The National Fireworks Safety Coucil has published some tips to help everyone avoid those common and not-so-common fireworks incidents we hear about every year.  So first let me wish you all a Happy and SAFE July 4th Hoilday.  And as they used to say on Hill Street Blues ( do you remember?) “Let’s be safe out there!

Review Our Safety Tips…

USE FIREWORKS OUTDOORS ONLY.

OBEY LOCAL LAWS.  IF FIREWORKS ARE NOT LEGAL WHERE YOU LIVE, DO NOT USE THEM!

ALWAYS HAVE WATER HANDY (A HOSE OR BUCKETS OF WATER)

ONLY USE FIREWORKS AS INTENDED.  DON’T TRY TO ALTER THEM OR COMBINE THEM.

NEVER RE-LIGHT A “DUD” FIREWORK (WAIT 20 MINUTES AND THEN SOAK IT IN A BUCKET OF WATER)

USE COMMON SENSE WHEN USING FIREWORKS.   SPECTATORS SHOULD KEEP A SAFE DISTANCE FROM THE SHOOTER.  AND THE SHOOTER SHOULD WEAR SAFETY GLASSES.

ALCOHOL AND FIREWORKS DO NOT MIX.  HAVE A “DESIGNATED “SHOOTER

ONLY PERSON OVER AGE 12 SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO HANDLE SPARKLERS OF ANY TYPE.

DO NOT EVER USE HOMEMADE FIREWORKS OR ILLEGAL EXPLOSIVES; THEY CAN KILL YOU! REPORT ILLEGAL EXPLOSIVES TO THE FIRE OR POLICE DEPARTMENT IN YOUR COMMUNITY.

THE NATIONAL COUNCIL ON FIREWORKS SAFETY INVITES YOU TO CELEBRATE OUR NATION’S HERITAGE ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, BUT CELEBRATE SAFELY!

The U.S. House of Representatives issued a special report in June of 2008 on the status of recordkeeping and how it has been underreported, “But extensive evidence from academic studies, media reports and worker testimony shows that work-related injuries and illnesses in the United States are chronically and even grossly underreported. As much as 69 percent of injuries and illnesses may never make it into the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), the nation’s annual workplace safety and health “report card” generated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).”

While the report does reach some interesting conclusions, it is not something really new to many safety professionals.  In a previous article I reported how a company failed to report an injured employee to keep the incident off the books.  Now we know it happens a lot more than we thought.  We don’t want to think it happens, but incidents cost money and production time.  The fewer incidents that are reported keep certain cost, such as worker’s comp prices and healthcare, from rising.  Also, many safety professionals job are dependent on showing a decline in the number of incidents reported.  Therefore a borderline call may never make it to the OSHA 300 form.  At least now we know that the incident rate reported by the BLS is not totally accurate.  The question is, will this really change anything? 

Let’s hear from you.  We value all your comments and concerns relating to this and any other issues.

As hurricane season approaches, the Department of Homeland Security’s Ready Campaign and The Advertising Council are reaching out to small businesses and encouraging them to “define their day after” by putting emergency preparedness at the top of their to-do list. A series of national public service advertisements entitled “Procrastination” were released nationwide last week for radio, print, Internet, and outdoor media. Tapping into the natural tendency for individuals to put off making plans for another day, the PSAs focus on what can happen when business owners choose to place making an emergency plan at the bottom of their to-do list.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, small businesses employ more than half of all Americans. However, Institute for Business and Home Safety research shows that, at the minimum, one in four businesses never reopen following a disaster. “Research conducted by the Ad Council found that more than 85 percent of small businesses understand that emergency preparedness is important, yet only four in ten businesses have a plan to protect their businesses,” said DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff. “The ability of these businesses to survive and recover quickly from both natural and man-made disasters directly benefits employees, customers, the community, and the local, and even national, economy.”

The “Procrastination” PSAs were created by Neiman Group and mark the third round of national PSAs created for Ready Business, a component of the Ready Campaign. Ready Business is designed to help owners and managers of small- to medium-size businesses prepare their employees, operations, and assets in the event of an emergency by providing practical steps and easy-to-use templates. To date, the Ready Business effort has received more than $91.1 million in donated media support; its Web site has received more than 29.7 million hits and more than 2.6 million unique visitors; and more than 2.3 million Ready Business materials have been requested or downloaded from the Web site. For more information on SBA’s disaster program and preparedness tips, and links to the public service announcements and the Nationwide disaster guide, visit www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance/disasterpreparedness/index.html.

The Compliance Resource Center usually does not talk about products, however the Smart Monitor Series by Ericson can help the construction industry to help meet OSHA’s construction site gound fault protection.

Ericson Manufacturing announces the release of our newest “smart” series of electrical plugs and connectors. The Smart Monitor Series utilize a new “thinking” module which detects many common electrical problems including loss of earth ground which effects lack of compliance to OSHA’s Worksite Assured Grounding Program. The dual color RED & BLUE LEDS indicate correct or incorrect electrical conditions on the cordset. Smart Monitor Plugs & Connectors constantly monitors these conditions:

No Ground
Loss of Ground In Cord
Hot/Neutral Swap
Reverse Polarity
Hot on Ground
Open Neutral.
RED LEDs indicate an electrical problem (and lack of compliance to OSHA’s Worksite Safety Program), where as a bright BLUE indication shows the cord or supply is “Good-to-Go”.

When was the last time you took a safety class?  There are a lot of different sources available, with both for-profit companies and the not-for-profit organizations.  Three not-for-profit associations, ASSE (American Society of Safety Engineers),  NSC (National Safety Council) and the Construction Safety Council offer a variety of classes.  But the two sources I want to describe are the OTI (OSHA Training Institute) and the National Safety Education Center.

OTI is OSHA’s own training center in Arlington Heights, IL.  The OTI provides training and education in occupational safety and health for federal and state compliance officers, state consultants, other federal agency personnel, and the private sector.

The OSHA Training Institute (OTI) Education Center program was initiated as an extension of the OSHA Training Institute, which is the primary training provider of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OTI targets Federal and State compliance officers and State consultation program staff, but also provides training for private sector personnel and Federal personnel from agencies other than OSHA on a space available basis. However, during the 1980s, the number of requests for training from private sector personnel and Federal personnel from agencies other than OSHA increased substantially and the demand eventually exceeded the capacity of the OSHA Training Institute. To date there are 18 training centers with at least one in each OSHA region. 

As an example, the National Safety Education Center in Region V, is a consortium comprised of: Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, Construction Safety Council, Hillside, IL and the National Safety Council, Itasca, IL.  The National Safety Education Center is authorized by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to deliver approved OSHA training courses. Upon completion of any program, your achievement is recognized through:

• Department of Labor Course Completion Certificates
• Outreach Trainer Cards for OSHA Courses 500, 501, 502 and 503
• Availability of Continuing Education Units (CEUs)
• Availability of American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH) Safety and Industrial Health
• Continuing Maintenance (CM) points.

Pick a class and increase your safety knowledge.

OSHA recently fined a roofing company over $200,000 when an employee was killed when he fell 16 feet through a skylight. OSHA issued eight willful citations to the company for its failure to provide fall protection in hoisting areas and on low-sloped roofs; failing to cover skylight openings to prevent falls; and not training employees about fall hazards. Seven of the citations allege per-instance willful violations of three OSHA requirements. A willful violation is defined as one committed with an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and regulations.

Falls are the #1 cause of worker’s death in the construction industry.  The Compliance Resource Center reported on (ANSI)/ASSE Z359.2 fall protection in May of 2007.  Fall protection must be provided at four feet in general industry, five feet in maritime and six feet in construction. Here are some Fall Protection Tips from OSHA:

Fall Protection Tips
• Identify all potential tripping and fall hazards before work starts.
• Look for fall hazards such as unprotected floor openings/edges, shafts, skylights, stairwells, and roof openings/edges.
• Inspect fall protection equipment for defects before use.
• Select, wear, and use fall protection equipment appropriate for the task.
• Secure and stabilize all ladders before climbing them.
• Never stand on the top rung/step of a ladder.
• Use handrails when you go up or down stairs.
• Practice good housekeeping.  Keep cords, welding leads and air hoses out of walkways or adjacent work areas.

The US DOT Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is presenting a FREE 1-day Hazmat Workshop in Rockford on May 6.  Registration information is below.

Hazardous Materials Transportation One-Day Workshop
The HMR apply to each person who performs, or causes to be performed, functions related to the transportation of hazardous materials such as determination of, and compliance with, basic conditions for offering; filling packages; marking and labeling packages; preparing shipping papers; handling, loading, securing and segregating packages within a transport vehicle, freight container or cargo hold; and transporting hazardous materials.
This one-day workshop provides an overview of how to use the HMR and a summary of many of the requirements found in the HMR that can affect transportation safety to include:
Training Requirements, Packaging, Hazard Communications, and Security.
 

For information call: (202) 366-4900 Workshop Highlights
Anyone who offers or transports hazardous materials in commerce or has a desire to learn more about
USDOT’s Hazardous Materials Regulations.
ONE-DAY AGENDA
7:30 - 8:00AM REGISTRATION
8:00 - 8:15AM WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
8:15 - 9:15AM HOW TO USE THE HMR
Review how to locate specific HM information in the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR), e.g.,
Hazardous Materials Table, mode restrictions, proper shipping name, hazard class, division number, ID number, packing group, packaging, special provisions, labeling, marking, and placarding requirements.
9:30 - 10:30AM TRAINING REQUIREMENTS
Discuss the hazmat employer and employee training requirements in 49 CFR ®172.700.
10:45 - 11:45AM PACKAGE SELECTION, MARKING, AND LABELING
Learn how to select the proper package, properly mark the package, and label the package.
11:45 - 1:00PM LUNCH (on your own)
1:00 - 2:00PM SHIPPING PAPERS AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE INFORMATION
Learn how to properly describe a hazardous material on a shipping paper, including additional descriptions and emergency response information.
2:15 - 3:15PM PLACARDING REQUIREMENTS
Learn how to determine the required placarding when offering and/or transporting hazardous materials.
3:30 - 4:30PM SECURITY REQUIREMENTS
Provides an understanding of the security threat, an overview of the specific requirements of HM-232, and
suggestions and guidance on how to comply with the regulations.
4:30 - 4:45PM WRAP-UP QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Looking for more information on Hazardous Materials Please bring your 49 CFR to the workshop.
Transportation? Visit our website: http://hazmat.dot.gov/
Schedule
The Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) specify requirements for the safe and secure transportation of hazardous materials in commerce by rail car, aircraft, vessel, and motor vehicle. These comprehensive regulations govern transportation-related activities by offerors (e.g., shippers, brokers, forwarding agents, freight forwarders, and warehousers); carriers (e.g., common, contract, and private); packaging manufacturers, reconditioners, testers, and retesters; and independent inspection agencies.

May 6, 2008 - Rockford, IL

April 22 is Earth Day. 

 What are you doing for earth day and earth week?  Work or home, let us and other readers know.  As an added incentive, we will ramdomly select 1 reader’s comment and send that person a DVD Screensaver, Living Marine Aquarium filmed in HD widescreen.

So let’s hear from you.

Winter is officially over and our second season is starting.  No, not spring, CONSTRUCTION!  It is another season of road construction here in the Chicago area and throughout the US.  Traffic tie-ups, slow downs and the infamous flagger person telling you to “Slow down or STOP (for about 10 - 20 minutes).

I have been a flagger instructor for about 3 years.  I have also taught the flagger instructor class, but driving around the city, I must be the worst trainer ever.  I see people:

• Using the emergency vehicle flag to direct traffic
• Standing in the middle of the street with a Slow/Stop sign directing two-way traffic
• Road construction people using their hands
• Road construction people without safety vests
• Construction people walking out into traffic to stop oncoming traffic to let a vehicle into or out of the construction site
• Many other dumb things

Road construction injuries are up every year.  When I teach the flagger class I always like to start with the students telling about the scary incidents that have happended to them, and there are many.  Yet as I drive out on the road, I seldom see a flagger doing it right.  If they use the Stop/Slow sign they do not use hand signals, or they don’t use the sign correctly.   Having less road construction injuries means we have to be better drivers in these areas, but also the contruction people have to be better safety people.

The American Heart Assoication is adapting a new standard for CPR.  On March 31, an important advisory statement on “hands-only”  (compression-only) CPR was published in Circulation. This statement clarifies the 2005 AHA Guidelines for CPR and ECC, which included the recommendation that laypersons – or bystanders – should perform hands-only CPR if they are unable or unwilling to provide rescue breaths.  The Compliance Resource Center wrote about an article about a new study done in Lancet in April of 2007.  The Lancet study showed dramatic results when life-savers only had to worry about chest compressions without doing mouth-to-mouth breathing. 

”The report confirms that what we have learned in animal experiments applies to humans as well,” says Gordon A. Ewy, MD, director of the Sarver Heart Center at The University of Arizona in Tucson where chest-compression-only resuscitation was developed. “Bystander-initiated continuous chest compressions without mouth-to-mouth breathing are the preferable approach for witnessed unexpected collapse, which is usually due to cardiac arrest.”

Hopefully more people will consider doing CPR (compression only) on a person when needed.  Statistics show that when CPR is started and continued until help arrives, it can save lives.