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Do you have hazardous chemicals in your workplace? If you think the answer is no, are you sure? Let’s start with a definition! OSHA defines a hazardous chemical as one that presents either a physical or a health hazard. Many common and readily available products such as paints, cleaners, and other materials found in the workplace meet this definition. In fact, last year OSHA issued over 6,300 violations to companies that failed to comply with this standard. Learn more about your Right-to-Know! For a project health and safety administrator, it is vital to be able to communicate with your team members and with outside resources. How do you keep tabs on who is where and what is happening? How do you find if something has gone wrong or someone needs help? As the Field Safety Manager for a 300-mile electric power transmission power line construction project, one of my first tasks was to address the question “How do you make communication possible across 275 miles of relatively unpopulated, harsh mountainous territory”? Specifically, I had to meet OSHA’s requirements for communication: 29 CFR 1926.35 “Employee Emergency Action Plans” and 29 CFR 1926.50 “Medical Services and First Aid”. In fact, these are the reasons that OSHA implemented the Standards listed above – life and death situations may depend upon it! Are you shipping products that may be hazardous? Do you even know how to find out? Is your training up-to-date with the Refresher courses mandated by the DOT and FAA? Have you considered the cascade of repercussions that shipping one package incorrectly could cause for your company or fellow workers? Only trained persons are permitted to be involved with the transportation of hazardous materials. It is what makes the process work safely…for everyone! Understand more about DOT and IATA training today – to protect yourself and the public. As a facility, are you tracking your toxic chemicals and filing the appropriate NJ PPA documentation? Facilities must account for their use of toxic chemicals and, where feasible, reduce their use. Toxic pollution that cannot be reduced should be recycled, and pollution that cannot be recycled should be disposed of in an environmentally safe manner. Guest blogger, Charles Peruffo, reviews the requirements and process of filing under the New Jersey Pollution Prevention Act. Capt. John DeFillippo, CHMP, EMT-B I recently reviewed a student HazWOPER field exercise. I’ve seen good execution many times, but this class was not one of them. Why not? Poor planning. It always comes down to planning. Whether you are working together for the first time or are a part of a regular response team, what you do before you suit up definitely dictates the outcome. “If you fail to plan, you better plan to fail” I was told that phrase many Both OSHA and the EPA seemed to have recently awoken from their regulatory slumber. OSHA has announced its first major rulemaking during the Obama administration with a proposed change to the agency’s Hazard Communication (HazCom) Standard. The existing OSHA HazCom Standard provides workers with the right to know the hazards and identities of the chemicals they are exposed to while working, as well as the measures they can take to protect themselves. This standard was originally John Quatermas – EHS Consultant Working as a Health & Safety Officer (HSO) at a hazardous waste site presents many challenges. It is our job to insure that workers on the site perform their activities in a manner that protects them and the public from injury or illness. Each hazardous waste site has its own unique dangerous conditions, which must always be considered – dirty soil, contaminated groundwater, containers of hazardous materials -contaminates vary from location |
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