September 2020 – BLM Construction & Remodeling, LLC

Toolbox Talk: “It Won’t Happen to Me” Mindset

Toolbox Talk: "It Won't Happen to Me" Mindset

September 25, 2020

Image Source: fireward.co.uk/news/wont-happen-mentality/

It Won’t Happen to Me:

There are many excuses someone will give for not working safely. Some common excuses include: I didn’t know, I didn’t have time, I lost my PPE, nothing will happen, etc. One of the worst excuses to have for not working safe is a “it won’t happen to me” mindset. This excuse communicates a mindset that is set on not completing a task safely or shows a person is relying on luck to keep safe while on the job.

Experience and Attitude Towards Workplace Safety:

There is no substitute for experience. Experience, for the most part, allows us to work more efficiently and safely, however this is not always the case. Experience can also lead to complacency or a higher level of tolerance for risk. When an employee has done the same task or has been in the same occupation for many years they can have the “it won’t happen to me mindset”. This doesn’t mean that newer employees cannot have the same mindset, but it is often very experienced employees who fall into this mindset trap. We have all heard stories of experienced workers or supervisors getting seriously injured from becoming complacent towards known hazards. It is necessary to be mindful of your attitude towards safety on the job.

Why it is Necessary to Avoid This Mindset Complacency:

can be hard to avoid, however having the mindset that an incident or injury will not happen can put you at a great risk of sustaining an injury. Believing you are not susceptible to the hazards of the job is a quick way to be injured. No one is able to avoid injury from the majority of hazards from just having experience alone. It takes action on top of that experience to ensure safeguards are in place and safe work practices are being followed to avoid injury. No matter how much experience you have, the necessary steps still need to be taken to prevent an incident from occurring.

Summary:

Do not let experience on the job affect your attitude towards taking the correct steps to work safe. Hazards need to be controlled. They are only controlled when we as workers take the time to implement the proper safeguards and follow safe work practices. Evaluate your attitude towards safety as well as what hazards or work tasks you may have become complacent towards.

Source: 106 Toolbox Talks, Innovative Safety Products, LLC

Toolbox Talk: Hand Tools and Injury Prevention

September 18, 2020

We use our hands for virtually every task we do. Without our hands and all of our fingers we could not complete work easily. While gloves are the most common form of PPE found in the workplace, hand injuries are still the second leading type of injury on the job.

Hand Injury Statistics (source: www.bls.gov)

There are 110,000 lost time cases due to hand injuries annually.
1 million workers are treated in an ER for hand injuries annually.
70% of workers who experienced a hand injury were not wearing gloves.
Another 30% of victims had gloves on, but they were damaged or inadequate for the work task.

Three Common Types of Hand Injuries

Lacerations are the most common type of hand injuries. Lacerations are due to sharp objects or tools. Often inadequate gloves are used during an activity that involves a sharp tool. A glove with Kevlar is effective in protecting the hand against a cutting or slicing motion. A straight stab motion can still easily penetrate these gloves. Caution needs to be used when using any tool that can easily penetrate the skin.
Crush injuries are usually due to employees placing their hands in the line of fire between two objects or in a rotating piece of equipment. It may be more beneficial to not wear gloves where they can get caught in machinery and pull the hand into a crush injury situation.

Evaluate the work task with a subject matter expert or safety professional to decide what protection, if any, is needed on maintenance tasks.

Fractures occur when there is a sudden blow to the bones in the fingers or hands. Motor vehicle accidents often cause fractures to the hands. Another common cause of fractures is an individual extending out their hands to catch themselves from a fall.

Safe Work Practices

Use tools instead of your hands when possible to get your hands out of the line of fire during a work task. Tools such as push sticks when using a table saw is an example that removes your hands from the line of fire.
Avoid using fixed open blade knives whenever possible. There are safety knives that limit the length of the blade exposed. They also have a safety feature that retracts the blade when pressure is let off the handle or switch that controls the blade.
Never put your hand in an area where you cannot see it.
Always wear the proper gloves for whatever work task you are doing. Understand the limitations of your gloves and what work tasks they are appropriate for.
Never work on an energized piece of equipment. Lock and tag out the equipment to ensure there will not be unintentional start up while you are working on the equipment.

Discussion points:

-What are some of the biggest hazards to our hands onsite?

Source: 106 Toolbox Talks: Innovative Safety Products, LLC

Toolbox Talk: Verbal Communication

OSHA Training Toolbox Talk: Verbal Communication

September 13, 2020

Picture Source: https://communicationblog06.wordpress.com/2016/04/20/types-of-non-verbal-communication-and-there-impacts-on-public-speaking/

Verbal Communication

Every single day when we are around other people, we are communicating something to them regardless if we actually speak or not. The way we look at people, what we wear, our facial expressions, and our body language are just a few ways we communicate with others outside of spoken word. It is important to be aware of what message we are sending to those around us and how it is affecting them or the work you are completing.

Non Verbal and Verbal Communication

Most people would guess that verbal communication makes up the majority of communication. Studies show however that the majority of communication is actually nonverbal. This nonverbal communication is linked to actual words we say. The Non Verbal Group states, “Dr. Albert Mehrabian, author of Silent Messages, conducted several studies on nonverbal communication. He found that 7% of any message is conveyed through words, 38% through certain vocal elements, and 55% through nonverbal elements (facial expressions, gestures, posture, etc).” While this statement makes the claim that we overwhelmingly communicate non verbally, much of the communication is delivered through how we talk not so much as to what we say. When is the last time you have given thought to the link between how you communicate and the effect it has on the people around you?

Why We Need to Be Aware of How We Communicate

Everyone has worked with someone who is consistently negative and is hard to approach about anything. Oftentimes, most people do not want to approach these individuals or communicate with them due to how they communicate verbally and nonverbally. When an individual snaps back or approaches communication with others in a negative manner it is difficult to get any message across. Going back to the statistic about how communication is more about how we say something and less about what we actually say,

everyone should be aware of how they are coming across to others. When we pay no mind to how we communicate with each other, messages are lost or not conveyed at all. At work, communication is vital to being able to successfully work safely and efficiently. When everyone feels comfortable being able to approach each other it creates a healthier working environment. Effective and open communication creates a working environment that can lead to individuals feeling comfortable stopping work when needed, more hazards addressed, higher morale, less stress, and better cohesiveness between work groups.

Summary

Think about how you come off to others you are working with. Almost any problems in the workplace can be solved with effective and respectful conversations. Try to adjust the way you communicate verbally and nonverbally with others at work to enhance your working environment, not hurt it.

Toolbox Talk: Eliminations of Hazards

September 4, 2020

When discussing how to mitigate hazards in the workplace there is a hierarchy of controls that is often referred to. The safeguards we use to control hazards fall into the various levels on the hierarchy. The hierarchy of controls outlines the safeguards used to mitigate a hazard from most effective to least effective. A common version of the hierarchy from most effective to least effective control is listed as: elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, and PPE (personal protective equipment). Elimination should always be considered first when attempting to mitigate hazards in the workplace.

Relying on Lower Levels of Controls

If we do not first attempt to eliminate or use effective engineering controls to protect ourselves against hazards, we have to resort to using some type of PPE or another less effective safeguard. This is not an effective way to prevent injuries and accidents. Safeguards that would fall under the PPE level of the hierarchy of controls are far less effective than safeguards that eliminate or engineer out hazards. An example would be relying on a pair of gloves to protect your fingers from a pinch point hazard instead of ensuring there is proper guarding around the pinch point. PPE should always be considered the last line of defense and employees should have this mindset as well.

Elimination

Elimination of hazards is the most effective way to protect employees against injuries. However, far too often companies or individual employees do not take the time to plan out work tasks or the time to actually eliminate the hazards they are faced with. Everyday millions of workers are faced with hazards that they do not need to be exposed to. Proper planning of work, thinking about alternative safer ways to complete a work task, and allocating the necessary resources to complete the task are some of the first steps supervisors can take to begin to eliminate hazards. At the worker level, hazard recognition and the elimination mindset is important to ensure any additional hazards are eliminated.

Quick Examples of Eliminating Hazards

John Smith sees a hammer hanging half way off of a piece of equipment that is being worked on and tells the mechanic it is up there. Instead of just not trying to knock the hammer off the elevated surface the mechanic decides to remove it and put it back on the tool bench. This ensures he or anyone else will not be struck by it falling.
Two cooks have cut their fingers while sharpening knives at XYZ Restaurant. The manager of the restaurant decided to make a new policy that knife sharpening is completed by a third party company and not by the cooks in the restaurant. The sharpeners are removed from the restaurant and the cooks are trained on the new policy.
ACME Construction Company is excavating and moving excessive dirt for a footer of a large warehouse. Due to excessive rain, the site conditions make it very dangerous for dump trucks to operate. The superintendent decides to shut down dump trucks for the day and have only the dozer operators to come in to dress up the site.

Discussion points:

-Are there hazards that we are relying on PPE or a lower level control to mitigate the hazard instead of eliminating it completely?

-Is there any other example of eliminating hazards that you can think of?