Implementation of OSHA 1910.132

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There are many things a business must do to maintain a safe and healthy workplace. Safety starts with a clear understanding of the hazards on the jobsite, and a clear and concise plan to manage these dangers. Next, most companies implement procedures to follow the plan; these are rules and regulations which must be followed to safeguard employees from workplace injuries. These safeguards are then checked against OSHA standards to ensure that the business is up to code and that the safety measures have maximum efficacy. The final step in any safety plan is the implementation of OSHA 1910.132, which governs the use of Personal Protective Equipment.

As we’ve discussed previously, personal protective equipment is a crucial part of any safety program. Just about every OSHA standard ends with some form of personal protective equipment, because that is the last possible safety mechanism for your employees. If every safeguard you have put in place fails, or an employee misuses a piece of equipment he does not fully understand, or you simply fail to account for a hazard in your workplace, personal protective equipment can mitigate the effects of the damage.

Because safety plans rely so heavily on personal protective equipment as that last line of defense, it is imperative that you properly document how and when this equipment is used not just in your safety manual, but also at the point of potential hazards and where equipment will be donned and doffed. This is most easily accomplished through placards and safety signs and tags.

If you have any questions about your signage, and whether or not it is up to OSHA’s standard, please contact us so we can help you verify that your business is compliant. And, should you have any needs for signage which you do not see in our store, we can design custom signs for your workspace, to ensure maximum safety for your staff. If you have anything to say about OSHA 1910.132, please leave a comment.

Safety and Health Management System

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OSHA regulates and oversees all aspects of safety in the workplace. No matter what your line of business, there is something you are doing which OSHA has a standard for. These standards have been developed over 30 years of intensely studying workplace accidents and effective prevention methods. OSHA does not take noncompliance lightly, and you should not either.

At the heart of OSHA’s standards is the concept of a Safety and Health Management System. A Safety and Health Management System is a system you put in place to confirm compliance with OSHA. A poorly created or outdated system can lead to undertrained employees or ineffective procedures in place for handling workplace hazards. Either way, you are looking at potentially crippling fines for you and your business and unnecessary injuries to your team.

If you are concerned with the quality of your Safety and Health Management System, or if you feel it needs to be updated, don’t procrastinate – do it. It’s not fun to update it, and it’s certainly not easy but if done correctly, it can be a pretty painless process. You need to start from the beginning; assess your workplace, its hazards, and what your safety goals are. Next, examine your business objectives and find the sticking points between safety and business practicality. Then, troubleshoot how you can smooth over those issues.

If you find you are having some difficulties, that’s ok – normal, even. That’s where we come in. We can help you create and maintain a Safety and Health Management System, keeping the realities of the business world in mind. Then, we can help you maintain your Safety and Health Management System with annual audits, which will keep you up to code in the future. If you are ready to take safety seriously, and get your business up to speed, or to check to ensure your business is compliant, contact us; we would love to help. If you have anything to add, please leave a comment.

29CFR1910.147 Lockout/Tagout

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Lockout Tagout procedures are of the utmost importance to business continuity and employee safety. It is for this reason that we have discussed it so many times on our blog already. In 2011, the standard which governs lockout tagout procedures, OSHA Standard 1910.147 The Control of Hazardous Energy, was the fourth most frequently violated standard. This standard alone accounted for almost 4,000 citations in that year. In addition, OSHA data shows that lockout/tagout noncompliance accounts for 120 fatalities and 50,000 injuries every year.

This is pretty sobering news if you are in an industry with machinery subject to lockout/tagout standards, and this list of industries is growing, as technology advances. If you are not sure if your machinery requires formal procedures with a visual placard, you need to immediately contact a professional who can better inform you about what is required of you by OSHA. And if you do need lockout/tagout procedures, and think you are up to code, it might be time to audit yourself, as most of those companies cited in 2011 thought that they were up to code, as well.

As an owner or member of management in your company, you can not leave the burden of responsibility solely on your maintenance personnel; you need to take an active role in overseeing compliance. The easiest way to do this is to routinely audit your machines and safety procedures, and consult with your maintenance staff to ensure there are no misunderstandings about the procedures.

In addition, you need to ensure that, as your machinery and uses change, your lockout/tagout needs are not changing. To do this, you need to either manually keep track of uses, surges, system downtime, and system changes, or utilize a program which can track this for you. Luckily, many companies offer such software to help you remain compliant and accident free. If you would like more information about our software, or about lockout/tagout in general, please contact us so that we may assist you. Together, we can reduce the number of injuries and citations caused by lockout/tagout procedure errors. If you have any helpful hints to help our readers avoid issues of noncompliance, please leave a comment.

Properly Communicating Safety Procedures

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While there are many reasons for workplace accidents, unsafe acts by workers remains the largest problem. Studies indicate that anywhere fro 85% to 90% of all workplace accidents are caused by unsafe acts, which are things that could easily be prevented and avoided. Many of these acts are perpetrated by employees who either do not have the basic knowledge required to safely and effectively do their jobs, or by employees who are not made aware of specific safety guidelines pertaining to their jobs.

While individuals do bear some of the blame for their actions, a larger portion of that blame falls on the employer and the management team. It is the responsibility of management to ensure that every employee is capable of doing their job safely, and that every employee is following every procedure. If personal protective equipment should be worn, it is the duty of supervisors to ensure it is being worn, and the duty of ownership to ensure that supervisors are enforcing these rules. Similarly, an employee can not be expected to wear equipment that he or she does not know exists because that information was never passed down to him or her.

To avoid problems such as this, it is imperative that management institute clear and concise practices around safety, and that there is never an expectation of knowledge around safe practices. Until an employee is specifically given the safety procedures, and trained in safety, it is not fair to assume that they will work in a safe manner. You should not put your employees in this situation, as it is dangerous to them and opens you up to compliance issues.

If you do not have a comprehensive safety plan, it is time to get one. If you need help in writing one, it might be a good idea to hire a professional firm to help you organize your procedures to ensure they are up to code with OSHA requirements. If you would like some help in organizing your safety procedures, or if you would like to ensure that your procedures are adequate, please contact us so that we can assist you in ensuring your business is running safely. Please leave any comments you have about the importance of communicating safety procedures in the comments section.

OHSAS 18001

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OHSAS 18001 is an important standard for any business committed to safety. While not required, like OSHA regulations, implementing OHSAS 18001 will help you stay in compliance with many of the OSHA regulations that pertain to your business. OHSAS takes a common sense look at your business, at what you do, and at your potential hazards, and looks to mitigate risk without interrupting business flow.

This standard accomplishes this by involving management and employees, requiring effective training, identifying hazards, evaluating your business’ operations to see if any hazards are created from them, and taking all of that to create a plan to prevent and control all found hazards. The process of OHSAS 18001 has proven results, and ensures your business is in compliance with OSHA regulations relating to Lockout/Tagout, Emergency Evacuation Plans, Confined Spaces, Arc Flash, Personal Protective Equipment, and Signage among other things.

As you can see, we have previously blogged about each one of these topics. This should show how important each topic truly is – and to implement a comprehensive solution which covers all of these topics together will save you time, money, work place injuries, and headaches. Further, should you ever have issues with OSHA, being able to show your action plan and continued adherence to OHSAS 18001 will help you avoid additional and unnecessary citations and fines.

While the initial implementation of this standard can be difficult, a professional firm who has been down this road before can help you to understand the specifics as they relate to your business. Further, good firms will have plans in place to help you to stay in compliance. Here at PF Safety, we utilize our Factory Solutions Software to help you to continue to monitor your compliance. With this software, you can be sure that you are remaining in compliance as your systems and processes change.

If you would like more information about OHSAS 18001 or if you would like more information about our Factory Solutions Software, please contact us. And if you have anything to add about the benefits of OHSAS 18001, please leave a comment.

Emergency Action Plans

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Disasters happen. Whether natural or man made, disasters are bound to occur. We cannot always predict them, but we can prepare for them. Preparing for a disaster is crucial to employee safety and continuation of business. It is also a requirement for OSHA 1910.38. This standard describes the minimum elements any emergency action plan should include.

Emergency action plans must, at a minimum, include procedures for reporting a fire, procedures for evacuation, procedures to account for all employees after evacuation, procedures to be followed by employees performing rescue or medical duties, and the names and job titles of all employees who may be contacted for more information about the emergency action plan. Further, OSHA 1910.38 details that there must be an employee alarm system, employee training, and periodic reviews of the emergency action plan.

Tied into this standard is OSHA 1910.36, which we previously discussed. This standard gives the specific details of required evacuation procedures. This standard, in conjunction with OSHA 1910.38, can help you to prepare for disasters of any size, from a small fire in the break room caused by an employee microwaving tinfoil to a magnitude 10 earthquake. In either instance, the only way to avoid potentially serious problems to your employees, your business, and yourself is preparation.

So, if you have not recently updated your emergency action plan, or if your business has changed recently in any significant way (such as personnel, procedures, machinery used, etc.) it would behoove you to ensure your emergency action plans are up to code with OSHA 1910.38. If you have any question about implementing OSHA 1910.38, please contact us so that we can assist you. If you have any useful information on Emergency Action Plans and OSHA 1910.38, please post them in the comments section.

Safety Software

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One of the primary focuses we have here at PF Safety is lockout procedures. We have discussed this topic several times before because we take lockout tagout very seriously, as we understand the potential threat to your business and your employees should there ever be a lockout tagout miscalculation.

But as important and difficult as it is to properly comply with the standards initially, it can be even harder and vastly more important to sustain accurate procedures. An audit team such as ours can define your library and design proper placards, but it becomes your responsibility to monitor changes and redefine your procedure library over time. Now, the reason most companies hire professionals to set up their procedures initially is that it is so difficult to get a company up to speed in this critical area.

However, lockout tagout procedures are not suddenly learned when a company is brought up to code, and the same questions and uncertainties which caused a company to hire a professional are still present. What’s worse is that many business owners assume, because they have had a procedure put in place, they no longer need to worry about their lockout procedures and do not monitor them.

This can be an extremely costly mistake. It is imperative to consistently monitor your lockout tagout procedures, otherwise you will fall back out of compliance. Things change, and unless you are monitoring your machines night and day, something can get past you and create a very serious problem.

Fortunately, there is advanced monitoring software released by many companies which can help your company maintain compliant lockout tagout procedures. If you have any questions whatsoever regarding this extremely critical standard, please contact us. And, if you know of any other tips for maintaining compliance between audits, please post them in the comments.

Personal Protective Equipment

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As we’ve previously discussed, personal protective equipment is of major concern to OSHA, and should be one of your primary concerns as a business owner in any field with potential safety hazards. Personal protective equipment can be the difference between a serious on the job injury and a non event, should something go awry during day to day operations. Unfortunately, there are so many different types of protective equipment with very specific uses, it can often be difficult to determine which equipment is necessary in which situations.

For instance, it might be obvious that a respirator is needed during an abrasive blasting job, but which respirator is correct? Is a simple mask sufficient, or is a full breathing apparatus needed? The same can go for hazmat suits; are the suits you are using up to code? The codes and requirements are constantly changing, as the field of protective equipment is ever evolving. What was sufficient five years ago may be woefully inadequate today. And, even if you are “up to code,” are you giving your employees the best equipment available to protect them?

If you have not recently checked, it might be a good idea to at least review your protective equipment. Believe us, you do not want a problem on the job site to unnecessarily injure an employee. Especially if something as simple as a pair of gloves or better glasses could have changed the outcome. If you have any questions about the personal protect equipment you are currently using, please contact us. And if you have anything to add to the discussion, please leave a comment.

Safety Signs

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Safety signs are important in just about every facet of your business. Whether you own a factory with 500 employees or an automotive shop with 3 mechanics, there is certain signage required by OSHA. And without this signage, you can incur hefty fines. In addition to the fines, you can also put your employees severely at risk by not properly notifying them of safety hazards.

What is important to remember about signage is that it is not for you, it is for your employees. It might be obvious to you not to smoke near your propane tanks, but that doesn’t mean it is to a new hire who works in your accounting department. Likewise, you certainly know which machinery requires proper personal protective equipment to use, but that doesn’t mean everyone in your shop does. In order to ensure the safety of everyone working for you, you cannot assume any base level of knowledge about your equipment. So, while it is tedious to keep track of what OSHA signage requirements pertain to your facility, it is important to remember why those requirements were established.

If you have any questions about which safety signs are required where, you can consult OSHA directly and read through the relevant standards, or you can contact a company who specializes in OSHA standards and compliance. And, if you need to order new safety signs, wouldn’t it make sense to purchase them through that company, whose employees live to understand compliance? If you do have any needs pertaining to your safety signage, please contact us so that we can help you. And, should you have anything you think could benefit others reading this, please leave a comment.

Happy Holidays

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We just wanted to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season. Too often do we hear about holiday related incidents, both at work and home, so we decided to share some tips to stay safe this year.

Holiday Lights – Holiday lights are one of the worst culprits of holiday accidents. Please check any lights you buy for a label ensuring they have been tested by a third party for safety. It is not worth potentially starting a fire in your home or office to save a few cents a strand. In addition, you should never use more than three sets of lights on an extension cord. Find different outlets in your home or office, or run additional cords, if needed. Finally, turn off all lights if you are going out or going to sleep. The lights can short out and start a fire.

Fire Places – There might be no better feeling than sitting in front of a warm fire on a cold night with family around the holidays, but please do it safely. Before lighting the fire, please remove any decorations, papers, etc from the fireplace (this includes any stockings hanging above it). Also be cautious if you plan to use any fire salts; their colors can be very festive, but they can also be very harmful if eaten. Finally, do not burn wrapping paper, it can cause flash fires and is extremely dangerous.

Trees – If you have an artificial tree, make sure it is fire resistant, as with lights it is worth the extra few dollars to protect yourself from unneeded risks. If you have a real tree, make certain it is fresh and well watered. A dry tree is a serious fire hazard, and needs to be carefully monitored. No matter what kind of tree you have, you should never put it near a fireplace, radiator, vent, or other heat source.

Candles – Candles are great decorations, and add a lot to the season, but proper safety must be followed now, just the same as the rest of the year. Keep candles in a safe place, away from any combustible materials, and where they will not be knocked over. Place candles in non-flammable holders, never put them on trees. Finally, ensure there is nothing above the candle which can burn, many fires are started in bookshelves or other shelving units.

If you follow these tips, you will greatly reduce your chances of an accident during the holiday season. Again, have a safe and happy holiday season, and please feel free to leave comments with any of your holiday safety tips.