Safety Meeting Room

Sirocco Jerry

Sirocco Jerry

Active member
Environmental Health and Safety..
one of the largest business opportunities on the planet today,
and here we sit in the middle of it..
we are Enviro-Clean-Up Specialists. Eh?
We will profit, and all that, BUT..
We are constantly reminded we MUST engage in Best Management this,
compliance that,
and looking over our shoulders.. Liability.. in EVERY way.

We need a "meeting Room" to remind eachother to "stay alive"
..in EVERY way..
Get sales, be profitable, do it safely,
be compliant, pay your insurance,
repeat. ..day, after day.

if you're not sure where I'm coming from.. let me paint a picture..

Roof cleaning is a "slip and fall hazard".

chemicals are "liability problems in a bottle".

employees are your first impression, and WORST "exposure problem".

your equipment is all the above.. an "everything hazard"..
from spills, to fires, to blown coils, to broken ladder,
Hot water spraying on a passer by.

MOST importantly.. "personal BMP's" need to be handed to every employee,
If you don't have employees, you STILL need "personal BMP's"
..and to READ them,
..EVERY time your wife says "be careful" as you go out to the next job.

I have seen "seasoned veterans" make the most amazingly dumb-a$$ mistakes..
like NEVER wearing earplugs.. you are GOING to go deaf.
And water spraying forward at 475 MPH (4000 psi at the nozzle)
throws those little rocks right back in your face at 200 MPH or more.
would you ride a motorcycle at that speed without goggles ??

We need a place (here) to post what went wrong,
what almost went wrong, and what could possibly go wrong.
We need to teach eachother to "actively" focus on our own
.. environmental health and safety.

each example deserves it's own thread..

Let the Safety Meeting begin ! :smash:
..ACtually it already started,
..and those posts should be moved into this new area.
 
That is a great idea Jerry.

It pays to be safe, it is hard on the business when people get hurt.
 
Alwys use a ladder stabilizer. A ladder slipping out from under him cost me two weeks of a good employee.snd when he came back he was afraid to go back up and had to quit. and he only had a sprained ankle! He was really lucky! I was luckier. I had a ladder slip and I landed feet right between the rungs. Whew!
 
3000psi is faster than your reaction time.

A customer was using a 5@3500 at about 210degr. in a walk-in freezer..
(this was a longtime ago..)

He was wearing cheap rubber boots over tennis shoes..
While squeezing between shelving, he was holding the wand close in front of him,
and accidentally pulled the trigger for just a second..

a half inch from the top of his boot,
the water blasted through his boot,
through the tennis shoe,
into the top of his foot..
not like a bullet travelling "straight through,
but more like a ballooning effect..
..an injection of 3500psi, and in that half-second..
maybe an ounce of water tried to "pressurize" his foot.
He saidiffelt like being "bashed with a sledge-hammer, ..by a mad-man". :bash:

So he went to his doctor later that day,
(..Tough-guy had a couple beers and Vicodan thinking that would work.):rotflmao1:
The doctor dragged him to the hospital for surgery, (to clean and dress it,) :slap:
and was told to STAY OFF of it for 2 weeks.
Tough-guy thought the wiser, and was back on the job in 3 days..
..and he had not told the doctor the water-injection was at 210 degreesF.

On the 5th day,the pain was excruciating.. he went back to the doctor,
was dragged back to the hospital,
and was there for 3 weeks..

it turns out 210 degrees "scalded" the flesh",
and his rush to recover made an infection set-in
that required intervenious anti-biotics.

Moral to the story..
#1.. RESPECT the fact that "pressure" can kill you in an instant.
water coming out the spray nozzle at 4000psi is travelling at 475mph !
6000psi is at mach-1 !
suffice it to say.. 3000psi is faster than your reaction time.
​
#2.. Dress your wounds properly, and give them time to properly heal.
..and follow doctors' orders.​
 
one i always have to deal with is prescription drugs. Some of the drugs out there are dangerous. have lost man power a lot of times because of prescription drugs and staff going out drinking the pair do not mix.
 
I was luckier. I had a ladder slip and I landed feet right between the rungs. Whew!
Click to expand...
just after i was teaching ladder safety to a group of window cleaners i managed to fall of a 2 ft set of steps in frount of every one no one injured just my pride
 
I have three examples...

#1 A customer of mine was washing her driveway in bare feet. She shot herself in the foot with a zero degree tip. The resulting injection wound took over a year to heal and she came close to losing the foot.

#2 About five years ago, had to return to a customer's house to touch-up a spot on their 2/12 pitch roof. The gutter was about 8' above grade and I wound-up laying the 24' ladder directly on the roof. Just as I had placed my left foot on the roof, the feet went out and I "rode" the ladder down. I landed on a shrub that likely cushioned my fall. However, I broke my arm just above the wrist, tore my right rotator cuff and had internal damage to my right thigh that, a month later, became compartment syndrome.

This fall resulted in 3 different surgeries: one for the rotator cuff (which sidelined me for a 2 weeks); one to save my leg (2 weeks out); and another to re-repair the rotator cuff that I (unknowingly) re-injured a week after surgery that kept me out of work for 3 months.

All because I didn't set the ladder properly. Adding insult to injury, two weeks earlier, I had purchased one of those fold-up ladders...which I had in the van, but forgot I had it. 20/20 hindsight.

#3 About 9 years ago, I applied deck stripper using a backpack sprayer. It was a very hot day, so I didn't notice the leak. My back itched, but it never occurred to me, even after discovering the leak, that I should do anything about it other than wiping it off. Later that night, a large chunk of flesh came off along with my shirt. Fortunately, my wife is a nurse, so I had someone to change my dressings twice a day for over 2 weeks. Two lessons learned: never apply sodium hydroxide with a backpack sprayer and, if any gets on my body, neutralize and change clothes. (I carry an extra uniform, including boots, in my vehicle as well as a bottle of apple cider vinegar.)
 
as EVERY day is a challenge in health and safety,
..the safety meeting continues..

check you tires.. are they ready for winter ??
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top