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| Worker Falls Headfirst From Raised Forklift Platform |
Standing on a makeshift platform spanning the forks of a lift truck isn’t safe. In California, doing so proved lethal for a 29-year-old worker.
Alejandro Valladares fell headfirst about 30 feet (9.1 meters) into a hole from a plywood platform on a forklift. He had been operating a handheld compactor to push down a piling. The vibration caused Valladares to lose his balance and fall into the deep hole.
Making matters worse was the fact that sandy soil in the hole collapsed onto the worker, leaving only part of one of his legs exposed. It took emergency services workers more than two hours to free his body.
It’s dangerous enough to stand on a platform haphazardly spanning a forklift’s forks, but in this situation the vibration escalated the risk. And the unstable hole was the third hazard that sealed Valladares’ fate.
A worker who needs to be in a raised position to perform tasks should be using a properly designed lifting platform, which is firmly secured to the forks and provides guardrails and other safety features. Proper platforms also allow workers to tie themselves off using safety belts.
You have to make sure your employees are trained and aware of any hazards before they use an aerial lift. Read this article first and then deliver this safety talk to your workers.
Need access to additional resources on this topic? Try SafetySmart today and get immediate access to safety talks, presentations and more. Sign up for a free 14-day trial now. |
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| Hey, it’s a new mobile scaffold. Just pull up in a truck, climb onto its roof and Bob’s your uncle. Except that it’s not safe. The truck’s roof surface is smooth, so one of these window installers could easily slip over the side and there’s a sizeable gap between the “mobile scaffold” and the structure. This isn’t the ideal place to be carrying heavy windows. (Naval Safety Center) |
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| Holiday Parties & Alcohol—A Risky Combination |
It’s that time of year when good boys and girls start looking ahead to receiving gifts and their parents anticipate the seasonal office party. Controlling alcohol consumption at those parties substantially increases the odds of parents, and their employer, having a happy and healthy holiday season.
The first thing for employers to address is the risk of injury to an employee – or someone else – as a result of alcohol consumption. Canadian court cases have firmly established the employer’s duty of care to take active steps to prevent injuries as a result of its employees’ alcohol consumption.
Read the full post on OHS Insider.com.
(Note: subscription is required; to get instant access , simply sign up for a No-Obligation Trial of OHSInsider.com. Sign up now and you will be entered into a drawing to win an iPad!)
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| Emergency Room Nurses Suffer Plenty of Abuse |
A study conducted by the Emergency Nurses’ Association has found that 54 percent of American ER nurses reported experiencing verbal abuse on the job and nearly 13 percent were physically attacked.
Of the nurses who experienced physical violence, nearly half reported being grabbed or pulled, while the most common forms of verbal abuse directed their way involved yelling or swearing.
An ongoing survey of more than 7,000 American ER nurses found that rates of physical violence and verbal abuse did not decrease between May 2009 and January 2011.
The study also found that a patient’s room was the most dangerous place for an emergency nurse, with 82 percent of incidents of physical violence occurring in that location.
Nearly 56 percent of patients who physically assaulted nurses were under the influence of alcohol, 46.8 percent were under the influence of illicit or prescription drugs and 45.2 percent were psychiatric patients.
In most cases of assault, nurses did not file a formal report, but did notify someone, such as a security worker, an immediate supervisor, another emergency nurse or an emergency physician.
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Related story: One in Three Canadian Nurses Reports On-the-Job Abuse
(Note: Subscription is required. To get instant access, simply sign up for a No-Cost Trial of Safe Supervisor.) |
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