Safety Tidbit #39 – Access to Information

Safety Tidbit #39 – Access to Information

In 1910.1020, OSHA provides employees and their designated representatives a right of access to relevant exposure and medical records.

Why do they do this? Access by employees, their representatives is to yield improvements in the detection, treatment, and prevention of occupational disease.

Who does this pertain to? This requirement applies to everyone - general industry, maritime, and construction employer - who makes, maintains, contracts for, or has access to employee exposure or medical records, or analyses thereof, pertaining to employees exposed to toxic substances or harmful physical agents.

What is a relevant exposure record? Medical records are pretty self-explanatory. However, exposure records may not be. OSHA specifies exposure records as:

a. Environmental (workplace) monitoring or measuring of a toxic substance or harmful physical agent, including personal, area, grab, wipe, or other form of sampling, as well as related collection and analytical methodologies, calculations, and other background data relevant to interpretation of the results obtained;

            b. Biological monitoring results which directly assess the absorption of a toxic substance or harmful physical agent by body systems (e.g., the level of a chemical in the blood, urine, breath, hair, fingernails, etc.) but not including results which assess the biological effect of a substance or agent or which assess an employee's use of alcohol or drugs;

c. Material safety data sheets indicating that the material may pose a hazard to human health; or

d. In the absence of the above, a chemical inventory or any other record which reveals where and when used and the identity (e.g., chemical, common, or trade name) of a toxic substance or harmful physical agent.

When is the access provided?  Within 15 working days the information is to be provided at no cost to the employee.

Now the kicker…How does the employee actually know that they have this right?

The employer must inform employees when they first start working and annually thereafter of the following:

a. The existence, location, and availability of any records covered by this section;

b. The person responsible for maintaining and providing access to records; and

c. Each employee's rights of access to these records.

So, how many employers actually tell their employees they have a right to their exposure information first, and remind them of this right every year?  I bet not too many.  Ultimately, this process is to be a check and balance to hazard assessment. Therefore, please remind your clients or employers that the exposure information must be shared with the employees and, oh, by the way, ask for some feedback from the employee.  We might gain some valuable insight.

I hope this was informative.  Thanks for reading!

Safety Tidbit #38 – Spring has sprung, and things are heating up

Safety Tidbit #38 – Spring has sprung, and things are heating up

Well, Spring finally arrived here, and our temperatures are so nice we just want to be outside.  The trees are waking up, pollen is in the air, and the sound of kids playing outside (we hope) is everywhere.  As a Boy Scout, I was taught about the effects of heat and how to recognize and treat heat-related injuries (heat cramps, exhaustion, and stroke).  But why each year, do thousands of workers become sick due to exposure to heat?  Simple lack of vigilance because the effects from heat are preventable.

We’ve all taken our temperature and know that 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit is normal.  The average range for the human body is about 97 degrees to 99 degrees.  That’s a pretty narrow range, and you can see that we tolerate a lower temperature a bit better than a higher temperature.  Thermodynamics tells us that to cool or heat an object there are three basic mechanisms convection, conduction, and radiation. 

Convection, air moves over skin and heat is transferred.  If the air is hotter then heat is gained by the body when it is lower the body loses heat.  The body tries to help itself by dilating blood vessels allowing warmer blood to circulate to the skin and get cooled off.  Secondly, we secrete water to our skin so it will evaporate and as the air moves across the surface the water the vaporizes and cools us.  Approximately, 60-65 percent of our body is water and babies could be up to 75 percent. So water is pretty vital to our survival.   Quite simply, we need to sweat to cool our bodies, but we also need water (blood, etc.) to maintain most all of our bodily functions. So drinking plenty of water is important so our body. 

Conduction, I think it goes without saying to keep out of contact with hot items (e.g., stoves, furnaces, fires, etc.). However, sometimes it’s unavoidable.  When that is the case, we need to protect against the heat with barriers.  Remember, though, if we cannot sweat we will have a hard time maintaining our body temperature and we could still end up with a heat problem.  So, be careful with the use of personal protective equipment (coveralls, flame-retardant clothing, hard hats, etc.).

Radiation, remember our friend from above, the Sun?  We love the sun, but it too much of a good thing can be bad.  We need to protect from excess sun or at least the heat radiation from the sun.  The temperature around our bodies must be lower than our body temperature, so when we sweat, it takes the necessary energy to evaporate from our bodies and not from the air. We don’t need much of a temperature change, but it needs to be lower than 98.6.

The last thing we need to be aware of when it comes to heat in the workplace is our own ability to generate heat when we work.  As our body does work or exercise its core temperature rises, so it needs to get rid of that heat as well as any heat introduced by the environment. This heat load on the body can be more of an issue than the others mentioned above. Furthermore, it is affected by the fitness of the individual, age, and other medical conditions. Therefore, everyone is different.

To recap, we need plenty of water to ensure we can sweat; we need to regulate the amount of heat generated by our own bodies, and we need an ambient temperature lower than our body so it can cool itself.  So OSHA took a pretty simple stance, Water, Rest, and Shade. For further reading, check out OSHA’s heat stress web page which has much more information.

Thanks for reading and hope this was informative.  Make sure you are vigilant at every worksite. 

Safety Tidbit #37 – National Safety Stand-Down for Fall Protection in Construction

Safety Tidbit #37 – National Safety Stand-Down for Fall Protection in Construction

Material taken from OSHA’s A Guide for Employer’s to Give Fall Protection Training to Workers

Having a serious injury or death occur at work affects everyone at a worksite.

Falls cause more deaths in construction than any other hazard. In 2011, falls accounted for over a third of the 721 total construction deaths. Workers performing tasks 6 feet or more above lower levels are at risk of fatal falls or serious injuries. Remember: A fall can occur in a split second without any time for the worker to react.

Many construction workers perform tasks at a height that requires protection from fall hazards. Preventing falls can mean the difference between life and death. You can prevent such deaths by planning to get the job done safely, providing the right fall protection equipment, and training all workers to use the equipment safely.

What are the three main topics for Fall Protection training?

Ladder Safety (I also discuss this in Safety Tidbit #5)

Scaffolding Safety

Roofing Work

What do all of these have in common? 

Planning (Engineer out the problem or implement proper work practice controls)

Fall Protection Equipment (PPE)

Training (Knowledge is key to making it all work and getting safely home)

Please consider participating the National Safety Stand-Down To Prevent Falls in Construction May 2-6, 2016. Or, have your own stand-down at the beginning of your busy construction season to get everyone motivated and educated.

Thank you for reading!  Be safe out there!