In this edition we'll be covering the following topics:
- Top 10 OSHA Citations of 2016: A Starting Point for Workplace Safety.
- A fond farewell to our Shipping Manager, Phyllis Williams.
- Seafood company fined more than $100,000 for unsafe forklifts.
- Ask Bob: Our tech guru addresses a question on forklift mechanics as operators.
- IVES' 35th Anniversary Sale: Recertification & Requalification Packages.
- Incident report: Worker killed when scissor lift falls from building.
- Last chance to register!
- A new What's Wrong With This? Photo and an answer to September's photo.
- A selection of interesting articles.
- New testimonials from our wonderful clients.
But first, check out all the places we are delivering training this month...
Top 10 OSHA Citations of 2016: A Starting Point for Workplace Safety
Every October, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration releases a preliminary list of the 10 most frequently cited safety and health violations for the fiscal year, compiled from nearly 32,000 inspections of workplaces by federal OSHA staff.
One remarkable thing about the list is that it rarely changes. Year after year, our inspectors see thousands of the same on-the-job hazards, any one of which could result in a fatality or severe injury.
More than 4,500 workers are killed on the job every year, and approximately 3 million are injured, despite the fact that by law, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their workers. If all employers simply corrected the top 10 hazards, we are confident the number of deaths, amputations and hospitalizations would drastically decline.
Consider this list a starting point for workplace safety:
1. Fall protection
2. Hazard communication
3. Scaffolds
4. Respiratory protection
5. Lockout/tagout
6. Powered industrial trucks
7. Ladders
8. Machine guarding
9. Electrical wiring
10. Electrical, general requirements
It’s no coincidence that falls are among the leading causes of worker deaths, particularly in construction, and our top 10 list features lack of fall protection as well as ladder and scaffold safety issues. We know how to protect workers from falls, and have an ongoing campaign to inform employers and workers about these measures. Employers must take these issues seriously.
We also see far too many workers killed or gruesomely injured when machinery starts up suddenly while being repaired, or hands and fingers are exposed to moving parts. Lockout/tagout and machine guarding violations are often the culprit here. Proper lockout/tagout procedures ensure that machines are powered off and can’t be turned on while someone is working on them. And installing guards to keep hands, feet and other appendages away from moving machinery prevents amputations and worse.
Respiratory protection is essential for preventing long term and sometimes fatal health problems associated with breathing in asbestos, silica or a host of other toxic substances. But we can see from our list of violations that not nearly enough employers are providing this needed protection and training.
The high number of fatalities associated with forklifts, and high number of violations for powered industrial truck safety, tell us that many workers are not being properly trained to safely drive these kinds of potentially hazardous equipment.
Rounding out the top 10 list are violations related to electrical safety, an area where the dangers are well-known.
Our list of top violations is far from comprehensive. OSHA regulations cover a wide range of hazards, all of which imperil worker health and safety. And we urge employers to go beyond the minimal requirements to create a culture of safety at work, which has been shown to reduce costs, raise productivity and improve morale. To help them, we have released new recommendations for creating a safety and health program at their workplaces.
We have many additional resources, including a wealth of information on our website and our free and confidential On-site Consultation Program. But tackling the most common hazards is a good place to start saving workers’ lives and limbs.
Source: www.blog.dol.gov
A Fond Farewell
On September 30 we said farewell to one of our most influential and longest serving employees, Phyllis Williams. Phyllis joined the IVES team in the summer of 2003 as its Shipper/Receiver and immediately began putting her personal stamp on the department. It wasn’t long before the benefits of her organizational skills and keen eye for details were noticed and she was elevated to Inventory and Warehouse Manager.
Phyllis owned her job like no other and took great pride in getting things done right. She created, implemented and doggedly managed and maintained many of the procedures and protocols used in several departments like purchasing, production, inventory control, order processing and client services. Her efforts and contribution in these areas raised efficiencies and provided us with a solid support mechanism on which to operate.
We will probably never truly realize the true scale of Phyllis’ efforts and sacrifices over the years, or the impact they have had and will continue to have on the company, we just know that her absence will be felt in ways we are blissfully unaware of right now.
However, as they say – the only thing permanent is change, and change we must. As Phyllis moves on to the next phase of her life doting over her grandchildren, globetrotting around the planet and heaven knows what else, we must resolve to stow our conflicted feelings and simply wave goodbye. Happy that she will enjoy her golden years in good health, and gratified by the experience of having known her.
Happy trails Phyllis.
Seafood company fined more than $100,000 for unsafe forklifts
Forklifts are among the most hazardous vehicles in the workplace, with a great risk of injury and death if they're not maintained and operated safely. Employers who knowingly and repeatedly expose workers to unsafe forklifts may face stiff penalties.
That's what happened with a company in Westport. The Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) has cited Ocean Gold Seafoods Inc., a total of $117,740 for willful and repeated serious workplace safety violations at its seafood processing plant. Many of the violations were related to forklift safety.
The fines include a willful violation with the maximum allowed penalty of $70,000 for not performing regular safety inspections and not fixing defective items on the vehicles, like nonworking horns and broken seatbelts.
An L&I inspection found that the company rarely performed forklift inspections, and defects that were reported weren't fixed. There were several instances where forklift seatbelts weren't in working order, including one that was pulled completely out and wouldn't retract. Other defects included machines without working horns. This prevented operators from notifying employees in limited visibility areas that a forklift was coming through the door and put pedestrians at risk of being struck and killed.
The employer was cited for a repeat-serious violation with a penalty of $15,400 after the inspector saw two workers operating forklifts without wearing their seatbelts. The seafood company was cited for the same issue in August 2015.
Being crushed by a forklift tipping over is the leading cause of forklift-related deaths in the U.S. If there's an accident or tip-over, operators are much safer strapped into the seat because they are at lower risk of falling out.
Ocean Gold was cited for nine additional violations for exposing workers to fall hazards; failure to ensure emergency brakes were set on unattended forklifts; defective stair tread; exposed electrical wires; equipment and clutter stored in front of control panels; and unsafe use of extension cords. The violations carried penalties totaling $32,340.
A serious violation exists in a workplace if there is a substantial probability that worker death or serious physical harm could result from a hazardous condition. A willful violation can be issued when L&I has evidence of plain indifference, a substitution of judgment or an intentional disregard to a hazard or rule. General violations are the lowest level and are cited when the violation itself wouldn't cause serious injury or death.
The employer has 15 days to appeal. Penalty money paid as a result of a citation is placed in the workers' compensation supplemental pension fund, helping injured workers and families of those who have died on the job.
Source: www.lni.wa.gov
Ask Bob
Q: Just a quick question, do forklift mechanics need to be qualified forklift drivers? They aren’t using the forklifts to move loads, but would have to drive short distances to test the forklifts after doing maintenance on them.
A: Yes, the mechanics still need to be trained and authorized to operate the forklifts. However, when conducting the evaluations, be sure to keep the tasks/loads consistent with the jobs that they will do. In other words, if they don't load material into racks, do not make that part of their evaluations.
35th Anniversary Sale: Recertification & Requalification Packages
We are celebrating our 35th Anniversary and are excited to tell you about our final sale of the year...
Our Forklift Recertification and Aerial Lift Requalification Packages will be on sale until Friday, December 30.
Order and save 15% on your purchase of any Recertification or Requalification Package!
Place your order online or call 1-800-643-1144.
Incident Report
Shortly before 11:30 a.m. Friday, co-workers say Alex Baiza had unloaded a pile of wooden framework from a scissor lift on the 14th floor of the BOK Park Plaza Tower before going back for another load.
Baiza, 33, was a part of a concrete crew working on the 27-story building under construction at 499 W Sheridan Ave. As Baiza tried to raise the lift, the machine instead lurched forward toward the building's open eastern side.
As the lift's front wheels tipped over the edge, Baiza, an employee of Baker Concrete Construction, a subcontractor, grabbed onto some wiring and tried to pull himself free. But he was attached to the lift by a cable.
A horrified co-worker reached out to help Baiza but couldn't get to him in time.
Other workers on the ground heard shouts and looked up, just in time to see Baiza, a native of Honduras, plunge to his death.
The worker who tried to grab Baiza told police that Baiza must have thought he had shifted the machine from the mode that moves it forward and backward to the mode that moves the platform up and down.
The accident, which shut down portions of Sheridan Avenue for several hours Friday afternoon and halted construction on the building until Wednesday, remains under investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The project's entire work crew is expected to go through a safety meeting before work gets underway again Wednesday.
OSHA regulations require that companies use safety nets at construction sites where workers can fall farther than six feet.
Trent Wachsnicht, senior vice president of JE Dunn Construction, the project's general contractor, said several safety features were in place at the site.
Photos from the scene show a chest-high net along the edge of the building on several floors. But the photos appear to show that type of netting was missing from some portions of the south and east edges on the 14th floor.
In addition, a larger catch net was slung along the east side of the building about the 12th floor.
But Drew Youpel, a former OSHA compliance officer and an occupational safety specialist with the Expert Institute, said catch nets like the ones in use at the BOK construction site are designed to catch falling workers or smaller tools, not larger equipment like the machine Baiza was on.
“That net's not going to stop a scissor lift,” Youpel said. “Those things are huge.”
In cases where workers operate machinery near an open edge, OSHA also requires that a guardrail or curb be in place to keep workers from accidentally driving machines over the side, Youpel said.
It isn't clear whether such a barrier was in place before Friday's accident.
When police arrived at the scene, a company safety officer told him that all the witnesses had been gathered in a nearby portable building.
Reports indicate police interviewed five witnesses, four of whom were on the 14th floor at the time of the accident. The fifth witness was at street level keeping an area clear for building material being moved around.
Source:
Last Chance Programs
We have lots of upcoming programs to choose from, but seats are limited, so register now!
US Programs
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CDN Programs
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Sacramento, California
Express Forklift Trainer Dec 12-13
Trainer Recertification Dec 14
Express Forklift Trainer Jan 9-10
Aerial Lifts Trainer Jan 11-13
Premium Forklift Trainer Jan 23-26
Kent, Washington
Aerial Lifts Trainer Jan 24-26
Trainer Recertification Jan 27
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Abbotsford, British Columbia
Premium Combo Trainer Dec 5-9
Express Forklift Trainer Dec 12-13
Trainer Recertification Dec 14
1-Day Forklift Operator Training Dec 19
Beginner Forklift Operator Training Dec 20-21
Express Forklift Trainer Jan 11-12
Trainer Recertification Jan 13
Aerial Lifts Trainer Jan 16-18
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What's Wrong With This? Photo
This month we are sharing a Vertikal.net photo. Can you tell what's going wrong in this photo?
Have a photo you'd like to share? Send it to us!
In case you missed it...
Answer to September's WWWT? Photo
Unless the manufacturer prohibits the practice, it is not necessarily against the rules to use two pieces of equipment to lift a single load. However, if it is to be done certain protocols should be in place, similar to those involved when performing the same type of operation with cranes, which are:
- The exact load each unit will take must be known.
- The lift must be planned and the equipment operated such that load swing (side loading) is minimized.
- Load weight must remain evenly distributed across both machines (load movements must occur in unison between both machines).
- Only experienced operators should be involved.
- Site conditions, particularly weather–related conditions should be near perfect. Wind is a major concern.
- The equipment involved should be in very good condition.
- Steps must be taken to ensure the equipment remains level and well supported throughout the lift.
- A lift supervisor should be selected and remain in visual/voice contact with the operators.
- A pre-lift meeting should occur between the operators, lift supervisor and any other personnel (such as spotters, riggers, signal-persons) to discuss and plan the lift.
With this particular photo four things stand out as no-nos:
- There is no way a person should be on the load.
- The equipment should be configured so that load slings are as close to vertical as possible rather than at the angle they appear to be at here.
- The machine on the left has at least one of its wheels up on the sidewalk causing it to be off level with an elevated load.
- Even though this lift appears to be taking place in a residential area, it does not look as if any attempt has been made to keep pedestrian/vehicle traffic clear of the work area.
Have a photo you'd like to share? Send it to us!
Interesting Articles
- Forklift drives off loading dock, lands on man... more
- Scissor lift tip over injures one worker... more
- Worker dies after being pinned between a rack and a forklift... more
- OSHA says protocol violated at site where worker was shocked... more
- Man dies after being hit by loader at waste facility... more
- Forklift bumped into man on high lift, worker taken to hospital... more
- Napa vineyard worker killed after being crushed by forklift... more
Client Testimonials
"After spending more than 20 years working with Powered Industrial Trucks, I have learned more in the past 6 from the training I have received from IVES. My most recent recertification session was certainly indicative of that fact. The instructor was well versed, very informative on all topics and displayed great enthusiasm for trainer excellence and compliance on all levels."
Baldwin Smith, REC Silicon.
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