Lucky us – it’s that time of year for all of us to look toward the flu season – and this year, the CDC is telling us that we can expect to see a flu pandemic. A new pandemic virus can spread easily from one person to another, mostly by sneezing and coughing. When someone who is sick with a flu virus, and they sneeze or cough near you, you can then breath in droplets in the air that have the flu virus. Those virus droplets can also land on surfaces that you may touch with your hands.

To help in the keeping yourself, your family, and co-workers safe from any flu virus – keep the following in mind: Wash your hands often with soap and water, and if soap and water are not around – use a alcohol based hand gel. Always remember to cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze and cough, and you should sneeze and cough into your sleeve not your hands, this is if a tissue is not available. Limit contact around others that might have the flu virus will slow down the spread of the virus. Being around others makes you more likely to get sick and make others sick. If you do get sick with the flu, stay home, this means STAY HOME, don’t leave your house, have someone else go to the store and run errands for you. Even going to your doctor can spread the flu virus, so if you really don’t need to see your doctor – then don’t. Ask your boss about options for working from home if you can, until you feel better.

A flu pandemic is something none of us really want to deal with, so let’s all do our part to help prevent a flu pandemic, and keep ourselves, family and co-workers healthy and safe!

Thanks,

Leonard Kessner
Safety Director

This week I would like to talk about basic hand tool safety, hand tool safety depends on the right tool for the job! Some people think that if you are at home working, you can get away with using tools improperly or substituting one tool for another. Our work makes rugged demands on our hand tools, so why cut corners at home. When you misuse a tool, or use the improper tool for the job, or use one in poor condition, it can result in an injury.

It is important that you choose the right tool for the job, at home and at work. Would you use a hammer to drive a screw? I would hope not! Or a Phillips screw driver to punch a hole? Not me. Why take a chance of injury? Get the right tool to do the job. Even if it takes a little more time to complete the job, you will not only prevent the possibility of injury, but you will also save your tool from damage. Once you use the improper tool for a job, and damage it, you never know what might happen. For instance, using a hammer that has a head on it that is loose or wiggles, you never know just when that head of the hammer might fly off, and hurt you or a co-worker – if the hammer is in question, replace it.

Here are just a few tips for using tools in a safer manner;

• Always cut away from yourself, not towards yourself
• Don’t use a chisel or screw driver as a pry bar
• Don’t’ use a file without a handle
• Use the full handle of a hammer, don’t choke up on it, you’ll lose control of it
• Tools are not toys, if someone wants to borrow a tool, hand it to them, don’t throw it. It’s not a ball – it’s a tool!

Basic hand tool safety starts with you, just use some common sense, if you don’t know how to use a tool, or what tool to use, don’t be afraid to ask someone who does.

Len
Safety Director

Most of us have taken a shortcut at one time or another. I know when I was a kid, I would climb over a fence if it was quicker than using the gate, or cut through an empty field, instead of walking through the neighborhood. In many cases, a shortcut can involve danger.

If you are in the habit of taking dangerous shortcuts, break it. Working in construction, a shortcut can be deadly.

If you are in need of reaching a higher elevation, don’t use a bucket turned upside-down, or a stack of boxes, or even a chair – use a ladder, that is what it was built for! Don’t just try to avoid dangerous situations, make it your goal, and if you see there’s no safe way – Let someone know – and I am sure every attempt will be made to access the necessary means to make it safe! We all deserve the right to go home at the end of each and every day without injury. So keep in the front of your mind (not the back), the shortcut you want to take, may not be the safe way to go.

Len
Safety Director

Have you ever thought of ways to make your job safer? Perhaps if someone came up with a better and Safer tool to use, or a safer piece of equipment – maybe a way to simplify construction methods. But here is something most people give no thought to – Practicing Good Housekeeping.

Poor Housekeeping can cause accidents, results can range from a small cut to a loss of life. A nail in a scrapped Piece of wood, a cluttered walkway, scrap conduit, even your lunch trash can cause an accident!

Once-A-Day or Once-A-Week clean up is just not enough. Good Housekeeping is a continuing process in which everyone must participate in throughout the work day!

The following are some simple ideas towards Good Housekeeping:

• Keeping extension cords off the floor as much as possible, hung them if you can, just no low enough that someone could hang them self
• Keep walkways clean and clear of trash
• Keep scrap conduit and wood picked up
• Clean up spills and liquids on the floor to prevent slipping hazards
• Keep storage areas and storage containers neat and orderly
• Use trash cans for your empty lunch bags and other food rubbish, like soda cans, water bottles, plates and hamburger containers, etc.

Good Housekeeping does pay off. It is easier and safer to work in a clean area than in a cluttered junk pile – Good Housekeeping is everyone’s job.

Len
Safety Director

I believe that there are three words that belong together, the three words are common, sense, and safety – If you think about it, safety more times than not is nothing more than common sense! That is why I believe these three words belong together – COMMON SENSE SAFETY

Here is something to remember: If you are the one who has an accident, then you are the one who is going to suffer the pain and the potential loss of income – so again I say common sense safety.

Some common sense safety tips:

• Be alert, pay attention, know what’s going on around you and your work area
• Wear the appropriate PPE, no matter how inconvenient it may seem
• Keep your work area clean and hazard free
• Never be afraid to ask for assistance to move or lift heavy items
• Take safety seriously

Common sense safety is often simply thinking before doing, working safe and responsibly is everyone’s job.

Len
Safety Director

Safety at work is not something any one should take lightly. In years past, employers have had to deal with not only having employee’s getting hurt from unsafe work conditions – but they also dealt with employee’s losing their lives from unsafe working conditions.

That was years ago, now we have the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a part of the United States Department of Labor. OSHA was developed to force employers to provide a much healthier and safer work environment for all employees. If you are an employer, you must follow the regulation’s found in the 29CFR Part 1910. This is the general industry standards and it covers all employers from manufacturing toothpicks to building the space shuttle. Some employers are under the impression that if they are in the construction industry, they only need to follow the regulations found in the 29CFR Part 1926 book of regulations. This is not true, every employer must follow the regulations found in the 29CFR Part 1910. If you are in the construction industry, you must also follow the regulations found in 29CFR Part 1926 – this covers any type of construction, from building new homes, to remodeling an old tenant improvement, to service work, to installing solar power to both commercial and residential properties.

I know that many people really don’t think that safety is that important, but when it comes down to your health and your life – I think that safety should be priority one.

Len
Safety Director