Risk Management – Page 19 – Risk Management 365

Tornado Safety at Home, Work, or at Play

Have a Plan at Home, at Work, and When You’re Away

In a home or building, move to a pre-designated shelter, such as a basement, and get under a sturdy table or the stairs. A specially-constructed “safe room” within a building offers the best protection. Use an internet search engine and search for “safe room” for more information.

If a basement is not available, move to a small interior room or hallway on the lowest floor and cover yourself with anything close at hand: towels, blankets, pillows. If possible, get under a sturdy table, desk or counter. Put as many walls as possible between you and the storm. Stay away from windows.

If caught outdoors, seek shelter in a sturdy building. If you cannot quickly walk to shelter, get into a vehicle, buckle your seatbelt and drive to the closest sturdy shelter. If flying debris occurs while you are driving, pull over and park. Now you have two options as a last resort:

– Stay in the vehicle with the seatbelt on and place your head below the windows.

– If you can safely get noticeably lower than the roadway, exit the vehicle and lie in that area, covering your head with your hands. Do not seek shelter under an overpass.

Mobile homes, even if tied down, offer little protection from tornadoes. You should leave a mobile home and go to the designated storm shelter or the lowest floor of a sturdy nearby building.

When vacationing, always bring along a NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards and have a place of safety in mind in the event severe weather threatens.

via Tornado Safety at Home, Work, or at Play.

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.

Ready for the Talent Shortage?

Are you prepared for a global talent shortage? A recent report from the World Economic Forum and the Boston Consulting Group, Global Talent Risk – Seven Responses, emphasizes that organizations will experience massive shortages of trained workers over the next twenty years despite current high levels of unemployment. Here’s why:

“The Northern hemisphere faces talent shortages in a wide range of occupational clusters largely because populations are ageing rapidly and educational standards are insufficient. “The United States, for example, will need to add more than 25 million workers to its talent base by 2030 to sustain economic growth.

via Ready for the Talent Shortage?.

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.

Don’t Text and Drive

Texting and driving is a deadly combination. You are 23 times more likely to be in a crash texting while driving. The distraction caused by mobile phone use while driving impacts a driver’s reactions equivalent to driving under the influence. A recent University study found “using a cell phone while driving – whether it’s handheld or hands-free – delays a driver’s reactions as much as having a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08. The legal limit for drivers 21 and over in all states.” Another study found that 4 out of every 5 accidents (80%) are attributed to distracted drivers. In contrast, drunk drivers account for roughly 1 out of 3 (33%) of all accidents nationally.

via Don’t Text & Drive – The No Phone Zone.

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 Are The Benefits Of A Health Risk Assessment?

Conducting a health risk assessment has several potential benefits including identifying health risk factors, controlling health care costs, predicting employee absenteeism, encouraging individuals to take a proactive stance when it comes to personal health care and monitoring the health status of the general population. Each of these factors can contribute to preventing future health problems. Health risk assessments are used by a wide range of groups and for a variety of reasons.

via What Are The Benefits Of A Health Risk Assessment? | LIVESTRONG.COM.

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.