Web-Based Monitoring for Lockout Tagout

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After instituting lockout tagout procedures, it is important to have a system in place to monitor these procedures. First, you need to have a way for your employees to access the procedures to ensure compliance, and second, you need to have a way to update your procedures as your business needs change. For many, this is done in house by the safety team. For others, it is not done at all. And if you fall into either of these two categories, it might be time to look into web-based monitoring software for your lockout tagout procedures.

Web-based monitoring allows you to define a procedure library based upon our extensive library of procedures, ensuring you will have procedures which are up to code. These procedures are fully customizable and can be custom-designed to fit your company needs. After inputting all of your information, the procedures can be accessed anywhere a computer has internet connectivity through a website login and password. From there, the program is completely in your hands. You can update information as needed and it is fully scalable, meaning you can have 1 or 100 people working at once.

And best of all, as regulations change, this software will track those changes to help ensure you are up to code.

If you are still managing your lockout tagout monitoring yourself, it might be time to look into another option. Please contact us if you have any questions about how our software can help you. And if you have anything to add about monitoring lockout tagout procedures, please leave a comment.

Auditing Your Safety and Health Management System

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Safety and Health Management Systems are an integral part of any successful safety plan for a company. It is a central place to house all policies pertaining to safety, allowing quick access to these policies for review by management, safety personnel, or anyone else interested in a company’s safety practices. A Safety and Health Management System also allows easy updates to company policies when OSHA or other regulatory bodies update their regulations.

And while it is easy to create the structure of the Safety and Health Management System, actually implementing it and ensuring that all of the parts are accurate and up to date is not so easy. it is generally advised that you consult an expert when putting your Safety and Health Management System together, just to ensure you are starting off in compliance, and optimally organized.

But it is also important to properly update a Safety and Health Management System over time, and this is where many companies run into problems. Over time they expand their business or miss a regulatory change, and suddenly their Safety and Health Management System is out of compliance. And when your procedures are out of compliance, your company will be out of compliance.

It is for this reason we recommend at least annual audits of your Safety and Health Management System. These audits can be as superficial or in depth as you would like, but a second set of eyes from someone removed from the company can be an amazing resource for ensuring that your company remains up to code.

If you have any questions about implementing or maintaining a Safety and Health Management System, please contact us. And if you have anything to add about Safety and Health Management Systems, please leave a comment.

Lockout Tagout Computer Monitoring

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Setting lockout tagout procedures for your facility is hard. Maintaining your procedures over time and monitoring the accuracy of updates to your system is even harder. Each time there is an upgrade or addition to your machinery, or there is a change in personnel, there is the need to ensure the procedure library is still up to date and accurate. Further, you need to ensure that machines which have changed or been added to your company are fully lockout tagout compliant.

For many business owners, it is cheaper and more time effective to simply utilize software to track and monitor these changes. Unfortunately, most software requires routine updates to ensure accuracy to the most recently updated regulations. This, too, can create problems for many business owners, as outdated software can create a situation where a non-compliant machine is registering as compliant after policy changes.

To combat this problem, it is best to use web based software that is continually updated as needed, ensuring your procedures are checked against the most recent regulatory changes. Here at PF Safety, we have created a web based program which is fully scalable, fully customizable, and guaranteed to always be updated, that allows you to manage and track your lockout tagout procedures.

If you have any questions about your lockout tagout procedures, or would like more information on how our web based software, Factory Solutions Software, can help your business, please contact us. If you have anything to add about the challenges of monitoring lockout tagout, please leave a comment.

Safety Signage

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OSHA has set very specific guidelines for safety signs and tags. The basics for these guidelines can be found in Standard 1910.145. It is important to keep in mind, however, that these are just the basic guidelines and that interspersed within many other standards are additional requirements specific to those safety hazards. So when you review your safety signs, first check them against 1910.145, then against the specific standard relevant to that business specific operation or safety device.

Standard 1910.145 describes in detail the color, dimensions, and design requirements for most signs you will post throughout your facility. This standard was created so that anyone who sees the signs, especially in an emergency situation, will know what they mean. Standardizing signage allows anyone to understand the signage at any facility. It was also created to help guide business owners and safety teams in determining where to place signs and which signs are applicable in which situations. Danger signs, for instance, are used to denote immediate danger. Caution signs, on the other hand, are used to warn against potential hazards. It is still up to you and your staff to determine which hazards at your facility fall into which category.

It is also important to ensure that each sign is in the correct place. Having the right signs in the wrong places can not only be a severe threat to employees, but can also get you significant fines and citations from OSHA. If you are unsure of where to properly place your signs or if your signs are still up to code, it is important to have your facility audited to ensure compliance.

If you have any questions about specific signs, please contact us. And if you have anything to add about safety signage, please leave a comment.

Preventative Maintenance: A Simple Way to Save Money

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Preventative maintenance on machinery and equipment is an easy way to save some serious money on repair and replacement costs. It is also a fantastic way to ensure compliance with safety regulations, helping business owners avoid unnecessary fees from OSHA and from litigation brought on by employees.

In order to see the full benefits of preventative maintenance, it is important for a business owner to create a preventative maintenance plan and include it in the company Safety and Health Management System. This ensures that any individuals involved in the safety and welfare of your staff will be aware of the required maintenance procedures, and can help enforce said policies. It is also important to include regular, formal training for all employees so that they understand their role in the maintenance of machinery.

As for creating the plan, it is important to catalog each item in your facility, noting who uses it, how often, and for what purpose. Then, you need to learn the required maintenance for each item, including the frequency, based upon the current use. Finally, a schedule of maintenance must be created and placed onto a placard which can be left at the machine and updated daily to validate that the scheduled maintenance is complete.

With these easy steps, any business can run more efficiently and save business owners a substantial sum of money in repair, replacement, and work place injury costs. If you have any questions about how a formal preventative maintenance plan could help your business, please contact me. And please feel free to leave a comment if you have anything to add.

Tracking Lockout Tagout Changes

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One of the most important OSHA standards to ensure adherence to is Standard 1910.147. This standard governs lockout tagout procedures, which are extremely difficult to comply with and even more difficult to maintain.  Every time a piece of machinery is changed, a company procedure is updated, or an employee is moved, the lockout tagout library needs to be updated, and tracking these changes can create a huge problem for many business owners and safety teams.

Fortunately, software has been created which allows safety professionals to quickly and effectively track and manage all lockout tagout changes. PF Safety has created a fully scalable, fully customizable software for lockout tagout called Factory Solutions Software, which comes preloaded with a database of procedure libraries that can be adapted to meet your needs. And best of all, this software can be accessed from anywhere internet is available, as the software is 100% web based.

Once a procedure library is created with this software, it is easy to identify energy isolation points and create and place the required placards. And as your business changes, it is as simple as keying the changes into the program to uncover new isolation points and to determine where new placards should go. Factory Solutions Software helps business owners ensure their company is always compliant with lockout tagout procedures, regardless of changes going on.

If you have any questions about the specifics of our lockout tagout monitoring software, please contact us so that we can discuss whether or not it makes sense for your business. And if you have anything to add about tracking lockout tagout changes, please leave a comment.

Personal Protective Equipment Saves Lives

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Acting as a last line of defense against injury for employees, personal protect equipment is often the only thing protecting employees from dangerous equipment, faulty systems, mislabeled tools, and themselves. No safety guideline can prevent employees from all faulty machinery or from human error, but properly utilized personal protective equipment can lessen the damage in an emergency situation, and can save an employee’s life in many situations.

Unlike normal safety procedures which generally involve external devices to detect or deter accidents and faults, personal protective equipment is generally worn by the person at risk. And while a system can shut down, a facility can lose power, and a label can fall off, basic personal protective equipment like gloves, body suits, helmets, or glasses are generally not susceptible to these same worries. And as helpful as all of these systems and procedures are, if an employee misuses a tool or enters an area by accident, it can become easy to trigger an event which falls outside of the normal scope of a safety plan, leaving the employee at risk.

It is in these situations that people are most at risk, because they are left alone with no systems in place to protect them. And while many employees put themselves in these situations on a daily basis, few are ever actually injured or killed when they are wearing appropriate personal protective equipment. This equipment is easily the most important safety mechanism available, as it protects the employee at the time of an accident, after the failsafes have all failed.

So if you have not reviewed your personal protective equipment recently, and are concerned you could be using outdated or damaged equipment, please contact us so that we can review your procedures and equipment to determine if there are any violations or unsafe practices. Should you have anything to add about the importance of personal protective equipment, please leave a comment.

Communicating Potential Hazards from Hazardous Substances

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In May of 2012, there were updates made to OSHA Standard 1910.1200, which regulates the communication of potential hazards associated with hazardous materials. The updates were made to bring the OSHA standard in line with the United Nations Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals, Revision 3. And while many standards are updated every year, this was the first major update to this standard in nearly 20 years; the first since a major update in 1994. So if your business deals in hazardous materials but your safety team has not reviewed and updated this section of the safety and health management system since last May, there is a good chance your company is no longer compliant, which means it is in danger of potential fines and your employees are potentially at risk.

A company in any industry which deals in hazardous materials, including laboratories, wholesalers, manufacturers, importers, warehouses, and retail stores, just to name a few, needs to ensure that it is up to code in relation to Standard 1910.1200. This standard specifies how to identify and classify hazardous materials and how to communicate this information to employees. It also covers protective communications to employees. This standard is very clear about what is – and is not – a hazardous material, and what preventative steps must be taken to ensure all details of the material are communicated to anyone who might come in contact with the material.

If you have not reviewed your procedures on hazard communication since last May, it is important to have your procedures audited to ensure your company is still up to code. If you would like help in this task, or would like some guidance on how to properly label any new products you have begun working with, please contact us. Should you have any general questions about hazard communication, or would like to add anything else about this standard, please leave a comment.

OSHA 29CFR1910.106 Flammable and Combustible Liquids

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In today’s world of chemicals, flammable and combustible liquids pose a grave fire risk that threatens workers safety and the workplace. Because flammable and combustible liquids have become ubiquitous in the workplace and their potential hazard is so high, understanding those liquids is essential in the prevention and control of their hazards.

OSHA 29CFR1910.106 applies to the handling, storage and use of flammable and combustible liquids. The basis of the standard is NFPA publication 30. OSHA, a division of the Department of Labor (DOL), considered NFPA as a primary source for best practices as it relates to flammable and combustible liquids.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) released a report, February 2012, entitled “The total cost of fire in the united states” where they reported that the U.S. spent an estimated $331 billion on fire in 2009. In a previous report NFPA estimated 1,400 fires occurred annually between 2002 and 2005 where flammable liquids were the major contributor for the fire.

In order to understand flammable and combustible liquids, it’s important to understand the terminology used to define them and their potential hazards. It’s also important to understand that the flammable and combustible liquids themselves do not burn. It’s their vapor mixed with air, within a specific range, that burns. Since the flash point determines the liquids ability to generate vapor, flash point became the basis for classification and identification of flammable and combustible liquids.

The flash point characterizes the fire hazards of liquids. The lower the flash point the lower the temperature at which the liquid gives off vapor and the more flammable the liquid is. For example, the flash point for gasoline is –45 deg. F, which means that the liquid gives off vapor at room temperature and much lower and therefore it’s highly flammable.

Flash point is defined as the minimum temperature at which a liquid gives off sufficient vapor that can form an ignitable mixture with air. At its flash point temperature, the liquid vapor flashes when lit in an open container. Flash point shouldn’t be mixed up with fire point, which is normally 5 to 10 degrees higher than the flash point. At its fire point temperature, the liquid vapor sustains fire when lit in an open container.

OSHA defines flammable liquid as any liquid having a flash point below 100 degrees Fahrenheit (deg. F). Flammable liquids are known as Class I liquids and divided into three sub-classes; class IA, class IB and class IC depending on their flash point temperature.

Combustible liquids are defined as any liquid having a flash point at or above 100 deg. F and divided into two classes; Class II and class III. In turn, class III is divided into two sub-classes; class IIIA and class IIIB liquids depending on their flash point temperature.

Too much vapor to air will make the mixture too rich and too little vapor to air will make the mixture too lean to burn. It’s the proper mixture of vapor to air ratio that gives rise to the fire risk. The flammable range is the limit between the minimum concentration and the maximum concentration of flammable vapor in air, in which a flash will occur in the liquid if ignited. Those limits are referred to as the lower and upper flammable limits (LFL or UFL). The vapor mixture below its LFL or above its UFL will not burn.

Because of their high potential for fire hazards, flammable and combustible liquids should be handled, used and stored with great caution. Metal containers and portable tanks used for flammable liquids should be made of proper material and should be properly vented. In most instances, grounding of containers while filling tanks is a must to avoid accidental static charge sparks. Storing of flammable liquids should be done in accordance with the OSHA standard. Suitable fire control devices, hoses of fire extinguishers, should be available at locations where flammable or combustible liquids are stored.

Complying with OSHA 1910.106 is a good way to ensure safety and prevent accidental fires.

Evacuation Route Requirements and Maintenance

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In the event of a serious emergency, a clearly defined and understood evacuation plan is often the only thing which prevents a disaster from becoming a tragedy. Evacuation plans save lives; understanding where to go in various circumstances, and having clear paths to exits allow employees to safely exit the building, even in a panic. A poorly designed evacuation route, meanwhile, can cause unnecessary harm to employees and even lead to needless fatalities. This is why OSHA takes means of egress so seriously, and is why they enacted Standard 1910.36 and Standard 1910.37.

Standard 1910.36 covers the basic requirements for the design and construction of exit routes. It explains requirements for the exit itself, stating that the exit must be permanent, fireproof, unlocked, lead directly outside, and that the number of openings into an exit are to be limited. It also discusses what is considered an “adequate” number of exit routes, and how to determine if a facility meets this minimum requirement. Finally, this standard also specifies height and width requirements for the evacuation route, as well as the specifications for the exit itself, including the hinges required, the height and width, and the appropriate locking mechanisms.

Standard 1910.37 covers the maintenance, safeguards, and operations features for exit routes. It explains that exit routes must have adequate lighting, must be unobstructed, that exit signs must be clearly labeled and illuminated, that alarm systems must always be operable, and discusses the steps to take during construction and repairs to ensure the exit route remains operational.

If you have any concerns that your evacuation routes are not up to these standards, or if you feel they are not prominently displayed in the proper locations, please contact us. And if you have anything to add about evacuation routes, please leave a comment.