Happy Thanksgiving from PF Safety. It is important to remember on Thanksgiving Day that accidents do not take holidays, and you need to remain cautious. One of the biggest hazards on Thanksgiving is house fires. Here are a few safety tips to help prevent a house fire, and to ensure your holiday is safe.

A new trend which has taken hold over the last few years is deep frying the turkey. If you plan to deep fry your turkey this year, do it outside, away from your house. When you fry the bird, make sure it is dry, and no grease can spill out. These hazards can cause a grease fire, which is extremely difficult to put out.

Another major fire hazard is found in the kitchen. You should never leave any cooking appliances unattended. On Thanksgiving Day, there are twice as many house fires as any other day during the year, and these fires are often caused in the kitchen from food left cooking unattended.

In order to help in the event a small fire starts, you should always keep a large lid in the kitchen, ready to smother the fire. This lid can prevent a Thanksgiving Day tragedy. If a fire starts that the lid can’t handle, or if a fire starts outside, it is also important to have a working fire extinguisher present.

Have a happy and safe holiday. If you should have any questions about workplace safety, please contact us. We will be here to help you all holiday season long.

Last June, a center city building collapsed in Philadelphia. The collapse killed six and injured 19 employees and shoppers. The building fell on an adjacent Salvation Army Thrift Store. After an initial review, it was found that critical wall supports had been removed from the four story building three days prior to the collapse. Further, the contractor who was operating the heavy equipment when the building collapsed was cited for negligence.

All told, the fines for Griffin Campbell, the demolition contractor whose company was hired to knock down the old building, totaled $313,000. There were additional fines totaling $84,000 levied against Sean Benschop, the operator of the heavy equipment which was involved in the building collapse.

The citations for Campbellwere largely focused upon the “willful, egregious violations” of OSHA standards, according to David Michaels, theUS assistant secretary of labor. There were additional citations for a lack of hard hats, issues with adequate training, fall prevention, and fall protection.

If you are in the construction industry and have any questions regarding how your worksite is run and the processes you have in place, it is a good idea to get a full third party safety audit from a qualified OSHA compliance consulting firm.

If you would like more information about third party safety audits, please contact us. If you have anything  to add about OSHAs citations against Griffin Campbell and Sean Benschop, or if you would like to add something regarding the importance of a third party safety audit, please leave a message.

OSHA’s recent proposal would make it a requirement of all employers of more than 250 employees, and employers of more than 20 employees in specific industries which have been identified as having high injury and illness rates, to electronically file illness and injury reports online. These reports will be stripped of any personal information and then made available to the public.

OSHA claims this will create more transparency in workplace injury, while also providing easier access to information for the public. Currently, the OSHA website lists raw data about workplace injury, but does not specifically breakdown what the injury was or how the injury happened. The new proposal would allow the public to break down what types of injuries are most common in various industries, and thus could help to limit common injuries in certain industries.

Whatever your opinion on these new changes, they fall in line with President Barak Obama’s initiative to increase access to government data, and as such are likely to gain traction. And if they do, it could mean big changes are coming for over 475,000 companies. If you think your company could be one of those affected by the changes, it is important to contact a professional safety and OSHA consulting firm for more details.

If you are nervous about the new proposal and how it might affect your business, please contact us so that we can advise you. If you have anything to add about the new OSHA proposal regarding injury and illness reporting, please leave a comment.

West, Texaswas devastated on April 17 when an explosion inside a fertilizer plant killed 15 people and injured more than 160 others. Now, 6 months later, word has been released by Sen. Barbara Boxer of Californiathat OSHA has issued 24 citations for serious safety violations which caused the explosion. And the price tag for those violations is $118,000, which is relatively small compared to the multimillion dollar fines normally associated with offenses of this magnitude, but still not a fine most companies can easily absorb.

All 24 violations were classified as serious, and 8 of them related to the stockpile of solid ammonium nitrate fertilizer which started the explosion. There were citations for inadequate ventilation in the storage facility, improper fire walls which weren’t fire resistant, improper wooden storage bins, storage piles which were too high, a floor pit which allowed melted ammonium nitrate to collect, and a lack of fire hydrants or other water supplies.

In addition, there were citations for improper emergency planning and for improper storage and handling of anhydrous ammonia.

Hopefully, this news will help prevent another tragedy such as the one seen in West, Texas. If your facility utilizes any kind of flammable or toxic substance, and you have not recently reviewed your safety plan as it relates to these items, please do so. And if you are not confident in your plans, contact a professional auditor to perform a full third party safety audit.

If you have any questions about how these violations might pertain to your business, or if you would like to schedule a third party safety audit, please contact us. If you have anything to add about the violations filed against West Fertilizer Co., please leave a comment.

Everybody at this point understands that the government is shutdown. Non-essential personnel are furloughed, offices are shuttered, and some departments are not working properly. And OSHA is among the agencies hit hardest.

OSHA has furloughed 90 percent of it’s inspectors, according to a Set. 10 memo released by David Michaels, the head of OSHA. This means that, unless it is deemed a serious emergency, complaints will not be answered until after the shutdown ends. And while this might sound great for companies, as it gives them more time to fix an issue, it can mean unsafe work environments last longer, creating more complaints, more chances for a serious injury, and potentially higher fines. If you have any fears that your workplace is not 100% up to code, now is the time to have a full third party audit, to ensure you won’t have a knock on your door when the government is back up and running.

OSHA is also unable to answer inquiries from employers about interpretations of standards. So if the normal turnaround time is anywhere from one to six months, the shutdown could easily double that delay. For a company building a new complex, that delay could have a significant cost impact.

If you have any questions about how to interpret an OSHA regulation or if you would like more information on a third party safety audit, please contact us. Or, if you have anything else to add about the impact of the government shutdown on workplace safety, please leave a comment.

OHSAS 18000 is a series of standards a company can put in place to ensure workplace safety. ISO 14000 is a series of standards a company can put in place to limit the company’s impact on the environment. These two sets of standards have very different objectives, yet are very similar at their core.

Both OHSAS 18000 and ISO 14000 attempt to streamline all of your current processes and procedures into one coherent place. OHSAS 18000 creates an occupational health and safety management system. This is a system that ensures all procedures and policies meet OSHA’s requirements, that all procedures and policies are harmonious with one another, and that no contradictions or errors exist. This system takes any company to the next level of safety, and it does so by structuring the processes already in place and adding a few new ones.

ISO 14000 helps a company to be more environmentally friendly by examining how products are produced, rather than focusing on the end result. There are many regulations in place which monitor what a company produces, so ISO 14000 attempts to fix issues during production, where there might be hazier requirements.

Both the OHSAS 18000 and ISO 14000 certifications are awarded by third parties. And if your company is interested in attaining either of these designations, it is important to work with a qualified consulting firm that truly understands the intricacies of these programs. A good consultant will audit your existing processes, help you to put new processes in place to meet the rigorous certification guidelines, and help you to put a plan in place to monitor your compliance long term.

If you would like more information on either of these certification programs, or if you would like to get started in putting a plan in place to become certified, please contact us. If you have anything to add about OHSAS 18000 or ISO 14000, please leave a comment.

Happy labor day to our readers. For many, this day means little more than a day off from work and the end of summer, but for us it serves a reminder of how important workers are to their companies, and to the economy on the whole.

For that reason, we want to leave you with a few safety tips as you enjoy the holiday.

For those grilling:

Please be sure the grill is away from any hanging branches, the house, or anything flammable.

Do not grill inside or in a garage.

Ensure the propane tank is properly connected, if applicable.

Do not let children get too close to the grill, and never leave it unattended if small children are present.

If using a charcoal grill, do not use any starter fluid after the charcoals have been lit.

For those using fireworks:

Wear safety glasses at all times.

Keep water readily available in case of an emergency.

Do not allow children to use fireworks without parental supervision.

Only use them outside

For Those Boating:

Always wear life jackets.

Always have a radio, cell phone, or other device available to track the weather.

Always have a radio, cell phone, or other device available to call for help.

Follow all rules of the water – just because you are not in your car does not mean you do not have to follow the laws.

Do not exit the boat with the motor running.

We hope everyone enjoys their Labor Day, and if you have any workplace safety questions or concerns, please contact us.