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Safety Focus of the Week: Hazards of Potential Energy (Revisited)
The essence of a safe worksite is to be aware of and take steps to mitigate hazards. This week we are focusing on the hazards of Potential Energy. In our case, I am defining potential energy as a static system that has a potential to suddenly release a dangerous amount of energy. These potential energy hazards fall into several categories for my definition:
- Gravity
- Springs
- Pressurized Fluids
- Chemical
- Electrical
An example of a hazard due to Potential Energy due to Gravity:
Stacked pallets of material have the potential to tip over and fall. Once aware of the hazard, the worker should initiate a search on the pallet for warnings on the maximum number of pallets in a stack. Or some other evaluation to establish a safe condition.
In most of these potential energy hazards, the following general steps are required:
- Recognition of the Hazard
- Redundant Mitigation: (supports, PPE, guards, barriers, engineered systems, etc.)
- Controlled Dissipation of the energy
Please review the attached pdf slideshow for several illustrative examples:
