OSHA Focus on Combustible Dust
     Any combustible material (and some materials normally considered noncombustible) can burn rapidly when in a finely divided form. If such a dust is suspended in air in the right concentration, it can become explosive. The force from such an explosion can cause employee deaths, injuries, and destruction of entire buildings. Such incidents have killed scores of employees and injured hundreds over the past few decades.
     Materials that may form combustible dust include metals (such as aluminum and magnesium), wood, coal, plastics, biosolids, sugar, paper, soap, dried blood, and certain textiles. In many accidents, employers and employees were unaware that a hazard even existed.
     A combustible dust explosion hazard may exist in a variety of industries, including: food (e.g., candy, sugar, spice, starch, flour, feed), grain, tobacco, plastics, wood, paper, pulp, rubber, furniture, textiles, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, dyes, coal, metals (e.g., aluminum, chromium, iron, magnesium, and zinc), and fossil fuel power generation.

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NIOSH Safety and Health Topic: Construction
     Outdoor construction season is in high gear.  Over 9 million construction workers build and maintain roads, houses, workplaces and physical infrastructure. This work includes many inherently hazardous tasks and conditions such as work at height, excavations, noise, dust, power tools and equipment, confined spaces, and electricity. Construction has about 6% of U.S. workers, but 20% of the fatalities - the largest number of fatalities reported for any of the industry sectors. Construction is one of the eight sectors that NIOSH is targeting via the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA). NIOSH researchers identify causes of and develop programs to prevent injuries and fatalities in construction.

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Labor Department Unveils New elaws Advisor
     Employers stand to benefit from a new elaws Advisor debuted by the U.S. Department of Labor earlier this month. The FirstStep Recordkeeping, Reporting and Notices elaws Advisor helps employers determine what recordkeeping, reporting and notice requirements apply to them under major laws administered by the department, including the Occupational Safety and Health Act. It has been integrated with the revised and expanded FirstStep Poster and FirstStep Employment Law Overview Advisors. All three Advisors help employers identify the federal employment laws relevant to them and explain how to comply with the requirements. This new suite of elaws Advisors is available at www.dol.gov/elaws/firststep.
 

OSHA Prepares for Hurricane Season
     OSHA is gearing up for hurricane season by assembling a variety of QuickCards and fact sheets on topics such as cleanup hazards, decontamination and tree trimming that will be distributed to OSHA offices in areas most vulnerable to these natural disasters. OSHA's hurricane recovery Web page features many of these resources.

Click here for more information.

OSHA Requests Comments on the Proposed Guidance on Workplace Stockpiling of Respirators and Facemasks for Pandemic Influenza
     The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration is inviting comments from the public on the Proposed Guidance on Workplace Stockpiling of Respirators and Facemasks for Pandemic Influenza document. OSHA is accepting comments until July 8, 2008.
     The Proposed Guidance offers private sector and government employers with recommendations and a method for calculating workplace stockpiling needs for respirators and facemasks. This allows employers to better protect their employees and reduce the impact of a pandemic.
     The public may submit comments electronically at www.regulations.gov, the Federal e-rulemaking Portal. If submitting by regular mail, hand delivery or courier service, include three copies of your comments and attachments to the OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. OSHA-2008-0005, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-2625, 200 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20210; telephone 202-693-2350. Comments and attachments not exceeding 10 pages may be faxed to the OSHA Docket Office at 202-693-1648.

Click here to download Proposed Guidance on Workplace Stockpiling of
Respirators and Facemasks for Pandemic Influenza

OSHA announces its Site-Specific Targeting Plan for 2008
     The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that its 2008 Site-Specific Targeting (SST) plan will focus on approximately 3,800 high-hazard worksites on its primary list for unannounced comprehensive safety inspections over the coming year. Over the past ten years, OSHA has used a site-specific targeting inspection program based on injury and illness data. This year's program (SST-08) was developed using the agency's Data Initiative for 2007, which surveyed approximately 80,000 employers to obtain their injury and illness numbers for 2006.
     This program will initially cover about 3,800 individual worksites on the primary list that reported 11 or more injuries or illnesses resulting in days away from work, restricted work activity, or job transfer for every 100 full-time employees (known as the DART rate). The primary list will also include sites based on a "Days Away from Work Injury and Illness" (DAFWII) rate of 9 or higher (9 or more cases that involve days away from work per 100 full-time employees). Employers not on the primary list, who reported DART rates of between 7.0 and 11.0, or DAFWII rates of between 5.0 and 9.0, will be placed on a secondary list for possible inspection. The national DART rate in 2006 for private industry was 2.3, while the national DAFWII rate was 1.3.
     The agency will also randomly select and inspect about 175 workplaces (with 100 or more employees) across the nation that reported low injury and illness rates for the purpose of reviewing their actual degree of compliance with OSHA requirements. These establishments are selected from those industries with above the national DART and DAFWII rates. Finally, the agency will include on the primary list some establishments that did not respond to the 2007 data survey.

Click here for the full report.

From the CDC - Avoiding Germs in Swimming Pools
     Summer is here and that means Americans soon head to outdoor pools and water parks. While swimming can be fun and good exercise, pools can contain germs that can make swimmers ill. A study in Emerging Infectious Diseases looked for evidence of parasites in samples from swimming pool filter systems.
     Two parasites - Cryptosporidium and Giardia – cause most outbreaks of diarrhea among swimmers in the United States. Cryptosporidium causes particular concern because it’s extremely infectious and isn’t killed very well by chlorine, which kills many other germs.
     A study published this month by the Centers for Disease Control looked at 160 public pools in the Atlanta area to determine how common the two parasites are, even at times when they aren’t causing outbreaks of illness. Researchers analyzed samples from swimming pool filter systems collected at the end of the swim season and found that one in 12 contained evidence of one or both parasites. With the methods used, the researchers could not determine if these parasites were alive or could cause disease. While 1 in 12 may not seem like a lot, it means that swimmers are coming into contact with these parasites even when health officials don’t realize the germs may be causing illness. Children’s pools, community pools and smaller-sized pools with less water accounted for most of those that were contaminated. Pools that had fewer swimmers per week were also more likely to contain the two parasites. These parasites are spread when someone swallows pool water contaminated with feces, eats contaminated food or handles contaminated diapers without washing their hands.

Click here for the full report.
 

News You Can Use

National Safety Council Offers Free On-line CPR Training
     Recognizing National CPR and AED Awareness Week, the National Safety Council is offering free on-line Standard First Aid, CPR and AED training from June 1-7. The opportunity is an easy and convenient way for people to learn or renew critical skills that could make the difference between life and death for a family member, colleague or any individual experiencing cardiac arrest. National CPR and AED Awareness Week is sponsored by the National Safety Council, American Heart Association and the American Red Cross to underscore the need for training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the use of an automated external defibrillator. Offering free on-line CPR and AED training also launches the National Safety Council’s 2008 observance of National Safety Month, the Council’s annual June campaign to save lives by building American awareness of injury prevention and the leading causes of unintentional injury and death.

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Child Safety Tips from Underwriters Laboratories
     Do you have any brightly-colored items around your house? Any things that move? Sparkle? Make noise? Through a baby's or toddler's eyes, common, everyday household items become fascinating playthings that must be touched, grabbed, poked, yanked and, of course, chewed. That's why it's important for parents of small children to conduct frequent and regular surveys of their homes to spot potentially dangerous materials and scenarios.

Following are some easy-to-follow tips for childproofing your house.

1. Make sure electrical cords don't dangle out in the open
2. Install UL Listed electrical outlet caps
3. Unplug unused electrical appliances and put in storage
4. Always pick up unused toys
5. Place plants, plastic bags, candy, coins and hot drinks on high counters, tables or surfaces
6. Keep cleaning products, chemicals and all pharmaceuticals in secured cabinets
7. Use safety gates for dangerous stairs

Source: Underwriters Laboratories

Ten Tips for Driving Safely in Work Zones

• Calm down.
• Expect the Unexpected!
• Watch for diamond-shaped orange warning signs
• Be alert to flaggers ahead.
• Watch for lane closures.
• Slow down
• Watch your interval
• Keep a safe distance between your vehicle and traffic barriers, trucks, construction equipment and workers.
• Watch for moving work zones like line painting, road patching, and grass mowing.
• Expect delays.

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Source: South Carolina Department of Transportation.

Skin At Work
     Work-related skin disease can affect people in a wide range of occupations. Wherever you work,  the APC approach (avoid, protect, check) can reduce the chances of suffering painful and sometimes debilitating skin conditions. The British Health and Safety Executive office has prepared basic, practical advice for employers, employees and trainees on what skin diseases are, what causes them and how to prevent them.
     If you are an occupational health nurse or physician, a health and safety professional or a trainer there is more in-depth technical information, together with links to research and training tools together with other information for health and safety inspectors.

Click here for more information.

Source: Health and Safety Executive of the U.K.

June is Home Safety Month
     This year’s Home Safety Month campaign theme – Hands on Home Safety – asks the public to take some simple hands-on steps to create a safer home environment from the five leading causes of home injury – falls, poisonings, fires and burns, choking/suffocation and drowning. The Home Safety Council is offering turnkey resources to help families nationwide learn how to be “hands-on” with proper home safety practices.

Click here for more information.

Source: Home Safety Council

World Day Against Child Labor is June 12
     This year the World Day against Child Labor will be marked around the world with activities to raise awareness that Education is the right response to child labor. Education for all children at least to the minimum age of employment. Education policies that address child labor by provision of properly resourced quality education and skills training. Education to promote awareness on the need to tackle child labor.
     The ILO has estimated that some 165 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are involved in child labor. Many of these children work long hours, often in dangerous conditions. Child labor is closely associated with poverty. Many poor families are unable to afford school fees or other school costs. The family may depend on the contribution that a working child makes to the household’s income, and place more importance on that than on education. And when a family has to make a choice between sending either a boy or girl to school, it is often the girl who loses out.
     The right to education occupies a central place in human rights and is essential for the exercise of other human rights and development. It provides a means through which economically and socially excluded children and youth can lift themselves out of poverty. When children who have had the benefits of education grow up, they are more likely to choose to send their own children to school.

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Source: International Labour Organization

Focus on Disaster Preparedness

Are You Ready? An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness
     Are You Ready? An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness (IS-22) is FEMA’s most comprehensive source on individual, family, and community preparedness. The guide has been revised, updated, and enhanced in August 2004 to provide the public with the most current and up-to-date disaster preparedness information available.
     Are You Ready? provides a step-by-step approach to disaster preparedness by walking the reader through how to get informed about local emergency plans, how to identify hazards that affect their local area, and how to develop and maintain an emergency communications plan and disaster supplies kit. Other topics covered include evacuation, emergency public shelters, animals in disaster, and information specific to people with disabilities.
     Are You Ready? also provides in-depth information on specific hazards including what to do before, during, and after each hazard type. The following hazards are covered: Floods, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Thunderstorms and Lightning, Winter Storms and Extreme Cold, Extreme Heat, Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Landslide and Debris Flows (Mudslide), Tsunamis, Fires, Wildfires, Hazardous Materials Incidents, Household Chemical Emergencies, Nuclear Power Plant, and Terrorism (including Explosion, Biological, Chemical, Nuclear, and Radiological hazards).

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Key Products You Need Weather-Proof First Aid Kits  New weather-proof Redi-Care Kits in zip-tight nylon bags are convenient, lightweight, portable, and cost-effective. Click here for kit specifications and ordering details

BE Prepared Informed Safe Visit www.saftgard.com/2besafe

1. GOT THE HEAT?  -  Zetex Plus treated fiberglass gloves and mittens with wool linings withstand temperatures up to 2000 ° F.
2. GOT THE TOUCH? - Polyurethane-coated nylon gloves such as Versa-Gard Flex P provide maximum tactile sensitivity, particularly when handling small parts.
3. GOT THE SMELL? - Not if you are using a properly fitted air-purifying respirator.  All users of negative-pressure air-purifying respirators must be fit-tested.
4. GOT THE VIEW? - New wide-angle goggles combine superior peripheral vision with impact and splash protection.  Styles available to fit over prescription eyewear.
5. GOT THE SOUND? - Peltor PTL earmuffs feature a unique Push-To-Listen button so that workers can hear instructions and conversation without removing their protective earmuffs..

Want more information on any of this month's Saf-T-Tips?  E-mail us for a prompt reply.

Hi-Visibility Tri-Color Safety Vests Rated ANSI/ISEA-107 Class 2

High-visibility tri-color safety vest features 2 inch wide reflective stripes are combined with a 3 3/4 inch wide orange contrasting base stripe.  Hook/loop closure on front.  1 outer pocket at right waist and 1 inner pocket at left chest. 

Available with polyester knit, cool polyester mesh, or flame-retardant fabric

Stock sizes M  L  XL  2XL  3XL  4XL

Dual-use Cool Offs Cooling Bandanas in many different patterns.

Tie it as a headband or wear it around your neck with the unique closure.  Simply soak Cool Offs in cold water for 10 - 15 minutes to activate the magic cooling crystals for all day cool comfort  Lightweight and comfortable with a 100% cotton outer shell.  Can be used over and over.

Click here to order