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Fire Prevention Week is October 9-15
Protect your Family from Fire is the theme for 2011
As an ex-veteran volunteer Firefighter, I have seen the destruction to a family caused by a fire in their home. All too many times, the person that died in the fire went back into the house to try to get someone they thought was still inside the home. Not knowing that the person was already safely outside.
Are you prepared for a home fire emergency?
Have you tested your smoke detectors within the last month?
Are your smoke detectors less than ten years old?
Do you have a smoke detector on every floor?
Is there a smoke detector in every bedroom?
Does your family have an established evacuation plan in case of a fire?
Is the home evacuation plan tested on a regular basis?
Is home evacuation plan communicated to family and friends when they stay overnight?
Does the home evacuation plan designate a "family safe meeting place"?
Do you have fire extinguishers located on each floor? Are these fire extinguishers inspected monthly?
If you can't answer YES to each of the above questions, you need to take action TONIGHT!
Children are taught the importance of fire evacuation and safe meeting places at school. They know the concept. Ensure that they understand how to escape your home by having regular test drills.
Ensure that your plan has a secondary exit if the main exitway is involved in the fire. Consider that you are in each room of the house, your normal route out is blocked by fire. How do you get out safely?
Consider purchasing emergency ladders for second floor bedrooms that do not have a safe exit.
Put the plan onto paper so that it can be reviewed on a regular basis, and communicated to visitors staying overnight.
Test your smoke detectors monthly. Put it on your Outlook calendar.
Don't just rely on the test button. Standing on a safe step ladder (not a chair), light either a candle or match and blow it out. Allow the smoke to set off the detector.
When you vacuum the floors, quickly pass the vacuum hose over the smoke detector.
Change the batteries in your smoke detectors in the spring and fall when the time changes.
Picture of the Week
Safetydude's Safety Tip of the Week
The purpose of these weekly Safety Tips is to inform you not to annoy you. It is my belief that Safety is a Life Evenet not just a Work Event. By being aware of Safety everyday, all day, every task you do......... you become safety conscious and prevent yourself, family, friends and others from becoming injured. Nothing is more important to any of us than our personal safety and that of our family and friends.
Question of the week for you?
If you saw your six year old neighbour doing something that you knew was going to cause them to become injured. What would you do? Would you do the same at work for a co-worker? For someone on the street?
Fall Safety Tips
I'd be running the other direction!
Is prolonged sitting dangerous to your health?
This week I had the article below sent to me via the Workers Health and Safety Centre's E-Bulletin Newsletter.
At first I "scoufed" at it. I know that being a "couch potato" at home has it's many issues. But sitting at work? Then as I started to investigate further I began to accept the basis of the findings.
What are your thoughts? Email me at Safetydude@operationsafety.ca and let me know.
Time spent sitting linked to higher death risk
Sitting on the job can kill you – literally. This is the decision handed down by a United States judge on June 27 this year.
The New York Superior Court in New Jersey heard the case of Renner v. AT & T which involved the death of Cathleen Renner who worked as a manager for AT&T and whose job required her to sit at her computer for long periods.
The cause of her death was a pulmonary embolism. Pulmonary embolism is defined as a blockage of the main artery of the lung or one of its branches by a substance that has travelled from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). Usually this is due to embolism of a thrombus (blood clot) from the deep veins in the legs.
Renner’s husband applied for dependency benefits from workers’ compensation arguing his wife’s death was work-related. A doctor acting as an expert for Mr. Renner agreed sitting for extended periods can lead to a slowing or stoppage of blood flow which can then cause clots.
A workers’ compensation judge concluded the claim was compensable because most of Renner’s inactivity occurred while she was working. AT & T appealed the decision to a state of New York court.
In coming to its decision the court found evidence that:
Renner had worked through the night in the hours before her embolism;
An autopsy report supported testimony that the embolism was recently formed.
The court ruled the requirements of New Jersey’s workers compensation law for a claim for injury or death from a cardiovascular cause had been met. The court upheld the decision by the workers’ compensation judge and award dependency benefits to Renner’s widower.
This decision comes on the heels of an American Cancer Society study that also confirmed sitting for long periods can significantly shorten your life.
The study looked at health outcomes for 123,216 people during a 14-year period and concluded that time spent sitting was associated with an increased risk of death, regardless of the level of physical activity.
The study found women who reported sitting for more than six hours a day verses less than three hours a day had an approximately 40 per cent higher death rate from any cause. Men had about a 20 per cent higher death rate associated with sitting for the same length of time. Time spent sitting regardless of physical activity was mostly associated with deaths from cardiovascular disease in both men and women. However it was also associated with increased risk of cancer deaths in women only.
Findings of the Cancer Society study are consistent with three other recent studies which also looked at the effects of prolonged sitting.
The authors of the Cancer Society study suggested public health messages and guidelines be updated to include reduced time spent sitting in addition to increased physical activity.
From the Courts click here for more Court Action
Kirkland Lake Gold Inc., a company that operates an underground gold mine in Kirkland Lake, was fined $100,000 on September 6, 2011, for violating the Occupational Health and Safety Act after two workers were injured.
On February 24, 2009, two crews were having lunch in the mine when they learned that a machine in a tunnel off the main haulage line had a flat tire. They were instructed to take one crew to examine the machine, before obtaining the appropriate tire from storage. One crew left with a tram - a train consisting of a motor and ore cars - and along the way, they found a tire placed at a curve in the main line and assumed it would fit. The second crew left shortly after, unaware the first crew had stopped to pick up the tire and was still on the main line. The second crew's tram hit the other tram at the curve, crushing and seriously injuring a worker. Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. pleaded guilty, as an employer, to failing to supervise the implementation of its procedure for instances where a train may meet another on a single track.
In a separate incident on August 5, 2009, a worker was installing ground support at a working face in a drift - a horizontal tunnel - at the 4750-foot level. A piece of loose rock fell, glancing off a drill and hitting the worker, who suffered leg injuries. A Ministry of Labour investigation found that Kirkland Lake Gold Inc., the employer, failed to follow bolt patterns used to stabilize rock excavations as prescribed by the mine plan, and utilized bolts significantly shorter than what was called for. The investigation also found that the screening along the wall and roof of the drift had not been properly cleared of loose rock, also contributing to unsafe conditions. Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. pleaded guilty, as an employer, to failing to ensure that ground conditions be examined for dangers and hazards before work was begun.
Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. was fined $50,000 for each conviction.
Safetydude needs your help!
After two years of developing and distributing the Safetydude's Safety Tips of the Week, I am starting to run low on new "thought, provoking" pictures. Do you have some favourite ones that you would like to share? Please email them to me at Safetydude@operationsafety.ca
Is the bag over the childs head suppose to be a helmet or gas mask?
Lawn Mower Safety Tips
For both the workplace and at home.
If you are an Employer who requires that an employee (or contracted person) performs this task you must ensure that they are trained, competent, and adequately supervised. Please contact OperationSafety if you require more information on how to do this, we have an on-line training program available for your use.
Common types of lawn mower accidents
Safety for All Mowers
Safety For Riding Mowers
Safety For Walk-Behind Mowers
Safety For Electric Mowers
For more information, please click here.
From the Courts (Ontario Newsroom)
Supervisor Fined $12,000 Total After Worker Injured
A Supervisor with a North York constructor, was fined $8,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act that caused a worker to be injured. He was also fined $4,000 for providing an inspector with false information.
On June 3, 2009, the constructor was at a project in Mississauga. The supervisor was in charge of the project when a worker fell from a pitched roof, fracturing an arm. The worker was not wearing any fall protection.
On June 12, 2009, the Supervisor told a Ministry of Labour inspector that the worker had tripped and fallen from a window opening, which was not the case.
The Supervisor pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that a worker was adequately protected when working from heights. He also pleaded guilty to knowingly furnishing an inspector with false information.
Picture of the week
Honestly Officer, I wasn't the driver
Apparently, your NOT ALLOWED to have an emergency at this location!
