Environmental Health and Safety Update

Warehouse Safety the Dangers of Modern Warehouses and How to Prevent Them

SafetySkills™ is starting off November with showcasing another free course of the month. This month’s free course is Hazardous Materials Transportation, Introduction. This free course is available to individuals or companies looking for online safety training. To view the course, you must create an account. The account is free and the course is free and the certificate of completion is also free.  Why do we offer free training? Because we hope you find SafetySkills™ so effective and easy to use that you choose us for all of your compliance training needs.

More than 800,000 hazardous material shipments occur every day – 365 days a year. Commerce involving hazardous materials contributes more than $446 billion to the US economy annually. It is an important part of everyone’s daily life. Persons involved in the packaging, marking, labeling, and transporting of hazardous materials must be familiar with the proper handling and safeguarding of hazardous materials as prescribed in the Hazardous Materials Regulations, or HMR. This free course is designed to give HAZMAT employees a general awareness of the requirements of the HMR.

Hazardous Materials Transportation,Introduction can be used to fulfill the requirements of 49 CFR 174(a)(1) for the general awareness/familiarization training. After the completion of the course you will be able to summarize which packages and containers the HMR apply to, what training is required and what the possible penalties are for violating the HMR. Employers may also be interested in all the courses available in our Hazardous Materials (DOT) Training Series.

To check out all of our over 200 OSHA, EPA and DOT compliant courses, visit us at http://safetyskills.com/

This week is the Drive Safely Work Week sponsored by the National Safety Council and the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS).  In partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation, the week is to remind employees to avoid driving distracted.  The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety states that distracted driving contributes up to 8,000 crashes every single day.

Many accidents could be prevented if drivers took this time to focus only on driving. Many drivers use this time to multi task, whether it be to answer emails, respond to texts, eat breakfast or put on makeup. A delay in reaction time due to multitasking can prove to be fatal. One of the most important rules to follow and stay safe is to plan ahead. The Foundation for Traffic Safety offer excellent tips and facts on distracted driving – http://www.aaafoundation.org/multimedia/distracteddriving.cfm

To get the whole office or company involved, have them take a few minutes to complete the SafetySkills Distracted Driver course. This course is designed to give the learner knowledge and skills needed to drive safely and avoid distractions that can lead to traffic accidents. When this course is over the learner should be able to recognize the causes of driver distraction and the appropriate actions for distracted drivers to take.  The Distracted Driver online course is part of the Driver Safety Training Series. This series includes Delivery Driver Safety, Driver Safety,Hazardous Driving Conditions,Hazards of Speeding and Road Rage.

To find out more about SafetySkills™, visit us at http://safetyskills.com.

1. The water in the water bottle has a funny shade of green
2. The plastic holding the liquid has melted around it
3. It has a funny shade of florescent green and you don’t remember Gatorade coming out with any new flavors
4. It sizzled on the ground when poured out
5. There are some funny letters and numbers written on the bottle that kind of remind you of high school chemistry class
6. The bottle was found hanging out around the chemical closet
7. You get this faint dizzy feeling when you take a whiff of it
8. You have no idea where this container came from
9. It says ice tea, it even kinda looks like ice tea but you think you burnt some of your nose hairs off when you went to take a swig
10. The last guy who drank out of that bottle hasn’t been seen in a couple of hours
11. The guy before him has been wondering around looking dazed and confused and demands to be called Lord Fluffinstuff

A picture perfect day with a cool breeze and warm sun shining down could make any outdoor worker’s day almost enjoyable.Unfortunately days such as those do not happen as often as we like. People who perform most of their job duties outside such as oil and gas workers, road crews and construction workers will sometimes have to prepare themselves for severe weather conditions. Severe weather awareness falls under OSHA’s General Duty Clause and it is important that employers and employees are aware of incoming severe weather and develop an action plan. Awareness is the key to safety.

A severe weather action plan will provide employees the best method of action when working on an outdoor job site in inclement weather. Most plans will have to be tailored to the weather conditions in the area such as hurricanes or tornadoes, but thunderstorms are a dangerous weather condition for most outdoor workers across the country. To learn more about severe weather action plans, please view the SafetySkills™ course at  http://www.safetyskills.com/occupational-health-and-safety-series/severe-weather-and-outdoor-work-safety. After viewing the course, employees will be able to demonstrate knowledge of severe weather hazards and how to react when severe weather strikes during work processes. Employees will learn to identify hazards associated with severe weather and standard protocols to follow during severe weather events. Proper knowledge of severe weather is key when developing the best safety plan for outdoor workers.

On May 25 2011, OSHA had issued a news release concerning the US Department of Labor’s fines of over $1.2 million to AMD Industries of Cicero, IL. According to the news release, AMD Industries violated OSHA regulations after 5 unprotected and untrained workers were allegedly required to conduct asbestos removal which had exposed the workers to cancer causing material. This is not the first time that AMD had a run in with OSHA laws. In December 2010 the company was issued 19 willful and 8 serious health citations. At that time, AMD was conducting an in house asbestos removal project using untrained workers. AMD had failed to provide protective respirators or even warn the workers of the risk to their health. (Source: www.osha.gov)

The general public may be exposed to asbestos in small doses daily in the air. Most people who develop asbestos related diseases were exposed to asbestos at their workplace. The greater the exposure to large quantities of asbestos, the greater the risk of developing a related illness. Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. To keep employees safe, employers must know the forms and toxicity level of asbestos. SafetySkills™ provides an Asbestos Hazard Awareness course available at http://safetyskills.com/occupational-health-and-safety-series/asbestos-hazard-awareness This course provides information on the basics of identifying asbestos hazards and how to eliminate the hazards in the workplace. For more information on this courses and other safety training courses, please visit us at safetyskills.com

OSHA is proposing to revise its Occupational Injury and Illness Recording and Recordkeeping regulation to include a column on the OSHA Form 300 Injury and Illness Log (OSHA 300 Log). This revision would require employers to check a column if a case they already are required to record is a work related musculoskeletal disorder (MSD). The proposed rule would also require employers to put the totals from the MSD column on the OSHA Form 300A Annual Summary at the end of the year.

OSHA held a teleconference in April 2011 to gather information from representatives of small businesses about their experience recording work related MSDs and how they believe they would be impacted by OSHA’s proposed rule. The proposed rule would not change existing requirements about when and under what circumstances employers must record any work related injury or illness. The new rule would only apply to cover MSDs that employers are already required to record under the current OSHA Recordkeeping rule. One small business participant of the teleconference believes that the proposed rule will increase the need for a more thorough investigation to correctly classify work related MSDs. OSHA is still taking comments on the topic until June 16th 2011.

SafetySkills™ offers a training course that focuses on OSHA’s current standards of reporting and recordkeeping. This course is available at http://safetyskills.com/occupational-health-and-safety-series/osha-reporting-and-recordkeeping. This course will identify OSHA’s general requirement for injury/illness, identify OSHA’s required reporting forms and identify the types of incidents the OSHA requires to be reported. To learn more about this course and others, please visit us at safetyskills.com

With melamine-tainted milk continuing to be a problem in convenience stores in China, it brings a very important issue up for everyone – how safe are our supermarkets? The U.S. has previously experienced various health concerns with fruits, vegetables and even peanut butter, but do we ever think of how the safe practices of supermarket employees could potential harm us?

Besides how supermarket safety can affect consumers, employees’ are at high risk of injury due to the variety of tasks that must be performed. Cashiers, bakery and deli workers, butchers and stockers all need specialized training to help them safely perform their job duties. SafetySkills™ has developed an online grocery and supermarket safety training series that addresses safety concerns in grocery stores. This series includes the following courses:

• Supermarket Safety – Backroom Safety
• Supermarket Safety – General Safety
• Supermarket Safety – Safe Lifting Basics
• Supermarket Safety – Bakery/Deli Safety
• Supermarket Safety – Meat Market Safety
• Supermarket Safety – Slips, Trips and Falls

According to Tiara Rye, a Homeland Assistant Frontend Manager, felt that the series “was very interactive…it is easy to use and covers all the basic points in safety.” She also encourages other members of this industry to use this training .

Take a look for yourself at http://safetyskills.com/supermarket-safety-series.

You really have to give it to people that get tattoos – they know how to commit. Without medical removal procedures, tattoos will last for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, so do the bloodborne diseases that can be transmitted during tattooing. That’s why safety in the tattoo and body art industry is so important.  No one should ever be faced with getting an incurable disease because they committed to some body art.

As a huge fan of tattoos and piercings, I always make sure everything is safe before I let someone stick me. One careless decision can haunt you the rest of your life, and nothing could be more haunting than an incurable disease like HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis.

Here are some tips to ensure your safety while getting a tattoo or body piercing:

1. Always make sure your tattoo artist or body piercing professional uses gloves and needles from an unopened package.
2. Look at your surroundings. If it looks dirty, don’t let them stick a needle in your body because it could be dirty, too.
3.  You should always ask questions about the shop’s safety precautions and procedures. They won’t mind at all and if they do, you don’t want to be there. 

There are low-cost training resources available to tattoo studios to help them protect their artists and customers.  SafetySkills™ has an online Tattoo and Body Piercing Safety Training Series that even has a free introductory Tattoo Safety Awareness course.

Online training can be accessed anywhere with an internet connection, making it convenient to learn about tattoo safety from work or home, depending on each tattoo artist’s schedule.  Click here for more information on these  online Tattoo and Body Piercing courses:

• Tattoo Safety Awareness (free)
• Bloodborne Pathogens
• Basic First Aid
• CPR Refresher

These past two days have been horrific across the U.S. The stunning tragedy at Fort Hood claiming the lives of 13 people along with many injured, and then today’s workplace shooting in Orlando. All that seems to come to mind is, what is wrong with people today and why is it that signs of danger get ignored until it is too late?

In Fort Hood, Texas on Nov. 5 at 1:30 p.m. suspected shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, gunned down the very soldiers who he was there to help. 13 have died and 30 are seriously wounded. So what made this man crack to the point of violence and were there any signs that could have been an indication of what was to come?

It was reported by several individuals that Hasan was frequently expressing anger about his upcoming deployment. He was also involved in many office arguments about his disapproval of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. His final and most explosive outburst took the lives of his fellow soldiers and he now lies in a hospital bed breathing on a ventilator. Now don’t get me wrong, not foreseeing the future is nobody’s fault in this tragic situation. But being aware and alert to possible dangers is important to everyone. Unfortunately, it seems that our soldiers can’t even feel safe on their own base. It’s hard enough to have to become mentally prepared for the dangers of war without having to worry about your safety at home.

As if that wasn’t enough horror for one week, another shooting occured in Orlando, Florida at the office of Reynolds, Smith and Hills. This shooting left Otis Beckford, 26, dead and five others injured. This incident reportedly occured due to the anger of disgruntled former employee, Jason Rodriguez. Rodriguez is currently in police custody facing a charge of first-degree murder.

With two fatal episodes of workplace violence taking place within two days, one has to wonder – could anything have been done to prevent such tragedies? From 1992 to 2006, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) found that 11,613 workplace homicides took place. Many have even indicated that this type of violence is expected to grow due to the stress of the economy and job market. Employers need to take the extra time to ensure their employees’ safety by taking extra security precautions as well as training efforts.

Here are some helpful tips on creating a safer work environment to avoid workplace violence:

• Do thorough background checks on employees. Many employers currently do this, but some have become more lax due to financial reasons. If you find out that a potential employee has a violent past, it may be in everyone’s best interest if you pass.
• Provide proper training. All employees should be administered not only training for the physical hazards of their jobs, but the emotional ones as well. There is a reason companies have a Human Resources department. Take advantage of all of the recommended HR training, such as Violence in the Workplace.
• Create an open-door policy and protocols for safety concerns. Make sure that employees feel safe when coming to a supervisor about a possible safety issue. All discussions should be respected and stay confidential. Create a protocol for reporting a concern for violence and follow-up on the matter with discretion.
• Have a no tolerance policy. Never condone or forgive a violent matter of any kind in your workplace. It doesn’t matter how minor the incident or if it was a joke gone awry. This needs to be embedded into the minds of your staff that your number one concern is their safety.
• Get security. Get some type of security in your workplace. This can mean an actual security guard, a monitoring system or a personal keycode system that can be removed upon the termination of an employee. The harder it is for a disgruntled employee to get into the building, the less likely they will try.