Plant Services - April 2008 - (Page 62)

WEB HUNTER Don’t hurt yourself Mining the Web for safety, ergonomics and training resources A ccording to an Oct. 16, 2007 U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) report, nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses among private industry employers in 2006 occurred at a rate of 4.4 cases per 100 equivalent fulltime workers. Also, the DOL reports that the number of nonfatal injuries reported in 2006 declined to 4.1 million cases. Assuming this country has about 146 million workers, 3% (4.1/146) are involved in occupational injuries or illnesses. On average, one of every 33 people at your plant is going to be involved in a given year (not counting people killed). Terrible odds, if you ask me. In the interest of help- Your tax money at work Arc flash isn’t just an abstract concept involving electrical safety. When something goes wrong in an electrical panel, the situation can get pretty painful, messy and gory. ing to ensure that all of your employees go home safely at the end of the shift, we take a leap into the digital morass we call the Web in search of practical, zero-cost, noncommercial, registration-free resources that can help reduce workers’ comp claims and hold down medical insurance costs. Remember, we search the Web so you don’t have to. OSHA is living proof that our hired hands in Washington don’t want anything bad to happen to the folks who send more tax dollars to government coffers. Like most divisions of DOL, OSHA has a Web site with more material than can possibly be highlighted here. To get a flavor of what’s available, elect your mouse to serve you at www.osha.gov/ SLTC by accessing “Process Safety Management (PSM)” from the Topics Pages Index dropdown menu. This tells you what standards apply, explains how to recognize the hazards of a chemical process, offers advice about evaluating and controlling process hazards and points you to additional information. The typical page is highly interlinked to dozens of other pages related to Federal Standard 29 CFR 1910. Clicking on a hyperlinked word or phrase takes you to another page where that word or phrase is defined in the regs. But, in the typical inside-the-beltway style, the definition itself contains words that require definition, and those words are linked as well. Serious PSM research here can be a slow slog, so allow sufficient time. Plant safety Easing into it Pretty much everyone in industry takes workplace safety for granted. There was a time, however, when workers had no formalized protection against on-the-job accidents. Get a feel for the evolution of workplace safety at www.reference forbusiness.com to check out the offerings under “Encyclopedia of Business.” Select the “Inc-Int” entry and scroll down to “Industrial Safety” for the material about this topic. In addition to some outdated industrial accident statistics, a little history of workplace safety initiatives and some information about the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), there’s a bibliography that gives you further insight into the modern concept of workplace safety. 62 But, what if it’s intuitively obvious to even the most casual observer that the plant, as currently configured, is a dangerous place? Well, it might be a good idea to educate the people working out there every day, risking life and limb for the benefit of the corporate shareholders. Keeping in mind that you get what you pay for, you could do worse than to access the free training courses from Instructional Designs Inc., Greer, S.C. The company offers slide show-based training courses that cover hazard communication, forklift safety and operation, personal protection equipment, hearing conservation and back safety. The student will find mini-quizzes interspersed among the slides. A correct answer reveals the next slide; a wrong response results in a recycling of the appropriate slides. This material is available at www.free-training.com, where selecting “Training Programs” starts you on the road to self-preservation. Before you move on to the next site citation, don’t forget to investigate the resources behind the “Other Free Training Sites” option. April 2008 www.PLANTSERVICES.com http://www.osha.gov/SLTC http://www.osha.gov/SLTC http://www.referenceforbusiness.com http://www.referenceforbusiness.com http://www.PLANTSERVICES.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Plant Services - April 2008

Plant Services - April 2008 Contents From the Editor Letters The PS Files Up and Running Crisis Corner What Works Asset Manager Technology Toolbox Cover Story Compressors Motors Flooring Web Hunter In the Trenches Product Picks Classifieds Energy Expert

Plant Services - April 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.