Walking- Working Surfaces

Overview
Slips, trips, and falls account for many industry accidents. Slips, trips, and falls are responsible for 10 percent of all accidental deaths. They are also the fourth leading cause, following motor vehicles, homicides, and being struck by objects or equipment, as a cause of fatalities.

In an attempt to remove potential hazards from the workplace, OSHA developed 1910, Subpart D—Walking—Working Surfaces. Subpart D.

Hazards involved with using walking-working surfaces
The main hazard involved with walking and working surfaces include slips, trips, and falls. Stairways are also taken for granted, and so become a source for accidents in the workplace.

What must my employer do?
Your employer is responsible for providing a safe working environment. That includes reducing or eliminating hazards in walking and working areas by:
- Keeping all employment, passageway, storerooms, and service rooms clean, orderly, and sanitary.
- Maintain floors in a clean and, so far as possible, dry condition. If wet processes are used, drainage shall be maintained. Gratings, mats, or raised platforms must be provided.
- Floors, working places, and passageways are to be kept free from protruding nails, splinters, or loose boards.
- Keeping aisles and passageways clear and in good repair with no obstruction across or in aisles that could create hazards.
- Appropriately marking permanent aisles and passageways.
- Maintaining proper aisle width so as to not limit passage or egress.
- Providing covers and/or guardrails to protect open pits, vats, tanks, ditches, and other hazards.
- Following load rating limits for all floors or roofs.
- Maintain adequate lighting in areas to illuminate walking surfaces.
- Providing handrails as required.

This information is provided by: Assurance Agency

Respiratory Protection

OSHA’s Respiratory Protection Standard was effective April 8, 1998.
It is estimated that the this 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

Access to Scaffolds #rcec2

Getting to the work level of a scaffold has always been a serious problem. Workers, when not provided with a proper stairway or ladder, might be tempted to use crossbraces to climb the scaffold. This is strictly forbidden in the new scaffold rule.

The OSHA rules apply to all employees gaining access to a scaffold work surface. For your safety, you should observe the following OSHA and your company rules when getting on or off a scaffold work area.

Access to and between scaffold platforms more than two feet above or below the point of access must be made by:
• Portable ladders, hook-on ladders, attachable ladders, scaffold stairways, stairway-type ladders (such as ladder stands), ramps, walkways, integral prefabricated scaffold access, or equivalent means; or
• by direct access from another scaffold, structure, personnel hoist, or similar surface.

Portable, hook-on, and attachable ladders — It is critical that portable, hook-on, and attachable ladders are
• Positioned so as not to tip the scaffold.
• Positioned so the bottom rung is not more than 24 inches above your starting point.
• Equipped with a rest platform at 35-foot maximum vertical intervals.

Stairway-type ladders must:
• Be provided with rest platforms at 12 foot intervals.
• Have slip-resistant treads on all steps and landings.

Stairtowers must:
• Be equipped with a stairrail consisting of a toprail (handrail) and a midrail on each side of each scaffold stairway.
• Have slip-resistant surfaces on treads and landings.
• Have guardrails on the open sides and ends of each landing.

Ramps and walkways six feet or more above lower levels must have guardrail systems in place.

Scaffold frames that are used as access ladders must:
• Be specifically designed and constructed for use as ladder rungs.
• Be uniformly spaced within each frame section.
As a user of scaffolds you are not allowed to erect or dismantle them — unless you are trained and designated to do so. However, you still must be able to recognize hazardous conditions when climbing up and down, to and from, a work surface. To totally ignore a problem is asking for trouble. Study the above OSHA rules and have a better understanding of when things do not look right. When they don’t, don’t climb.

Never use crossbraces to gain access to a scaffold working platform. #rcec2

This information is provided by: Assurance Agency

Fall Protection for Construction

Construction workers continue to fall to their deaths in record numbers. In 1996, 292 construction workers lost their lives because of a fall. Your company has a duty to anticipate your need for fall protection. Careful planning and preparation lay the groundwork for an accident-free worksite. However, your employer is not perfect; you need to be involved in the process. Before you go to work at heights six feet or higher, your employer needs to look at a few issues. They need to: (1) understand the duty to provide fall protection, (2) assess the worksite for fall hazards, and (3) select the correct protection system. You are a valuable source for locating hazards. Your company should involve you in the process, and teach you how to do worksite assessments, recognize fall hazards, and select the proper fall equipment.

A duty to provide fall protection
When you are working six feet or more above lower levels, OSHA points out specific areas and operations where fall protection is required. They are: ramps, runways, walkways, excavations, hoist areas, holes, form and reinforcing steel work, leading edge work, unprotected sides and edges, overhand bricklaying and related work, roofing work, precast concrete erection, wall openings, and residential construction. The OSHA rules point out the protection options you have to satisfy the requirement. If the situation is not “listed” in the OSHA rules then 1926.501(b)(15) (walking/working surfaces not otherwise addressed), is appropriate. This reference says that if none of the other situations fit, you must still be protected when working six feet or more above lower levels by a guardrail, safety net, or personal fall arrest equipment.

Worksite assessment
Before going to work, a worksite survey must be done to determine if the walking/working surface on which you are going to work has the strength and structural integrity to safely support you, your fellow workers, and all equipment. Once it is determined that the surface is safe, one of the fall protection options for the particular work operation must be selected if the walking/working surface is six feet or more above a lower level.
As you can see, going to work at heights above six feet is more than just going to work. Much effort is involved in ensuring your safety. Your supervisor, safety guru, or other workers can’t do it alone; you must be involved in the process. Don’t go to work in unsafe conditions; bring them to the attention of your supervisor.

This information is provided by: Assurance Agency

Designated Path - Tool Box Talks

Overview
All buildings must have a way of allowing occupants fast exit to the outside or a safe place of refuge in case of an emergency. These exits can be hallways, corridors, balconies, ramps, stairs, or lobbies.

The designated paths of exit must be arranged and maintained to provide a free and unobstructed means to exit all parts of the building at all times. Employers must also ensure that these paths are accessible to occupants who have impaired mobility.

Exits must lead directly outside, to a refuge area, or to an open space with access to the outside. The area beyond the exit has to have enough room to accommodate the people who are likely to use the exit.

Exit doors:
• must be able to be readily opened without having to use keys, tools, or special knowledge.
• cannot have any alarm or device that would restrict emergency use of the exit if the device fails.

What must my employer do?
Your employer will explain how to locate exits in your facility, and what you should do if you are required to exit the building in an emergency

What must I do?
You must become aware of at least two exits from your area of the workplace.
You have the duty to not block exits or paths of exits, and alert your employer if you notice exits that are blocked.

This information provided by: Assurance Agency

Effects of Alcohol Tool Box Talks

This information briefly summarizes some of the some of the effects of a person that is hung over. Direct effects of alcohol vary with the individuals. In general, a person will excrete approximately one alcohol drink per hour. Consider the following:
An employee is out until 1:00 a.m. and has consumed 12 or more beers. They show up to work at 7:00 a.m. This employee is likely to have at least six alcohol drinks in his system at the time of starting the work. At this rate, the employee will start work intoxicated and eventually drift into a hangover and will probably be working in a very dangerous state during most of the workday.

ISSUES OF A HANGOVER
The following are some points to consider:
• A person with a hangover may have lower levels of alcohol in their system and may be “legally sober”.
• Any levels of alcohol in the system can affect the central nervous system, which will affect JUDGMENT and MOTOR SKILLS.
(Judgment and Motor Skills are critical components of working safely on a construction site.)

HANGOVER EFFECTS
A- Employees that are hung over are impaired from low sugar levels, dehydration and may still be legally intoxicated.
• Symptoms / Effects:
• Impaired judgment
• Decreased motor skills
• Potential for dizzy spells, etc.
B – Employees no longer under the influence of alcohol but still feeling hung over still have an effect:
• Symptoms / Effects:
• Impaired judgment
• Decreased motor skills
• Dizziness
• Increased potential to lose consciousness

This information is provided by: Assurance Agency

Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) Tool Box Talks

Overview
Nearly 350,000 people die of sudden cardiac arrest each year. Currently, the chances of surviving sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) without the aid of an automatic external defibrillator (AED) are one in twenty. However, with an AED, chances of survival improve to one in three. The use of AEDs could save 100,000 lives per year!

What is SCA?
The heart normally has a rhythmic beat which causes the blood to move in a consistent, predictable way. When someone has an SCA event, the heart begins to pump irregularly and ineffectively. This is called ventricular fibrillation (VF). VF is not to be confused with the heart attack where blood flow to the heart muscle is blocked. With VF, the blood stops circulating adequately, breathing stops, and eventually the victim will die.

Another SCA event is ventricular tachycardia (VT), when the heart muscles start to “quiver” instead of working together to push blood through the system.

CPR alone does not replace defibrillation in an SCA incident. CPR can only assist the victim for a short time until medical help arrives. However, medical assistance can be many minutes away. According to the American Heart Association, the chances of survival decrease 10 percent with each passing minute that the heart beat is not returned to normal. Very few people have survived SCA after 10 minutes with no medical treatment.

Unfortunately, we don’t know why SCAs occur, nor how to prevent them. We do know, however, how to fix them if they occur—AEDs.

What is an AED?
You’ve seen full-sized defibrillators on television. When the doctor shouts “Clear” and shocks the victim, they are using a defibrillator. The AED works the same—it shocks the heart back into a normal rhythm to restore a pulse.

Manufacturers have developed lighter, smaller, battery-operated, computer-controlled models which nearly anyone can use.

Signs and symptoms of SCA
Symptoms of SCA are very sudden and dramatic. Typically, the victim will collapse, and show no sign of a pulse. At this point, emergency medical help must be summoned, and the AED used.

The victim’s chest is bared, all visible jewelry or medicine patches are removed, and the electrode pads are attached.

This information is provided by: Assurance Agency