Fall protection continues to take center stage in the construction safety industry and this month OSHA is continuing its popular “Stand Down for Safety” program, — an outreach program to educate workers most at risk. Basic safety measures are the best means of prevention as those in the industry can attest. The National Safety Stand-Down Web page provides details on how to conduct a Stand-Down; receive a certificate of participation; and access free education and training resources as well as fact sheets.
Experts agree, the most common OSHA citations are often the easiest to follow. They include:
1. Fall protection. OSHA requires that any person working at a height of four feet or more must wear a safety harness. While it may seem unnecessary at such a low height studies have proven that four feet is high enough to cause permanent damage to your body. Any person that is required to work on a roof, building or any area that is elevated should always wear a protective safety harness.
2. Respiratory protection. Workers who are exposed to certain chemicals or materials that can get into the air lungs must wear some type of protective respiratory equipment. This is unfortunately on of the most common OSHA violations in the workplace. It is simple and easy to put on a face mask or personal respiratory.
3. Scaffolding violations. Scaffolding that is put together poorly could fall apart and cause serious injuries to anyone on or near them at the time. Scaffolding should only be put together be trained employees and checked over before you allow even one person to being working on it.
4. Electrical violations can be general or specifically wiring. Wiring citations are the most common electrical citation from OSHA. These are mostly caused when a person does not follow safety procedures when working with live electrical wires. It can result in shocks, burns and death in severe cases. Other general electrical citations include injuries during installations of electric as well as repairs to older electrical sockets and boards.
5. Powered industrial trucks. Accidents can occur when they are being loaded and unloaded. If the people doing the loading are not properly trained in lifting safely or how to use small forklifts there can be a large number of accidents. Another common citation is being hit by a moving truck. Either the person driving was not paying attention or the person walking did not look before they walked.
For more information on keeping your company compliant, contact Diversified Safety Services.
