The Safety Brief

Diesel exhaust continues to pollute workplaces and kill workers. New research says exposure damages nerves in the lungs. Hear how to slash diesel exhaust. Dan Clark offers nine ways to lower or eliminate diesel exhaust. Cutting engine idle time with Idle Reduction Technologies, ventilating workspaces, and maintaining engines are a few of the tips included.

Battery myths. Can 9 volt batteries start fires, and how do you avoid them? Can 9 volt batteries fatally shock you? We peel away fiction, reveal the truth. Facilities and vehicles can burn down, all because a 9 volt battery was unsafely stored. Dan Clark also tells of the conflict between the U.S. Department of Transportation and the NFPA on batteries. Finally, Dan reveals the truth about the 9 volt battery and your tongue.

Incident reporting increases when workers don’t fear losing their jobs. That’s one of six ways to encourage incident reporting, and improve safety. In this podcast, Dan Clark goes into detail about employee fears about reporting accidents and near misses. Trust of the company is a key component in logging accurate incident information from workers. Dan also explains that it should be easy for staff to make a report. It can be written or entered electronically with incident reporting software and apps. Allowing workers to report anonymously will improve reporting too. Managers’ fast reaction to reports will show employees are serious about safety.

Laser safety in the workplace minimizes the risk of eye injuries. Hear about the 7 laser classes, and the precautions required for each. Lasers are common in a worker’s everyday life, on the job and at home. Many lasers are harmless. Some are very dangerous. Dan Clark reviews the classes of lasers, and explains the hazards of each.

The classes reviewed are 1; 1M; 2; 2M; 3R; 3B; and 4, established in 2002 and referred to in the ANSI Z136 standard. Also discussed are specific workplace warning signs for laser safety.

Rooftop snow removal by workers is so dangerous, OSHA just released a Hazard Alert. Listen for a list of 8 best practices of rooftop snow removal. Winter is still hitting hard, prompting OSHA to warn companies about the perils of working on a roof covered with snow. Hear tips assessing the roof for hazards, considering weight capacity, pulling the snow off with rakes, using an aerial lift and more. Advice the on dangers of overexertion and heart attacks while shoveling snow is also offered in this podcast.

Chemical spill! Stay and clean up, or call 911? Be ready to decide with these 9 steps on evaluating and cleaning up. A toxic chemical spill can happen without warning, requiring fast evaluation and decisions by nearby workers. These 9 steps help employees and managers determine the risks. Evacuation may be necessary, but if not, mitigation and clean up should begin immediately. In this podcast, Dan Clark details the procedure for ensuring worker safety, donning PPE, confining and stopping a spill, and decontamination.

Permit-required confined spaces are simply confined spaces with an added hazard. But who issues the permit? Listen to hear about the hazards and permits. In this podcast, Dan Clark describes the hazards that can complicate work in a confined space. They include toxins or low oxygen in the air, electrocution risk, unguarded machines and more, which elevate the work area to a permit-required confined space. Also, Dan explains why OSHA does not issue the permits, and just who does. Included in this podcast is advice for workers in confined spaces, and how companies should plan for confined space rescues and emergencies.

Compressed air comes out of a nozzle at a bazillion miles an hour! Don’t let this dangerous air pressure hurt you or a co-worker. Listen for 9 safety tips. Pressured air tanks, hoses and nozzles can be a dangerous combination if treated casually. Hear about how to protect people and equipment working with compressed air. In this podcast, Dan Clark warns of the dangers in using, storing and maintaining compressed air systems. It’s 3 minutes well spent for a new worker, or the seasoned pro.

Silica dust Hazard Alert out from OSHA and NIOSH about stone countertops. Hear about the new warning for fabrication shops or in-home work. OSHA and NIOSH jointly released a Hazard Alert silica dust exposure on February 18th, 2015. This notice is to warn workers of silica exposure when manufacturing and installing countertops.

In this podcast, Dan Clark notes how over 65 workers in Spain and Israel recently contracted silicosis, with 10 needing lung transplants. Dan explains how this prompted the Hazard Alert from the two U.S. Government agencies. Listen for specific tips for the shop and in-home installation. See the transcript for links to the OSHA / NIOSH alert, and further information.

Table saw safety needs to improve. Thousands of fingers are lost every year in table saw accidents. Better finger saving technology is available, and saw makers should use it.

Hear about SawStop, the system that stops a saw blade cold on contact with a body part. It was developed over a decade ago, but saw manufacturers have ignored it. In this podcast, Dan Clark tells how SawStop works, and why the big tool makers should quit dragging their feet and adopt it.