Out Loud Blog

A few weeks ago, I visited a small music shop here in Southern California called “Singer Music.” It wasn’t just a clever name. The Singer family has owned and operated this business for over 30 years, which is pretty impressive considering our current economic state.

So how did they do it? A great business plan and savvy business decisions, sure. Long hours, hard work and perhaps some sleepless nights. And while these attributes are important, I also like to think the Singers’ success can be attributed to how they stick to the basics by providing reliable, friendly service that results in positive customer relations. Keep your clientele happy and they’ll spread the word and keep coming back.

That seemed pretty simple to me, so I started thinking about the most basic purposes of occupational safety.

If you are involved with any part of safety in the workplace, you must adjust to constant changes. Over the past few years, OSHA has made a number of revisions to standards, including crane operations, PPE, hazard communications and electrical safety, just to name a few. Each change is backed by safety committees, numerous studies and surveys. All of these revisions are deemed necessary, and I tend to agree with most of them, even if safety updates can sometimes be a little confusing or time consuming.

But let’s put aside the “safety merry-go-round” for a moment and not lose sight of the basic goal of workplace safety: Returning home at the end of the day to your family and friends in one piece … or returning home at all.

Back to the Basics

I worked with a guy a few years ago who would be more than happy to testify the importance of going home at the end of your shift. He was climbing an interior access ladder in a warehouse to service the HVAC units on the roof – something he had done numerous times. When he reached the roof hatch, he unhooked the latch and locked it in place. As he started to ascend through the hatch, the lock gave way and slammed down, causing him to duck, let go of the ladder and fall 18 feet to the concrete floor below.

The bad news is he suffered multiple breaks in his right arm and sustained a pretty significant back injury. The good news is he suffered multiple breaks in his right arm and sustained a pretty significant back injury. He was lucky. A couple of surgeries fixed his arm and almost a year of not working helped allow the back injury to recover.

After the dust settled, I sat down with him and discussed what, exactly, happened. He has a wife and two little girls, so his emotions were pretty evident during our recap of the incident, but he said something interesting. He told me that the bottom line is he forgot to stick to the basic safety procedures that he had been trained multiple times on.

As safety professionals, we are charged with the responsibility of training and making our employees aware of all relevant safety changes, revisions and updates. Sometimes we might find ourselves getting caught up in the hype of the new standards, but we should always return to the basic principle of safety, which is sending everyone home at the end of the day. That might sound overly simplistic or cliché, but it’s true.

So go to work. Help protect yourself and coworkers from injury (or worse). Make some money. Head home to your family and friends. And who knows? Maybe take up a new hobby. I hear learning to play a musical instrument is a good one.

Guest blogger Aaron J. Morrow, CHST, works as a project HSE manager and is a safety consultant, an OSHA 500 trainer, a Cal/OSHA 5109 trainer and a construction risk insurance specialist.

“Every organization is designed to get the results they get.” How apropos is this quote taken from Dave Hanna’s book on organizational design. Three quotes from Massey management tell the tale.

First, Ex CEO Don Blankenship’s quote taken from the April 7, 2010 Cincinnati Enquirer, “ I think that I’ve proven that we run safer mines – you know, most of the time – and accidents sometime happen.” This statement was made after the Upper Big Branch (UBB) disaster where 29 workers were killed. Does this statement reflect the mindset that safety is of the upmost importance? Not a chance. Safety is not something you do most of the time and accepting that accidents sometime happen is a recipe for disaster which is what the UBB explosion was.

Next, in response to the report by an independent investigative panel Massey stated, “Our experts continue to study the UBB explosion and our goal is to find answers and technologies that ultimately make mining SAFER.” (emphasis added) What is wrong with this statement? If Massey was truly committed to running a safe operation they would have stated, “…ultimately making mines SAFE.” SAFER is not SAFE. I guess if the next Massey disaster only kills 20 workers they met their objective of running a SAFER operation than the one that killed 29. There is only one approach and that is to MAKE MINING SAFE period, not SAFER.

Finally, in the same response to the independent investigative report they say, “We have been examining where improvements in methane monitoring can be made and we HOPE (emphasis added) to develop some better technologies as a result of our investigation.” How is that for rock solid determination. They HOPE to develop improved technologies. Again, a Company truly committed to safety would take the approach that they WILL develop improved technologies.

One can clearly see from examining these three quotes that indeed Massey Energy is perfectly designed to get the results they get. Those results left 29 miners dead on May 5, 2010.

Dr. R. D. Fulwiler, CIH, CSHM

Technology Leadership Associates

Cincinnati, OH

Guest blogger Aaron J. Morrow is a safety consultant, an OSHA 500 trainer, a Cal/OSHA 5109 trainer and a construction risk insurance specialist.

If You Can’t Stand the Heat…

by Aaron J. Morrow

Most of us have heard the phrase, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” This expression is attributed to President Harry S. Truman, who apparently used it in 1949 when his staff was being criticized. Perhaps you’ve used this phrase as a playful insult in times of competition, such as sporting events or game nights with friends (Catch Phrase can get brutal) to suggest that if you can’t handle the pressure, move aside and let someone else step up.

OSHA, meanwhile, has a different view of this “handling heat” idea. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of that hot environment, take a shaded break, drinks lots of water and monitor yourself and fellow employees for heat illness symptoms. This makes more sense considering the vast amount of jobs that require employees to work outdoors in the sun or indoors where there is poor air circulation. That is why OSHA has launched its Campaign to Prevent Heat Illness in Outdoor Workers.

Every year, thousands of workers in the United States are exposed to excessively hot and humid work environments. These jobs range from construction and mining sites, all the way to employees who work in bakeries or commercial kitchens. Many of these workers will experience some sort of heat-related illness, usually as a result of heat exhaustion. Of course, if heat exhaustion isn’t addressed in a timely manner, it can turn into a heat stroke, which can be deadly. It is believed that over 30 workers died last year due to heat stroke.

Heat illness symptoms are an onset of the body’s inability to cope with heat. Your body naturally wants to maintain a core temperature, which it generally accomplishes through sweating. But during extended exposure to hot weather and humidity, this isn’t enough. Your body temperature can rise to a very dangerous level.

According to OSHA’s general duty clause, employers are responsible for the health and safety of their employees and must “furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm.” Employers can do this by providing training about heat stress and prevention; provide cool water for workers; scheduling regular rest breaks in the shade; continuously monitor employees for change in physical and/or mental status; scheduling work during cooler times of the day; being conscious of new or employees returning from a long break who may not be acclimatized yet; and having a plan in place in case of a heat-related emergency situation.

Workers should be able to recognize the different stages of heat illness (heat rash, heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heat stroke) and the symptoms associated with heat stress. For example: headache, nausea, extreme thirst, dizziness, fainting, altered mental status or extreme sweating. In the case of a heat stroke, the individual may stop sweating in hot environments. If you recognize any of these signs, you need to take action.

If you feel someone is suffering from a heat-related illness, immediately call your supervisor. For serious conditions, call 911 or your local emergency response. In the meantime, get the person out of the heat, remove outer clothing, cool the individual off and provide cool drinking water, if they’re able to drink.

While we can’t avoid working outdoors, we can help protect ourselves and our workers from experiencing injury, illness and possibly death from heat-related hazards.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, ruled that in the case of Elaine Chao v. Summit Contractors, OSHA regulation 29 C.F.R. Sec. 1910.12(a) “is unambiguous in that it does not preclude OSHA from issuing citations to employers for violations when their own employees are not exposed to any hazards related to the violations.” Therefore, according to the ruling, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) “abused its discretion in determining that the controlling employer citation policy conflicted with the regulation.”

This U.S. Court of Appeals ruling – that OSHA can issue citations to a “controlling” employer on a job site for violations even though that employer’s workers are not exposed to any hazards related to the violations – could have significant impact on many employers across the country. more

Does OSHA need to “resurrect the process” for developing standards? Yes, says former NIOSH Director John Howard, M.D., J.D., who said in a world increasingly looking to the European Union for standards leadership, OSHA runs the risk of becoming “irrelevant.”

Howard, speaking at a symposium on “The Future of Occupational Safety and Health” sponsored by the International Safety Equipment Association, said the main issue contributing to the charge of irrelevance against OSHA is “the lack of connectivity between the current causes of worker injury, illness and death, and the absence of standards that address such causes.” more