping a biased opinion on my readers, I want to create a debate on this subject. In the spirit of a good debate, I welcome any and all comments on this issue. Tell me what you think and why you think that way. What are your personal experiences with drug-free workplace programs and testing.
As the author of this blog post, this is where I get to give my answer to the question. I have been teaching drug-free trainings in Ohio for years, and my answer to the question is yes, drug testing in the workplace greatly increases safety. Here is some data to help support my position. All of the following data is provided by the Ohio Bureau of Workman's Compensation.
The statistics speak for themselves. Substance abuse is dangerous and expensive in the workplace. I can tell you that the initial idea of drug free workplace programs was never intended to go into workplaces, round up abusers, and fire them. The idea has always been to identify employees who need help overcoming addiction. Once identified by the employer, support then can be offered to that individual that will help them regain control over their lives and then become a productive, valuable, and healthy employee.
I know you are asking me, "what do you know about addiction?" I have interacted with a lot of substance abusers over the years. Not only am I a safety consultant, but I have been a professional firefighter and paramedic for a city fire department for 9 years. Addiction is a physical, emotional, and sociological prison for the user. They can no longer set and meet their own personal priorities. The addiction becomes the priority. All cause and effect thinking has gone by the wayside. They no longer think about how their actions will affect themselves or their coworkers. This creates a huge safety risk.
What about personal rights? I hear many employees say, "what I do in my personal time is my business." They are right, it is their business, but when it effects me on our time then it becomes my business as well. Some substances can affect the user hours and even days after using. I can point to tests that have been done to prove that one-time users of marijuana have failed fine motor coordination tests up to 24 hours after smoking. When these effects are being brought into the workplace, then they are open to regulation. I have personal rights too, and one of them is to be safe while at work.
As a firefighter, I am subjected to drug testing. There have been years when I have been random drug tested as many as 4 or 5 times a year. Do I have a problem with this? Not at all. I understand why the city is testing me. Ask yourself if you would want your city's safety forces to be potential substance abusers? Could you or would you rely on their abilities? I think not.
Substance abusers are extremely dangerous in the workplace. I believe I have laid the foundation for an excellent debate. Lets hear what you have to say on the subject. For more information on drug-free workplace programs visit www.dol.gov/workingpartners. Be safe out there!
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OSHA reports that falls are the most frequent cause of fatalities at construction sites and annually account for one of every three construction-related deaths. Data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics states there were at least 442 construction worker fatalities during 2007 as a result from falls. This is a staggering statistic. Contractors have to emphasize the importance of fall protection standards and fall protection systems. Fall hazards are always a main focus of OSHA inspectors.
Frequently issued fall protection citations include:
The best plan of action for preventing or altogether eliminating hazardous falls includes:
Major aspects of OSHA 29 CFR Part 1926 Subpart M
In an article posted by SFGate.com, Nevada's Assembly of Commerce and Labor Committee passed mandatory safety training for all construction workers in the state. All base level employees will be required to have 10 hour certifications and all supervisor or management level employees will be required to have 30 hour certifications. This focus on safety has resulted from 12 worker fatalities on the Las Vegas Strip in the past 18 months. The bill also gives more control to regulating agencies. This is the beginning of a nationwide focus on safety regulation.
The New York Times posted an article a few days ago about a New York construction worker who fell 10 stories to his death while renovating a Park Avenue Hotel. As the country continues to rack up fatalities in the workplace, we will continue to see an increase in government control on job sites. OSHA already sets standards for construction, general industry, and maritime operations. Violations of these standards can result in heavy fines. So how does the contractor prepare his/her business for an inevitable increase in safety training?
Start training your employees now! Once states begin to mandate these safety trainings, the demand for safety trainers will increase. Therefore, contractors will have to pay more for these high demand trainings. 10 and 30 hour trainings are reasonably priced during this economic depression and safety trainers are lowering their prices to get work. Once these trainings are mandated for all construction employees, there will be drastic price increases as training schedules fill up.
Employee safety is of the utmost importance. The cost of training employees is a drop in the bucket compared to increase in governmental control over contractors. More control, means more stringent standards. More stringent standards means more citations and higher fines. Unfortunately for the safety-minded contractor, a handful of irresponsible companies have set this train in motion. By starting your 10 and 30 hour trainings now, you will be saving later.
Contractors and construction workers must realize the extreme hazards of excavating. OSHA reports that trenching and excavating is the most hazardous operation in the construction field. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, there are more than 65 fatalities per year associated with trench and excavation work. Most accidents occur in trenches 5-15 feet deep. Contractors must use precise planning before breaking ground on any job site. The following factors must be considered when choosing the appropriate trench safety system;
In order for a contractor to choose the correct trench safety system, they first must be fluent with OSHA's Subpart P of 29 CFR part 1926. The standards stated in this text provide the groundwork for excavation safety. It is important to note that house foundations and basement excavations are exempt from the standards. highlight's of this standard include;
The appendix section of Subpart P provides the technical data for trench safety systems. Contact a trench safety specialist for further details on protective systems, implementation, and associated standards.
Safety is always the first priority on a construction site. Hazards develop as soon as ground breaking operations begin. Implementation of a sound trench and excavation safety training program is the first step in protecting your employees. Designate a competent person to evaluate all excavations and use hazard assessment techniques to determine the identity of appropriate safety systems. Evaluate trench safety on a daily basis using the stability factors mentioned earlier in this article. Finally, when in doubt, never put someone in the trench!
Anytime you dig, you are excavating the dangers down below! Do not become a statistic. Educate yourself on trench and excavation safety.
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