Ernie Huelke, CSP, CHMM, RPIH, is a successful (positive anyway) entrepreneur with safetyworRx, and safety manager with the O’Hare Airport Transit System. He can be reached at safetyworx@aol.com.
I remember a number of announcements, all separated by as much as a year, all announcing the arrival of “good news,†when he and I were co-workers. The most notable being news of his engagement and subsequent marriage, later followed by the announcement of the expected arrival of his first child. Then came the news of the second child and most recently of the third.
Identifying hazards in your workplace will often amount to a one-person show — with that person being the safety pro. You’ll find scant agreement among management personnel when it comes to what is, or constitutes, a hazard.
Anyone who has ever stubbed a toe in the dark, had a flip-flop blow out, walked barefoot across gravel or otherwise tempted foot fate knows how tender the toes and soles can be once bruised, scraped, cut or bashed.
Whether you are involved in ongoing operations or “start-up†activities, any training and education effort has to start with a review of your operations and some research of the OSHA standards…in other words, preparation is essential if you don’t want to have to revise, amend and double your efforts. In the case of PPE, the operational review is made all the easier because of OSHA’s requirements for assessing the workplace; the standards research is provided for you as follows.