Yard Work Safety Tips

Yard Chore Safety Tips

The following safety precautions and tips will help keep you safe and injury free while you are working in your yard.

• Take 5 to 10 minutes to warm up your muscles by doing light exercises orstretching before starting your yard work.
• Dress properly for working outside in the yard by wearing long pants, a long sleeved shirt and sturdy comfortable shoes.
• Keep children and pets away from the area when you are doing yard work.
• Have the right tools for the job you are doing.
• Rakes should be comfortable and the right size for your height and strength.
• Wear gloves while you are doing any type of yard work to help prevent your hands from blistering.
• Yard work such as raking involves repetitive motions. Changing your position often helps to prevent muscle pains and cramps from occurring.
• Always watch for low branches, large rocks and tree stumps.
• Be aware of uneven ground surfaces and slopes.
• When you pick up leaves, do not bend over from the waist. Bend from the knees.
• Do not overfill leaf bags.
• Do not carry full bags of leaves over your shoulder.
• When you are weeding, a half kneeling position is safer than bending forward.
• Wet leaves are very slippery. Make sure to wear boots or shoes with soles that are slip resistant
• When you are using a ladder make certain it is firmly on the ground. Never climb to the top of a ladder.
• When you are pruning hedges, hold the pruning shears close to your body.

Power Equipment Safety Tips

• Be careful when pouring the gas into the lawn mower and power equipment.
• Always make sure all of your power yard work equipment such as lawn mowers, edgers and trimmers are in good working order. Make sure to review and follow the recommended instructions for lawn mowers and power lawn and garden equipment.
• Wear protective goggles when you are mowing the lawn or working with other power outdoor equipment.
• Wear hearing protection when operating loud equipment.
• Never use your feet or hands to clear anything from underneath a lawnmower.
• If you must leave the lawn mower for any reason, turn it off. Never leave a lawn mower running unattended.
• Do not mow the lawn in sandals or with bare feet.
• Never drink any alcoholic beverages when you are mowing the lawn or working with any other power yard equipment.
• Never run a lawn mower or gas powered lawn or garden equipment indoors.

Fire Safety Tips for Fall

Fire Safety Tips for Fall

When the weather turns cold most people spend more time inside their homes using fireplaces, furnaces, and heaters to keep warm. There's nothing quite as cozy as a fire, but it presents some safety hazards. Keep these tips in mind.

Service Your Furnace

Before the cold autumn and winter weather sets in, be sure to call your heating and cooling company to service your furnace. A specialist should inspect the furnace to make sure everything is in working order and that there are no leaks.

Use Fireplaces Safely

Use Caution with Space Heaters

Keep that fire in its proper place by using a fireplace screen to keep sparks from flying out of the fireplace. Never leave a burning fire unattended, and make sure a fire in a fireplace is completely out before going to bed.

A space heater can be an effective way to warm up a chilly room, but it's essential that you read the instructions on the unit before you use it. If your space heater requires venting, make sure you have vented it to the outdoors. Never use your stove or oven to heat your home; only use space heaters that are approved for this purpose. Always allow at least three feet of empty area around space heaters.

Reconsider Leaf Burning

The Air Defenders reports that burning leaves produces dangerous and cancer-causing chemicals and urges homeowners to avoid disposing of leaves this way. If you decide to burn leaves, wear a protective mask. Burning leaves should only be attempted far away from a house or other structures on a homeowner's property. Always check the weather forecast before starting to burn leaves. This activity should not be attempted in windy conditions.

OSHA issues new directive to keep communication tower workers safe

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has updated its Communications Tower directive regarding the use of hoist systems used to move workers to and from workstations on communication towers. This follows an alarming increase in preventable injuries and fatalities at communication tower work sites.

More fatalities occurred in this industry in 2013 than in the previous two years combined. This disturbing trend appears to be continuing, with nine worker deaths occurring so far in 2014.

"This directive ensures that communication tower workers are protected regardless of the type of the work they are doing on communication towers," said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. "Employers and cell tower owners and operators must make sure workers are properly trained and protected."

The directive outlines the proper use of hoist and other fall arrest systems and includes detailed information on how to hoist people safely. The directive updates a 2002 enforcement policy, which only covered the hoisting of workers to workstations during new tower erection activities. The updated policy covers any work on a communication tower - including both maintenance and new construction - that involves the use of a hoist to lift workers from one elevated workstation to another.

The release of the new directive is the latest in a series of actions OSHA has taken to improve cell tower safety. The agency is collaborating with the National Association of Tower Erectors and other industry stakeholders to ensure that every communication tower employer understands how to protect workers performing this high-hazard work.

OSHA sent a letter to communication tower employers urging compliance and strict adherence to safety standards and common-sense practices. OSHA has also created a new Web page targeting the issues surrounding communication tower work. This outreach follows a November 2013 memo to OSHA's compliance officers and regional administrators mandating increased attention, education and data collection on the industry. OSHA continues to investigate past incidents and will issue the results as they become available. Communication towers are on the agency's regulatory agenda and OSHA expects to issue a Request for Information later this year.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.

September is National Preparedness Month

If an emergency occurred tomorrow, would you be ready?

September is National Preparedness Month. Sponsored by FEMA, National Preparedness Month aims to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to all types of emergencies, including natural disasters and potential terrorist attacks.

National Preparedness Month is a time to prepare yourself and those in your care for emergencies and disasters, both large scale and smaller local events. We know that emergencies can happen unexpectedly in communities just like yours, to people like you. We’ve seen tornado outbreaks, river floods and flash floods, historic earthquakes, tsunamis, and even water main breaks and power outages that impact communities for days at a time.

As commendable as they may be in their profession of assisting those in need, police, fire and rescue may not always be able to reach you quickly in an emergency or disaster. The most important step you can take in helping your local responders is being able to take care of yourself and those in your care for at least a short period of time following an incident; the more people who are prepared, the quicker the community will recover.

You are not helpless in the face of an emergency. With just a few simple steps, you can Be a Force of Nature by knowing your risk, taking action and being an example in your community.

Know your risk 

Emergencies can happen anywhere, at any time. It is important to understand potential risks where you live.

What you can do:

1. Bookmark weather.gov to stay informed on severe weather.
2. Learn about Wireless Emergency Alerts, messages that will be sent to your phone during an emergency.
3. Get practical tips on preparing for disaster at ready.gov.

Take action 

Make sure that you and your family are prepared for an emergency. Ensure that you can go for at least three days without electricity, water service, access to a supermarket, or other local services.
What you can do:

1. Prepare a disaster supply kit with at least three days of food and water.
2. Create a Family Emergency Plan, so that your family knows how to communicate during an emergency.
3. Obtain a NOAA Weather Radio.

Be an example 

Be a positive influence on your community by sharing your preparedness story. Let your friends and family know that you’re prepared for an emergency – and that they should be prepared too. Research has shown that many people won’t prepare until they see others doing so.
What you can do:

1. Share your preparedness story on Facebook so that friends and family will know what you’ll do in case of disaster.
2. Tell the world you’re prepared on Twitter using hashtag #NATLPREP.
3. Get involved with your local American Red Cross Chapter or train with a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).

You don’t know when an emergency might occur. These simple steps will help you be prepared for the worst.

FEMA’s Ready.gov website provides detailed information on what may be most important to you and your family.  You can find specific information tailored to specifics needs such as people with disabilities, seniors, assisting children, business readiness, and even information for you pets. For more information, see Ready.gov

NOAA is working with FEMA and other agencies to help improve disaster readiness through campaigns such as National Preparedness Month. Through efforts such as the Weather-Ready Nation initiative, NOAA seeks to build community resilience in the face of increasing vulnerability to extreme weather events.

 

OSHA launches focused enforcement program to prevent injuries and fatalities in North Dakota’s high-hazard industries

Since January 2012, 34 North Dakota workers in the oil and gas and construction industries have died because of work-related injuries. During that period, their deaths accounted for 87 percent of all North Dakota fatalities investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Health and Safety Administration. OSHA launched an enforcement emphasis program this month to address continued concerns about worker safety in these North Dakota industries that temporarily brings in additional investigators from throughout the United States to increase OSHA's field presence in North Dakota.

OSHA's Oil and Gas Well Drilling eTool

"These industries are inherently dangerous, and workers are exposed to multiple hazards every day. Their safety must not be compromised because demand for production keeps increasing," said Eric Brooks, OSHA's area director in Bismarck. "Workers are coming to these growing industries to find jobs, not catastrophic injury and preventable death. These employers have a legal responsibility to protect every employee that works for them."

Of the 34 fatalities since 2012, 21 workers died while working on and servicing drilling rigs or conducting production support operations in the oil and gas industry. Workers are exposed daily to serious hazards, such as fires, explosions and equipment-related dangers. Additionally, 13 construction workers have died because of falls, struck-by hazards and trench cave-ins. Fall hazards in construction remain the leading cause of death in the industry, with hundreds of lives lost nationally each year.

OSHA has had a local emphasis program for the oil and gas industry for the last three years, which outlines hazards and allows for increased enforcement. The enforcement program includes chemical sampling of fracking and tank gauging operations to test for atmospheric hazards, violations found in recent inspections. In addition, OSHA's Oil and Gas Well Drilling eTool identifies common hazards and possible solutions to reduce incidents that could lead to injuries or fatalities.

OSHA has also participated in outreach events with oil and gas employers, including a multistate stand-down with the Montana-North Dakota chapter of the National Service, Transmission, Exploration and Production Safety Network in which more than 160 employers and 1,000 workers voluntarily ceased operations for one day to discuss hazards and effective means to address them.

"Since we started the original emphasis program, we have seen improvement in North Dakota's oil fields, and the fatality rate has decreased. But no death is ever acceptable, and these industries are still hazardous for North Dakota's workers," Brooks said. "OSHA will continue to use its full enforcement authority-along with these new outreach efforts-to achieve the goal of every worker going home safely each day to their loved ones."

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

Back to School Safety - Backpack Safety

Backpack safety facts 
Overloaded backpacks used by children have received a lot of attention from parents, doctors, school administrators and the media in the past several years. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates there are more than 7,300 backpack-related injuries annually treated by hospitals and doctors. Injuries include bruises, sprains and strains to the back and shoulder and fractures. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that a child's backpack should weigh no more than 10 to 20 percent of the child's
body weight. This figure may vary, however, depending on the child's body strength and fitness.

Tips for safe backpack use
Lighten the load 
A heavy backpack forces the wearer to bend forward. Choose to carry only those items that are required for the day. Each night remove articles that can be left at home. When organizing the contents of the backpack, distribute the weight evenly. Place the heaviest items on the bottom to keep the weight off of the shoulders and maintain better posture.
Wear both straps 
Use of one strap shifts the weight to one side, causing muscle spasms and lower back pain. This is true even with one-strap backpacks that cross the body. By wearing two shoulder straps, the weight of the backpack is better distributed and it will help a child’s posture.
Use proper lifting techniques 
Bend at the knees and use your legs to lift the backpack, placing one shoulder strap on at a time.
Wear the backpack over the strongest mid-back muscles
The size of the backpack should match the size of the child. It is also important to pay close attention to the way the backpack is positioned on the back. The backpack should rest evenly in the middle of the
back. Shoulder straps should be adjusted to allow the child to put on and take off the backpack without difficulty and allow free movement of the arms. Make sure that the straps are not too loose and that the
backpack does not extend below the low back.

Tips for selecting a backpack 
 Choose ergonomically designed features that enhance safety and comfort.
 A padded back reduces pressure on the back, shoulders and under arm regions, and enhance comfort.
 Hip and chest belts transfer some of the backpack weight from the back and shoulders to the hips and torso.
 Multiple compartments better distribute the weight in the backpack, keep items secure, and ease access to the contents.
 Look for compression straps on the sides or bottom of the backpack. Tighten side straps to stabilize the articles and compress the contents so that the items are as close to the back as possible.
 Reflective material enhances visibility of the child to drivers at night.

Warning signs a backpack is too heavy 
 Change in posture when wearing the backpack
 Struggling when putting on or taking off the backpack
 Pain when wearing the backpack
 Tingling or numbness
 Red marks

Back to School Safety - Playground Safety

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates more than 200,000 children annually visit hospital emergency rooms because of playground injuries. Many playground injuries can be prevented. Use this guide to ensure your children can safely run, jump, swing and slide to their heart's content.
Soft surface
Because nearly 80 percent of playground injuries are caused by falls to the ground, improper surfacing is the first thing parents should watch for when inspecting a playground. Wood chips, mulch, wood fibers, sand, pea gravel, shredded tires and rubber mats cushion falls well. Avoid playgrounds with concrete, grass and dirt surfaces, as they are too hard. The surface material should be at least 12 inches in depth and 6 feet around each piece of playground equipment.
Swings
Swings are the pieces of moving equipment that are most likely to cause injuries to children. Animal swings have caused several deaths and should not be used. Metal or wooden seats should be replaced with soft seats. Swings should be set far enough away from other equipment so that children won't be hit by a moving swing. Only two swings should be in each supporting framework, and they should be at least 24 inches apart. Full-bucket seats are recommended for younger children. Half-bucket seats are dangerous because babies and toddlers can slide out of them.
Smooth sliding
Slides should be well-anchored, have firm handrails and good traction on the steps. There should be no gaps between the slide and the platform, and there should be a bar at the top of the slide so that children have to sit before going down. A great danger with slides occurs when drawstrings on children's clothes get caught at the top of the slide. Although most children's clothing manufacturers have quit making drawstrings, many children have older clothes.
Safe seesaws and merry-go-rounds
Spring-loaded seesaws are best for young children. Avoid adjustable seesaws with chains because children can crush their hands under the chains. A traditional seesaw should have a tire or some other object under the seat to keep it from hitting the ground. Merry-go-rounds, or "whirls" or "roundabouts," are best for school-age children. They should have hand grips, and the rotating platform should be level, free of sharp edges and have adequate clearance to prevent crushing or severing limbs.
Climb carefully
More children are injured falling off climbing equipment or horizontal ladders than anything else on the playground. Children under 4 shouldn't play on this equipment. Watch older children when they're climbing, check that steps and handrails are in good condition and make sure a guardrail or barrier surrounds raised platforms. Any climbing ropes should be secured at the top and bottom. The number of injuries caused by monkey bars is so significant that many experts recommend that they be removed from all playgrounds.
Improve your playground
If your child's playground is unsafe, report problems to the owner or operator. There are no national mandatory standards for playground equipment, but Texas, California, New Jersey, Michigan and North Carolina have laws that require playgrounds to follow standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials. Some states require playgrounds to follow standards set in the Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) Handbook for Public Playground Safety.