When monitoring in a duct for gas hazards, several factors should be considered, including the sampling conditions, gas characteristics and flow dimensions, in order to obtain a meaningful gas measurement. You must ensure, of course, that the sensor is not installed in conditions that will damage or hinder the sensor’s capability to detect gas. This article will weigh the merits of in-situ (localized) sampling in the duct versus pumped sampling based upon sample conditions.
A PPE program can only be as effective as an organization’s overall safety culture. However, getting employees to participate in safety cultures can be difficult. Motivation techniques for encouraging employee participation can have both positive and negative factors. Analyzing these techniques can help a company better develop ways to motivate employees.
When it comes to emergency eyewash stations, installation is only the first step in meeting compliance standards. Employers who have installed eyewash stations have taken a responsible first step, however those efforts are wasted if the eyewash stations do not meet the rest of the standard. Is the unit free from obstructions that prohibit its usage? Is it regularly maintained to the standard? Is it located the proper distance from the hazard? Without a solid plan in place to monitor and maintain emergency eyewash stations to current standards, companies can find themselves out of compliance.
Noise control is the basis for effective hearing loss prevention; reducing or eliminating the hazard is the best way to control exposure. An effective noise control plan reduces liability and hearing conservation costs by controlling noise where it starts — at the source.
If you compiled an annual list of the top OSHA sign, label, tag and marking violations, you would quickly discover that the same violations keep popping up. If this trend holds, then a list of the top marking violations may give you a good place to start when assessing your marking needs.
Safety professionals are change agents. We attempt to help others adjust how they work, the equipment they use, how they perceive their environment, the decisions they make and their willingness to act in a more considered manner. Change means letting go of the old ways of doing things, taking some risks (after all, there is no guarantee that the new behavior, intervention, policy, equipment will actually be an improvement over the old ways). Having courage can help us overcome this internal caution-versus-change conflict.
Early photoionization detector (PID) development is credited to research done in the U.K. in the mid 1960s. An open cell PID for gas chromatography (GC) was invented by Professor Lovelock at Cambridge University. It provided improved sensitivity in an era where the thermal conductivity detector was king and where gas chromatography systems operated under vacuum, allowing the open cell PID to operate. The advent of the flame ionization detector (FID) resulted in the demise of the open cell PID as GC systems began to be operated under pressure rather than vacuum.
You buy a new car. You probably wash and wax it quite religiously for the first month or so. Then something happens — the new car smell wears off, you get your first scratch, you start making car payments — and no longer does washing and waxing seem as much of a priority.
Another safety incident! Simon, the safety manager at a small manufacturing company, felt the pressure from upper management to figure out some way to get employees to buy into the company’s safety culture. He felt like he had tried everything, but most programs just lead to hiding injuries. Is there anything that works?
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