ANI-GRAM Winter 2011
ANI-GRAM Winter 2011The ANILINE ENVIRONMENTAL Newsletter
Now that the smoke is clearing from the 2008 economic down turn it is time to take stock and ensure that your company's safety program is up to standard. A good place to start is with a safety inspection and audit of your safety documentation. Machinery should be inspected on a regular basis by supervisors and maintenance technicians, as well as by the operators at the start and end of each shift.
ANILINE ENVIRONMENTAL can help by putting another set of eyes on your operation to find potential safety hazards and OSHA violations. This is useful since one of our clients operated for decades with the gas fired metal furnace next to the solvent paint booth without burning down. Of course the solution was to install a new paint booth ,away from the furnace, at the end of the production line increasing safety and productivity with one equipment improvement. Since better new and used equipment at reasonable prices has become available many of our client operations have benefited from new production technology.
As always we here at ANILINE ENVIRONMENTAL recommend the following measures, before OSHA representatives arrive:
You can go to this page for more information on OSHA Citations. This list was posted fifteen years ago and is still very relevant to keeping your operation safe and what OSHA inspectors are looking for. You can also go to the OSHA web site to look for current OSHA National Emphasis Programs (NEPs) that the agency uses to inspect for specific hazards. The page below lists the OSHA NEPs undertaken by the agency in recent years.
Safety audits by ANILINE ENVIRONMENTAL usually take no more than a day and yield much useful information about your production or service operation.
Steven R. Pressman, President - ANILINE ENVIRONMENTAL
Silica is present in many forms on construction sites. Of particular concern is the use of diamond saws used to cut stone and cured concrete. Most stone cutting operation use saws that operate under a water spray. In past years portable saws did not utilize a water spray since it was thought that the silica dust would dissipate to acceptable levels in the open air. This is often not the case with operators of concrete saws working without proper respiratory or eye protection in full view on the public streets. Though also observed were trained union operators using the proper equipment with the proper safety precautions.
Exposure to silica dust causes the scaring of the lungs called Silicosis. Silicosis can lead to diminished breathing capacity and death over time with minor daily exposure on the job site. In 1927, an estimated 109 to 476 workers, out of 3,000 died of silicosis working on the three mile long Hawk's Nest tunnel under Gauley Mountain. See the Wikipedia article: Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster
ANILINE ENVIRONMENTAL samples Silica using NIOSH method 7500 using SKC aluminum cyclones at a flow rate that collects the greatest number of particles that cause silicosis. Using this method we have detected dangerous silica exposures in dust that contains no more than 2% by weight silica. Compliance sampling for silica is done over an eight hour period. In some cases sampling is performed only during the period the diamond saw is used and the 8-hour exposure is calculated mathematically. This is useful since the filter cassette usually needs to be changed at intervals during dry sawing operations to prevent overloading to insure accuracy.
More information about silica in construction and other industries may be found at the OSHA web site at the link below:
Most companies don't have the time to realize the potential of the investment they have made in computer information technology. While larger firms have central computer file servers most small firms use peer-to-peer networks. The software needed for a company intranet is easily installed and configured to provide internal company information such as safety programs and MSDSs to employees. Of course if you have a peer-to-peer network you have to remember to turn that machine on in the morning. You can even set up an intranet for your company using your internet web site by password protecting portions of it in anon-public directory. Some information it would by useful to post are:
A safety and environmental internet makes sure that each important document is readily available to employees at their work station. However, be sure to have back up CD rom, flash drive, and paper copies in case you have to put your company disaster plan into effect.
For more information call ANILINE ENVIRONMENTAL (216) 381-8531
If you need more information about how ANILINE ENVIRONMENTAL services please refer to the following :
05/11/14