A worker was standing on a ladder, guiding a 181-kilogram (400-pound) pipe that was being hoisted into an overhead rack when the hoist’s anchor snapped. The pipe slammed into the worker’s head and chest, causing fatal injuries.
An investigation by the Ontario Ministry of Labour found that the anchor system hadn’t been installed properly. S & R Mechanical of Cumberland, ON, was fined $125,000, plus a $31,250 victim fine surcharge, after pleading guilty in the Ontario Court of Justice to a charge of failing to ensure that a hoist was arranged to prevent the pipe from slipping or falling.
Read MoreAlleged failure to comply with court orders enforcing citations of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) has result in contempt of court orders and penalties being levied.
OSHA says the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued the contempt order against Brian Andre, former owner of Andre Tuckpointing and Brickwork (AT&B), Andre Stone and Mason Work Inc. (AS&MW) and Regina Shaw, AS&MW’s owner.
The cases stem from numerous citations issued to AT&B and its successor, AS&MW, for willful, repeat and serious violations relating to fall hazards, scaffolding erection hazards, power tool guarding issues and other hazards.
When the companies failed to comply with the court’s order enforcing OSHRC’s final order, the secretary of labor filed petitions for contempt charges. Brian Andre, AS&MW and Regina Shaw must pay $258,582.08. Further, AS&MW and Regina Shaw must pay a $100 daily penalty, calculated from the early 2008 time of default on the OSHRC final order.
In addition, AS&MW must provide OSHA with weekly notification of all current jobs and known future jobs at least 72 hours before commencing work for the next three years. And AS&MW must provide “competent person” training to all people currently and subsequently designated as jobsite “competent persons” prior to beginning any work, and provide the secretary of labor with records of such training.
“Companies that expose employees to hazards and then blatantly ignore citations requiring correction of those hazards, will not be overlooked,” says Charles Adkins, OSHA regional administrator in Kansas City, MO.
Read MoreThe Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has been fined $78,050 for failing to provide a washer-extractor with an optional metal hopper attachment that would have prevented a worker from coming into contact with moving parts of the machine.
A worker suffered lacerations to his left ear, head, scalp and left arm when he became trapped between an industrial washing machine and a laundry hopper.
The 62-year-old employee had been attempting to remove some mops from a washing machine when the dryer hopper shifted, pinning him.
Court heard the health authority has implemented new safety and training measures since the April 2008 incident occurred.
Info to go: Read more about machine guarding at by clicking on the Info to Go safety links at www.SafeSupervisor.com
Read MoreRare charges have been leveled against a company under Canada’s Nuclear Safety and Control Act, according to a Calgary Herald story.
Mistras Canada Inc. of Olds, AB, operating as Nomad Inspection Services Ltd., has been issued six charges relating to improper handling, storage and transporting of a nuclear substance in November and December 2008.
The charges allege:
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission alleges that two truck drivers were exposed to radiation above acceptable limits while transporting a pipeline imaging camera on a portion of the trip from northern Alberta to Ontario.
A commission report states that Nomad Inspection Services shipped the camera even though a lock on the device could not be closed. The lock must be secured before a camera is transported.
A radiation monitor alarm was triggered when the camera was delivered to a health science company in Kanata, ON. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission says it is unlikely the drivers suffered any health effects from the radiation exposure, estimated at 1.36 millisieverts.
Read MoreRare charges have been leveled against a company under Canada’s Nuclear Safety and Control Act, according to a Calgary Herald story.
Mistras Canada Inc. of Olds, AB, operating as Nomad Inspection Services Ltd., has been issued six charges relating to improper handling, storage and transporting of a nuclear substance in November and December 2008.
The charges allege:
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission alleges that two truck drivers were exposed to radiation above acceptable limits while transporting a pipeline imaging camera on a portion of the trip from northern Alberta to Ontario.
A commission report states that Nomad Inspection Services shipped the camera even though a lock on the device could not be closed. The lock must be secured before a camera is transported.
A radiation monitor alarm was triggered when the camera was delivered to a health science company in Kanata, ON. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission says it is unlikely the drivers suffered any health effects from the radiation exposure, estimated at 1.36 millisieverts.
The average person in Canada is exposed to three millisieverts of radiation per year.
Read MoreFailing to do anything about an employee’s loss of movement in his hands has resulted in a fine for Cheshire East Council in England.
Britain’s workplace safety regulator, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), prosecuted Cheshire East Council for two breaches of the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 and was fined the equivalent of about $9,300 and ordered to pay court costs equivalent to about $8,435.
A 56-year-old worker developed a severe form of hand arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) after years of using heavy-duty vibrating equipment, including pneumatic drills and handheld grinders.
“The worker was first diagnosed as developing hand arm vibration syndrome in 2005, but the council failed to take any significant action for nearly four years to stop this condition getting worse,” says Chris Goddard, the HSE investigating inspector. “It should have limited the amount of time he spent using vibrating equipment or provided alternative tools.
“Instead he was allowed to continue with his job without any changes. He has suffered a permanent loss of movement to his hands.”
Info to go: Read more about hand arm vibration syndrome by clicking on the Info to Go safety links at www.SafeSupervisor.com
Read MoreMost workplaces have a large collection of hand and power tools, but the widespread use of tools does not guarantee that workers have the training they need to use tools properly and safely.
Your company needs to have some established rules for the safe use of hand and power tools and these must be communicated to workers during orientation and training.
Any worker who uses a hand or power tool should get some training prior to use. More training is required if power tools, rather than hand tools, are used during jobs. After initial training, supplemental training can be provided periodically during safety talks or tailgate meetings.
Training should be repeated whenever there is an incident involving a tool and not just to the worker involved, but to everyone using tools.
You must document all training that workers receive. If an incident occurs and a health and safety investigation results from it, you may be asked to prove that the worker(s) involved received safety training.
It’s important to document initial training, refresher training and any disciplinary actions taken against workers who did not follow safe work procedures.
Here are some areas that your safety tool training program should cover:
Personal protective equipment is necessary for nearly all tools and most often includes safety glasses to protect eyes from flying objects. Any task that requires cutting should also require long-sleeved shirts to protect arms from sharp flying debris. Operators should never be permitted to wear loose clothing that can become caught in moving parts of a tool. Long hair should be tied back and all jewelry should be removed before starting work.
Read MoreThink about workplace radiation exposure and nuclear power plant workers and uranium miners may spring to mind.
But did you know that 90 percent of people potentially exposed to radiation machines and radioactive materials on the job have nothing to do with the nuclear energy industry?
While the use of radiation machines and radioactive materials in the workplace is nothing new, it’s now become widespread. However, many workers and those who supervise them don’t think of radiation as a workplace safety issue, according to Fergal Nolan, president of the Radiation Safety Institute of Canada.
“Radiation is often seen as exotic. It’s not exotic, it’s everywhere. People have to understand that,” he says. “People are not aware of how widespread the use of radiation tools in the workplace is. Radiation safety is an area that has not been attended to as well as it should, in our experience.”
Most people know about the medical industry’s reliance on radiation machines and radioactive materials to diagnose and treat a variety of conditions and diseases. Dentists or their assistants often X-ray patients’ teeth during checkups and radiation is widely used in the diagnosis and treatment of several types of cancer.
But Nolan says most people don’t realize how heavily general industry also relies on radiation tools in industrial processes. For example, soft drink, beer, wine and spirits manufacturers use X-ray machines to measure the amount of liquid going into bottles to ensure uniformity.
Workers on bottling lines who are not aware of potential radiation exposure may become exposed while reaching to pick up a bottle that has fallen over during filling.
Airport security workers use X-rays to screen passengers and baggage. Steel mills use a powerful radiation source to measure the thickness of rolling steel and the construction industry uses radiation sources to ensure a uniform density of concrete in buildings and roads.
In the oil and gas industry, radiation is used to search for new sources of oil and to test the integrity of seals in pipelines. And even the average-sized university may have dozens of laboratories using radiation sources in research.
Radioactive materials need to be properly shielded and stored, with workers kept well away when they are being used. Workers also need to know about any radiation hazards and what steps they need to follow to minimize their likelihood of exposure, according to Nolan.
“You don’t deal casually with these sorts of things,” he says. “What everybody is concerned about in relation to radiation exposure is cancer and rightly so. What we are trying to do is prevent cancers by promoting radiation safety.”
The not-for-profit Radiation Safety Institute of Canada has certified more than 1,000 Radiation Safety Officers (RSOs) and X-ray Safety Officers (XSOs) within the past five or six years. Trainees undergo three days to one week of intensive instruction provided by nuclear scientists. In addition, hundreds of workers in a variety of industries have benefitted from 2 ½ hour radiation awareness seminars offered by the institute.
“Supervisors need to ask themselves, ‘Do I have a radiation source of any kind in my workplace?’ Then they need to ask themselves, ‘Am I in charge of that radiation source and if so, do I know enough about this hazard?’”
Workers who are potentially exposed to radiation on the job require awareness training, exposure monitoring, protection through administrative and engineering controls and in some cases, personal protective equipment.
If this isn’t happening, supervisors and the companies employing them could face serious sanctions, including criminal negligence charges, for failing to protect workers’ health and safety.
Info to go: For more information on the Radiation Safety Institute of Canada, click on the Info to Go safety links at www.SafeSupervisor.com
Read MoreEditor’s Note: Share this safety talk with your workers.
WHAT’S AT STAKE
If your job involves repeated motion or vibration to the hands, carpal tunnel syndrome could creep up on you. It tends to occur in carpentry, cashiering and assembly line work, but it can also occur in many other kinds of work.
WHAT’S THE DANGER
Carpal tunnel syndrome affects the hands and wrists, and can result in permanent disability. It is one of the most common of the on-the-job injuries that build up gradually over a period of time. The carpal tunnel is the name of a little channel running through the middle of the wrist, carrying tendons and a major nerve. When the hand or wrist is subjected to repetitive work, impact or vibration, tissues swell. This squeezes the nerve and tendons and causes problems with the hands and fingers.
EXAMPLE
An electronics assembly worker began to notice a tingling feeling, numbness and clumsiness in his hands. After awhile, the tingling became a continual burning pain. Eventually, the pain became so bad and the hand so weak that it couldn’t grasp objects.
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF
Carpal tunnel syndrome is much easier to prevent than cure. Here are some tips:
Find comfortable positions
Work with your wrist straight, not turned at an angle. Adjust your workstation and tools so you can work with your wrists and hands in a comfortable and neutral position. Whenever possible, grip tools and materials with your whole hand. Tools which extend only part of the way across the palm can contribute to carpal tunnel syndrome.
Use the right tools
Take advantage of tools designed to allow you to keep your wrists in the correct position. Use other devices which help keep wrists in the correct position, such as wrist rests (for keyboards) and wrist braces.
Reduce impacts
Remember never to pound with your hands. Also try to avoid continuous vibration to your hands. Special padding on tools and equipment helps reduce vibration.
Think ahead
Switch tasks to give your hands a break. Don’t repeat the same motion hour after hour. Do flexibility and strength exercises for your hands, wrists and arms.
Seek help if needed
Seek medical help if you think you might be developing carpal tunnel syndrome. Treatment can include rest, therapy, splints, medicine and surgery.
FINAL WORD
Don’t wait for this problem to go away on its own. If it becomes worse, it will be more difficult to treat.
REGION 1
OSHA conducted an inspection under its Site Specific Targeting Program, aimed at workplaces with higher-than-average injury/illness rates, and found several problems. Alleged violations include unguarded or inadequately guarded moving machine parts and power tools; improper storage of compressed gas cylinders; a lack of an emergency action plan and training and a lack of lockout/tagout procedures and training. Other alleged problems include failure to assess the workplace for hazards requiring the use of PPE; inadequate hazard communication; defects involving cranes, slings and powered industrial trucks; electrical hazards; an obstructed aisle and failure to maintain work areas in a clean, orderly, sanitary and dry condition. Penalties totaling $42,500 have been proposed. [Insulpane of Connecticut Inc., Hamden, CT. Release Number 07-320-BOS/BOS 2007-052, March 5, 2007].
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