Among all of this basic information there is also the necessity to know basic first aid procedures. In any injury that you are attending to there are certain answers to determine and sometimes these will be readily answered. In the cae of who who has been hit by an object, check to see if they are awake. If they aren’t, look for breathing and if they aren’t breathing immediately commence cpr. Different ways to determine breathing with an unconcious person is the rise and fall of their chest or hearing them, some may even use a mirror if it is handy to see if it fogs up when placed above the mouth.
If the person is awake ask them a question. Them being able to answer you will determine proper breathing or a restricted airway as well as other potential issues such as dizziness, pain or even amnesia. Other protective gear for working conditions may include boots, kevlar suits or other kevlar clothing and biohazard suits. There are a variety of sports that also have protective gear associated with them such as goalie masks, body armor to include jock straps, mouth, leg and arm guards, knee pads can be used for both work and other sports.
Ace bandages or other supporting materials are also used in both work and pleasure activities. Protective gear is not always something you wear like clothing but in the case of job site heights there is the issue of scaffoldings. All scaffolds by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) must be secured with secured railings. Having secured railings is extremely important. If railings are not secured properly and a mis-step or fall happens one can and generally will end up in a serious fall that can end in a fatality.
Another good idea for protective wear would be to keep a repellers harness on and be redundantly tied off to a stable object in case you should fall, this way the fall will be shortened and you may end up slamming into the side of a building but the end result is much better than hitting the ground. Under the categories of both protective gear and preventative measures against accidents, according to OSHA (Jobsite Safety Handbook 2nd Edition) is for those who will do roofing in any way or even be on a roof.
The preventative measures consist of the harness as mentioned previously as well as sliders or toe stops as some may call them. These are generally a 2x4x 4-8 foot long boards nailed or screwed into the roof itself. These stops help not only to keep your roofing materials and other tools from sliding off the roof but will help keep you on the roof. Once you start sliding it becomes difficult to stop and these toe stops can save a life but forcing you to stop.
The main goal, if you start sliding is to lean back against the roof so that your weight is backwards and not forwards so that in this instance you should not end up head over heels over the side of the roof. Slip resistant shoes are highly recommended in any case but especially when walking on rooflines or high steel constructed beams. Some simple rules of safety are that when dealing with electrical of any kind to make sure you are grounded and wearing rubber soled boots will help. Above all make sure all power is off and that you are not having water issues when trying to work on electrical components or wiring of any kind.
When using power tools, make sure you know how to operate the specific tool you are using and keep in mind that knowing how to use a tool is technically different than knowing how to operate the same tool. Almost anyone can use a tool but those who know how to operate are more efficient and have a higher knowledge of the tool, what it can do and what not to do with the tool in the way of improper use, where you may place hands or stand and simply not to even pin guards back of those that have rotating saw blades.
Outside of hand tools and protective gear another safety concern is pinch points. Pinch points and crush points are a leading cause of injuries and many fatalities. (OSHA Fatal Facts Accident Reports). Pinch points is generally where there are two moving or one stationary and one moving part of a machine that when they come together create a natural pinch. Should fingers or hands be inside that pinch point area the chances of severing a body part or crushing bone is very high. As for crush points, these can be similar to pinch points but in a much larger concept.
Other crush points can also occur between a vehicle and a wall or a piece of heavy equipment and a building. Both of the instances create a crush point by having generally someone standing inbetween these two items and being crushed, usually ending also in a fatality or severe damage to bones and internal organs. When operating any machinery pretend you are a fly with those thousands of eyes and look around you at all times. You must competantly multi task for safety’s sake but do not do more than what you know you can do as this will result in an injury of some form.
Also when operating machinery be sure to check fluids and hoses as a pre maintenance check. If your machine is out of oil it can blow a motor which in turn can start a fire causing burns or a potential explosion. The little bobcats that are seen on many excavation sites are exceptionally dangerous due to improper use. Many people will use a high speed when operating these machines but when the bucket is operated, especially when full and is brought up to quick, this can actually tip over the machine.
If this happens hopefully you are wearing your seat belt or that the onboard safety harness is working properly and the first thing to do in this moment is to reach over and turn your machine off. This will immediately drain oil back to where it belongs and prevent motor damage, fires and potential explosions. When getting ready to work there is an approved OSHA safety checklist (Checklist to Minimize Workplace Accidents 1998) that in familiarizing yourself with can prevent accidents.
This checklist deals with many of the rights and responsibilities such as when refusal to work is ok due to unsafe conditions, when forming a strike against unsafe conditions, the volunteer participations of safety hazard checks, time off for medical reasons, reminders to supervisors of workplace safety, forming safety committees and meetings on a regular basis, implement specific safety rules and the like. There are many on this checklist and they all tie in with maintaining safety in the short and long term goals.
The bottom line of safety and preventative measure is stop, think about what you are doing, where you will be going and what can you do to prevent accidents. Sometime simple awareness is the answer and sometimes much bigger measures will need to be taken. Don’t ever be afraid to point out potential safety issues or to ask about them. Know that there is nothing wrong asking your supervisor about employee safety meetings and implementing these meetings if there isn’t one.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions about how to properly use something, even if it is about how to properly hold a carving knife. Accidents no matter how minor or major result in injury which then results in hospital bills to fatalities. This is all that we want to avoid and can help to avoid. There are many companies that have several hundreds of days accident free simply because of safety implementation and not horsing around. It is a serious matter and each and every once of us is responsible for it.
Call your local OSHA office and they will be glad to come and prepare a safety meeting for you and give you brochures on different aspects of safety to include the most recommended items to put in a first aid kit. This knowledge will help you not only at work but at home projects as well. It is your life and health as well as others so enjoy your life as accident free as possible and help others to do the same. Works Cited American Academy of Pediatrics. 2009. 2009 Sports Injury Prevention Tip Sheet http://www. aap. org/advocacy/releases/aprsportsinjurytips. cfm OSHA.
2nd ed. NAHB-OSHA Jobsite Safety Handbook, Second Edition by Home Builder Press of the National Association of Home Builders of the United States of America. ISBN 0-86718-454-X http://www. osha. gov/doc/jobsite/#Work%20on%20Roofs Steven Sack. Checklist to Minimize Workplace Accidents. 1998. http://smallbusiness. findlaw. com/business-forms-contracts/business-forms-contracts-a-to-z/form2-38. html UNC Injury Prevention research center. 2008. http://www. iprc. unc. edu/ US Department of Labor. Fatal Facts. September 18, 2007. http://www. osha. gov/OshDoc/toc_FatalFacts. html