Page 41 - Occupational Health & Safety, April 2019

prevent unintentional mixing and fugitive vapor emissions. It can also promote recy- cling and segregation efforts.
Improperly Rated
Appliances and Tools
Household appliances and tools that are sold for home use are usually not appro- priate for use in a workplace. When these items are safety tested, they are tested un- der normal conditions for home usage, not for the continual or more frequent usage that usually occurs in a workplace.
Overuse and misuse of household ap- pliances and tools can lead to premature wear, overheating, and short-circuiting. Their use in office areas and breakrooms can also overload breakers.
Defective Detectors
Smoke alarms, carbon dioxide detectors, and hazardous gas sensors need to be tested and sometimes calibrated regularly to ensure that they are still in working order and will function properly when needed. Like detec- tors, emergency exit lighting, alarms, and signs also should be checked periodically.
Blocked Aisles
Fire codes and OSHA regulations require emergency exit paths to remain clear at all times. Large shipments, construction, demolition, and temporary needs don’t ne- gate this requirement. If an emergency exit path needs to be blocked for any reason, alternate routes must be planned before the route is blocked; all exit path markings ob- scured so that people will not use that path; and the changes must be communicated to all affected employees.
Unmanaged Hot Work
Welding, cutting, brazing, and other hot work are sometimes taken for granted, especially when they aren’t part of normal operations. The NFPA estimates that about 2,500 non-residential fires involve hot work each year.
Good housekeeping keeps areas free of combustible materials, and proper ven- tilation systems and proper chemical and waste management can keep flammable vapors in check. But there is still a need to have and use proper procedures for any and all hot work—even those jobs that will take only a few minutes.
Incorporating regular checks of each of these items into daily, weekly, and
monthly inspections will help to ensure that fire safety plans and procedures are working and will continue to minimize fire risks. Each of these items also can be incorporated into toolbox talks or used as a scenario for fire and evacua- tion drills to keep everyone aware of the need to be vigilant in reducing the risk of workplace fires.
Karen D. Hamel, CSP, WACH, is a regulato- ry compliance professional, trainer and tech- nical writer for New Pig. She has more than 24 years of experience helping EHS profes- sionals find solutions to meet industry con-
sensus standards as well as EPA, OSHA and DOT regulations. Karen is a Certified Safety Professional (CSP,) OSHA-authorized Gen- eral Industry Outreach Trainer, Walkway Auditor Certificate Holder (WACH,) Com- munity Emergency Response Team (CERT) Trainer, hazmat technician, serves on the Blair County, PA LEPC and has completed a variety of environmental, safety, emergency response, DOT and NIMS courses, including Planning Section Chief. She conducts semi- nars, webinars and trainings for a variety of national organizations. She can be reached at 1-800-HOT-HOGS® (468-4647) or by email, karenh@newpig.com.
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