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With this post I plan on explaining what the Hell ANSI actually is.  ANSI means…wait for it… American National Standards Institute.

It’s a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the U.S.

What a bunch of mumbo jumbo.   Here’s the thing.  Or at least what you need to know.  ANSI is completely voluntary.  A manufacturer does not have to get ANSI approval, but then again it doesn’t really help them because these standards are so ingrained in the safety industry that it would be dumb not to.

ANSI makes it’s biggest impression on the safety glasses industry and high visibility gear.  For example, they make sure that safety eyewear is constructed to specifications to ensure maximum protection.

I guess the breakdown is this.  ANSI doesn’t play a huge part with OSHA, but they have a pretty big reach so it is in your best interest to use ANSI approved equipment when available… Nuff said.

Technorati Tags: ansi, osha, safety

Posted in Fall Protection News by Safety Frank. Safety Frank is our resident all around safety guy. He specializes in making safety easier to understand though humor, video, and a general irreverence for a very stuffy industry.

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My boys are ALL boy.  Just ask my local librarian who found my two year old at the top of a book shelf. My boys love construction work, big machines…  all that “boy” stuff and I have resigned myself to this fact.

Last week we had the lawn chairs out on the sidewalk, popcorn in our bowls, and Sippy cups out as we watched a roofing company roof the house across the street. The team of 15+men tore off shingles and put on new ones in one day!

But one thing that concerned me was one man with a rope around his stomach, bouncing on the roof like a rock climber. I can’t imagine what a fall would do to his internal organs. I wanted to take a picture to show you all, but my camera doesn’t have a good enough zoom.  A bucket of safety would’ve easily (and inexpensively) taken care of this accident waiting to happen. I just don’t get if -they can buy the pricy, pretty trucks & matching work shirts – why can’t they buy some safety equipment?

Technorati Tags: construction, fall protection, roofing

Posted in Fall Protection News by Sassy Safety Glasses Queen. The Sassy Safety Glasses Queen is our resident safety glasses expert. She specializes in the news, trends, and fashions of the Safety Glasses industry while dabbling in the world of fall protection.

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Drum Roll Please… There are many interesting blogs that I’ve stumbled across while working.  I have a slight blog addiction, but I try to stay focused.  I thought I would share what I have bookmarked lately.  Fall Protection is just one aspect of many different safety concerns.  Here’s three from this month:

• The Pump Handle (http://www.thepumphandle.wordpress.com) Check out the Sept 8th post, “This Happens. We Live With That.”
• OSHA Underground (http://oshaunderground.blogspot.com/) They have something to say about everything. They are a little mysterious to me – where did they come from? What do they want? Who do they think they are? Why won’t they answer my emails?
• Confined Space (http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/) No longer an active blog, but has more than 2,800 posts with commentary on workplace health and safety.

Tell me what you think. Helpful?  Interesting? Feel free to share articles or blogs that would be relevant. Of course, we do lean towards topical irrelevance too so feel free to share that too.

Technorati Tags: osha, safety, safety blogs

Posted in Fall Protection News by Sassy Safety Glasses Queen. The Sassy Safety Glasses Queen is our resident safety glasses expert. She specializes in the news, trends, and fashions of the Safety Glasses industry while dabbling in the world of fall protection.

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On July 21, 2008, Dateline presented “Tower Dogs,” which was marketed as “a never-before-seen look at the most dangerous job in America,” and there was quite a bit of flurry of the sensational exposé shown by Dateline.

NATE (National Association of Tower Erectors*) issued an open letter with their concerns to Dateline. Most recently they posted the following in their Tower Times newsletter. We thought some of you might be interested in this-

Please Give Us Your Two Cents!
What do you think of the NBC Dateline Tower Dogs episode?  Let us know your input.

Visit the NATE website at www.natehome.com and submit your company as a case study today! Are there media relations efforts that you feel should be made that you haven’t seen put into action yet?  We would love to hear your from you.

Send an email to industryrelations@natehome.com with your opinions and recommendations.
The results will be posted in future issues of Tower Times, and we will use the information when
targeting various media, speaking and organizational opportunities for the coming year.

IT’S UP TO YOU!

Technorati Tags: fall protection, tower dogs, tower erectors

Posted in Fall Protection News by Sassy Safety Glasses Queen. The Sassy Safety Glasses Queen is our resident safety glasses expert. She specializes in the news, trends, and fashions of the Safety Glasses industry while dabbling in the world of fall protection.

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Window washer John Badour fell through a skylight at GVSU’s Allendale campus this past July. (If you follow safety blogs you may have seen some of the photos already. Please note: that I take the blame/fame for having Perez Hiltonized one of the photos.)

Badour was applying caulking to the window when the window broke and he fell through. His harness kept him from a close encounter with tile flooring below.

Although firefighters arrived to rescue him, they were not sure of the best way to do it. His quickly thinking co-workers were able to pull him up safely by bringing in a crane lift to bring him back onto the roof outside. Perhaps this is a timely reminder to have your own retrieval plan and learn about suspension trauma?

Thankfully, no serious injuries were reported.  Badour suffered some minor cuts requiring stitches and is now back to work.

Technorati Tags: fall protection, safety harness, suspension trauma

Posted in Fall Protection News by Sassy Safety Glasses Queen. The Sassy Safety Glasses Queen is our resident safety glasses expert. She specializes in the news, trends, and fashions of the Safety Glasses industry while dabbling in the world of fall protection.

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British Royal Erectors, Jacko and Fish, on contract to the British Antarctic Survey check and raise masts for communication and scientific experiments.
Photographer: Miriam Iorwerth

Technorati Tags: antarctica, fall protection

Posted in Fall Protection News by Sassy Safety Glasses Queen. The Sassy Safety Glasses Queen is our resident safety glasses expert. She specializes in the news, trends, and fashions of the Safety Glasses industry while dabbling in the world of fall protection.

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“Whenever I’m about to do something, I think ‘would an idiot do that?’  and if they would, I do not do that thing.” -Dwight Schrute-

Our dear Dwight from The Office – surprisingly we all could learn something from him. The following businesses OSHA fined recently certainly could have too.

Here are our top two favorite fines from the past week:

1. Samscreen Inc. in Conklin, NY was again hit with fines. This time more than $100,000 in fines by OSHA adding to the $75,000 in fines from the previous April for similar safety failures of not providing employees with required training. Samcreen Inc is contesting the OSHA findings and said that OSHA is being overzealous.

Christopher Adams, OSHA’s area director in Syracuse said (in regards to the fines in April), ”These sizable fines reflect breadth, severity and recurring nature of these hazards, which expose employees to crushing, laceration, amputation and burns.”

What makes a company ignore OSHA – is it arrogance, incompetence, or something else? Are we missing something here? They had to know that OSHA was going to follow up after the first visit.

2. Imperial Sugar (IPSU) had 8.7 million in total fines for safety violations. That’s the third highest amount in OSHA history. You may remember IPSU’s Port Wentworth refinery being in the news after they had an explosion this past February, killing 13 people and injuring 40. Highly flammable dust is produced in the process of making sugar and that is what led to the explosion.

Imperial Sugar’s VP of Operations testified, “I was surprised that we hadn’t killed anybody already because the plant was so dangerous.” He said he had been told to “back off” after he warned other officials about the dangerous conditions.

Interestingly, five weeks after the February explosion, OSHA inspectors found the same conditions at IPSU’s other sugar processing plant in Louisiana.

This is a photo OSHA inspectors took.  Notice the layer of white stuff, which is combustible dust. OSHA took the unusual step of posting an “imminent danger” notice and issued more fines. This photo is a copy from the report that OSHA published online.

One would think after similar conditions caused an explosion and the death of 13 people that they would made immediate changes at their other plants.

If you have any comments about these recent OSHA fines OR have any good Dwight quotes, share it with us.

Technorati Tags: osha, osha fines, safety

Posted in Fall Protection News by Sassy Safety Glasses Queen. The Sassy Safety Glasses Queen is our resident safety glasses expert. She specializes in the news, trends, and fashions of the Safety Glasses industry while dabbling in the world of fall protection.

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Expedite: [’ek-spe-d?t] to hasten; to accelerate the process; www.snugharness.com

Yep, we’re under the word “expedite” in the dictionary. Yep, we’re that good.  That fast. Your problem is our problem.  Well, the safety and delivery problem/solution.  We can’t help you with your tub grout or coffee addiction, although I could help out with potty training or raisins up the nose, but that’s most likely not why you’re here. You know I like tangents… but let’s stick to what we do best.

“It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, it’s Super Luke!” Luke is our Fall Protection expert.  He’s smart, fun to tease and puts up with slightly off-centered humor. Like the time I discussed his Care Bear tattoos in product listings (he was okay with that). Or when I salted his coffee… maybe he doesn’t know about that one …yet.

When I am in the office, I get to hear Luke talk on the phone, and he makes things happen.  He knows our manufacturers and he knows which manufacturers are behind, where everyone’s warehouses are located, who’s pokey and who will get it out fast. If he can’t do it, I don’t know who can.

“I might be able to do something, but I can’t promise it.”  Translation:  I am going to call my contacts, the warehouse and kick some *** to see if I can get you what you need faster than fast. Yeah, he’s that good. His calm demure on the phone is just a cover for his fast and furious work.  It’s pretty cool.

Sorry ladies, Luke is taken by a very nice girl who helps me out by changing .tif documents to .jpeg documents. They better not break up.  I foresee a wedding with Johnny Cash’s “Burning Ring of Fire” during the processional. What do ya think?

Technorati Tags: fall protection, snug harness

Posted in Fall Protection News by Sassy Safety Glasses Queen. The Sassy Safety Glasses Queen is our resident safety glasses expert. She specializes in the news, trends, and fashions of the Safety Glasses industry while dabbling in the world of fall protection.

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I had no idea. Did you?  The deadliest (civilian) job in America is a cell phone repair person?  I guess I was thinking Deadliest Catch would rank up there.

This makes me rethink my outlook when I get a dropped cell phone call.

Recent figures show that the deadliest job in America now goes to people who construct, upgrade, and repair cell phone towers. Who are these people? Are they daredevils? How’s the pay? What training do they have? What’s the appeal? I want to know.

But for now let me share with you some statistics.  According to a story in last week’s RCR Wireless News …”building and climbing towers (which can be hundreds of feet tall) is more dangerous than ranching, fishing, logging, and even ironworking. The fatality rate is currently 183.6 deaths per 100,000 workers: Five tower workers died during one 12-day span earlier this year alone. 18 tower workers died on the job in 2006.

The cause for the run up in tower worker deaths isn’t completely clear, but it’s likely a combination of careless working practices (workers not using safety gear 100 % of the time, or not using it correctly) and network operators pushing to build out and upgrade their networks too quickly. Hard to blame carriers for wanting to get faster networks up and running, but not at the cost of human life. (RCR is careful to note that the investigation into the rise in fatalities is too early to attribute to any specific source.)”

There is a bunch of oversight in this industry. The person waxing my eyebrows has to follow more state regulations than a cell tower repair person. And because the towers are built and repaired by private contractors (the carriers and tower owners themselves are not involved directly and do not face fines) it makes it more difficult and slow for safety changes to happen.  However, some experts say to look for change in federal legislation as workers themselves push for change. A partnership was recently created between the NATE (National Association of Tower Erectors) and OSHA.

I have included a picture the NATE/OSHA partnership have available for job sites to post. It’s a reminder to tie-off when working.

You can download the SAFETY POSTER HERE

Technorati Tags: cell phone repair, dangerous job, safety gear

Posted in Fall Protection News by Sassy Safety Glasses Queen. The Sassy Safety Glasses Queen is our resident safety glasses expert. She specializes in the news, trends, and fashions of the Safety Glasses industry while dabbling in the world of fall protection.

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“You’ve got to ask yourself a question:  ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?” *

Do you feel lucky? Well do ya? My dear testosterone pumped reader, sometimes it’s better not to rely on luck. It’s better to assume Murphy’s Law and plan for contingencies.

Think, “Hmmm, although I have never fallen, maybe I should get a Res-Q Step.” Or,”Hmmm, maybe I should wear safety glasses when mowing the lawn.” Or “Who knows when Mr OSHA man (or women) might plan a visit to your work site? Those fines are quite inconvenient.”

As I read my weekly OSHA updates I wonder what people were thinking. And I can only come to one conclusion: plan ahead or else like Dierk Bentley sings,  you’ll be saying “What was I thinkin’?” And that’s really something you should reserve for your love life not for work.

*Thanks goes out to Dirty Harry for his great line.

Technorati Tags: osha, Safety Glasses, u-res-q

Posted in Fall Protection News by Sassy Safety Glasses Queen. The Sassy Safety Glasses Queen is our resident safety glasses expert. She specializes in the news, trends, and fashions of the Safety Glasses industry while dabbling in the world of fall protection.

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