Check out this story about a forgotten refrigerator and the mayhem it creates.

Twenty-eight people were sickened and seven taken to the hospital! People are vomiting all over the place, 325 people evacuated from the building and the hazmat team is called in!

The story is ridiculous, right? But at the same time, the ridiculous can prompt an OSHA inspection. OSHA 1904.39 states “Within eight (8) hours after the death of any employee from a work-related incident or the in-patient hospitalization of three or more employees as a result of a work-related incident, you must orally report the fatality/multiple hospitalization by telephone or in person to… OSHA”

I don’t know if these employees were hospitalized, but they may have been. If so, you can be almost certain that an OSHA inspector will be knocking on the door.

Don’t let a cleaning situation turn into an inspection with potential fines. Keep your employees safe. Know your facility and know the chemicals you have on hand. This will save everybody a lot of trouble … as well as from losing their lunch.

Image © Chastity – Fotolia.com

New Pig HR Services feels compelled to respond to the many Pigger inquiries regarding whether one Pigger may scratch behind another Pigger’s ears.

(To clarify: Each of these inquiries came from the same Pigger, asking over and over again.)

After much thinking (and much hoping that this issue would just fade away), our official response is as follows:

Because New Pig is an equal-opportunity employer, we cannot discriminate against individuals.

So if one Pigger may scratch behind another Pigger’s ears with consent, any Pigger may scratch behind another Pigger’s ears with consent.

We don’t see a role for such ear-scratching in our workplace and therefore our official statement is: During work time, each Pigger may feel free to scratch behind his or her own ears but not behind another Pigger’s ears.

Image © Anette Linnea Rasmussen – Fotolia.com

Image © Eric Isselée – Fotolia.com

We are confident that each reasonable person and hog in the employ of New Pig will understand and support this policy.

Respectfully,

HR Services

*

This message on workplace boundaries brought to you by these products at newpig.com:

Temporary Protective Coverings and Barrier Walls
Pedestrian Traffic Barriers
Traffic Barriers and Barricades
Traffic Cones

Image © Michael Flippo – Fotolia.com

Seen at the bottom of an email signature. True, simple and universal!

x

It takes an hour to hold a safety meeting.

It takes a week to plan a good safety program.

It takes a month to put that program into operation.

It takes a year to win a safety award.

It takes a lifetime to make a safe worker.

BUT  it takes only a second to destroy it all—
with one accident.

Take time now to work safe and
help your fellow employees be safe.

Hat image © Orlando Florin Rosu – Fotolia.com
Man image © Forgiss – Fotolia.com

Click here for hard hats for workplace protection or for meditation

Edgar Mueller is a talented artist who makes amazing 3-D murals on the streets of cities around the world.

Watch this YouTube video of his work:

It truly is amazing, isn’t it?

One problem, though …  How long do you think Edgar will be able to paint these amazing murals if he continues to bend over like that?

Ergonomically speaking, Edgar is putting undue stress and tension on regions of his back that likely will turn into an injury.

Check out UCLA’s ergonomic page. On it you will find numerous tips, exercises and preventions that will help save you and your company a lot of aches and pains.

Communication. It is essential when it comes to safety.

We communicate through email, trainings and job aids. Another way we try to communicate is through signs.

Workplaces have signs that tell you about everything from fire extinguisher locations to fork lift traffic and everything in between.

But did you know that the word you choose at the top of your safety sign is important? Did you know ‘caution’ means something different than ‘warning’?

MySafetySign.com realized this and created a helpful webpage that explains these differences.

This is a nice breakdown of the ANSI and OSHA definitions.

Lasers are a common tool used in many industrial arenas. They create precision products time and time again.

But there are pitfalls to lasers—safety hazards that are unique to this high-powered tool.

Three very serious hazards must be dealt with when talking about lasers:

1. The beam
   The beam is concentrated energy. Employees must be aware that, whether visible or not, the beam can cause severe and immediate eye damage, blindness, skin damage and/or skin cancer. Always shield the beam to protect employees from coming into contact with it. OSHA has a great etool that answers many questions.
2. The fumes
   Lasers cut or vaporize materials. When a laser is used on items made of things like plastic or metal, dangerous fumes (along with particles) are released into the air. Companies like Fumex create filters which will eliminate this hazard.
3. The shock
   Lasers use energy (typically electricity) to excite the enclosed molecules which create the light. Often this is a high-voltage situation. Many injuries and deaths associated with lasers come from the shock delivered by the laser’s power supply. Ensure your employees are trained on this hazard.

OK, OK… I guess there is a fourth hazard concerning lasers in the workplace. It is the overuse of any of the lines from the shark tank scene in Austin Powers.

Image © Jonathan Heger – Fotolia.com

I do not see many concerts these days. When I was younger, concerts were a common destination. Today, due to location and lack of desire, I rarely see an ad for a concert that I feel I must attend.

Well, that all changed when I saw that Dinosaur Jr. was coming to State College. My hometown was hosting an intimate concert with one of my guitar heroes (no, not the game).

In any case, my safety senses kicked in before I left. I remembered during so many concerts prior I would find napkins at the bar or toilet paper from the men’s room and stuff it in my ears to dampen the sound. Not this time, I wisely threw some hearing protection in my pocket and headed to see J Mascis perform.

I was concerned I would look like a nerd at the concert with my ear plugs, but I realized being able to hear the next day (and in the years to come) was going to be more important than possibly looking ridiculous.

Well, wasn’t I surprised that merchandise guys selling t-shirts, posters and the like had on their table a box of ear plugs for sale. And many people were using them …

I guess even rockers are getting safer.

Image © Rob Byron – Fotolia.com

Saving lives and preventing injuries with workplace safety practices is more than just numbers, of course, but the numbers can still be impressive. For instance, I just read about improvements over the course of one year at one company that saved $700,000 in worker’s compensation renewal premiums. In the same article, there’s also interesting information about KellerOnline services that help safety professionals be more productive.

Many think the cost of injuries are the bills you pay to the hospital for stitches or the x-ray. This, of course, is true, but it is not the whole story.

Let’s say your company has a 2% profit margin. The bill from the hospital was $1,200. How much money does your company have to make to cover that $1,200 bill? Answer: $60,000.

You average sale is $200 for widgets. How many average widget sales are a wash for that $1,200 bill? Answer: 300.

Your sales staff has to designate 300 widget sales to this injury that could have possibly been prevented. And $1,200 is cheap. Do the same math with a surgery that costs $22,000 or treatments that cost $100,000. Injuries look a lot more costly in that light, don’t they?

Image © demarco – Fotolia.com

I’ve blogged before that 1 million work hours with no lost-time injuries is impressive, and doing it twice is doubly impressive.

But going 25 MILLION work hours with no lost-time accidents? Nearly 8 years?

Bring out a squadron of safety scoreboards.

Con-grunt-ulations, AMECO!

Sure, we got the URL ThePigBlog.com. That’s great, but I think we may have missed a golden opportunity. Recently while searching out some safety articles I came across the Pork Industry’s page for health and safety issues. Would you believe: SwineCast.com!

Now, if only Sparky could have capitalized on that! He wouldn’t be relegated to listening to his favorite songs on his MP3 player on his headphones. No way! Can you say DJ Sparky?

Jump, jive an’ wail, Sparky!