Safety Blog
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ECI Safety Focus of the Week: Incident Response
Our newly revised Safety Program Manual contains a section on Incident Response:
Safety Focus of the Week: Steel-Toe Boots (Revisited)
Protective footwear is required whenever there is a risk of foot injury from falling heavy objects. Working in the shops, pile driving, drilling, railroad work, and many other work tasks involve this risk and require protective footwear.
A consideration when purchasing boots is whether to go with steel or composite. Both meet the ANSI Z41-1999 requirements for protective footwear. Some users claim that composite can be more comfortable in cold weather. Other commentary I have seen indicates that the steel toes are superior for certain occupations, like for users of chain saws. However, several boot manufactures offer logger boots with composite toes – so it doesn’t seem like there is a significant increase in risk of toe injury.
Lastly, urban legend has included myths about workers who lost their toes because a heavy object dropped on their foot caused the toes to be severed (ouch!). However, this urban myth is generally considered false and was even proved false on the Discovery TV show Mythbusters.
Safety Focus of the Week: Employee/Employer Obligations in Safety
ECI is formally rolling out its new Corporate Safety Program Manual. A key part is a description of the obligations of the Employee and the Employer relative to safety.
Obligations of the Employer
Providing a safe workplace which is managed and controlled in accordance with all applicable regulations and standards is an essential obligation of all Employers. ECI achieves this by providing:
- Education and training specific to an employee’s role and assigned work tasks
- Supervision and council from experienced and trained working professionals
- Perform risk assessment
- Personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Hazardous condition measuring instruments
- Fit for purpose safety systems and equipment
- Compliance monitoring by dedicated Health and Safety staff
- Executive leadership
- Developing and maintaining a company-wide safety culture that includes an appreciation of:
- Engineering and science associated with our work and the safety practices.
- Use of risk assessment to identify and mitigate hazards.
- Sense of pride for quality work and safe work practices.
- The Code of Conduct items, particularly regarding safe driving, respectful behavior, and environmental conscientious work practices.
In addition to worker safety, ECI has a duty to protect the public near and around the work. This is particularly important as many of ECI’s projects and tasks take place within public rights-of-way.
Obligations of the Employee
All ECI employees are provided with the following responsibilities with respect to the Safety Program:
- Acknowledge and understand the content within the Safety Program Manual
- Understand and follow all applicable health and safety policies and procedures
- Adhere to fit-for-duty physical and mental requirements
- Maintain licensure for operating motor vehicles and other equipment as required
- Proper use and maintenance of assigned equipment and personal protective gear
- Recognize hazards and implement adequate measures to control hazards
- Ask for assistance if uncertain about a specific hazard or potentially hazardous situation
- Look out for fellow workers and the public traveling through ECI jobsites
- Acknowledge and appreciate general engineering principals as they relate to personal safety
- Attend and participate in Jobsite Hazard Assessment discussions and Weekly Safety Meetings
- Report safety incidences in accordance with reporting procedures
- Comply with the ECI Substance Abuse Policy
- Follow the ECI Code of Conduct
All employees have the authority to stop work under the following conditions:
- If you see an unsafe act taking place or about to take place
- If you believe conditions are unsafe and not fit for the task(s) at hand
- If there is confusion with regards to the work plan
Employees are encouraged to speak up if they have a suggestion to make the jobsite or activity safer. When we share the responsibility in the workplace, everyone wins.
Safety Focus of the Week: ECI’s New Safety Program Manual
As indicated previously, ECI has been in the process of revising its corporate Safety Program Manual to reflect the evolution of our safety program.
Two main aspects of ECI’s program include:
Behavioral Based Safety – The effect of a worker’s behavior on safety. Behavioral issues may include complacency, distractions, exhaustion, and overconfidence. ECI’s focus to address the behavior effect on safety is primarily:
a) the management of these conditions (recognize, contain, and respond to behavioral issues), and
b) to develop and maintain a corporate culture focused on safety and appreciation of practical engineering principles related to safety.
Compliance Based Safety – Working within Safety Regulations specific to the type of work. On ECI jobsites, these regulations typically include OSHA, FRA, MSHA, and FMCSA. ECI’s focus for achieving compliance based safety is to provide the workers with appropriate training and resources to perform a risk assessment to be safe and compliant.
We look forward to the rollout of the new ECI Safety Program Manual which will be available on our website.
Safety Focus of the Week: Corporate Safety Program
ECI is updating its corporate health and safety program which will contain the following sections:
Section 1 – Safety Program Summary
1.2 Purpose of the Safety Program Manual
1.3 ECI’s Fundamental Approach to Health and Safety
1.4 Obligations of the Employer
1.6 Subcontractor Requirements
1.7 Corporate Health and Safety Team and Facilities
Section 2 – ECI Health and Safety Systems
2.1 Employee Management Systems
2.3 Jobsite Safety Planning Systems
2.4 Jobsite Safety Surveillance System
2.5 Incident Management Systems (Internal and External)
Section 3 – Safety Training Program
3.1 Safety Qualifications and Certifications
3.4 General Safety Awareness Training
Section 4- Additional Health and Safety Resources
4 Jobsite Hazards Assessment Form
5 Site Safety Inspection Forms
7 Preferred Personal Injury Health Providers
Safety Focus of the Week: Working Around Drilling Fluid
Many of our projects involve drilling fluids, grouts, or additives. Some of these products can be hazardous in certain conditions. For example, nearly every dry powered product has some kind of inhalation risk.
However, the hazards are very broad and might include:
- Specific chemical hazards (reference the SDS Sheets)
- General Dust Exposure (inhalation hazard)
- Heavy Containers/Bags/etc. (lifting and back hazards)
- Slick surfaces (slip/trip/fall hazards)
- Splash (eye or skin exposure hazards)
- High-pressure fluid lines (potential energy hazards)
The following links are for SDS Sheets fro some of our common drilling fluid materials and additives:
Safety Focus of the Week: Revisiting Cargo Securement
This week we are re-visiting the topic of Cargo Securement, which is extremely important in protecting the traveling public.
CDL drivers moving heavy equipment and other cargo have very specific and detailed requirements which requires very specialized training.
For the rest of us, the rules can be simplified by keeping our loads simple and remembering the following:
- For each item under 1,000 lbs. should be secured by 2 ratchet straps
- 2″ wide with corner protectors
- Dump truck loads are to be covered whenever transporting fill materials on the interstate
Please coordinate with a trained professional driver if you have any questions.
The regulations are complicated, so if you don’t know the rules pertaining to securement of your load, refer to one of the following references:
- Ask the safety department, Scott, Luc, or other qualified driver, or
- Refer to the DOT Cargo Securement Regulations reference on the ECI Document Library (www.eci.pantherrack.com/employee-portal/document-library)
Safety Focus of the Week: Hand-Held Electronic Devices and Driving
Hand-held electronic devices are the most common driver distractions. The statistics are very concerning:
- 3,179 people were killed, and 431,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers in 2014.
- Approximately 660,000 drivers are using cell phones or manipulating electronic devices while driving at any given daylight moment across America.
- The percentage of drivers text-messaging or visibly manipulating handheld devices increased from 1.7 percent in 2013 to 2.2 percent in 2014.
Reference: https://www.distraction.gov/stats-research-laws/facts-and-statistics.html
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It has been over 2 years since Vermont passed the ban on the use of portable hand-held devices.
Violations of the Vermont law involve minimum fines of $100 for the first offense. Additionally, 2 points are assessed against a driver if the offense occurs in a construction work zone.
Hand held devices are also regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration of the US Department of Transportation.
FMCSA Hands Free Device Fact Sheet
The FMSCA regulation applies to commercial motor vehicles (any combined gross vehicle weight rating over 10,000 lbs). This CGVWR applies to a large part of our fleet. The penalty for violating this rule is up to $2750 to the driver and up to $11,000 for the employer, which is much higher than the Vermont law.
Safety Focus of the Week: The FMCSA Pre-Trip Motor Vehlicle Inspection
From 49 CFR 396.11:
§396.11 Driver vehicle inspection report(s).
(a) Equipment provided by motor carrier. (1) Report required. Every motor carrier shall require its drivers to report, and every driver shall prepare a report in writing at the completion of each day’s work on each vehicle operated, except for intermodal equipment tendered by an intermodal equipment provider. The report shall cover at least the following parts and accessories:
(i) Service brakes including trailer brake connections;
(ii) Parking brake;
(iii) Steering mechanism;
(iv) Lighting devices and reflectors;
(v) Tires;
(vi) Horn;
(vii) Windshield wipers;
(viii) Rear vision mirrors;
(ix) Coupling devices;
(x) Wheels and rims;
(xi) Emergency equipment.
The regulation requires the inspection report be documented and submitted to the Motor Carrier. All defects that are a safety hazard must be repaired prior to putting the vehicle back into service.
The FMCSA also provides a guide to the regulations in a Q&A format:
https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/title49/section/396.11
Safety Focus of the Week: The OSHA 300 and 300A Forms (Revisited)
OSHA requires all employers (with over 12 employees) to collect information on injury incidents and post the records for the employees. The OSHA 300 “Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses” form includes a list of each reportable injury with the employee’s name, employee’s job title, injury date, location injury occurred, description of the of injury, summary of the cause, date, and any associated lost time from work. Then the information is summarized on the OSHA 300A “Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses”.
This information is important for employers, workers, and OSHA in evaluating the safety of a workplace, understanding industry hazards, and implementing worker protections to reduce and eliminate potential hazards.
Document Link: