Stacking Up A Pile Of Trouble An alarming number of employee accidents and injuries are associated with forklift operations. Many of these are a result of poorly stacked materials that topple and damage property or injure people. Stacking boxes, bagged goods, and similar items is usually thought to be an uncomplicated job. Yet, like most tasks that are considered to be easy, a lack of attention or knowledge can create safety problems. The stability of a stack is probably the number one concern. If a stacked load is going to be moved, with a forklift or pallet jack, for example, you can...

Cuts And Burns Cuts and burns, nicks, scratches are minor injuries that can occur to any one of us no matter how careful we are. Minor injuries to the skin are often ignored. But it must be remembered that skin is a vital organ; one that should not be ignored. Not only is skin the largest bodily organ, it also keeps the good stuff in and the bad stuff out. So what do you do when you get a minor injury? If you are like many, you realize a doctor's visit is not necessary and try to treat the injury yourself....

Smoke Detectors - A Life Server Smoke detectors save lives every day. These small but effective devices are a vital fire safety early warning system, in both the workplace and the home. While it is critical to have smoke detectors installed both at home and at work, it is three times more important to have smoke detectors operating in the home. Why? Because each year, more than three-quarters of the 4,500 fire-related deaths occur in the home. And tragically, children under five years of age die at twice the rate of all others. The majority of fatal fires in the home take...

Safe Use Of Hand Trucks What's the best way to move something? Ask someone else to do it for you! What's the next best way? Be sure you know the proper way to move materials yourself. If you could transfer the risk of handling heavy, large and awkward items and not get hurt, wouldn't you do it? However, for many people who must move heavy items on a regular basis at work or at home, this is not a reality. One of the best ways to avoid suffering a muscle strain or sprain is to use a hand truck. The use of...

Snow Removal As I opened the front door to go to work, a pile of snow fell back inside and covered my feet. Sound familiar? For many of us who live in a cold climate, snow removal is a reality. How we deal with it may be the difference between a serious injury and an inconvenience. For those who have a snow blower, the job is easier but not without hazard. The first thing to think about is what was left on the driveway before you start the machine. Rocks, toys and other odds and ends are now frozen projectiles capable of...

Heavy Equipment Safety Operation of heavy equipment such as excavators, loaders, graders, rollers, and bulldozers, should always be done by highly skilled operators who have demonstrated the ability and necessary skills to operate safely. Ground-based workers should be trained in how to work safely around the equipment, and how to stay clear. Unsafe practices by either the operator or those around the equipment can create very dangerous situations. Serious injuries can occur if the equipment strikes a worker, or if the equipment is rolled over. Here are a few common safety rules for operators of heavy equipment and ground-based workers to consider: 1)...

Over-The-Counter Medications Flu, cold, or allergy symptoms such as watery eyes, runny nose, coughing, or a general achy feeling, can incapacitate some people to the point that they must stay home to recover. Others push on because they have deadlines to meet, no sick pay, or feel the company will fall apart without them. These people very likely take whatever over-the-counter medicines they feel are necessary to alleviate the discomfort of their symptoms. The typical "cold medications" are antihistamines or decongestants or a combination of both. Unfortunately, the side effects of these drugs can be dangerous depending on the use and...

Metal Worker PPE for Hands and Eyes Metal workers drill, press, punch, cut, bend, shape, and fasten pieces of sheet metal to make construction and consumer products.  The most common injuries to metal workers are hand lacerations and eye injuries from metal pieces.  Proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE) can prevent these. Choose appropriate work gloves for the job task.  They should be well-fitted so they don’t get caught by moving or rotating machine parts.  The gloves should be flexible enough to allow your hands to move freely while holding stock materials and using tools.  They should be sturdy enough to...

How Loud Is Loud? Most of us take our sense of hearing for granted-we assume that we hear what everyone else hears. Loss of hearing may not be realized until a friend or spouse screams in frustration, "Why don't you ever listen to me!!" This is because hearing loss is usually gradual. Normally, it doesn't hurt, so we don't know it's happening. It doesn't annoy us like losing our eyesight. In fact, it is sometimes a blessing to tune out all the clatter and noise of the city and workplace. Yet our ability to hear when we want to is precious and...

Computer Room Safe Work Practices Working in a computer room can involve special fire protection issues; electrical, ventilation, security, and work practice issues also apply. Computer rooms (or “data centers”) have an increased risk of fire, because of the electrical energy used to run the machines, the heat generated by computing processes, and the air movement used to dissipate heat (air movement can feed a fire with oxygen, can cause rapid spread of a fire, and can dissipate smoke, making detection more difficult). Also, conventional smoke detectors cannot detect low concentrations of smoke, so some computer rooms have high sensitivity smoke detectors...