The National Safety Council has a team of consultants who travel
across the country – and the world – to visit worksites and conduct
safety audits. But no matter where each team member is, chances are good
that he or she will spot one or more of seven common safety hazards.
Here, NSC consultants JoAnn Dankert, Namir George and Rachel Harrington
identify for Safety+Health the workplace trouble spots they see over and
over again.
1.Working at height
It shouldn’t be a surprise that Dankert, Harrington and George
frequently spot hazards associated with working at height. Bureau of
Labor Statistics data shows that falls to a lower level accounted for 14
percent of all fatalities in 2014, and OSHA standards related to
scaffolding and ladders are regularly among the most frequently cited
violations.
Dankert, an NSC senior consultant based in Arizona, said hazards
associated with working at height can originate from a lack of
understanding. Employers may not know they have to provide fall
protection, or the fall protection gear may not be worn properly or not
hooked up to anything. Some employers don’t even have a written fall
protection procedure or process.
Employers need to identify all locations where fall protection is
necessary – as well as where the engineered anchor points are – and
train employees and regularly audit the fall protection program, she
said.
Some of those locations may be surprising. Dankert recently visited
a manufacturing facility that was expanding and had added to its roof a
new 12-foot-tall chiller next to three existing ones. But something was
missing. The old equipment had proper fall protection, including swing
gates and a railing for when maintenance work is needed, but the new
chiller didn’t.
“The fall hazard was not about doing work and falling off the roof –
it was the equipment on top of that roof,” Dankert said. “These are
hidden places you don’t go to very often, and you just don’t think about
it.”
Dankert cites this case as an example of the need for safety
professionals to have a seat at the table when decisions on design or
purchases are made. Their input, she said, can save employers time and
money.
More advice: Buy the correct-sized gear for workers, and keep in
mind that although some work environments may have anchor points readily
available, other locations may need an engineer to install them. Remind
employees to hook to the anchor point when working at height, and keep a
close eye on how well personal protective equipment is holding up.
Environments with sharp edges, chemicals or welding, for example, can
weaken a harness. Regularly inspect gear and remove damaged PPE from
service.
“Fall protection is like other PPE – it’s not good forever and ever,” Dankert said.
In some situations, it may be beneficial to forgo using personal
fall protection equipment and instead build a platform with standard
railings and a swing gate in front of a fixed ladder. Although such a
platform costs money, Dankert said, it may be less costly than creating a
fall protection plan, buying the PPE, and training and re-training
employees.
2.Poor housekeeping
Clutter blocking fire exits, aisles and emergency exits is a
housekeeping problem that George, who is based in the United Kingdom as
NSC’s manager of international consulting services, sees often.
Another common problem? Over-stacking loads on racks in a warehouse
that bring them too close to a sprinkler head, which can limit the
sprinkler’s efficiency in an emergency. Clutter, leaks or standing water
also can contribute to slips, trips and falls.
Workers shouldn’t wait for housekeeping or sanitation crews to take
care of these issues, Dankert said. Instead, they should clean as they
go. “Just because it’s a dirty process doesn’t mean you shouldn’t clean
up spills,” she said.
If the clutter or spill requires specialized training to clean up,
then employees need to alert their supervisor, who can send in the
appropriate staff. Additionally, Dankert recommends setting aside a few
minutes at the end of each shift, or on a Friday afternoon, to clean up
before leaving for the day.
When it comes to storage, employers need to make sure appropriate
areas are made available, notes Harrington, an NSC senior consultant
based in Illinois. Harrington said she often sees electrical rooms used
inappropriately for storage, with supplies blocking electrical
installations.
Even if clearance between the stored supplies and the circuit
breakers is appropriate, Harrington pointed out, employers need to
consider situations that could arise in which someone would need easy
access to that room.
“Think about an emergency where lights are out, something has gone
wrong, and it’s full of chairs,” she said. “I wouldn’t recommend storing
anything in an electrical room beyond what’s in the use of that room. I
wouldn’t recommend it at all.”
3.Electrical - Extension cords
Blocked breakers aren’t the only electrical hazard NSC consultants
frequently see. Many electrical risks are related to inappropriate use
of extension cords.
Dankert often witnesses “daisy-chaining” – using multiple extension
cords or power strips for a device. At one manufacturing facility
Dankert visited, she saw as many as five extension cords chained
together.
“It was almost like Christmas tree lights,” she said. “All you really saw were all these electrical cords everywhere.”
Because the employer is a developer of prototype equipment, the
layout of the manufacturing floor was regularly being changed. And in
most other aspects, the employer was conscientious about safety – the
extension cords being used were new and heavy-gauge, and the facility
was very clean.
“They were trying to do the right thing, but it also made me think it’s not really temporary,” Dankert said.
And that’s the point: Although extension cords can be useful for
temporarily supplying power for certain operations, the key word is
“temporarily.” When a cord is used for several weeks or months, Dankert
said, OSHA doesn’t consider the use temporary. This opens the door for a
violation.
Beyond that, extension cords lying on the ground for extended
periods of time are a trip hazard. They also can be subject to traffic
abuse if run over by forklifts or feet, which can wear down insulation
and create shock hazards. When cords are daisy-chained, they can easily
overdraw electricity from the circuits, causing the wires to heat up and
potentially result in a fire.
Employers should assess whether extension cords are truly being
used for temporary measures – perhaps to power a fan on an especially
hot day. In such an event, Dankert said, the cord should be gathered up
at the end of the shift and stored. She recommends establishing a system
to periodically inspect extension cords, and training employees on that
system to ensure the cords stay in good working condition and worn-out
cords are placed out of service.
Workers need to ensure they’re using the right extension cord for
the job. Typically, a more expensive cord has a heavier gauge, which
allows it to take more power without getting hot. The same applies for
using a single power strip to plug in several different devices – the
power strip may not be rated for the combined wattage needed for all the
high-draw appliances being plugged in.
If the extension cords are not being used for a temporary fix,
employers should consider bringing in an electrician to drop in a line
and outlet.
4.Forklifts
What’s a leading cause of forklift-related hazards in the
workplace? In George’s experience, it’s when workers feel compelled to
work quickly.
“What dictates their activity is production,” he said. “They’re all
under pressure, and when you’re under pressure, they start taking
shortcuts.”
Shortcuts include driving with too large of a load or driving
distracted. The end result may be hitting a rack, damaging a wall or
product, or even injuring a co-worker.
How employers react to these occurrences is critical, but their
responses often miss the mark, NSC consultants say. George said a common
attitude after an incident is to blame the individual and instill
discipline. The forklift driver is re-trained, re-tested and then put
back into the system. But employers fail to identify the root cause,
which often is not enough staff or trucks to manage the current
workload.
Compounding these problems is a lack of maintenance and daily
checks of trucks, and failing to segregate vehicles from pedestrians,
George said. Trucks should be regularly inspected to ensure they are in
proper working order, and employers should create designated walkways.
5.Lockout/tagout
Proper lockout/tagout procedures can help prevent serious injuries, but only if those procedures are followed.
“A lot of organizations, they’ve got the best procedures in place,
but it’s the implementation of the procedures that fails,” George said.
Some examples:
- One employee may go home for the day with his lock on, and the next worker on duty cuts the lock.
- Workers may simply use a label on older equipment for which secure lockout is more difficult.
- Instead of installing a chain to lock a valve in place, a wire that can easily be cut may be used.
Even if all lockout/tagout steps are followed, faulty equipment can
still lead to failures. George recalled a case in which an electrician
doing rewiring work was shocked. The equipment was locked out, but the
instruments he was using to check the system were tampered with and
failed to read that the system was live and not isolated. The worker
touched a live cable, causing a third-degree burn.
Violation of lockout/tagout procedures often boils down to three reasons:
- Complacency
- A rush to finish the work
- Being unfamiliar with the equipment
Employers need to train employees on lockout/tagout and ensure they’re qualified to carry out the procedures, George stressed.
6.Chemicals
Chemicals can be expensive, and workers in some industries may
never know when they’ll need to use a certain chemical again in the
future. But according to Harrington, this kind of thinking can lead to
serious hazards.
“Before you know it, you have all these chemicals no one wants or
needs,” she said. “There’ll be literally hundreds of chemicals on the
shelves.”
She added that although it may be easy to overlook a small, 5-gram
bottle, those 5 grams can become unstable over time. For example, after a
year or so, ether can degrade into explosive peroxide.
When an organization purchases and uses chemicals, it needs to have
a control system, Harrington said. It needs to know what the chemicals
are for and why they were ordered.
OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard requires facilities to keep an
inventory of all products. Mark down the chemical’s expiration date,
and use the chemical by that date or dispose of it properly. This is
more than just a safety issue, Harrington said – stockpiling a huge
cache of unwanted chemicals can be illegal. It also can be very
expensive to dispose of large quantities of expired chemicals.
Another potential hazard is transferring chemicals from one
container to another. Even if employees feel comfortable around the
chemicals and have worked with them for years, the containers must be
labeled as required under the hazcom standard.
7.Confined spaces
Confined spaces can present a number of hazards. George said many
tragedies involving confined spaces have occurred because an employer
didn’t issue a permit or failed to carry out a risk assessment.
In one scenario George encountered, a confined space’s hazardous
atmosphere wasn’t assessed properly because the equipment being used was
out of date. A fire broke out.
“I’ve seen people go inside drains without a permit, and didn’t
even know it was a confined space,” he said. “Someone’s gone inside to
pick up something and he collapses because the standby person was
distracted.”
If the risk assessment and permit process are done correctly, and
all steps are followed, employers won’t have a problem, George said.
“Everything is all planned,” he added. “If you don’t plan it correctly,
you plan for a disaster.”
Focus on prevention
The seven hazards presented are by no means an exhaustive list –
many other hazards may exist at your worksite, and spotting them
requires vigilance. To help identify workplace hazards, NSC consultants
recommend focusing on the following areas:
Training – Workers won’t inherently know they have to do something a
certain way, Dankert said. It’s up to each organization to
appropriately train employees on safety protocols. This training begins
upon hiring the new worker, when an employer provides an introduction to
occupational safety and health, including hazard recognition. The
training should continue under the specific department in which the new
employee will work. Afterward, regular refresher training is necessary.
Know the purpose of the training, and ensure the appropriate
training is given for each individual worker based on his or her needs.
After the training, monitor and supervise the workers to check whether
they’re applying it appropriately.
Personal protective equipment – “The use of PPE falls squarely on
the role of employers to determine, to provide and to ensure people are
wearing it,” Dankert said.
If employers determine PPE is necessary, they need to select the
right sizes and a variety of choices for their staff – and train workers
on how to properly put on, wear and take off the gear. Supervisors on
the floor should model the behavior they expect from employees by
wearing all required PPE. If employees aren’t wearing PPE, Dankert said,
employers need to find out why – the gear may be uncomfortable or not
performing correctly.
But providing the right safety equipment isn’t enough. The devices
can be misused or neglected. “People are pretty cavalier with their
PPE,” Harrington said, adding that employers should ensure gear is
placed in its appropriate container and not simply slung over a hook.
Clearly communicate and reinforce the need for workers to wear PPE
by stressing that the equipment protects them from injuries and
illnesses, such as losing an eye or developing a respiratory disease. In
short, George said, teach “what’s in it for me.”
Resources – Quite often, small businesses simply don’t have the
resources to adequately check their systems for safety. And in many
situations, Dankert added, employers may not know what encompasses a
safe procedure.
These employers should reach out and access available resources,
many of which are free. Several fire insurance and workers’ compensation
insurance carriers offer complimentary inspection programs. OSHA does
too, and says employers won’t be penalized if violations are found
during a consultation visit.
Some equipment vendors also may be willing to conduct certain
audits, according to Dankert, so ask. Check out free resources on the
web – including those from OSHA and the National Safety Council – and
search for free, local training. OSHA’s Susan Harwood Training Grant
Program routinely provides training in a variety of areas, and its
website has free resource materials.
However, not all resources are free, and employers must be willing
to make an investment in certain training or PPE if they want to keep
workers safe. “Spending a little bit of money up front on prevention can
save you money on the back end,” Dankert said.
Culture – Many worksites have a “monkey see, monkey do” mentality,
according to Harrington. If a supervisor or manager does something in an
unsafe manner, other workers will follow suit.
Instead, organizations should establish a culture in which safety
becomes everyone’s responsibility and workers feel comfortable reporting
hazardous processes. Leadership sets the tone.
“If management is committed, and they send a signal to employees
about the management of safety to the shop floor or the bottom end of
the tree, it cascades that responsibility,” George said.
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