If you were to put a list together of unsafe workplaces, you’d be hard pressed to have office spaces somewhere near the top. Office safety always seems a given. After all, how dangerous can a 2B pencil, a ream of paper and a Xerox machine really be?
Well, according to the following Mad Men era-ish video it’s positively strewn with all manner of near death possibilities.
Watch, listen and learn:
Maybe you’ve seen the Simpsons Industrial Safety Posters or maybe you haven’t. Rather than show them all at once it might be an idea to show you one a month.
First up there’s the “Use the Right PPE for the Job!” which is obviously trying to highlight the need to wear the correct personal protective equipment.
From the Gallway site: “Protective clothing comes in many forms – maybe you only need a protective sleeve or apron, or maybe you need full body coverage for electrical arc exposure. Once the need for protective clothing is established, an evaluation of the hazards is necessary so that a proper selection can be made. Whether you need protection for chemical exposure, high-visibility garments to be seen on roadways, or simply rainwear to keep dry.”
In Canada the Alberta Government has recently launched a workplace safety database so that current and prospective employees can check on their employer’s workplace safety records.
As reported in the St. Albert Gazette:
“It is so Albertans have a good idea of their employer or prospective employer’s record on health and safety,” said Chris Chodan with Alberta Employment and Immigration.
Gil McGowan with the Alberta Federation of Labour said the government said the website would be a one-stop shop for people interested in their employer’s record, but that is not what has been delivered.
“What we got instead was a site that hides employment safety records behind a wall of confusing and downright useless information.”
The site allows people to search by industry, company name and city and provides information on companies using data from the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB).
McGowan said the problem with loss time claim rates is that employers report them and when they rise, so do their WCB premium rates.
He said while they don’t have firm statistics, his group has heard many reports of employers putting employees on modified duties or otherwise not reporting loss hours to keep their claims down.
“You shouldn’t be using statistics that can be so easily compromised.“
McGowan said they would like to see provincially issued stop-work orders and stop-use orders listed on the site and would also like to see inspection reports that the province does at worksites as part of the database.
Chodan said stop-work orders and inspection reports could be added over time, but for right now they went with the loss time claim numbers because they are universal.
‘They are known as a universally recognized statistic,” he said. “It is a standard that has to be reported.”
McGowan has also cited many examples of workplace accidents or charges that aren’t listed on the site. He said the information in some cases just isn’t there for some companies or is harder to find in other cases.
“It simply doesn’t have the information on the website that workers need.”
Chodan said in some cases there are multiple companies at a site where a fatality or accident occurred. He said in other cases one company can be charged for an accident that affected an employee of another firm.
“The company that gets charged might not be the actual employer.”
Is this something you’d be interested in seeing over here in the States or is it too much Government intervention and regulation?
The Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) has announced the winners of their seventh annual Safety Products Student Design Challenge:
First Place: Aircraft marshaller’s safety jacket
Designers: Matthew Bartels, Sara Deshone and Armine Ghalachyan
Instructor: Dr. Maureen MacGillivray
School: Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, Mich., U.S.A.
The aircraft marshaller’s safety jacket, a two-layer cold weather system, incorporates LilyPad Arduino technology, electronics designed for e-clothing and e-textiles. The jacket follows the safety requirements and standards for this type of garment to safeguard the wearer in unfavorable visibility conditions and to provide protection from adverse weather. It is innovative and original in integrating LED lights into the sleeves of the garment, eliminating the need for handheld lighted wands used by aircraft marshallers. The lights on the safety jacket can be switched on and off.Second Place: Mountain bike armor for females
Designer: David De Courcy
Instructor: Adam DeEyto
School: Institute of Technology Carlow, County Carlow, Ireland
The mountain bike armor is an innovative answer for female mountain bike riders, fulfilling the needs of comfort, support and protection. Working with two major suppliers of flexible, breathable materials, the garment provides breast support, abdominal protection, cervical and clavicle guards without restricting body movement.Third Place: The Flyer—high-rise escape garment
Designers: Kurt Anderson, Jessica Bjorgum, Brooke Burch
Instructor: Dr. Gindy Neidermyer
School: University of Wisconsin, Stout, U.S.A.
This rescue system, based on the idea that people can fly with proper aids, is designed to allow people to jump from high-rise buildings and land safely. An easy-to-don jacket with attached wings (similar to the membranes that allow a flying squirrel to coast between trees) offers added safety with a deployable parachute.
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This week, a Center for Progressive Reform report highlights a lack of workplace safety procedures as being a key contributing factor of health issues and complaints reported by some Gulf oil spill cleanup workers.
Besides safety training and chemical exposure monitoring, there have been concerns regarding the lack of protective equipment used by cleanup workers.
One of the main problems, according to the report, is the programs themselves (known as the National and Regional Contingency Plans) don’t contain any method of ensuring workplace safety regulations are adhered to.
“These documents, beginning at the national level, consistently pass responsibility for ensuring worker safety down the line to the next entity that has a duty to participate in planning process,” the report states. “But as they pass the buck, they never establish mechanisms for ensuring accountability at the next level for worker safety and health.”
Concerns surrounding cleanup workers’ lack of oil spill protective clothing first arose back in July when pictures showing workers in Galveston, Texas without OSHA required coveralls, rubber boots and gloves.
You can view the original pictures of the workers without proper protection at the ‘Support Health and Safety Protections for Gulf Oil Spill Cleanup Workers’ facebook group.
