As we settle into the holiday season and we celebrate with those holiday parties, keep safety a priority. Traveling with family and friends exposes everyone to risks of bad weather, bad conditions, busy traffic, as well as frustrated and possibly impaired drivers.
Deck the halls this season, but keep in mind some ways we can prevent house fires. Decorations like trees, candles, and lights are hallmarks of the holiday season, but they also present fire risks that can quickly turn this festive time of year into a devastating one. In addition, although working alone is not the best option, with the holiday approaching and more people taking time off of work, you may find yourself working alone.
During these unprecedented times, our old ways of coping may not always be sufficient. We need to put more effort into it, create new habits, and have positive coping skills. The stress that many people are feeling can really take a toll on our physical and mental health. The holidays, lost friends and loved ones, sickness, employment, and a host of other topics are causing quite an issue. During times of extreme stress, being aware of declining mental health is really important. Many people are able to see others decline much sooner and more clearly than they may see themselves. It is normal during stressful events to feel some sadness, fear, and anxiety. If these feelings are left unaddressed for too long, they can lead to more significant problems such as suicidal thoughts, violence, and addiction.
OSHA requires businesses to have an Emergency Action Plan for the workplace that addresses possible emergencies and how employees are to respond to such emergencies. The plans are to provide emergency response contact information, as well as exit routes, shelter-in-place locations, and safe areas for different types of emergencies. Employers should test their plans to ensure that their plan works and employees have practiced the plan. Although not specifically mandated in OSHA, there is a strong suggestion that emergency plans be tested to identify errors and to get employees involved. This is commonly viewed as a lesson learned and a great opportunity to test the plan for needed updates.
Nearly one-third of reportable injuries and 40% of fatalities in construction result from slips, trips, and falls (STF). These injuries result in 50% more days away from work than other injuries. Let’s take a look at some common areas of risk and some safe work practices.
OSHA maintains general industry regulations on walking / working surfaces that guard against hazards such as; excess clutter, protruding objects, and wet conditions just to name a few. These hazards can harm everyone in a facility, regardless of their job title or job responsibilities. In the images below, we look at some of the most common STF hazards found on industrial sites. Keep an eye for these types of hazards when performing work on industrial sites.
Slips, Trips, and Falls (STF) often occur due to a loss of traction between the foot / shoe and the walking surface. Common locations of risk are doorways, ramps, hallways with different floor surfaces, stairs, and when obstacles like rugs or cords are present.
Moving from a safety policy to a safety culture requires guidelines that are aligned with the organizational brand, mission statement, principles, and values.
Deciding to follow every single safety rule or procedure does not come natural to us. We constantly have to work towards making the right decisions every single day. Many times individuals find ways to rationalize not working safely. It is important for each employee to recognize this error trap and address it when it arises.
Each year, Carbon Monoxide (CO) kills more than 400 people, hospitalizes almost 5,000 people, and is responsible for more than 20,000 hospital visits. Everyone is at risk of CO poisoning in both the home and the workplace.
October is National Fire Awareness Month. A time when we all should be aware of ways to respond during a fire hazard.
The fall season often involves house and yardwork. Here are ways to be safe and get the jobs done!
Often, employees are found working alone in offices, plants, and on sites. This is due to assignment, time of the task, location, and even the type of task being performed. Working alone should not mean that you are exposed to additional risk but on the contrary, should mean that your work is safer. When working alone, employees must be in tune and on upoint to what is happening around them. The burden of safety is on the lone worker and should trigger a heightened awareness of safety.
Poor posture and equipment placement can negatively impact your health. There is no single “correct” posture or arrangement of office components that will fit everyone.
Setting up your workstation properly will help prevent injuries and the potential for strains, sprains, or pains.
Many workers routinely use hand tools and don’t think of them as dangerous, but accidents continue to occur.
Many people nowadays are using rideshare services such as Uber and Lyft for rides to the airport, home, evenings out on the town, or anything else. While these services have changed the way people commute and get around, they also include some dangers. As a user, you must be sure that your personal safety is taken into consideration at all times.
When there are storms in your area, turn on your radio or television to get the latest emergency information from local authorities. Listen for announcements of a storm watch or warning. Enable the weather alert system on your cell phone to give additional alerts for your location. Consider purchasing a weather alert radio for your home to keep you and your family informed of weather emergencies. Learn about the weather warning system for your county. Some areas use a siren system to alert residents to weather emergencies. Know how to distinguish between the siren’s warnings for different types of emergencies.
Injuries to the back can be some of the most prevalent and most difficult to prevent injuries on the job. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that more than one million employees suffer back injuries each year and back injuries account for one of every five workplace injuries. This type of injury also accounts for a large majority of worker’s compensation claims every year.
We have certainly been facing the most challenging of times. Most of us can handle a crisis or other unusual event when it is a short-term incident, we go through it, grieve, feel fear, deal with our emotions, and then recover. However, in the time of a long-term, continually evolving huge stressor, our normal ways of coping are not always enough. They get old, fall short, or we just get worn down. Lately, professionals are seeing increased mental health disorders, drug, and alcohol abuse from many different areas. The belief is it is in reaction to such heavy, ongoing stress that people are feeling.
We should all make it a goal to be a Safety Champion, considering we are responsible for making hundreds of decisions every day that determine the level of safety and risk for nearly every action we make. You have heard many times that we need 1000 Safety Champions at SSOE.
The following is a list of the top 10 most frequently cited standards following inspections of worksites by federal OSHA. OSHA publishes this list to alert employers about these commonly cited standards so they can take steps to find and fix recognized hazards addressed in these and other standards before OSHA shows up.
In many parts of the country, the weather is already hot and humid. Employees in hot environments can be at risk for heat stress, which can lead to serious illness. Older employees; employees with existing health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity; and those working strenuously or in direct sunlight are at greatest risk. Nobody can control the weather, but heat stress is preventable if employers and employees take proper precautions.
Great weather, picnics in the park, cookouts, and vacations. Yes, summertime is finally here and so is the summer heat. Many families will head to the nearest body of water whether that is a pool, lake, river, or ocean. If you find yourself, or your family, looking to head to the water to cool off this summer, please keep the following safety tips in mind.
Chemicals exist on virtually every worksite. It is important to know and understand the routes of entry into the human body. In this safety message, we look at the four routes of exposure, and safe work practices around chemicals.
Managing safety often lies in the hands of a Safety Manager or Director, and sometimes even those with other hats such as Facilities, Human Resources, and Office Management. We understand that someone must be responsible for creating, implementing, tracking, coaching, and investigating all things safety related, but can YOU put all of your faith and trust in just one person? What if you only see that person a couple of times a year? What if only a couple of times per day? The question is, WHO is responsible for your safety? If you did not say that YOU are responsible for YOUR safety, then we may have a problem. The best person to ensure that you don’t do something foolish, or wrong, is you. You are the one doing the activity or performing the task. Think back to some of the things that you have done that were not safe.
It’s the season for picnics, parties, and fireworks! Practicing common sense will make the festivities more enjoyable for you and those around you. Here are a few reminders about heat, food, alcohol, and firework safety to prevent sickness and injury, and help keep the fun going all summer long.
At SSOE Group, we have a “Safety Always” vision; a mission of “For Safety’s Sake, Do Something”; a goal of “0 Recordable Injuries”; and a motto of “At home, work, or play, its safety every day”. While that all sounds good, and we are trying to instill a safe culture in our employees, it can be challenging. I honestly don’t believe that employees got up from bed, got dressed, and went to work thinking “today is the day that I am going to get hurt”! No one wants to get hurt or even cause an accident. What I do think is that we get caught up in something that causes a distraction to us, therefore exposes us to risk. I do believe that we are willing to take chances due to cost, time, and behaviors that expose us to the dangers we encounter daily. We believe that nothing will happen. Quite frankly, this most likely is not the first time doing the task. So why?
At this time of year, the sun is rising just as many people are headed to work or school. Those driving eastbound often put their visors down very low to block the sun. While this helps them see the road, it also limits their field of view. Since many intersections have only the overhead traffic lights (lacking the lights mounted at “street level”), it turns out that putting the visor in the low position means they can’t see the traffic light.
Accidents can happen in an instant. Taking your mind off the road to adjust your mirror, to set the GPS, or to look for the heat / AC controls can quickly lead to an accident. Spending a few seconds getting to know your rental vehicle before you drive off the lot can help keep you safe, not to mention others around you on the road.
At last. It’s finally here! The season for warm weather, grilling, picnics, water activities, travel, and outdoor fun! Practicing common sense and safety will keep you looking good, feeling good, and you won’t miss out on any of the fun.
One of the ways that we look to identify risk is through the use of SLAM assessments. SLAM comes from the mining industry and is an acronym used to help workers remember a way to work safe. SLAM assessments are similar to Behavior Based Safety observations and simply look at a way to perform a task safely. The best way to minimize risk is to follow SLAM….
According to www.pcmag.com, working from home has some positive outcomes, but they don’t always come easy or are readily recognized. Everyone who works remotely has to figure out when to work, where to work, and how to create boundaries between work and personal life. What about office equipment, career development, training opportunities, and building relationships with colleagues? Working remotely, especially when working from home most of the time, means figuring out these issues and others. Following are some things you can do when working from home and making adjustments.
All around the world the use of technology (specifically that which involves screens) is increasing both at work and home. Screens are a part of everyone’s life these days, but prolonged screen time can have some unwanted effects. Let’s take a look at some potential negative effects of prolonged screen time and how to mitigate them.
Reduce stress when working from home by stepping away from what you are doing from time to time. You don’t need to be tied to your computer. Sure, we need to get our work finished and it is important, but it doesn’t have to cause you grief either. Mix it up a bit, move around, stand up, reposition, move to another location, do a quick exercise, or even work from the back patio. Whatever you can do to keep engaged in your work, break up the stress, and minimize the monotony.
Working from home can have a lot of benefits like not having to sit in traffic and having more time to spend with loved ones. It can also create challenges as well. As you are working from home ask yourself: Is your work area safe and ergonomic? How do you keep from getting distracted? It may be time for an adjustment if you have noticed any new pain or discomfort.
Are you getting ready to take on some construction work around the house? Building a deck? Installing a fence? New mailbox? Even a simple job like planting a tree in your yard can jeopardize your safety. Many energized power and utility lines are buried just a few feet under the ground. Digging, trenching, or excavating without knowing where the utility lines are buried could be costly – and fatal.
A trench is a cut in the surface of the earth that is deeper than it is wide. Excavation is the removal of material on the surface of the earth where the width is greater than the depth. OSHA reference 29CFR1926.650.
SSOE, like most workplaces, takes pride in providing a safe place to work for all of its employees. A safe workplace includes designing, implementing, and maintaining safe facilities, accomplished by engineering and administrative controls. This includes job sites that our employees visit and work, and in our offices. Common things that we come in contact with could be hazardous to our employees and others. Safety hazards are unsafe working conditions that can cause injury, illness, and even possibly death. Some examples are falls, electrocutions, housekeeping issues, and even chemical exposures.
It is important to find treatment strategies to help you with that feeling of your heart beating faster in response to a stressful situation. Or when your palms get sweaty when you’re confronted with an overwhelming task. That’s anxiety — our body’s natural response to stress. Everyone has different triggers, and identifying them is one of the most important steps to coping and managing anxiety attacks.
Ten seconds. That’s about the same amount of time that it takes to tie your shoelaces or to fold a t-shirt. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), that’s also the longest it should take anyone to reach a safety shower or eyewash station if they are splashed with a hazardous chemical.
What do March Madness / Spring Training / Safety have in common?
Stop and think about your favorite winning sports team. How do they do it? Do they have a superstar that will always carry the team? Sometimes, but not likely!
Ready to spring forward? Daylight Saving Time 2021 will begin for most of the U.S. on Sunday, March 14, at 2:00 a.m. Nowadays, with our cell phones, computers, and electronics changing their time automatically, it can be easy to forget the opportunity to perform important annual upkeep in your home. To keep your family and home safe, as well as prepared, make time for this short safety checklist.
After all the engineering and administrative controls have been exhausted, PPE is left to be the last line of defense against injuries. PPE is anything that an employee wears to minimize workplace safety risks. It is designed to help protect employees from hazards that cannot be eliminated by other means. If utilized correctly, it can protect against hazards such as flying particles, noise, chemicals, sharp objects, or falling objects, just to name a few. Choosing the correct PPE and wearing it properly can go a long way towards preventing injury to yourself and to others.
Why should we pay attention to housekeeping at work? Effective housekeeping can help control or eliminate workplace hazards. Poor housekeeping practices frequently contribute to incidents and look bad from our Client’s perspective. Housekeeping is not just about cleanliness. It includes keeping work areas neat and orderly, maintaining halls and floors free of slip and trip hazards, and removing waste materials (e.g., paper, cardboard) and other fire hazards from work areas. It also requires paying attention to important details such as the layout of the whole workplace, aisle marking, the adequacy of storage facilities, and maintenance. Good housekeeping is also a basic part of incident and fire prevention. Effective housekeeping is an ongoing operation: it is not a one-time or hit-and-miss cleanup done occasionally.
When winter temperatures drop significantly below normal, staying warm and safe can become a challenge. Exposure to cold temperatures, whether indoors or outside, can cause serious or life-threatening health problems. Infants and the elderly are particularly at risk, but anyone can be affected.
Now that the COVID-19 vaccines are arriving, people are starting to dream. “As soon as my five closest friends and I get the shot, I’m spending a weekend at a cabin with them. No masks, no social distancing.” “Realistically, it’s definitely not going to be an on / off switch on normal,” said Eleanor Murray, a Boston University epidemiologist. Stage 1 is what you can safely do once you and your close friends or family are vaccinated. Stage 2 is what you can safely do once your city or state has reached herd immunity, where enough people are protected against infection that the virus can’t easily spark new outbreaks. Stage 3 is what you can do once herd immunity is reached internationally. In the meantime, even vaccinated people have to assume they can still become infected and pass along the virus. That means they need to keep wearing masks and social distancing whenever they’re around unvaccinated people.
In past safety tips, we have learned that the Experience Modification Rate (EMR) has a strong impact on a business. The EMR number is used by insurance companies to gauge both past cost of injuries and future chances of risk. This can be said another way by looking at expected losses versus actual losses, but also looks at the severity of the actual loss. The higher the EMR, the higher your worker compensation insurance premiums will be.
OSHA requires that businesses have an Emergency Action Plan for the workplace that addresses all possible emergencies and how employees are to respond. The plan also is to provide emergency response contact information, as well as exit routes, shelter in place, and safe areas for emergencies. Along with the Emergency Action Plans, there should be testing of the plan to verify it works and to run drills for employees to practice. There is a strong suggestion that Emergency Plans be tested to identify errors and to get employees involved.
Are you a gambler? Are you willing to risk it all? Do you “knowingly” commit unsafe acts or risky behaviors? Who loses the most? Who is affected by YOUR actions? Will you say something?
Surprisingly, it doesn’t take much time away from work for us to begin to lose the good safety habits that we worked hard to cultivate. When we return from being away from work, our minds are often distracted by what we experienced while we were gone. These reflections can sometimes become a distraction and distractions can place you at risk for injury.
Be prepared for winter month with these tips from our safety team.
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