Last October, Erick Solis, a 19-year-old temp worker at a Los Angeles food company, lost two fingers when his hand got caught in an unguarded dough-rolling machine.
Cal/OSHA, the state job safety agency, cited the company, JSL Foods Inc., for willful violations because an almost identical accident had happened before.
Safety helmets with beat-the-heat accessories, fall protection that protects against arc flash and remote machine safeguarding were among the top occupational safety and health products featured this week on ISHN.com.
When employees perform maintenance on machinery or equipment, you must ensure that they know how to protect themselves from the release of hazardous energy. OSHA’s control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout) standard at 1910.147 requires you to create procedures for employee protection.
Advances in machining and robotics have increased operational efficiency in virtually all manufacturing sectors. Production and profits would plunge if operations were done by hand alone. History has shown us that the advantages of machines are undeniable.
OSHA wants to hear from employers about how they’ve been using control circuit-type devices to isolate energy and about evolving technology for robotics.
The information request is for a possible update of the agency’s Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) standard.
Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout-Tagout) General Industry (1910.147)
January 4, 2019
Workers servicing or maintaining machines or equipment may be seriously injured or killed if hazardous energy is not properly controlled. Injuries resulting from the failure to control hazardous energy during maintenance activities can be serious or fatal. Injuries may include electrocution, burns, crushing, cutting, lacerating, amputating, or fracturing body parts.
OSHA’s machine guarding standard was the ninth-most-frequently cited agency standard in FY 2018.
January 1, 2019
Machine safeguarding is the best way to prevent amputations. Guards provide physical barriers to hazardous areas. They should be secure and strong, and workers should not be able to by-pass, remove or tamper. Guards should not obstruct the operator’s view or prevent others from working.
Work started on Z10 in March, 1999. Almost 100 safety and health professionals spent six years drafting and reworking the document. The Z10 standard for occupational health and safety management systems (OHSMS) is now titled ANSI/ASSP Z10-2012 (R2017).
From east to west, north to south, both federal OSHA and state-level agencies say busy conducting investigations and issuing citations to companies who violate safety regulations. This review of recent cases indicates a variety of citations issued, for confined space, fall and trenching hazards, among others.
Watch how easy it is to assemble and use LockPoint, the new mobile safety center, with our short video! This first-of-its-kind mobile safety center places LOTO equipment in close proximity to machinery which eliminates excuses to cut corners on safety.