Work Comp – Page 14 – Risk Management 365

What can you do to avoid falling at work?

You can reduce the risk of slipping on wet flooring by:

taking your time and paying attention to where you are going
adjusting your stride to a pace that is suitable for the walking surface and the tasks you are doing
walking with the feet pointed slightly outward
making wide turns at corners

You can reduce the risk of tripping by:

keeping walking areas clear from clutter or obstructions
keeping flooring in good conditon
always using installed light sources that provide sufficient light for your tasks
using a flashlight if you enter a dark room where there is no light
ensuring that things you are carrying or pushing do not prevent you from seeing any obstructions, spills, etc.

via Prevention of Slips, Trips and Falls : OSH Answers.

Health Care Workers – Hazards on the Job

Healthcare is the fastest-growing sector of the U.S. economy, employing over 18 million workers. Women represent nearly 80% of the healthcare work force. Health care workers face a wide range of hazards on the job, including needlestick injuries, back injuries, latex allergy, violence, and stress. Although it is possible to prevent or reduce healthcare worker exposure to these hazards, healthcare workers continue to experience injuries and illnesses in the workplace. Cases of nonfatal occupational injury and illness among to healthcare workers are among the highest of any industry sector. By contrast, two of the most hazardous industries, agriculture and construction, are safer today than they were a decade ago.

via CDC – Health Care Workers – NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topic.

Fertilizer Plant Explosion – What is Anhydrous Ammonia? –

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to those that were killed and injured in the fertilizer plant explosion in Texas. Some of those were firefighters. We must never take our firefighters and first responders for granted as they risk their lives everyday on our behalf. “ -Randy Boss

Firefighters at the scene of a massive fertilizer plant explosion in Texas were concerned Wednesday night about anhydrous ammonia. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, anhydrous ammonia is a pungent gas with suffocating fumes that is used as a fertilizer. When exposed to humans, it can cause various problems:

Anhydrous means without water
Anhydrous ammonia can rapidly cause dehydration and severe burns if it combines with water in the body
Symptoms can include breathing difficulty; irritation of the eyes, nose or throat; burns or blisters.
Exposure to high concentrations can lead to death.
Victims require treatment with large quantities of water for at least 15 minutes
It must be stored at high pressure, according to the University of Minnesota.
It is a low-cost, highly effective nitrogen-based fertilizer, the University of Arkansas said.
It is one part nitrogen and three parts hydrogen.
When released, the vapors initially move close to the ground, causing greater risk for exposure.

via What is anhydrous ammonia? – CNN.com.

Creating a Safety Culture

Why do you want a strong safety culture?

It has been observed at the OSHA VPP sites and confirmed by independent research that developing strong safety cultures have the single greatest impact on accident reduction of any process. It is for this single reason that developing these cultures should be top priority for all managers and supervisors.

What is a safety culture – how will it impact my company?

Safety cultures consist of shared beliefs, practices, and attitudes that exist at an establishment. Culture is the atmosphere created by those beliefs, attitudes, etc., which shape our behavior. An organizations safety culture is the result of a number of factors such as:

Management and employee norms, assumptions and beliefs;
Management and employee attitudes;
Values, myths, stories;
Policies and procedures;
Supervisor priorities, responsibilities and accountability;
Production and bottom line pressures vs. quality issues;
Actions or lack of action to correct unsafe behaviors;
Employee training and motivation; and
Employee involvement or “buy-in.”

via Safety and Health Management Systems eTool | Module 4: Creating Change – Safety and Health Program Management: Fact Sheets: Creating a Safety Culture.

Danger – Confined Space

Many workplaces contain spaces that are considered “confined” because their configurations hinder the activities of employees who must enter, work in, and exit them. A confined space has limited or restricted means for entry or exit, and it is not designed for continuous employee occupancy. Confined spaces include, but are not limited to underground vaults, tanks, storage bins, manholes, pits, silos, process vessels, and pipelines. OSHA uses the term “permit-required confined space” (permit space) to describe a confined space that has one or more of the following characteristics: contains or has the potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere; contains a material that has the potential to engulf an entrant; has walls that converge inward or floors that slope downward and taper into a smaller area which could trap or asphyxiate an entrant; or contains any other recognized safety or health hazard, such as unguarded machinery, exposed live wires, or heat stress.

via Safety and Health Topics | Confined Spaces.

Risk Management 365

This is post number 365 since I launched this blog a year ago. To date we have had over 8000 views and growing every day.

So what is Risk Management 365 anyway? It’s following a 5 step process of managing risk 365 days a year not just buying insurance once a year. Insurance is NOT risk management ! There is no amount of insurance that can reverse a serious injury or death of a father, grandmother, son or grandchild. We live in a dangerous unhealthy world but though education and support from committed employers and engaged employees and their families we are making a difference. How many people quit texting while driving or began a regular exercise program after reading about it in this blog? How many children now wear a helmet when riding their bike? How many people recognized the signs off a heart attack and got treatment? If you have I would love to hear from you.

Our mission is “Keeping employees and their families healthy and safe at home and at work.”

Learn more about Ottawa Kent and the Risk Management 365 process at www.ottawakent.com

Protect Your Coworker’s – Keep Them Safe

Protect coworkers from deadly distractions. Improve your own safety awareness. Have no regrets. These are just a few reasons why you should maintain a close watch on your fellow employees and ensure they are working safely.

Here are five reasons employees should watch out for each other’s safety:

1. When you keep an eye on other people’s safety, your own safety awareness improves.

2. Even “safe” workers can get distracted.

3. We’re all at risk of occasional cognitive failure.

4. You’ll never have to regret that you could have said something but didn’t.

5. It’s just the right thing to do.

via Safety 2012: Be Your Coworker’s Keeper | Safety content from EHS Today.

Process Safety Management

Unexpected releases of toxic, reactive, or flammable liquids and gases in processes involving highly hazardous chemicals have been reported for many years in various industries that use chemicals with such properties. Regardless of the industry that uses these highly hazardous chemicals, there is a potential for an accidental release any time they are not properly controlled, creating the possibility of disaster.

via Safety and Health Topics | Process Safety Management.

What is “Fall Protection” and why is it so important?

The leading cause of worker fatalities in construction work is from falls. In addition to the over 100 deaths per year caused by falls thousands more construction workers are injured each year by them, according to OSHA statistics. Therefore, the issues of fall protection and training are often large issues in construction site accident litigation.

via What is “Fall Protection” and why is it so important? – Starr Austen & Miller LLP.

Don’t Forget Lockout/Tagout

Picture yourself performing maintenance inside of a huge machine. Suddenly, the machine springs to life, powerful metal gears grinding around you, placing you in mortal danger. That is exactly the sort of terrifying scenario that lockout/tagout is meant to prevent. Lockout/tagout is a procedure to disable equipment to protect workers from either an unexpected release of energy or an accidental start-up while performing job activities.

via The keys to lockout/tagout.