SafeAndCompliant.Net – Supporting your OSHA Safety and Compliancy Requirements

Posted on 06/13/2019 by Admin

One of the requirements for being a Certified Stone and Tile PRO Partner is to operate your business in an OSHA health and safety compliant manner. It is not uncommon when bidding jobs with some contractors and government or state facilities that you must provide proof of having a HAZCOM and health and safety program in place. Although all Partners have full access to SafeAndCompliant.net, a Stone and Tile PRO/SurpHaces Partner your membership to safeandcompliant.net is free.

SAFEANDCOMPLIANT.NET

A written HAZCOM and a Safety and Health program is
designed to keep you and your staff safe in the workplace. It
may also be required by law.

• Do you have at least one employee? (Includes temporary,
and part-time)
• Do they use chemicals and/or cleaners in their job?
• Do they use machines or equipment as part of their job?

These are just some of the basic questions that if you answered
yes to, means that you are mandated by law to have a HAZCOM
and safety program in place and to follow it. Not having one
could have costly consequences.
Many small service companies are totally unaware that this is
required by OSHA and other agencies. As a result, many are
getting fined every day, sometimes totaling tens of thousands
— or more dollars.

SafeandCompliant.net is one of your Core benefits.

The top 10 benefits of SafeandCompliant.net are:

1. Save lives, avoid accidents and minimize health issues
for your employees and customers by having a safety
program in place.
2. Avoid potentially huge fines for not having an OSHA
required safety and HAZCOM program.
3. No need to worry about employees (or ex-employees)
or competitors or anyone else turning you in to OSHA
as a non-compliant company.
4. Be ready for an OSHA inspection at any time.
5. Provide required safety meetings and save time in
preparation with “Safety Meetings in a Box.”
6. Many general contractors are now requiring that you
provide a copy of your safety program in order to bid.
This is a growing trend.
7. Show your employees that you care about providing
them with a safe work environment.
8. Show your customers that your company complies with
OSHA requirements, etc. by posting your Certified Safe
and Compliant Company badge.
9. Avoid or minimize costly lawsuits or at least provide
your attorney with evidence that you comply with all
safety laws, etc.
10. It’s fast and easy to get your Safety Program in place.

Visit the site and familiarize yourself with this very important benefit.

www.safeandcompliant.net

Emergency Eyewash Stations

Posted on 06/13/2019 by Admin

10 Essential Tips for Emergency Eyewash Stations

A chemical eye injury is something to avoid at all costs; it is a painful and frightening experience and one that may leave a person blinded for life. So if your employees are exposed to hazardous chemicals and other substances, it’s imperative that you do everything you can to ensure that your emergency eyewash stations meet the required safety standards to best protect workers. Here are some suggestions.

1. Keep the doors open. Do not place an emergency eyewash station behind a closed or locked door. While the station may be used infrequently, remember that when it’s needed, someone’s vision is on the line. And every second counts.

2. Don’t hang the unit at an angle. This can interfere with the proper flow of flushing fluid and may force an injured person to stand in an uncomfortable position to flush properly for the duration of his or her 15-minute required flush.

3. Don’t block access. Avoid storing anything underneath or in front of an eyewash unit. This can block an injured worker’s ability to reach or stand comfortably at the station.

4. Watch the fluid’s temperature. Do not allow the flushing fluid to become too hot or too cold. Storing eyewash in extremely hot or cold environments can cause flushing fluid’s temperature to rise or fall outside of ANSI’s stated standard for tepid water. Flushing eyes with scalding or ice-cold solution can cause further damage to an already compromised eye.

5. Fill the unit properly. Avoid mistakes when mixing flushing fluid. ANSI requires that the unit be filled with flushing fluid or the pre-packaged fluid provided by the manufacturer. Always prepare fluid according to manufacturer’s instructions.

6. Clean thoroughly after use. Don’t forget to clean, disinfect, rinse and completely dry the unit after each activation, including hoses, nozzles and nozzle covers (this does not apply to sealed-fluid cartridges). Any lingering cleaning chemicals or particles may harm the next user’s eyes. When the wrong chemicals mix, the fluid may turn brown or another color, and colored fluid is never usable.

7. Don’t cover the unit. Do not place a plastic bag or other makeshift cover over the unit to keep dust or particles out. This can hinder an injured person’s ability to properly activate the unit in a single motion and start the flow in one second or less.

8. Mind the shelf life. Avoid using expired flushing fluid. Like any standing water, eyewash fluid can grow bacteria that may be harmful to eyes. Be sure that someone is responsible for checking stations’ expiration dates and refilling/replacing them according to the manufacturer’s guidelines. Generally, according to ANSI Z358.1-2009, weekly flushing is required for plumbed stations every three to six months for tank-style fluid stations and every two to three years for sealed-fluid cartridges and bottles.

9. Install the unit correctly. Do not install an eyewash unit without carefully following the manufacturer’s instructions. Stations vary and have precise installation instructions to ensure proper performance, including installation height, the rate of fluid flow, required spray pattern and much more.

10. Don’t alter or tamper with the unit. Again, the manufacturer’s instructions are the only ones that should be followed. Do not try to re-route hoses, change nozzles or otherwise compromise the station’s performance.

Final Word

Eyes are one of the most vulnerable parts of the body. By understanding how to use emergency eyewash properly, your facility can ensure greater workplace eye safety. And that’s a clear benefit everyone can see.

A safe workplace is sound business

Posted on 04/22/2019 by Admin

OSHA has recently updated the Guidelines for Safety and Health Programs it first released 30 years ago, to reflect changes in the economy, workplaces, and evolving safety and health issues. The new Recommended Practices have been well received by a wide variety of stakeholders and are designed to be used in a wide variety of small and medium-sized business settings. The Recommended Practices present a step-by-step approach to implementing a safety and health program, built around seven core elements that make up a successful program.

The main goal of safety and health programs is to prevent workplace injuries, illnesses, and deaths, as well as the suffering and financial hardship these events can cause for workers, their families, and employers. The recommended practices use a proactive approach to managing workplace safety and health. Traditional approaches are often reactive –that is, problems are addressed only after a worker is injured or becomes sick, a new standard or regulation is published, or an outside inspection finds a problem that must be fixed. These recommended practices recognize that finding and fixing hazards before they cause injury or illness is a far more effective approach.

The idea is to begin with a basic program and simple goals and grow from there. If you focus on achieving goals, monitoring performance, and evaluating outcomes, your workplace can progress along the path to higher levels of safety and health achievement.

Employers will find that implementing these recommended practices also brings other benefits. Safety and health programs help businesses:

Prevent workplace injuries and illnesses
Improve compliance with laws and regulations
Reduce costs, including significant reductions in workers’ compensation premiums
Engage workers
Enhance their social responsibility goals
Increase productivity and enhance overall business operations

Residential jobsites are subject to OSHA inspection

Posted on 10/27/2018 by Admin

Most contractors are under the impression that if they only work in residences that they are not at risk of OSHA inspections. According to the following news release, OSHA is now targeting residential job sites as well. This following is directly from OSHA and has to do with Fall Protection. Even if you don’t work in areas where fall protection is a concern for you, If OSHA shows up on the job they could look for other violations as well.

News Release: OSHA announces three-month enforcement phase-in for residential construction fall protection

OSHA announced June 9 (2011) a three-month enforcement phase-in period to allow residential construction employers to come into compliance with the agency’s new directive to provide residential construction workers with fall protection. During the phase-in period June 16-September 15, if an employer is in full compliance with the old directive (STD 03-00-001), OSHA will not issue citations, but will instead issue a hazard alert letter informing the employer of the feasible methods that can be used to comply with OSHA’s fall protection standard or implement a written fall protection plan. If the employer’s practices do not meet the requirements set in the old directive, OSHA will issue appropriate citations. If an employer fails to implement the fall protection measures outlined in a hazard alert letter, and OSHA finds violations involving the same hazards during a subsequent inspection of one of the employer’s workplaces, the Area Office will issue appropriate citations.

Top 10 OSHA Citations for 2016

Posted on 11/10/2016 by Admin

Every October, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration releases a preliminary list of the 10 most frequently cited safety and health violations for the fiscal year, compiled from nearly 32,000 inspections of workplaces by federal OSHA staff.

One remarkable thing about the list is that it rarely changes. Year after year, our inspectors see thousands of the same on-the-job hazards, any one of which could result in a fatality or severe injury.

More than 4,500 workers are killed on the job every year, and approximately 3 million are injured, despite the fact that by law, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their workers. If all employers simply corrected the top 10 hazards, we are confident the number of deaths, amputations and hospitalizations would drastically decline.

Consider this list a starting point for workplace safety:

Fall protection
Hazard communication
Scaffolds
Respiratory protection
Lockout/tagout
Powered industrial trucks
Ladders
Machine guarding
Electrical wiring
Electrical, general requirements

It’s no coincidence that falls are among the leading causes of worker deaths, particularly in construction, and our top 10 list features lack of fall protection as well as ladder and scaffold safety issues. We know how to protect workers from falls, and have an ongoing campaign to inform employers and workers about these measures. Employers must take these issues seriously.

We also see far too many workers killed or gruesomely injured when machinery starts up suddenly while being repaired, or hands and fingers are exposed to moving parts. Lockout/tagout and machine guarding violations are often the culprit here. Proper lockout/tagout procedures ensure that machines are powered off and can’t be turned on while someone is working on them. And installing guards to keep hands, feet and other appendages away from moving machinery prevents amputations and worse.

Respiratory protection is essential for preventing long term and sometimes fatal health problems associated with breathing in asbestos, silica or a host of other toxic substances. But we can see from our list of violations that not nearly enough employers are providing this needed protection and training.

The high number of fatalities associated with forklifts, and high number of violations for powered industrial truck safety, tell us that many workers are not being properly trained to safely drive these kinds of potentially hazardous equipment.

Rounding out the top 10 list are violations related to electrical safety, an area where the dangers are well-known.

Our list of top violations is far from comprehensive. OSHA regulations cover a wide range of hazards, all of which imperil worker health and safety. And we urge employers to go beyond the minimal requirements to create a culture of safety at work, which has been shown to reduce costs, raise productivity and improve morale. To help them, we have released new recommendations for creating a safety and health program at their workplaces.

We have many additional resources, including a wealth of information on our website and our free and confidential On-site Consultation Program. But tackling the most common hazards is a good place to start saving workers’ lives and limbs.

Thomas Galassi is the director of enforcement programs for OSHA.