Organic Solvents - Clearing Up Messes Before They're Made

Most manufacturing processes involve using a solvent of some sort, either as a suspension for another material (like paint or glue) or as a cleaning solvent to remove grease, residue, and grit from a system under constructions. These cleaning degreasers are part and parcel of doing work with engines, construction or automobiles, and are particularly common in the field of aviation maintenance and construction.

Why Take Professional Advice on Your Industrial Floor - Here's Why

All too often we tend to give a back seat to the quality of the flooring we use for our commercial buildings, but as the walking surface bearing the weight of all who use the building, it is of primary importance that the floor is made of suitable material conforming to industry specifications for the type of operation being carried out at the facility.

The Dangers of Water Leaks on Buildings

While it is true that all buildings allow for some air leaks, the difference is how much air is leaked from building to building. The air infiltration and exfiltration happens through the walls, roofs, and windows of the building envelope. The severity of the air leaks can be problematic as varying temperatures, water leakage, and drafts can cause building structure damage and waste energy.

Workplace Safety in Hostile Territory - Are You Sure You Want Me to Go There?

Most companies work so very hard to create the safest possible work environment, especially in countries like the United States where we are over regulated and over lawyer'ed. One accident could cause a serious lawsuit or even trigger a class action case going back decades resulting in 10s of millions of dollars or more in settlements, and even cause the company to file bankruptcy.

Acid Storage Cabinets - What to Look For in Acid Cabinets to Keep Your Facility and Employees Safe

Next to flammable liquids, acids are among the most dangerous substances you're likely to be storing at your facility. And they too require extreme care when it comes to storing them. Not only is it common sense, but it's the law too. Read on for some ti9ps on what to look for to keep your facility and your employees -- and yourself -- safe.

Swine Flu Safety - Why Hygiene Training is Necessary in the Workplace

If you think the recent outbreak of swine flu across the world does not affect your workplace think again. Would your business continue to function with several of your employees sick or quarantined at home? Do you have a plan in place should a medical disaster occur? What training have you offered your employees on disease preparedness and spread containment? My guess is not much.

Written Safety Procedures

One area that many organizations could stand to improve in is safety communication. The Standard Operating Procedure is the most basic and persistent safety communication tool in the workplace, yet it is often poorly crafted and ineffective. Over the years, I've read a lot of them, and the most consistent theme I see is an overall vagueness about how a task can be safely performed.

Pesticide Safety Cabinets - What to Look For When You Shop For a Pesticide Cabinet

Are you in the lawn care or agricultural business? Maybe you're managing a golf course. If so, you probably store significant amounts of pesticides and other poisons -- and have a need for storage cabinets that will keep them locked up securely. You want to make sure they won't fall into the wrong hands. So what kind of storage cabinet should you get for your pesticides?

Compliance With Group Lockout Tagout Procedures

Group lockout/tagout procedures should be tailored to the specific operation and be unique in the way they protect employees from the release of hazardous energy. Group operations usually require that a lockout/tagout program ensure that each authorized employee is protected from the unexpected release of hazardous energy by his personal lockout device. No employee may affix the personal lockout/tagout device of another employee.

Planning a Crisis Communication Plan For Effective Release of Emergency Response Information

A crisis is any situation that threatens the integrity or reputation of a company. These situations can be as a result of a variety of legal disputes, occupational accidents, fire, flood or other disaster that could affect the company. Poor handling of the communication during a crisis usually result in even more negative consequences that could haunt the company long after the physical situation has been rectified.

Earthquake Preparedness in the Workplace - What Your Employees Need to Know

There are many different types of natural disasters one could come in contact with. Without a doubt, the most frightening of all would be an earthquake. That is why it is critical for any business that exists in an area where earthquakes might occur needs to take the steps necessary to train their employees. Earthquake preparedness training should be an essential part of your safety training regimen.

Height Safety Guidance - The Correct Use of Shock Absorbing Lanyards

Falls from height are one of the leading causes of death and serious injury in the work place, with a high personal cost to families and the subsequent financial cost to businesses. It is incumbent upon employers to mitigate this by either designing out the fall hazard or by providing adequate restraint or fall arrest systems. A personal fall prevention or arrest system comprises of three components:

Swine Flu Outbreak Finally Gets Businesses to Start Preparing But is it Already Too Late?

The Swine Flu outbreak has finally forced the issue. The answer to that question is of course an emphatic no! It already seems like the pandemic is out of control, and at the time of this writing has surfaced in several major population centers. Sales of face masks and hand antiseptics has soared as people suddenly realize that the time to get prepared may have already passed.

Life Saving Facts About Emergency Exit Routes For Your Office

How would you escape from your workplace in an emergency? Do you know where all the exits are in case your first choice is too crowded? Are you sure the doors will be unlocked and that the exit access, such as a hallway, will not be blocked during a fire, explosion or other crisis? Knowing the answers to these questions could keep you safe during an emergency.

Work Accidents - When Do You Need to Report an Accident at Work?

Employers and self-employed people, as well as people in control of premises, must legally report certain types of accident to the Incident Contact Centre of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). All of the kinds of injuries listed below need to be reported if they happen to an employee, a self-employed person or a member of the public, if their injury happened while they were on the premises.

Election and Appointment Process of Workplace Health and Safety Representative

A health and safety representative is an employee appointed to represent workers in matters related to their continued occupational health and their reasonable safety in the workplace in addition to the normal work activities. This person will liaise with the employer in order to address any occupational health related issues and safety concerns of the workers. These representatives play a pivotal role in keeping workplaces healthy and safe.

Occupational Health and Safety Regulations - Testing and Tagging of Electrical Appliances

Occupational Health and Safety Regulations require that all electrical equipment that is used for construction work or used in a hostile operating environment (that is where the safe operation of the electrical equipment could be affected) must be tested and tagged by an authorized tester and tagger. Office workers do not need to be concerned as the electrical appliances in offices are most often stationary and not endangered externally.

Three Great Places For Portable Sinks

The food industry is in need of portable sinks to help cut back on cross contamination of food. Most kitchens have one or two sinks and you have to walk over to them loosing precious time that can be used to get another menu item ready. If you have a portable sink beside the preparation table then it will save the time it takes to walk across the room.

Avoiding Workplace Injuries

Since the Industrial Revolution, the American workplace has dramatically changed. Safety regulations and new technologies have created safer workplaces for most workers, but hazardous conditions still remain at many job sites and offices around the nation. Each year, there are thousands of deaths and injuries in the workplace, and it is up to employers and employees alike to take steps to reduce the number of incidents that occur each day.

Is Your Company Secure From a Mass Murder Rampage?

In the crazy age we live where mass murders happen far to often in the workplace (really should never happen, but it does), employers must take steps to secure their workplace. Employees should encourage their employer to take steps to secure their workplace from the unexpected attack of a mass murderer or more politely referred to as workplace violence. A workplace is anywhere people work, and no workplace is immune.

Afghanistan High Rise Window Washers - So Much For Workplace Safety

Emerging nations don't have expensive machine to do the work, because they have people power, and lots of it. And like our machines, in those nations people are a dime a dozen and expendable. Scary thought isn't it? Well, this is what happens those business entrepreneurs in those countries are quite willing to exploit their own people to make a buck, and when it comes to worker's safety? What's that.

Pump Bearing Reliability - 4 Installation Procedures To Maximize Performance

In tough working environments, machine reliability can be difficult to maintain - especially when contaminants threaten bearings and components. NSK engineers devote their attention to the needs of bearings in the real-life applications and challenging environments in which they will be used. One such application is the impeller slurry pump - a piece of machinery that often faces frequent downtime, high maintenance costs and high levels of premature bearing failure.

Getting Employee Involvement in Safety

Safety programs are an effective way to increase a company's profitability and make it more competitive in today's economy. But safety programs don't work unless they have the buy-in and support of all employees. A good program will also reduce injuries, increase employee morale and productivity. Having an effective safety program is a win-win situation that is easy to get and keep if it has a good level of employee involvement.

How to Prevent Workplace Violence

Violence in the workplace has long been an issue for managers to deal with. Unlike other workplace safety issues, the dramatic nature of the events makes them difficult to prepare for. The causes of workplace violence are many and varied. However, the chances of having a workplace violence incident in your facility will be greater when there is a hostile atmosphere. High stress workplace environments also lead to work place violence issues.

Using Objective Criteria to Achieve the Goals of Accident and Incident Investigations

Thousands of accidents occur in workplaces across the world every day. The failure of people, equipment, supplies, or surroundings to behave or react as expected contribute to most of the accidents. The aim of accident investigations is to determine how and why contributing failures occur. Managers and other decision makers can, by making use of the information gained through appropriate investigations, prevent a similar or perhaps more disastrous accident to take place.

Forklift Operator Safety Training - What Your Employees Need to Know

Forklifts are operational vehicles offer an incredibly important duty in a multitude of environments. Can you imagine how difficult it would be to increase productivity in a warehouse without forklifts? Yes, the tasks at hand would prove very difficult and that is why forklifts are equipment that should never be taken for granted. However, no matter how reliable a forklift when it is improperly handled it can cause a great deal of problems.

5 Year Electrical Testing

5 Year Electrical Testing is also widely known as Fixed Wire Test and Inspection and it must conform to BS (British Standards) 7671 (IEE Wiring Regulations), it must also conform to The Health & Safety Work Act 1974. It is stated by The Electricity at Work regulations 1989 that all electrical equipment and systems that are used must be in safe condition, it has been implemented that a testing and inspection schedule must be enforced in all workplaces.

Common Health and Safety Hazards in Factories

Just like elsewhere in the western world, In the UK as well the government has prescribed some safety regulations that have to be adhered to by any workplace. Protection against health and safety hazards may even extend to the families of people employed in hazardous occupations. In the European Union, member countries have enforced authorities to ensure that the legal basics related to occupational health and safety hazards is followed in any case.

OSHA Requirements on Heat Stress and Sun Protection

If your business requires that employees spend extended periods working in temperatures of 75 degrees or more, work under strong sunlight or do labor that is physically exhausting and causes profuse sweating, they could be vulnerable to heat stress or other heat-related health problems. Some people are especially prone to illness and injury even in standard working conditions, let alone those involving excessive heat. These include pregnant women, the elderly or anyone with immune-deficient diseases.

Workplace Emergency Training - What Your Employees Need to Know

You want your employees to be safe in the place that they work. You want them to have a sense of security. What will happen when there is an emergency in your workplace? Are your employees ready? Emergency response coordination is important to your employees and workplace emergency training should be an ongoing process. It is vital that your employees are organized, prepared and well trained in how to react when an emergency arises.

Workplace First Aid Kits Save Lives

The workplace is often filled with people who are about the business of getting work done. When the job is a manufacturing or production plant where machinery and various other types of manual labor processes are done, it makes sense to have first aid kits on location because they can save lives. Many companies even have mandated safety requirements that indicate that first aid kits are required in many different areas where accidents can occur.