June 2025

6/2/2025 - Fire Extinguishers

Toolbox Talk: Portable Fire Extinguishers – Make Sure They Remain Ready for Use

It does us no good to be to use a portable fire extinguisher if it is not ready and available for use when needed. So here are a few of the steps we can all take to help ensure we keep all our portable fire extinguishers ready for instant use:

· Do not store pallets, toolboxes, trash cans, or any other equipment or materials in front of a portable fire extinguisher. You must always maintain a clear and unobstructed path to portable fire extinguishers.

· Never use a portable extinguisher as a coat rack, nor should you hang equipment or devices such as extension cords or air hoses over an extinguisher. Although it may sound like an easy way to store these items, it will only serve to slow someone down if they need to quickly gain access to the extinguisher to put out a fire.

· Once a year our extinguishers receive a thorough maintenance inspection and then get tagged by an outside inspection company. Make sure the inspection tags remain attached to extinguishers and report any untagged extinguisher to your supervisor so we can make certain it has been inspected.

· We must also conduct a visual inspection of each extinguisher at least once a month. In addition, make sure the needle on pressure-activated extinguishers is pointing into the green “FULL” portion of the dial, and report any that are not so we can get them recharged.

 · Once someone uses an extinguisher to fight a fire, it must be turned in for inspection and recharging. In fact, turn it in even if you only pull out the retainer pin but do not actually discharge the extinguisher. That is because you may have inadvertently broken the seal that maintains pressure inside the extinguisher, which could cause it to lose pressure and not function as intended in the future.

So anytime you see a portable fire extinguisher that is inaccessible, not fully charged, or just looks like it may have been damaged in some way, please rectify the problem or let your supervisor know right away so we can take care of the problem.

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06-09-2025 TBT GHS Label Requirements

                                                                          

OSHA recently revised their Hazard Communication Standard to align with the international “Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals”, commonly referred to as “GHS”. As a result, manufacturers and distributors of hazards chemicals and products standardize their container labels to display all of the following information:

· Product Identifier, which may be the product name or an identifying number that can be cross-referenced to the corresponding Safety Data Sheet (SDS), as well as to the list of hazardous chemicals that we maintain as part of our written Haz-Com program.

 · Signal Words, which are used to indicate the relative level of severity of hazard. The only two signal words used will be "Danger" and "Warning"; other words like “caution” or “beware” will no longer be allowed after the effective date. "Danger" is the signal word used for more severe hazards, while "Warning" is used for the less severe ones.

· Hazard Statements, which are a relatively short statement assigned to a specific hazard class and category that describes the nature of the hazard(s) of a chemical, including, where appropriate, the degree of hazard. Examples of hazard statements include “Highly flammable liquid and vapor”, or “May cause liver damage.”

· Precautionary Statements, which are phrases that list recommended measures that should be taken to minimize or prevent adverse effects resulting from exposure to a hazardous chemical or improper storage or handling. One example of a precautionary statement would be “Keep away from heat, flames, sparks. No Smoking.”

· Pictograms, which are icons that appear in a small red box, there are eight different pictograms, and one or more might appear on a label; each one helps you quickly identify the specific type of hazard associated with the product. We will be covering the meanings of the eight pictograms in greater detail during upcoming toolbox talks.

· Name, Address, and Telephone Number of the chemical manufacturer, importer, or other responsible party.

06-16-2025 Lockout Tagout

06/16/2025 TBT: OSHA’s Lockout/Tagout Standards – Why They Affect Everyone

OSHA published their “control of hazardous energy” standard, also known as “Lockout/Tagout”, way back in 1989. This new standard required employers to develop and implement a program that effectively identified all hazardous energy sources so they could be isolated or controlled when one or more employees were performing maintenance or service on equipment or machinery which could be unknowingly started or release stored energy.

Despite this comprehensive OSHA standard, many workers throughout the USA continue to suffer needless injuries, and some even die, because someone purposely takes a shortcut or accidentally commits an unsafe act without fully understanding the potential ramifications.

That is why OSHA requires that ALL workers be informed of their responsibilities when it comes to implementing an effective Lockout/Tagout program. To simplify this task, OSHA has identified three separate classes of employees in their Lockout/Tagout standard. They are:

· Authorized Employees – A person who performs servicing or maintenance on a machine or equipment under the protection of a Lockout/Tagout program

· Affected Employees – An employee whose job requires him/her to operate or use a machine or equipment on which servicing or maintenance is being performed by an Authorized employee under Lockout/Tagout, or whose job requires him/her to work in an area in which such servicing or maintenance is being performed

 · Other Employees – An employee who may be in an area where Lockout/Tagout procedures might be utilized by others.

Obviously, the key to us having an effective Lockout/Tagout program that protects everyone is for ALL of us to understand what roles we play, and when those roles could change. That is why we will review in our upcoming toolbox talks how each class of employee has different responsibilities under the Lockout/Tagout program. But just as importantly, we will see how an employee could fall into more than one of these groups, and how our personal responsibilities could change, depending on where we are in the workplace and the work that is being performed nearby.

06-30-2025 TBT Eye Protection

Toolbox Talk: Personal Protective Equipment – Eye Protection [Reference 1910.133 / 1926.102]

Think of some excuse you have used (or heard others use) for not wearing your eye protection: they are not comfortable; they are dirty; they are fogged up; you were going to be doing a hazardous task for just a few seconds and did not want to stop and put them on.

While you may think some or all these excuses sound like good reasons for not wearing your safety glasses or goggles at work, consider what could happen if an accident occurred and injured one or both of your eyes. Is it worth risking injury, or even blindness, for any one of those reasons? As the Magic 8 Ball says, “All signs point to No”!

OSHA standards for eye protection are intended to help prevent accidents that can lead to serious injuries, up to including blindness, caused by a variety of hazards. These hazards include flying particles (such as those present when cutting, chipping, drilling, grinding, brushing, and blowing with compressed air), molten metal (torch cutting, welding, brazing), liquid chemicals (mixing, cleaning, measuring), acids or caustic liquids (applying cleaners, filling batteries), chemical gases or vapors (cleaning, mixing, spraying, heating), or potentially injurious light radiation (welding, cutting, brazing, lasers).

Here are some of the major requirements of the OSHA standards for eye and face protection:

· All eye and face protection devices, such as safety glasses, goggles, and face shields must be marked that they meet or exceed the test requirements of ANSI Z87.1-1989. The marking is typically located somewhere on the frame of the glasses or goggles.

· Safety glasses used to protect workers from flying objects must also have side protectors built into the design, or attachable side shields that meet the above referenced ANSI standard, to prevent objects and particles from injuring your eyes from the sides.

· Workers needing corrective lenses must either wear approved safety glasses with prescription lenses and frames that meet or exceed the above-referenced ANSI standard, or wear approved goggles designed to be worn over their regular prescription glasses that meet the ANSI standard.

If your eye protection is damaged or lost, please report to your supervisor at once so a Safety Requisition Form may be submitted. As we discussed, you could be injured, or even lose your sight, in the blink of an eye!