Warehouse operations are common with most manufacturing businesses, and present a wide variety of potential hazards for your employees and vendors. Generally, very little training is conducted to recognize these potential hazards. When we review our warehouse losses, we find the most frequent injuries and losses occur in the loading dock area, during forklift operations, and employee lifting and material handling.
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When I visit machine shops or manufacturers, I often ask many questions related to the lockout/tagout program. I usually hear, “Uh huh, yep, we have one of those,” but see no evidence of the employees’ using their lockout/tagout devices. Sometimes, I’ll even hear, “Lockout what?”
Lockout/tagout is a safety procedure used to ensure that employees are protected from the unexpected power or start up of machinery and equipment during service or maintenance work. Lockout/tagout devices must be used before servicing or maintaining machinery or equipment, when hazardous energy exists, or if an unexpected start-up could occur. The lockout not only prevents machinery from being turned, it prevents machinery and equipment parts from moving. The tagout provides a warning. Many kinds of equipment require a lockout/tagout device, including presses, power saws, conveyors, pumps, production equipment, and trash compactors.
Read MoreA major concern of any retail business is accidents in the parking lot. The accidents can be vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-building/ property, or slips and falls by customers and vendors.
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Mike was still a young man the day his life changed forever. He was working at a residential construction site. He and his coworkers were laying out walls on the floor of the new home and Mike was taking measurements near the edge of the second story. No one knows exactly what happened, but he fell over the edge and landed on construction materials 22 feet below. He suffered a spinal cord injury that left him a paralyzed from the waist down. This is an actual West Bend work comp claim. If a fall protection system had been in place, it could have been prevented.
I believe one of the benefits of being a safety professional that’s most overlooked is the opportunity to volunteer our technical skills for local, regional, or national nonprofit organizations. There are many opportunities to give back to our communities. The groups may be local organizations or national outreach chapters. But these groups aren’t the only ones who benefit. Volunteering helps safety professionals learn new skill sets, as well as network both professionally and personally.
