In this edition, we'll be covering the following topics:
- Safety and Health Add Value...
- Distracted by mobile phones: forklift operators guilty of occupational health and safety offence.
- OSHA cites excavating company $202,201 for trench collapse that killed worker.
- Ask Bob: Our tech guru addresses a question on training for multiple equipment types.
- Nick Welch: 7 Things You Should Know About Reach Truck Training.
- Worker, 43 dies after boomlift touches power line.
- Last chance to register!
- What's Wrong With This? Photo and answer.
- A selection of interesting articles.
- New testimonials from our wonderful clients.
But first, check out all the places we are delivering training this month...
Safety and Health Add Value...
To Your Business
If you could save money, improve productivity, and increase employee morale, would you?
Businesses spend $170 billion a year on costs associated with occupational injuries and illnesses -- expenditures that come straight out of company profits. But workplaces that establish safety and health management systems can reduce their injury and illness costs by 20 to 40 percent. In today's business environment, these costs can be the difference between operating in the black and running in the red.
Injuries and illnesses increase workers' compensation and retraining costs, absenteeism, and faulty product. They also decrease productivity, morale, and profits. Businesses operate more efficiently when they implement effective safety and health management systems. A Fortune Five company increased productivity by 13 percent, while a small, 50-person plant decreased faulty product and saved more than $265,000 with a strong safety and health program.
OSHA can help take the guesswork out of workplace safety and health by providing information and expertise to help businesses tailor solutions to meet their needs.
To Your Workplace
Safe workplaces provide the consistency and reliability needed to build a community and grow a business. Workplaces with active safety and health leadership have fewer injuries, are often rated “better places to work,” and have more satisfied, more productive employees. These employees return to work more quickly after an injury or illness and produce higher-quality products and services. Each year, OSHA works with thousands of companies to help create better workplaces, providing assessments and help in implementing safety and health management systems.
Safe environments improve employee morale, which often leads to increased productivity and better service. Lost productivity from injuries and illnesses costs companies $60 billion each year. OSHA has committed to reducing the rate of lost production by 2 percent per year, so that companies focused on safety and health can also enjoy a healthy bottom line.
To Your Life
When it comes to safe and healthful workplaces, OSHA helps to join employers and employees as partners for life. Since 1970, more than 75,000 lives have been saved and millions of injuries and illnesses have been prevented through effective occupational safety and health management systems.
Millions of Americans work hard every day so they can build a better life for their families. OSHA helps to make sure that they return to their families in the same condition they began their day. Every injury prevented is a person kept whole; every life saved is a family preserved intact.
Safe workplaces not only save life, they promote successful, vibrant lives. Workers who suffer a disabling injury can lose 40 percent of their income over five years. Families can lose even more because of the increased stress, conflict, and divorce associated with occupational injury and illness. On the other hand, safe workplaces provide an environment for healthy workers whose jobs become vehicles for making a life -- not just a living.
Preventing Injuries and Illnesses Together
OSHA is committed to the design and implemention of safety and health systems that protect workers and promote successful business practices. OSHA offers a variety of tools, services, and programs to fit the needs of employers, employees, and safety and health professionals.
Businesses that partner with OSHA through the Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) have 50 percent fewer lost workday injuries and illnesses than the average for their industry and incidence rates 50 percent below the national average. VPP companies have saved more than $1 billion since 1982.
Small employers participating in the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) have also saved their companies and their employees significant money and hardship. OSHA's Strategic Partnerships and Alliances benefit employers and employees in many industries by encouraging, assisting, and recognizing efforts to promote workplace safety and health.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been helping save lives, prevent injuries, and protect the safety and health of America's workforce for more than 30 years. Since 1970, occupational fatalities have been cut in half and injuries and illnesses have been reduced by 40 percent.
OSHA continues to help reduce injuries, illnesses, and fatalities through extensive outreach, education, and compliance assistance efforts that complement strong, fair, and effective enforcement of safety and health regulations. OSHA's leadership in advancing safety and health is supported by an expanding array of programs that add value to business, workplace, and life.
OSHA's national and regional offices, together with state plan organizations, develop partnerships, alliances, and consultation programs to help companies implement safety and health management systems.
NOTE: IVES Training Group is a member of the Voluntary Protection Programs Particpiants' Association, Inc. (VPPPA).
Source: www.osha.gov
Distracted by mobile phones: forklift operators guilty of occupational health and safety offence.
In Ontario (Ministry of Labour) v Nault (2018 ONCJ 321 (CanLII)) two forklift operators at a bottling plant were found guilty under the Occupational Health and Safety Act for using mobile phones while sitting on their forklifts. The charge was operating equipment in a manner that may endanger a worker (ie, distracted driving of a forklift).
A co-worker staged a work refusal after observing the forklift operators using mobile phones while seated on their forklifts and a Ministry of Labour inspector was called in. The co-worker, who was retired at the time of trial, testified that one operator had been looking at the mobile phone while sitting on the forklift, which was stationary and not moving, and the other operator had been showing his mobile phone to another employee.
In response, one of the operators stated that he had used his mobile phone only to check the time, and the other stated that he was not on his forklift and that it was another employee who had been using his mobile phone. The court did not accept the operators' version of events and found that they had and were using their mobile phones.
The court held that "operating or using" a forklift includes sitting on a forklift even when it is stopped and turned off, as other workers and forklifts may be nearby and put at risk by the operator's distraction and inattention to their surroundings while using a mobile phone. Further, the employer had clearly prohibited the use of mobile phones in the warehouse, even displaying a poster that depicted a mobile phone with a slash through it. Therefore, the operators were guilty of the Occupational Health and Safety Act charge against them.
The court stated:
Like motorists who unlawfully hold or use cellphones or other mobile communication devices while operating or driving motor vehicles on public highways in Ontario, workers that use cellphones or other mobile communication devices while operating equipment or machines in factories or warehouses, such as a forklift, would also pose the same danger to themselves or others, as a consequence of being distracted to what is going on around them while using those mobile communication devices.
Source: www.lexology.com
OSHA cites excavating company for trench collapse that killed worker.
LEBANON, Ohio -- The federal government cited the excavating company whose employee was killed in a trench collapse in Morrow last year.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed penalties totaling $202,201 for JK Excavating & Utilities Inc. One of the company's employees, 25-year-old Zachary Hess of Mason, was killed after a trench he was working in collapsed on Dec. 28.
OSHA investigators found that employees had been working in trenches up to 16 feet deep without adequate cave-in protection, the agency announced Friday. They cited JK Excavating for failing to use protective systems to prevent a cave-in, failing to implement methods to remove accumulating water, failing to properly use ladders to enter and exit the trench, failing to prevent employees from working beneath a suspending trench box, failing to ensure employees wore hard hats and failing to make provisions for prompt medical attention in the event of injury.
"A trench can collapse in seconds, burying workers under the weight of thousands of pounds of soil," said Ken Montgomery, the OSHA Cincinnati area office director. "This tragedy was preventable, and could have been avoided if the employer had installed required protective systems to prevent a trench cave-in."
It took about 150 first responders several hours to recover Hess from the collapsed trench, deputies previously said.
The company has 15 days from receiving the citations to respond, either by complying, requesting a conference or contesting the findings.
JK Excavating has been cited for trench hazards before, according to OSHA records. The company paid $5,850 for two "serious" violations that occurred in July 2014 at a Hamilton subdivision. One of those violations was related to a lack of adequate protection against cave-ins.
Source: www.oshatoday.com
Ask Bob
Q. I was wondering if I can combine powered pallet trucks and counter-balance forklifts into one training session?
A. Covering two books in one sitting and then two different machines in the field is not a good idea in our opinion. I have done it (again, we do not recommend it) and it was torture on the students and on me as their trainer. I have found it much easier and more efficient to cover a book, get the hands on and evaluations done while staying focused on one machine and then move on to the next machine and do it all over with the different book/ORM (Operator Reference Manual). It takes longer but the trainees learn and perform better and that’s what training is all about.
I cannot say “No, you can’t”, but I suggest you not mix them together.
Nick Welch: 7 Things You Should Know About Reach Truck Training.
Although specific training is required for reach truck operators, in some operations, the particular risks and challenges of reach trucks may be misunderstood and overlooked. Often operators and supervisors assume that they’re the same or similar.
Here are seven essential reach truck training considerations for employers.
1. Different Truck Categories
Reach trucks come in various categories, so different skills and training are required for safe and efficient operation. Many employers mistakenly think that operators trained to operate one type of reach truck are automatically qualified to operate them all. However, operators must complete conversion training to gain the competence and qualifications to operate different truck categories, such as seated or standing truck categories, or truck categories with a greater lift height.
2. Working at Height
Racking systems in reach truck operations are different to those encountered by counterbalance forklift operators. With increased racking height comes increased risk so operators must receive training that equips them to operate safely at height, with accuracy, efficiency and an understanding of the specific risks posed by drive-through and drive-in racking systems.
3. Travelling on Inclines
Although it’s not commonplace and should be avoided wherever possible, travelling on inclines can pose the biggest risk for reach truck operations. Operators must be trained accordingly on safe methods of negotiating an incline, with consideration of the drive and braking systems specific to reach trucks.
Correctly trained operators must be able to recognize the risks relating to negotiating inclines and demonstrate competence in negotiating inclines with a laden and unladen truck.
4. Assistive Technology
Assistive technologies such as cameras and LCD screens are increasingly common. Although this can be useful to enhance safety and efficiency, it should never take the place of the right reach truck training.
Devices designed to aid stacking and destacking should only be used to assist, and not relied upon. If the technology fails for some reason, the operator must be competent to operate safely without it.
5. Stability
The stability and center of gravity of a reach truck differs to a counterbalance truck because they are designed to reach out towards the racking further than their stabilizing legs.
To avoid a potentially fatal truck tip-over, operators must be trained to understand the truck’s centre of gravity, load capacity, and the effects that load weight has on the truck when at height or with the reach extended.
6. Steering and Operating Position
Unlike a counterbalance truck, the load on a reach truck is positioned to the right of the operator. All-round observation is important and reach truck operators must be taught to look in the direction of travel, remaining aware of additional blind spots. These can be caused by the load, operating positions and overhead guard. When travelling with the forks leading, the mast also creates an additional blind spot.
7. Reach Mechanisms and Reach-Legs
In every movement and operation, the reach-legs and reach mechanism, whether a moveable mast, pantograph or telescopic, must be considered. Operators must understand how all these mechanisms function differently.
In addition, the varying types of reach mechanisms suit different types of operation. This makes specific job training and familiarization training crucial once basic training has been completed.
Source: www.forkliftaction.com
Worker, 43 dies after boomlift touches power line.
WRIGHT TWP. — A construction worker was killed when the lift he was operating touched a power line Friday morning (July 20) in the Crestwood Industrial Park.
Jason Evans, 43, of Clarks Summit, died from an apparent electrocution, said Luzerne County Coroner Bill Lisman. An autopsy will be conducted at a yet-to-be-determined date, Lisman said.
Evans was pronounced dead at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township where he was taken from the scene by Mountain Top EMS.
The accident occurred while Evans, an employee of a roofing contractor, was on a job at the East Coast Logistics & Distribution Inc. warehouse along Oak Hill Road.
Wright Township police said emergency responders answered a 911 call at 9:51 a.m. for a man who had been electrocuted. Police said the man, later identified as Evans, was placing material onto the roof from the ground when the lift’s boom came into contact with a high-tension power line. The lift caught fire, Evans was electrocuted and fell to the ground, police said.
Evans was immediately attended to, authorities said, but firefighters could not extinguish the flames due to the active power lines and contacted PPL for assistance.
From the nearby I2M property, smoke could be seen rising from the burning vehicle, with its boom still extended and touching the line.
James Webb said he was driving around the rear of the I2M warehouse around 9:50 a.m. after being asked to come up from the company’s other nearby facility and heard someone yelling, “Get out. Stop the forklift.”
Webb, 33, of North Carolina, said he next heard an explosion.
“That’s when I ran over there,” Webb said.
A worker on the roof of the other warehouse yelled, “go and get a fire extinguisher” and Webb said he ran into the I2M building to get one. He returned with it and gave it to the man who had come down from the roof to the burning vehicle, Webb said. The lift’s operator was on the ground and CPR was being performed on him, Webb said.
Two brothers who work in the I2M building and are volunteer firefighters heard the 911 call and ran over to assist.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration was on scene and investigating, police said.
Source: www.oshatoday.com
What's Wrong With This? Photo
Can you tell what's going wrong in this photo?
Have a photo you'd like to share? Send it to us!
Answer to Last month's WWWT? Photo
Here's what our Director of Training, Rob Vetter had to say about it:
- The forklift is parked on a grade without wheel chocks in place, at least none that are visible.
- The operator has dismounted the unit without lowering the load completely. This is acceptable in some regions for ergonomic reasons while hand-bombing materials on/off the forks, but judging by the awkward positions of the two people in the background who are presumably loading or off-loading a box from the pallet, ergonomics was not a concern!
- The barrel on the pallet appears to be strapped to the load backrest extension. It is understandable that whoever strapped it did so to prevent it from moving on the pallet during transport, but there are other more appropriate methods for handling barrels that do not involve using the backrest for a purpose it was not designed for.
Have a photo you'd like to share? Send it to us!
Interesting Articles
Worker electrocuted to death when forklift makes contact with power lines...more.
Maldives dockworker loses leg crushed by forklift...more.
XCMG’s giant excavator largest ever produced in China...more.
Two workers stuck on boomlift near power lines in Oshawa freed...more.
Massachusetts troopers issue numerous tickets to pickup driver hauling an excavator...more.
Unlicensed forklift driver in Singapore jailed for running over worker...more.
Front end loader farming accident kills one...more.
Fatal scissor lift incident...more.
VIDEO: Worker cheats death as building unexpectedly collapses onto his excavator...more.
Client Testimonials
"This program is above and beyond the training I received previously. I could go thru it again and still learn more. I realize safety costs the company. This program is an investment." Patti, Republic Refrigeration.
"Very informative - learned a lot of new stuff and have been using lift equipment for over 30 years." Timothy, Procter & Gamble.
"Finally took a training class that wasn't a bore. Thank you!" David, PepsiCo.
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