Archive for the ‘Safety Security Solutions’ Category

How to Keep Facilities Safe & Clean with Entrance Mats

Among the products that are overlooked when buying supplies for your facility, entrance mats are probably one of the most neglected. Far too many people consider entrance mats as decoration. Some think as long as it bears the customary welcome message, any generic variant is considered an adequate solution. This means that many people are failing to use these mats to their full advantage.

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Top Four Reasons Why You Should Install Bollards

Bollards are often used in parks, worksites, along sidewalks, in front of establishments, and throughout parking lots. They provide an effective barrier to block both foot and vehicle traffic in outdoor environments. If you aren’t using steel bollards yet, it may be time to consider adding them to your workplace safety plan.

Here are the benefits of installing bollards in your outdoor spaces:

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Improving Pedestrian Safety in a Forklift Environment

Can traffic accidents happen only in parking lots or on busy streets?

Unfortunately, no. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), 20,000 workers are seriously injured each year in the United States due to forklift-related incidents. 100 employee fatalities are also reported due to the same reason. Many workers and employers are unaware of forklift hazards and are not following the procedures set forth in federal regulations or equipment manufacturer guidelines.

Pedestrian safety can be improved with appropriate preventative measures in environments with frequent forklift traffic. Detailed awareness training, effective traffic management, and the use of proper safety equipment make this possible. Both drivers and pedestrians can make a difference in reducing forklift-related accidents.

Employee Training

Employees who work around forklifts (whether directly or not) are responsible for safe forklift operations. The following pointers can help ensure that forklift operations remain safe for pedestrians and operators alike:

  • Only qualified drivers should operate forklifts, and forklift operators should always be aware of pedestrians in the area.
  • Operators should stay in marked routes, slow down, and sound their horns when approaching intersections, corners, or turns.
  • Pedestrians should be aware of forklifts in the area and maintain a safe distance. Pedestrians should pause to look both ways before stepping through a side door, around a corner, or into an aisle.
  • Employees approaching forklifts should make sure that the driver is aware of their presence. Pedestrians should always approach them from the side, never directly in front or behind, and only when the vehicle comes to a full stop.
  • Employees should never try to overtake a forklift. Let the forklift pass instead.
  • Employees should avoid standing in areas where they may be pinned against a wall or fixture.
  • Employees should not walk or work beneath truck loads.
  • Most forklifts accommodate one driver only. Employees may only ride when a proper seat is provided.
  • Trucks should not exceed their load capacity.
  • Immediately report malfunctions and other problems to the proper personnel.
  • Aisles and adjacent areas should be clear of obstructions. Clean up spills promptly.

Traffic Management Measures

Warehouses, industrial plants, and other large facilities should implement protocols regarding the right of way. Vehicle and pedestrian routes should remain separate as much as possible, identified by the proper signage and pavement lines. Operators and pedestrians should be familiar with both routes, not just the ones they are most likely to use.  When applicable, facilities should also have traffic barriers set up.

Safety Equipment 

Forklifts must have horns and warning lights. Alarms are also extra safety precautions to add to any machinery in your warehouse. Curved mirrors can improve pedestrian visibility, especially at intersections. Pedestrians should always wear high-visibility vests when walking or working near high-traffic areas.

Pedestrian forklift safety is an important part of your warehouse safety program. Promote forklift safety awareness to constantly remind your employees to pay attention and be aware of their surroundings. Emedco offers innovative warehouse safety products to help reduce accidents involving industrial equipment and improve your facility’s safety tactics.

Tips on Developing the Best Safety Program for Your Facility

workplace safety

Many companies across the country have been recognized as “The Safest in America” over the years, for their dedication to making workplace safety a priority within their business. What’s the magic formula for success? It depends on the company, there is no single way to be the safest; however there are over arching themes that mostly all of the companies have in common.

Here are a few tips on how to develop the best safety program for your facility, as learned from the Safest Companies in America.

Go Beyond Compliance

While you are technically fulfilling your obligation by being compliant, sometimes that isn’t enough. Some OSHA regulations haven’t been updated for 20 or 30 years. Your workers lives could very well still be in danger. Go the extra mile and ask your workers if there are aspects of their jobs in which they feel that they are still over exposed to hazards and would like more protection.

Start from the Top

If your CEO doesn’t care about safety, neither will your managers or workers. A successful and sustainable workplace safety program only happens when it is enforces from the highest levels of a company. Set the tone from the top that procedures are important an must be followed because it is not only in the best interest of the workers but also the best interest of the company and its success.

Empower and Reward Employees for Making “Tough” Safety Decisions

It is not unheard of that workers are afraid to speak up or “waste” time with proper safety procedures out of fear that it will negatively impact production or a company’s bottom line. If a worker makes a call to “stop work” because a task is deemed too dangerous, don’t punish them for it, reward them! Make them aware that you support their decision and want to work towards a safer solution.

Make Comprehension a Priority

Not all workers are created equally, nor are the jobs they are hired to do. Some will need more time to grasp the safety principles that go along with their daily work tasks, or may need to learn by example. Be understanding of each of your workers’ individual needs in order to be their safest, most efficient workers. Allow them to shadow a more experienced worker, and continue to provide them the training and resources they need on a routine basis to keep them safe and maintain a clear understanding of the safety expectations within their position.

Track and Verify Effectiveness and Safety Performance

Implementing a program is not the tough part, sustaining it is. Once you have a good safety program in place, map out how you will maintain it. This should include input from all of your employees. Get managers and higher management involved to perform annual safety “town hall meetings” or surprise mock OSHA inspections to see how your program is doing and what ways it can be made better.  A feeling of involvement goes a long way in a safety programs long term success or failure.

Key Lockout Tagout Definitions Every Safety Manager Should Know

LockoutTerms1

The power of heavy duty machinery is largely left up to speculation until a major accident occurs and its true impact is shown. Protecting workers from the powerful machines they interact with on a daily basis largely relies on the presence of an effective and compliant lockout tagout program and the proper training of all employees who will have to apply its procedures. When creating a sustainable program here is a list of 10 lockout terms, all safety managers, and workers should know.

  1. Authorized Employee: the worker that is applying the lock or tag to machines/equipment in order to perform service on it
  2. Affected Employee: A worker that may come in contact with machines or equipment on which lockout tagout procedures are applied
  3. Other Employees: All worker who are in or around the area in which lockout tagout procedures are being used
  1. Capable of being locked out: Can be locked without dismantling, rebuilding, or replacing the energy-isolating device or permanently altering its energy control capability.
  1. Energized: any piece of equipment or machinery that is connected to an energy source or may contain stored energy
  2. Energy-isolating device: A device that physically prevents the transmission or release of energy
  3. Energy source: Any source of electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, chemical, thermal, or other energy.
  4. Lockout: The placement of a device often in the form of some sort of lock, on an energy-isolating device, in accordance with an established procedure, ensuring that the piece of equipment the device in being place on is controlled and cannot be operated until the lockout device is removed.
  5. Servicing and/or maintenance: Workplace activities that place workers in situations where they would be exposed to unexpected startups or releases of hazardous energy  from the piece of equipment on which they are working or in the presence of.
  6. Tagout: The placement of a tagout device on an energy-isolating device, in accordance with an established procedure, to indicate that the piece of equipment is being controlled may not be operated until the tagout device is removed.

2016 Workplace Safety: Things to Watch

OSHA will have a busy year ahead of it. As rules passed in 2015 begin to settle in, and 2016 rules become finalized, will we see any movement in the top violations? Will we see a decrease in workplace injuries? What do you think the workplace safety landscape will look like a year from now?

It’s only a matter of time before we begin unrolling the year ahead. Here’s to making 2016 the safest year yet!

2016WorkplaceSafetyThingsToWatch

How To Easily Create Lockout Procedures

Lockout Procedures

Facility wide, site to site, across the country and beyond. Creating and maintaining lockout procedures can be a daunting task when trying to sort through all of the OSHA compliance components to create a cohesive plan that workers can easily follow.

As a safety leader you understand the importance of safety and productivity goals and the role that set procedures play in a successful plan.

Does a tool exist to make it all easier? LINK360® might do the trick! LINK360® is a software that provides a dynamic workflow that holds employees accountable for their roles in workplace safety and enables easy standardization, multi-site reporting and ensures the future sustainability of your equipment safety programs and procedures.

Join us December 15, 2015 for a Live demo  walk through of all the capabilities the LINK360® software provides including:

  • An overview of reporting capabilities and dashboards
  • Creating your custom workflow and assigning responsibilities
  • Procedure creation
  • Auditing capabilities
  • And more!

Reserve your spot now : https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4000260067549810946

9 Tips for Preventing Slips, Trips and Falls at Your Facility

Slips Trips Falls in the workplace

Where does the line between clumsy worker and workplace slips, trips and fall hazards get drawn? Chances are if a clumsy worker ends up hurting himself under your watch, the outcome will be the same: worker complaints, workers comp, fines you name it. All workers aren’t created equally, treat them as individuals and give them all the time they need to understand training and proper safety procedures to ensure that your company won’t be left on the hook for a slip up in safety later.

  1. Have a regularly scheduled safety check on the condition of walkways, steps, and new or existing hazardous openings. Repair damages immediately
  2. Have proper railings installed wherever there are openings or stairs to prevent slips and falls
  3. Never stand on chairs or tables with wheels
  4. Only have workers carry loads of a comfortable weight
  5. Train workers to pay attention to signs and posted hazard warnings
  6. Workers should always have a clear view of what is in front of them when carrying something
  7. Have workers look ahead when walking or climbing stairs
  8. Use floor safety signs and anti-skid adhesive tape in high traffic areas
  9. Avoid slips, trips and falls in the workplace by having proper matting throughout your facility where spills are more likely to occur

Out of Site, Never Out of Mind: Lone Worker Best Practices

lone worker safety

All by myself, don’t want to be all by myself, ANYMOREEEE! What a great song and what a great way to sum up #loneworkerproblems. While working alone isn’t necessarily a bad thing, not having the proper communication systems in place to make sure your lone workers are safe is.

What is a Lone Worker

Workers don’t necessarily have to be working outside of your facility to be considered “lone workers”. A lone worker is anyone who works out of direct contact with others for a period of time whether it be just down the hall in a different part of the same building or out on the road.  Also, just because a worker is doing a task that doesn’t make them a “lone worker” one day doesn’t mean they can’t be one the next and vice versa.

Assessing Lone Worker Situations

Before a worker is scheduled to work alone on a project where they will be out of contact for a period of time, assess the situation and the level of danger associated with it to then determine necessary safety procedures.

Consider the:

  • Length of time the person will be working alone
  • Type of work
  • Location of the work
  • Expertise required to complete the work
  • Available communication

Lone Worker Safety Precautions

Lone workers tasks can vary greatly which will require specific precautions based on task however some general rules of thumb for workers who will be “away from the herd” include:

  • Establishing a check- in process
  • Scheduling high-risk tasks during normal hours when other workers are available to help should an emergency take place
  • Prepare an itinerary detailing where the lone worker will be and when
  • Develop an emergency action plan if a lone worker does not check-in as scheduled

Harness the Fall Protection Safety Basics: What All Safety Managers Need to Know

personal protective equipment safety signs

Fall hazards are a serious issue, and I’m not just talking the daily tumble we all take rolling out of bed in the morning. In any case if we all know falls are a clear and present danger, why isn’t anything being done to better protect those in harm’s way? Year over year, OSHA announces fall protection as the most cited violation, and year over year even with OSHA’s fall protection requirements, the dangers remain the same.

Mobility of the hazard

Some of the issues may have to do with the mobility of the hazard. Workers at heights have to constantly assemble and disassemble, move to different sites and start the process all over again. Think of it this way, if you had to go to work, build your desk and chair, and then take it apart every day before you left, over time you might start to cut corners. It’s human nature, we’re lazy! But now think of this, if your life was on the line to build that desk would that change the approach you took? Absolutely! Now what if it was someone else’s desk/ life that was in your hands. It is difficult to pinpoint the root issue but it doesn’t hurt to remain well versed on the basics and to understand what is personal protective equipment.

Falls don’t only happen at heights; climbing a ladder or even walking on an uneven surface can result in serious injuries.

The most common situations that cause fall injuries include unstable walking or working surfaces, slick or slippery walkways, clutter, unsafe ladder usage, unguarded edges, wall opening or floor holes.

Fall injury costs

Fall injuries sure are expen$$$$ive!  They cost an estimated $70 billion annually in workers’ compensation and medical costs. WOWZERS! All tasks that involve working at any height should consider the available forms of fall protection equipment and which will best suit the job: PPE, fall arrest system, guard rails, personal protective equipment safety signs etc.

Successful fall reduction plan

The big question is now: What will it take to have a successful injury reduction plan complying with OSHA ppe requirements when it comes to workplace falls? It’s not a blink of an eye solution, an all encompassing action plan. The most important key to your plan will be how effectively you are able to engage you employees to retain the information they need to protect themselves and stop others from making dangerous mistakes. They can’t protect themselves from what they are not aware of.

Looking to find some more information about fall protection safety tips? Click here.