Risk Management Bulletins

Electrical Safety Precautions

Electrical Safety Precautions

Industry runs on electricity. It is safe to use when you know what you are doing and take proper precautions. When precautions are neglected, electricity can become a killer. 
 
How you are affected by electrical shock depends of the following factors: 

•    The rate the current flows through your body. This depends on how good your body conducts electricity. If you have dry hands and are standing on a non-conductive surface such as a rubber mat, you may not even feel a shock. If you are sweating or standing in water, you could be killed. 
•    The length of time the current flows through your body. The longer the electric contact, the greater the current flow and the greater the shock. 
•    The path the current takes through your body. The most dangerous path is through vital organs. 

Your actions can protect your safety. 

•    Read and follow instructions before handling anything electrical. If you don’t understand the instructions, get qualified help to assist you… Don’t guess. 
•    Plugs should only be inserted in receptacle outlets with the same slot or blade pattern, unless proper adaptors are used. Don’t force or alter a plug by bending, twisting, or removing blades to make it fit into a receptacle outlet. Water conducts electricity. Keep wet hands from touching electrical equipment or light switches. 
•    Firmly grip the plug, not the cord, when disconnecting equipment. Yanking the cord can damage the cord, plug, or receptacle outlet and result in a shock or fire. Because electricity is present even when the switch is in the “off” position, unplug equipment, appliances, and extension cords when not in use and before inspecting, cleaning, or fixing them. 
•    Recognize signs of overloaded circuits including flickering or dimming lights, blown fuses, warm wall plates or extension cords, and tripped circuit breakers. 
•    Receptacle outlets and switches should not be painted or covered with wall paper paste. 
 
There is no margin for error when working with electricity. Conditions vary so much that without the facts, you may make a mistake and  cause injury to yourself or fellow workers. 

Contact OMAG Risk Management Services if you have questions or suggestions for other topics related to municipal workplace safety issues.  (800) 234-9461 or kprichard@omag.org (Kip Prichard).

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Night Work Risks

Night Work Risks

Work Zone Safety - Maintenance Operations and Temporary Traffic Control
Roadway maintenance activities and sometimes water/sewer line repair occur in close proximity to traffic, creating a potentially dangerous environment for workers, drivers, and incident responders. In many cases a Temporary Traffic Control (TTC) Zone will be needed to both protect workers and incident responders as well as allow for the safe and efficient movement of drivers and pedestrians through and around the Work Zone. There are several Work Zone safety issues to plan and prepare for when setting up Temporary Traffic Controls.  One issue to consider is Night Work Risks.  Print the brochure below to share with your employees who must work near equipment and traffic.

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Take Care With Compressed Air

Take Care With Compressed Air

Compressed air tools are commonly used in many workplaces. Many workers take them for granted, ignoring the hazards involved in their use. Compressed air  is not “just air.” It is a focused stream of air driven at a high velocity, which can cause serious injury or death to its operator or persons in the immediate area. 

Fooling around with compressed air can be lethal. In one case, a blast of air playfully directed behind a worker startled him and caused him to fall against a moving piece of machinery. A misdirected blast of compressed air can “pop” an eyeball from its socket, rupture an eardrum, or cause a brain hemorrhage. Directed at the mouth, it can rupture the lungs and intestines. If used to blow dust and dirt off clothing or body parts, it can cause bubbles of air to enter blood stream, even through a layer of clothing. Compressed air can also rupture body organs.

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Flagger Safety

Flagger Safety

Work Zone Safety - Maintenance Operations and Temporary Traffic Control

Roadway maintenance activities and sometimes water/sewer line repair occur in close proximity to traffic, creating a potentially dangerous environment for workers, drivers, and incident responders. In many cases a Temporary Traffic Control (TTC) Zone will be needed to both protect workers and incident responders as well as allow for the safe and efficient movement of drivers and pedestrians through and around the Work Zone. There are several Work Zone safety issues to plan and prepare for when setting up Temporary Traffic Controls.  One issue to consider is Flagger Safety.  Print the brochure below to share with your employees who must work near equipment and traffic.

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Sewer Maintenance - Clean-Outs and Back-Water Valves

Sewer Maintenance - Clean-Outs and Back-Water Valves

Clean-outs and back-water valves are the resident’s key to keeping the private sewer service in good working condition and protecting the home from sewer back-up problems.

A clean-out is a vertical pipe that provides access to a property’s sewer service, allowing homeowners or plumbers to clear blockages that disrupt service. A clean-out cap is typically white PVC or metal, about 4 inches in diameter, and located near buildings.

Both homeowners and tenants should locate and inspect their clean-out cap before a plumbing emergency occurs. Keeping the caps screwed onto the clean-out helps prevent possible sewer backups caused by yard debris, dirt, and other items entering the sewer system. Capping also stops excessive inflow and infiltration, which can overload the system and cause overflows. 

A back-water valve is the resident’s protection against sewer back-up into the structure. If water tries to back up from the sewer mainline, the valve prevents sewage from backing up into the building. Back-water valves are typically located either outside near the building or in a floor drain in a basement. Those outside have a cap similar to a clean-out cap and a vertical pipe down to the valve. Size and maintenance needed depend upon the manufacturer of the back-water valve. 

You can protect yourself from sewer problems by making sure you have an accessible clean-out, keeping your sewer line in good condition, and by making sure you have a functional back-water valve.       

The photo below shows a back-water valve with 2 clean-outs. The caps have been removed to show how the back-water valve allows fluid to flow in only one direction. 

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Operator Safety

Operator Safety

Work Zone Safety -Maintenance Operations and Temporary Traffic Control
Roadway maintenance activities and sometimes water/sewer line repair occur in close proximity to traffic, creating a potentially dangerous environment for workers, drivers, and incident responders. In many cases a Temporary Traffic Control (TTC) Zone will be needed to both protect workers and incident responders as well as allow for the safe and efficient movement of drivers and pedestrians through and around the Work Zone. There are several Work Zone safety issues to plan and prepare for when setting up Temporary Traffic Controls.  One issue to consider is Operator Safety.  Print the brochure below to share with your employees who must work near equipment and traffic.

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How Water Parks Can Avoid Customer Injuries and Liability

How Water Parks Can Avoid Customer Injuries and Liability

Every year, an estimated 80 million people attend the more than 1,000 water parks in the United States. In 2014 alone, more than 15.2 million visited the top 20 most popular of these parks. Water parks offer visitors the exciting, action-packed experiences of riding gravity-defying slides, surfing or swimming in wave pools, jumping or swinging from great heights into the water, and riding on inflatables. Unfortunately, it’s not all fun and games—sometimes visitors get hurt.

In 2013, Consumers Digest reported that even though attendance at water parks had grown by only 3.8% since 2009, the number of injuries from accidents at these facilities grew by 38% over the same period. Approximately 86% of reported water park injuries involve water slides, according to the nonprofit Saferparks.

Of course, those who participate in any form of recreation that involves physical activity risk being injured. When people are injured at water parks, they often sue the facility on the grounds that the activity or premises was not reasonably safe.

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Injury and Illness Prevention Program

Injury and Illness Prevention Program

In Oklahoma every employer is required to provide a safe and healthful workplace to his/her employees. In accordance with the Oklahoma Code of Regulations, employers of 25 or more full-time and/or part-time employees must have a designated Safety Coordinator and an effective written Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) or as it is better known a written Safety and Health Policies and Procedures manual. What should you expect to see in an IIPP or Safety and Health P&P manual? It is a written plan that has the following elements: 

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Working Safely in Confined Spaces

Working Safely in Confined Spaces

Do you ever work in a confined space? There are many types of confined spaces – tanks, silos, pits, tunnels, pipes, boilers, sewer manholes, trenches, etc. No matter what the type, confined spaces have something in common. They have limited ways to get in and out, and the atmosphere within them could be dangerous. This Tailgate Safety Topic discusses what you should know to work safely in a confined space. 

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Looking to Prevent Accidents

Looking to Prevent Accidents

Most accidents happen because people just didn’t watch what they were doing, where they were walking, or where they were standing, sitting, or climbing. Paying attention and “looking” is our topic for today. It is the most important and basic principle of accident prevention.

There is a common safety example of the billboard painter who stepped back to admire his work and fell fifty feet to his death. It’s all right to admire your own work, but it’s mighty important to look before you step in any direction. You could be stepping into an open elevator shaft, off the edge of a platform, or into the path of moving vehicle.

On any job site from office work, to trash pick up, to digging sewer lines there are always materials and equipment being handled and moved about. It is highly important that while working on the job we remember to be alert to all such movement. Look up, look down, look all around so you won’t walk into the path of a moving truck, another co-worker, or a piece of swinging equipment.

Falls are not unique to multi-story construction sites. Many people have been killed falling through ceilings retrieving stored materials or missing steps as they climb a ladder. Many other accidents occur from falls due to poor lighting, objects left in walkways, people failing to clean up spills, etc.

Your eyes are your biggest asset to your work; take care of them so they will take care of you. When you are working or around work where there is sawing, grinding, welding, or in any work done outside in windy conditions, wear the proper eyewear. Always be aware of where you are and what is happening around you. If you keep your mind and your eyes on what you are doing and where you are, you will be at less risk of having to explain an accident by saying “I didn’t see” when what you really mean is “I wasn’t looking”.

Contact OMAG Risk Management Services if you have questions or suggestions for other topics related to Municipal Workplace Safety Issues. 1 (800) 234-9461 or email kprichard@omag.org.

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