Bryan, I love your newsletter and agree that it is a constant struggle to get associate’s to think about not only doing their job correctly, but to do it safely. I am attaching some photos I took and put into one of our monthly safety talks on PPE and why we use it. The forklift in the photos is commonly referred to as a stockpicker, cherrypicker or...

Bryan You always have the bodgey scaffold of the week. This time I have one that must take the prize for the best scaffold of the week. What do you think? Casper This is a fine example of a galvanised tube-and-coupler hung spurred scaffold. Note the use of check couplers . A check coupler is a coupler fixed hard against a loadbearing coupler, to restrict or prevent...

Where I work (please no names), we have a sheet metal shop that makes HVAC duct work to install in people’s homes. When I first started as safety manager, I noticed that the guys in the shop were using old blowers from furnaces as fans because the shop gets extremely hot in the summer. I also noticed the blowers had fan belts and fans that weren’t...

I would normally find these laying where the guys took them off……on the ground. But this contractor made it clear to their workers how it was gonna be. Good Job! Tom

Bryan One of the things I like to do is post pictures of the guys on a BB of  them doing things right.. I work for a large GC and have lots of subs on site.. The guys and gals it seams always hear the negative stuff from their supervision.  I like it when they take the extra steps to make it safe for themselves and others without being told “you have...

Bryan Attached are three photos of a machine guarding we just completed. The OEM version wasn’t very good compared to our design. This protects ALL from the tool changer. This is a PERFECT EXAMPLE of not using the EXCUSE “it came from the manufacturer that way”.  This plant decided it was not up to their standard in safety and made things...

Bryan, I have enclosed a picture of an improperly guarded hobart mixer and a properly guarded hobart mixer. I hope you can use them on the site. Nathaniel McMullin All-Glass Aquarium Environmental Health & Safety Manager

Photo’s of trench. One is the trench on day one. It’s 11 feet deep and water is in the bottom 2 feet. The other trench photo is a huge cave-in that happened 24 hours after the trench was dug. But the trench box saved the guy’s life.   Please do not use my company name in these photos. Thank you.   Justin XXXXXXXXX … HomeRead More »

Definition of a Safety Pro! (Author Unknown) Sandwiched tightly between Top Brass and the teaming masses sits a wild-eyed individual madly singing a safety tune. He’s the most misunderstood, maligned and unsung person in all the world of business. He’s the proverbial “SAFETY PROFESSIONAL”. This fellow’s a little bit of all strata’s….a member of none. To...

On July 31st, 2001, an employee of ours, Ryan XXXXXX was killed as a result of injuries during an accident. Ryan was 19 years old and the son of an Assistant Project Manager who had been with the company for over 18 years. Here’s what happened as best as I could tell from investigating the accident. Ryan was instructed to pick up scrap lumber left over from stripping concrete forms along the...

I have been working with electricity for over 25 years. I have been shocked on numerous occasions by low voltage. I knew I would never get hit by big voltage. I was TOO EXPERIENCED- “Little Did I Know”   I have been working on this type of 4,160-volt switchgear for over 8 years. I knew the safety latch would not fail. It never had in the past. – “Little Did I Know”   The procedures...

Thoughts of Emergency Responder I wish you could know what it is like to search a burning bedroom for trapped children at 3 AM, flames rolling above your head, your palms and knees burning as you crawl, the floor sagging under your weight as the kitchen below you burns. I wish you could comprehend a wife’s horror at 6 in the morning as I check her husband of 40 years for a pulse and find none....