Tag: osha

Construction’s “Fatal Four”

4ce161c6d7323.preview-300Out of 4,188* worker fatalities in private industry in calendar year 2011, 738 or 17.6% were in construction. The leading causes of worker deaths on construction sites were falls, followed by electrocution, struck by object, and caught-in/between. These “Fatal Four” were responsible for nearly three out of five (56%) construction worker deaths in 2011*, BLS reports. Eliminating the Fatal Four would save 419 workers’ lives in America every year.

Falls – 259 out of 738 total deaths in construction in CY 2011 (35%)

Electrocutions – 69 (9%)

Struck by Object – 73 (10%)

Caught-in/between – 18 (2%)

via OSHA Commonly Used Statistics.

Hazard Communication – New Training Requirement

lb48ghs65_hi“Exposure to hazardous chemicals is one of the most serious threats facing American workers today,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis. “Revising OSHA’s Hazard Communication standard will improve the quality and consistency of hazard information, making it safer for workers to do their jobs and easier for employers to stay competitive.”

The first compliance date of the revised HCS
is December 1, 2013. By that time employers
must have trained their workers on the new
label elements and the SDS format.

via Hazard Communication.

 

Fall Injuries Prevention in the Workplace

construction-worker-fallingFalls are a persistent hazard found in all occupational settings. A fall can occur during the simple acts of walking or climbing a ladder to change a light fixture or as a result of a complex series of events affecting an ironworker 80 feet above the ground. According to the 2009 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 605 workers were killed and an estimated 212,760 workers were seriously injured by falls to the same or lower level.

via CDC – Fall Injuries Prevention in the Workplace – NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topic.

Communication Key to Workplace Safety

effective-communicationDangerous working conditions not only pose threats to the safety and livelihood of workers, but also have major ramifications that can affect families, employers and communities. Research indicates the importance of the availability of safety information and presentation tips for organizations to help create more effective messages for employees:

  • Get personal – Research showed that workers preferred to receive important information verbally from their immediate supervisors. Having direct interaction about safety with the same individual in charge of productivity conveys the importance of the safety message.
  • Keep the message simple – Too many details are likely to create barriers to efficacy and cause important safety messages to be ignored. Organizations should, however, have more information available to those who seek it out.
  • Encourage positive safety behaviors – Organizations also should develop messages that focus on how to initiate pre-safety messages. Messages emphasizing the initiation of new safety behaviors (wearing safety goggles) are more like to be successful than messages that focus on the termination of certain behaviors (no horseplay).
  • Deliver messages through more than one medium – By asking workers to engage a safety message in different ways (watch it, hear it, read it), supervisors can better ensure that more workers receive it. This does not require multiple safety messages, but does require delivering the same message over various channels.

via Trust in Communication Key to Workplace Safety | Safety content from EHS Today.

Respirators

t_1054Respirators protect the user in two basic ways. The first is by the removal of contaminants from the air. Respirators of this type include particulate respirators, which filter out airborne particles; and “gas masks” which filter out chemicals and gases. Other respirators protect by supplying clean respirable air from another source. Respirators that fall into this category include airline respirators, which use compressed air from a remote source; and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), which include their own air supply.

via CDC – Respirators – NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topic.

Safety – What is a Near Miss?

nearMissA Near Miss is an unplanned event that did not result in injury, illness, or damage – but had the potential to do so. Only a fortunate break in the chain of events prevented an injury, fatality or damage; in other words, a miss that was nonetheless very near.

A faulty process or management system invariably is the root cause for the increased risk that leads to the near miss and should be the focus of improvement. Other familiar terms for these events are a “close call,” a “narrow escape,” or in the case of moving objects, “near collision” or a “near hit.”

The 10 most dangerous jobs in America

tumblr_m5l0e5Dguw1qzzh6gAccording to a September report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics BLS, fisherman, loggers and pilots were the three deadliest in the United States in 2011. The organization recently examined the occupations with the highest rate of work-related deaths and found that of all U.S. workers, fishermen are the most likely to die on the job.

Here is the full list of work-related deaths in 2011 per 100,000 workers:

  • Fisherman 121.2
  • Loggers 102.4
  • Pilots 57.0
  • Farmers and Ranchers 25.3
  • Police Officers 18.6
  • Construction Workers 15.7
  • National Average 3.5
  • Firefighters 2.5
  • Cashiers 1.6
  • Office Admin 0.6
  • Business and Finance Staff 0.5

via The 10 most dangerous jobs in America | SmartPlanet.

Safety and Health Program Assessment

safetyThere are three basic methods for assessing safety and health program effectiveness:

  1. Checking documentation of activity.
  2. Interviewing employees at all levels for knowledge, awareness, and perceptions.
  3. Reviewing site conditions and, where hazards are found, finding the weaknesses in management systems that allowed the hazards to occur or to be “uncontrolled.”

Some elements of the safety and health program are best assessed using one of these methods. Others lend themselves to assessment by two or all three methods.

via Tools for a Safety and Health Program Assessment.

Nonfatal Injury and Illness in Construction

construction122There were 3.3 million nonfatal injuries and illnesses reported across all industries in 2009, of which almost 95 per cent were injuries and just over 5 per cent were illnesses. More than 9 per cent of the nonfatal illnesses and injuries requiring days away from work were experienced by construction workers (92,540).  Construction workers reported 4.3 nonfatal injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers.

Falls accounted for more than one in every five of these injuries and illnesses (22%). Construction laborers experienced the seventh-highest rate of nonfatal injury and illness requiring days away from work of all occupations (382 per 10,000 full-time workers). Hispanic/Latino workers experienced nonfatal injuries and illnesses disproportionately, with almost one-fifth of cases (19%).

via CDC – Construction Safety and Health – NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topic.

Protect Young Workers this Summer

YoungWorker_01Most youth find paid employment, either during the summer or year-round, before graduating from high school. Young workers, ages 14-24, are at risk of workplace injury because of their inexperience at work and their physical, cognitive, and emotional developmental characteristics. They often hesitate to ask questions and may fail to recognize workplace dangers. OSHA has made young workers a priority within the agency and is committed to identifying ways to improve young worker safety and health. OSHA’s Young Worker Initiative addresses this group’s safety and health through a multi-pronged outreach program.

via Young Workers.