Do you have a SAFETY goal? Part 2

Continuing from the article that posted on May 5, 2018

Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Safety Standards for Fiscal Year 2017 (Oct. 1, 2016, to Sept. 30, 2017)

Safety is an important aspect of any job, something that needs raised awareness and promotion. One of the most effective ways to promote safety within any work place is to continually keep safety at the forefront by reminding employees that by working safely you can reduce their chances of being hurt on the job.

In October/November of each year, OSHA publishes the Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards

Here are the Top 10 for 2017:

1. Fall Protection – General Requirements
2. Hazard Communication
3. Scaffolding
4. Respiratory Protection
5. Lockout/Tagout
6. Ladders
7. Powered Industrial Trucks
8. Machine Guarding
9. Fall Protection – Training Requirements
10. Electrical – Wiring Methods

I thought it might be helpful to you, if I spent some time going through this list and giving you some of the easy things to reduce injuries and to raise awareness:

Respiratory Protection – A respirator can be anything that potentially covers the nose and mouth and is used to supply clean air or that filters out hazards. If the employer determines that a respirator must be worn, a Medical Evaluation must be conducted prior to being used. Some other items cited are:

• Employer does not have a written respiratory protection program
• Proper fit tests are not provided prior to first use and/or annually to all employees that wear tight fitting respirators
• The employer must also select respirators that NIOSH-certified

Lockout/Tagout – The Lockout/Tagout Standard is used to block the flow of energy to a piece of equipment. Some examples of hazardous energy are electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, chemical, thermal, or other. Some things that you can do to provide a safer workplace for your employees is:

• Develop and train on specific lockout/tagout procedures for each type of hazardous energy and piece of equipment.
• Inspect each employee using the developed and trained on procedures at least annually and update as necessary to ensure your training and written procedures are affective.
• Each procedure should include a means to determine if the removal of energy was successful.

Ladders – It may seem silly that Ladders makes the Top 10, however, ladders are one of the most commonly misused tools. Some easy items to help employee work safe on ladders are:

• Don’t overload a ladder. Every ladder has a rated capacity and that includes the men and tools on the ladder at any given time. Yes, inspectors will bring a scale and weigh the employee and tools.
• Extension ladders not extended 3 feet above the top level.
• Using a portable (folding) ladder in a manner it wasn’t intended to be used.
  • Standing one of the steps marked as NOT a STEP.
  •  Leaning the folded ladder against a wall
• Using a ladder with inadequate foundation or not level
• Not inspecting ladder prior to each use and marking the “Do Not Use” when they are unsafe.

In the next issue, we will discuss Powered Industrial Trucks, Machine Guarding, Fall Protection, and Electrical.

Article provided by: David Wright, who is the Health & Safety Manager for Weston & Sampson, Inc. and has been safety professional for over 20 years’ experience, managing the safety and human resources for some of the larger companies in the U.S. He is the Chair of the NEWEA Safety Committee, an OSHA Authorized Trainer, in both Construction and General Industry. He is recognized for developing and maintaining a “world class” safety culture in the water, wastewater, construction, transportation, mining, and municipal solid waste service industries, and is skilled in training both internal and external customers.