Spill Prevention, Control, & Countermeasure

Overview
Required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for facilities with high quantities of certain materials such as oil and fuel on-site.

Definitions
Discharge- Including, but not limited to, any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emptying, or dumping of oil.

Harmful Quantities- Any amount of oil or fuel that causes a film, sheen or discoloration of water or causes sludge beneath the surface of the water.

Spill Prevention
• Properly constructed storage tanks
   o Compatible with materials
   o Double-walled, steel
• Inspection and maintenance of tanks
   o Conducted monthly
   o Minor leaks repaired early
• Storage away from storm drains

Spill Control Equipment
• Absorbent Booms/ Berms
   o Floats to confine / absorb water oil on water
   o Hugs ground for land-based spill containment
   o Rope runs length of boom for easy retrieval
   o Clips and rings allow you to link booms together
• Empty Drums, Shovels, Brooms
• Granular Absorbent
   o Grains of absorbent material (clay)
   o Placed onto the spill to absorb the spilled material

Spill Control Procedures
1. Notify your Supervisor
2. Use the boom / berm to contain the spill
3. Place the granular absorbent on the spill
4. Use broom to spread the granular absorbent if needed
5. Use shovel to pick up the used granular absorbent
6. Place in empty drum to dispose

Once a spill has occurred, it must be contained as quickly as possible!

This information is provided by: Assurance Agency http://www.assuranceagency.com
 

Respiratory Protection

 

OSHA’s Respiratory Protection Standard was effective April 8, 1998.

It is estimated that the new rule will prevent more than 4,000 injuries and illnesses annually. With the new rule, in addition to saving lives and preventing injuries and illnesses, employers will realize up to $94 million a year in savings on injury and illness-related costs. The new standard reflects current respirator technology and better ways to ensure they fit.

The revised standard requires:
- A written plan with worksite-specific procedures to tailor your employers program to each worksite.
- A hazard evaluation to characterize respiratory hazards and conditions of work to assist employers in selecting appropriate respirators.
- A medical evaluation to determine ability of workers to wear the respirator selected.
- Fit testing of tight-fitting respirators to reduce faceseal leakage and ensure that the respirators provide adequate protection.
- A training program to ensure that your employees use respirators safely.
- A periodic program evaluation to ensure that respirator use continues to be effective.

Why use respirators?
Respirators protect you against hazardous atmospheres containing:
- Particulates/dusts (silica).
- Vapors and gases (carbon monoxide).
- Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health (IDLH) atmospheres (oxygen deficiency).
- Physical agents (radioactive particles).
- Biological agents (mold spores).

When are respirators required?
Exposure to any material or substance at a concentration above the permissible exposure limit (PEL) specified in Appendix A to 1926.55 must be avoided. Compliance must be achieved by using administrative (i.e., employee shift changes) or engineering (i.e., ventilation) controls first. When these controls are not feasible to achieve full compliance, protective equipment must be used to keep the exposure within the PELs prescribed.

Whenever respirators are used, their use must comply with 1926.103—Respiratory protection. Various airborne contaminants in Appendix A of 1926.55 do not list PELs but instead send you to another portion of the construction regulations. These contaminants are called OSHA specific contaminants. Examples are: Asbestos (1926.1101), alpha-Naphthylamine (1926.1104), and lead (1926.62). There are approximately 27 of these substances. These OSHA specific contaminants have their own PELs and specific requirements. When you are required to use respirators, then all requirements of 29 CFR 1910.134 apply.

This information is provided by: Assurance Agency http://www.assuranceagency.com

Mechanical Hazards

 

Overview
Each piece of machinery has its own unique mechanical and non-mechanical hazards. Machines can cause severe injuries: amputations, fractures, lacerations, or crushing injuries. Machines can also cause minor injuries such as bruises, abrasions, sprains or strains, burns, or cuts.

Mechanical hazards
Examples of mechanical hazards that can hit, grab, or trap an operator are:
• hazardous motions.
• points of operation.
• pinch points and shear points.
• There are different types of hazardous mechanical motions and actions:
• hazardous motions such as rotating parts, reciprocating parts, or traversing parts.
• hazardous actions such as cutting, punching, shearing, or bending.

Non-mechanical hazards
There are also non-mechanical hazards that can injure operators, including flying chips, splashes, sparks, or sprays that are created when the machine is running.

Operating instructions
Follow the machine’s operating instructions to ensure that the machine is being run correctly and safely. Understand how the machine works, and you will reduce your risk of injury.

This information is provided by: Assurance Agency http://www.assuranceagency.com

Employee and Visitor identification

 

One security area that is often overlooked is proper identification of employees. Some companies require employees to wear identification badges or carry identification cards. The most effective IDs have the employee's picture, along with his or her name and department, on the badge. This is the most effective way to determine if the person belongs in the building. It also is good deterrent to the theft of the ID.

Never allow just anyone into your workplace. It is good company policy to require each employee to use his or her own ID to enter the building. If you are using a scanning device to open the entry door and there are other people behind you who want to enter, make sure you know that they actually are current employees if you hold the door open. To ensure better security, insist that they use their own employee IDs to scan and enter the building.

Visitor identification

Visitors to your company should be required to register at an entrance location before they move about your company. They should be met at this secure location by the employee they have come to visit.
After verification that they are to be allowed into your workplace, require that they wear some form of identification. These visitors should be restricted to traveling with the employee they have come to see and should not be allowed to wander off alone.
Outside maintenance or construction personnel working at your company should also be screened, registered, and required to wear an identification badge.

After the meeting has taken place or the work completed, make sure these visitors return the ID badges and indicate on the record that they have left the building.
If the public has access to your workplace, limit the areas they can enter. Provide employees with ID cards or keys that will allow them to enter secured areas that are locked to the public.

Keep alert for suspicious activities

Watch for people or other employees:
• Attempting to access something that is normally denied them, such as: classified materials, chemicals, hazardous materials, or admission to prohibited or secure areas.
• Carrying a weapon (unless they are authorized to do so).
• Making unusual requests or demands.

Report suspicious activities to the company's security office.

This information is provided by: Assurance Agency http://www.assuranceagency.com