Speaking of Safety
Currently, under OSHA standard 1910.27 cages are required on ladders where the climbs are over 20 feet high. In OSHA’s new standard (OSHA standard 1910.28) taking effect 11/19/2018, a ladder will not be required to have fall protection until their height is over 24 feet (24’-0-1/4” requires fall protection).
National Work Zone Awareness Week each April brings to light the number of injuries and fatalities that take place in construction work zones. As much as work zones can be stressful for commuters in day to day operations, your hurriedness and misjudgments are not worth more than another person’s life. But if you look at all the data, the actual life in jeopardy is your own – as well as your passengers. It’s time to look at how you drive when approaching construction zones a little differently.
Management commitment and involvement strongly influence employee interest and culture in the safety process. Without strong evidence that managers value safety and health, you’ll have a hard time getting employees to be involved in the process.
Let’s look at three safety cultures: ZILCH, NO TOLERANCE and ZERO INJURY.
What do safety rules, work practices, and Pavlov’s dog have to do with you?
In the early 1900’s, Russian researcher Pavlov found that if you ring a bell then feed a dog, soon all you will have to do is ring the bell and the dog will start salivating. (Remember the movie Turner and Hooch?) Pavlov referred to this as a “conditioned response”.
Supervisors are usually in the best position to observe employee behavior, and should be trained to recognize indicators of stress. Stress doesn’t always predict violence, but by observing patterns, frequency and intensity of behaviors, as well as the number of different behaviors, supervisors may be able to identify when trouble could be on the horizon.
Considering that 80% of common infections – including the flu – can be spread through contaminated hands, there’s never a more important time to remind yourself, coworkers, family and friends the importance of hand hygiene.