ONSITE 101 - UNDERSTANDING THE HAZARDS, STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS THAT CAN AFFECT YOUR BUSINESS -
In the lightning fast world of infrastructure improvement, new construction and industrial growth, workplace safety is much more than a catchy slogan and a set of meaningless suggestions. Understanding the direct economic impact safety has on your bottom line is a critical component to success.
OSHA statistics show that US companies spend nearly $1 billion a week in direct costs related to accidents and injuries in the workplace. Worker's compensation, medical expenses, legal fees... are just a few of the direct costs employers face as a result of workplace incidents. Not to mention the indirect costs associated with loss of productivity. Learning what hazards, standards and requirements apply to your industry can help you build the right workplace safety program for your business to protect your workers and your bottom line.
WHAT HAZARDS DOES YOUR CREW FACE?
HAZARD IDENTIFICATION AND
RISK ASSESSMENT -
Properly identifying the potential hazards your team faces before an accident or injury occurs is critical to the success of any safety program. OSHA recommends employers implement the steps in the table to the left to ensure hazards in the workplace are effectively identified, assessed and ultimately removed or addressed with corrective actions. Further emphasis is placed on the importance of making hazard identification and risk assessment an ongoing, continual process.
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"Complacency is safety's worst enemy."
FLASH FIRE
6 Steps to Effective Hazard Identification
Collect and review information about the hazards present or likely to be present in the workplace.
Conduct initial and periodic workplace inspections of the workplace to identify new or recurring hazards.
Investigate injuries, illnesses, incidents, and close calls/near misses to determine the underlying hazards, their causes, and safety and health program shortcomings.
Group similar incidents and identify trends in injuries, illnesses, and hazards reported.
Consider hazards associated with emergency or non-routine situations.
Determine the severity and likelihood of incidents that could result for each hazard identified, and use this information to prioritize corrective actions.
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Minimum Arc Rating Requirements for
FR Clothing by Hazard/Risk Category
ARC FLASH
ARC FLASH
GOT
Personnel working around electricity, electrical equipment or electrical installations face the potential for serious injury and even death as a result of exposure to an arc flash. An arc flash is a type of electrical explosion or discharge that results from a low-impedance connection through the air to ground or another voltage phase in an electrical system. The dangers of arc flash in the workplace prompted OSHA to issue a mandate requiring employers to perform a hazard risk analysis to identify the potential risks to personnel as a result of an arc flash. OSHA recommends that all clothing worn by workers in high-risk areas be FR with the appropriate minimum arc rating to decrease the potential for arc flash injuries and fatalities.
Arc rated clothing provides a measurable level of insulation to thermal hazards. It is important to understand that while all arc clothing is FR, not all FR clothing is arc rated. However, clothing must be FR to even qualify for arc testing. This is an important distinction that is further explained in the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standard 70E, the safety standard that applies to electrical workers. The official standard for measuring arc rating or arc thermal performance value (ATPV), ASTM 1959, (The Standard Test Method for Determining the Arc Rating of Materials for Clothing), established testing protocols for determining the arc rating of FR clothing and ASTM F1506, (The Standard Performance Specification for Flame Resistant Textile Materials for Wearing Apparel for Use by Electrical Workers Exposed to Momentary Electric Arc and Related Thermal Hazards), specifies the minimum arc rating required for clothing worn by workers in each hazard risk category. Formerly referenced as hazard risk categories, (HRC) they are now more commonly referred to as PPE (personal protective equipment) categories.
A flash fire can generate temperatures in the range of 1000º to 1900º and is defined in the NFPA 2112 Standard for Flame-Resistant Garments for Protection of Industrial Personnel Against Flash Fire, as a "fire that spreads by means of a flame front rapidly through a diffuse fuel, such as dust, gas, or the vapors of an ignitable liquid, without the production of damaging pressure."
The primary hazard of a flash fire is the high potential for ignition of flammable materials, particularly clothing worn by workers. Just as arc flash hazard recognition resulted in the development of arc ratings and protective clothing safety standards to prevent injuries or fatalities, the danger of flash fire compelled NFPA to implement minimum performance, design and certification requirements for flame-resistant (FR) fabrics worn by workers in areas with a high risk for flash fire. NFPA specifies the testing, inspection and quality assurance protocols required to achieve NFPA 2112 certification including the mannequin test; a simulation designed to calculate burn percentage for second and third degree burns and distribution on the body.
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