VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING AUTHORITY. L/OBJ. a) Define safety b) Define workshop safety c) Explain the important of workshop safety d) Explain the procedures of maintaining workshop safety SAFETY: Safety is the state of being safe; freedom from the occurrence or risk of injury, danger, or loss. Safety is the condition of being safe from undergoing or causing hurt, injury, or loss. Safety is the condition of being safe; freedom from danger, risk, or injury. Safety is the condition of being safe; freedom from danger, risk, or injury. Safety describes a state of being protected from potential harm or somethingt that has been designed to protect and prevent harm. (noun) Safety is the state of being "safe" (from French sauf), the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be considered non-desirable. Safety can also be defined to be the control of recognized hazards to achieve an acceptable level of risk. This can take the form of being protected from the event or from exposure to something that causes health or economical losses. It can include protection of people or of possessions. Safety rules are the rules of behavior that are intended to protect the lives of the public. General Shop Safety Rules Having general shop safety rules protects everyone. It's important to establish good general shop safety rules for everyone who enters or uses the area. Implementing general shop safety rules will keep everyone safe and provide the most productive environment for working or learning. Post the rules where they can clearly be viewed at all times. Additionally, provide shop users with a written copy of the rules and discuss them to answer any questions or confusion that shop users might have. 1. Personal Safety Equipment o Safety equipment is important for general shop safety rules. The specific type of personal safety equipment to be used will be greatly determined by the actual type of equipment in the shop. The most common personal safety equipment will be safety eye goggles, safety masks, dust masks, gloves, hard hats and closed-toed shoes. Make a list of the required personal safety equipment to be in the shop area. If you have different stations that require additional protection, be certain to post a clear sign stating the requirements for that section. Clean Work Areas o One of the biggest problems in a general shop area is the potential for accidents. Students and workers must be taught the importance of cleaning their work stations on a regular basis. All equipment and items must be put back in their proper storage areas after each use. It's imperative that you do not let a general shop become cluttered and disorganized in order to prevent accidents. Appropriate Clothing o Another issue to address with general shop safety rules is appropriate clothing. Loose clothing, jewelry and even shoe laces can get caught in power equipment and cause extreme injury. Make a list of the types of clothing that are not allowed in the shop area. Go over the list with students and workers. Make certain everyone understands how something as simple as a bracelet can get caught in equipment. Safety Partners o No one should be allowed in any general shop alone. It should be a general shop safety rule for there to be a minimum of two people in the shop at all times. A person alone in the shop might not be able to get emergency help in the event of a general shop accident. Location of phones to use in the event of an emergency should be well-marked and highly visible. Chemicals o Does your shop have chemicals? Chemical safety must be covered with anyone that might use them. Additionally, workers should be taught how to use the eyewash station in accidental case of chemicals splashing in the eyes. Extra personal safety equipment, such as aprons to protect from chemical splashes or spills, will be required. Workshop Safety Rules Before you can use equipment and machines or attempt practical work in a workshop you must understand basic safety rules. These rules will help keep you and others safe in the workshop. Safe Ed (left) always thinks about working safely. On the other hand, Ed the Handyman (right) never considers safety. Not only is he at risk of having an accident but so are those who work near him. They could have an accident because of his reckless behaviour. Read the safety rules carefully. If you fully understand them you should be able to work safely in a workshop. Do not be like Ed the Handyman !!!! 1. Always listen carefully to the teacher and follow instructions. 2. Do not run in the workshop, you could ‘bump’ into another pupil and cause an accident. 3. Know where the emergency stop buttons are positioned in the workshop. If you see an accident at the other side of the workshop you can use the emergency stop button to turn off all electrical power to machines. 4. Always wear an apron as it will protect your clothes and hold lose clothing such as ties in place. 5. Wear good strong shoes. training shoes are not suitable. 6. When attempting practical work all stools should be put away. 7. Bags should not be brought into a workshop as people can trip over them. 8. When learning how to use a machine, listen very carefully to all the instructions given by the teacher. Ask questions, especially if you do not fully understand. 9. Do not use a machine if you have not been shown how to operate it safely by the teacher. 10. Always be patient, never rush in the workshop. 11. Always use a guard when working on a machine. 12. Keep hands away from moving/rotating machinery. 13. Use hand tools carefully, keeping both hands behind the cutting edge. 14. Report any damage to machines/equipment as this could cause an accident. Meanings There are two slightly different meanings of safety. For example, home safety may indicate a building's ability to protect against external harm events (such as weather, home invasion, etc.), or may indicate that its internal installations (such as appliances, stairs, etc.) are safe (not dangerous or harmful) for its inhabitants. Discussions of safety often include mention of related terms. Security is such a term. With time the definitions between these two have often become interchanged, equated, and frequently appear juxtaposed in the same sentence. Readers unfortunately are left to conclude whether they comprise a redundancy. This confuses the uniqueness that should be reserved for each by itself. When seen as unique, as we intend here, each term will assume its rightful place in influencing and being influenced by the other. Safety is the condition of a “steady state” of an organization or place doing what it is supposed to do. “What it is supposed to do” is defined in terms of public codes and standards, associated architectural and engineering designs, corporate vision and mission statements, and operational plans and personnel policies. For any organization, place, or function, large or small, safety is a normative concept. It complies with situation-specific definitions of what is expected and acceptable. [1] Using this definition, protection from a home’s external threats and protection from its internal structural and equipment failures (see Meanings, above) are not two types of safety but rather two aspects of a home’s steady state. In the world of everyday affairs, not all goes as planned. Some entity’s steady state is challenged. This is where security science, which is of more recent date, enters. Drawing from the definition of safety, then: Security is the process or means, physical or human, of delaying, preventing, and otherwise protecting against external or internal, defects, dangers, loss, criminals, and other individuals or actions that threaten, hinder or destroy an organization’s “steady state,” and deprive it of its intended purpose for being. Using this generic definition of safety it is possible to specify the elements of a security program.[1] Limitations Safety can be limited in relation to some guarantee or a standard of insurance to the quality and unharmful function of an object or organization. It is used in order to ensure that the object or organization will do only what it is meant to do. It is important to realize that safety is relative. Eliminating all risk, if even possible, would be extremely difficult and very expensive. A safe situation is one where risks of injury or property damage are low and manageable. Types of safety It is important to distinguish between products that meet standards, that are safe, and those that merely feel safe. The highway safety community uses these terms: Normative safety Normative safety is when a product or design meets applicable design standards and protection. Substantive safety Substantive, or objective safety occurs when the real-world safety history is favorable, whether or not standards are met. Perceived safety Perceived, or subjective safety refers to the level of comfort of users. For example, traffic signals are perceived as safe, yet under some circumstances, they can increase traffic crashes at an intersection. Traffic roundabouts have a generally favorable safety record[2] yet often make drivers nervous. Low perceived safety can have costs. For example, after the 9/11/2001 attacks, many people chose to drive rather than fly, despite the fact that, even counting terrorist attacks, flying is safer than driving. Perceived risk discourages people from walking and bicycling for transportation, enjoyment or exercise, even though the health benefits outweigh the risk of injury.[3] Security Also called social safety or public safety, security is the risk of harm due to intentional criminal acts such as assault, burglary or vandalism. Because of the moral issues involved, security is of higher importance to many people than substantive safety. For example, a death due to murder is considered worse than a death in a car crash, even though in many countries, traffic deaths are more common than homicides. Risks and responses Safety is generally interpreted as implying a real and significant impact on risk of death, injury or damage to property. In response to perceived risks many interventions may be proposed with engineering responses and regulation being two of the most common. Probably the most common individual response to perceived safety issues is insurance, which compensates for or provides restitution in the case of damage or loss. System safety and reliability engineering System safety and reliability engineering is an engineering discipline. Continuous changes in technology, environmental regulation and public safety concerns make the analysis of complex safety-critical systems more and more demanding. A common fallacy, for example among electrical engineers regarding structure power systems, is that safety issues can be readily deduced. In fact, safety issues have been discovered one by one, over more than a century in the case mentioned, in the work of many thousands of practitioners, and cannot be deduced by a single individual over a few decades. A knowledge of the literature, the standards and custom in a field is a critical part of safety engineering. A combination of theory and track record of practices is involved, and track record indicates some of the areas of theory that are relevant. (In the USA, persons with a state license in Professional Engineering in Electrical Engineering are expected to be competent in this regard, the foregoing notwithstanding, but most electrical engineers have no need of the license for their work.) Safety is often seen as one of a group of related disciplines: quality, reliability, availability, maintainability and safety. (Availability is sometimes not mentioned, on the principle that it is a simple function of reliability and maintainability.) These issues tend to determine the value of any work, and deficits in any of these areas are considered to result in a cost, beyond the cost of addressing the area in the first place; good management is then expected to minimize total cost. Safety measures Safety measures are activities and precautions taken to improve safety, i.e. reduce risk related to human health. Common safety measures include: Chemical analysis Destructive testing of samples Drug testing of employees, etc. Examination of activities by specialists to minimize physical stress or increase productivity Geological surveys to determine whether land or water sources are polluted, how firm the ground is at a potential building site, etc. Government regulation so suppliers know what standards their product is expected to meet. Industry regulation so suppliers know what level of quality is expected. Industry regulation is often imposed to avoid potential government regulation. Instruction manuals explaining how to use a product or perform an activity Instructional videos demonstrating proper use of products* Root cause analysis to identify causes of a system failure and correct deficiencies. Periodic evaluations of employees, departments, etc. Physical examinations to determine whether a person has a physical condition that would create a problem. Safety margins/Safety factors. For instance, a product rated to never be required to handle more than 200 pounds might be designed to fail under at least 400 pounds, a safety factor of two. Higher numbers are used in more sensitive applications such as medical or transit safety. Self-imposed regulation of various types. Implementation of standard protocols and procedures so that activities are conducted in a known way. Statements of Ethics by industry organizations or an individual company so its employees know what is expected of them. Stress testing subjects a person or product to stresses in excess of those the person or product is designed to handle, to determining the "breaking point". Training of employees, vendors, product users Visual examination for dangerous situations such as emergency exits blocked because they are being used as storage areas. Visual examination for flaws such as cracks, peeling, loose connections. X-ray analysis to see inside a sealed object such as a weld, a cement wall or an airplane outer skin. Why safety is Important? So what can safety do for you? The benefits of maintaining a safe work environment are many, but first and foremost, safety is about what you can do to protect your workers. “It’s the right thing to do. Employers should send their workers home in the same condition they came in. Why wouldn’t that be important to a company?” says Todd Detro, vice president of Safety Management Group’s owner services team. But the practice of safety also brings financial benefits to the table. A safe work environment impacts a project’s bottom line both directly and indirectly. Costs associated with incidents, including lost costs, worker’s comp claims, insurance costs and legal fees are minimized in a safe work environment. So are the indirect costs that follow incidents, including the lost productivity that occurs when people turn their attention to dealing with an incident. “If you’re doing safety effectively in a business world, it’s going to relate to fewer schedule interruptions, which will minimize your costs,” says Mark Steinhofer, facilities lead safety advisor in Safety Management Group’s owner services team. “You’re not going to have to stop work because you run into a problem.” On the flip side, a safe work environment boosts employee morale, which, in turn, increases productivity, efficiency and profit margins. “When people feel like they have a good, safe work environment, they feel like they can make a difference,” says Steinhofer. “There are fewer staff absences, less staff turnover and an improved quality of work.” Implementing a safety program is a cost-effective decision for the company. “It’s the right thing to do financially, too,” says Steinhofer. He points out that lower injury rates lead to higher profit margins. “Evidence shows that companies who implement effective safety and health programs can expect to see their injury and illness rates reduced by 20 percent or more and a return of $4 to $6 for every dollar invested in the safety program,” he says. He adds that employee injuries account for about 6 to 9 percent of project costs on a job site without a safety program, as opposed to only 2.5 percent of project costs with a wellimplemented safety program. The positive business benefits of safety extend beyond financials. A solid safety program can help protect a company’s reputation. “Lost time means poor service quality,” Steinhofer says. “This can lead to customer dissatisfaction and loss of future business.” Safety Management Group helps companies defend their hard-earned reputation by helping them improve their safety records. Safety Management Group’s expertise also helps companies comply with federal and state worker-safety rules and satisfies insurance company requirements. SMG’s services can help owners anticipate and meet legal requirements for worker safety and identify situations that are likely to draw OSHA attention. Safety Management Group will also serve as a representative during regulatory inspections. The company’s experience in loss control prevention and working with insurance carriers can also help clients satisfy insurance requirements and lower their insurance costs. No one can argue with the fact that workplace safety is important, yet it’s often unintentionally overlooked, leaving workers and others on the job site exposed to risk. Safety Management Group’s trained safety advisors can identify unsafe acts and conditions and provide practical solutions for minimizing those risks. Additionally, Safety Management Group’s safety professionals can help clients to develop a culture of safety on their job sites. The on- or off-site training that Safety Management Group provides can equip all the members of a construction team with the tools they need to perform their job safely, whether they need basic safety training or project-specific safety training. “Everyone has a piece in the safety puzzle,” says Detro. “We want every person on that construction team to know what their roles are regarding safety—the project manager, the foreman, the superintendent, and the field worker all have a responsibility. We lay that out up front.” 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. eHow Legal Federal Law OSHA Requirements Define Personal Protective Equipment Define Personal Protective Equipment A hard hat is one example of personal protective equipment. Personal protective equipment is any device that safeguards a worker from impact, heat, chemical, respiratory or radiation hazards not accounted for by existing workplace safety measures. PPEs must be suited to environmental hazards and their usage and effectiveness should be monitored. Other People Are Reading Types of Personal Protective Equipment Personal Protective Equipment Laws Impact o Safety glasses, goggles, face masks, hard hats and steel-toed boots are examples of PPEs that keep impact damage at bay. These devices stop flying debris and falling objects from causing bruising, breaking, crushing or penetrating injuries. Heat o Protection from heat generated by electrical, mechanical or chemical processes requires face shields, welding masks and heat-resistant gloves or full body suits. Chemical o A face mask paired with goggles is the best protection against chemical splashes, mists, fumes and vapors. Gloves, safety shoes and leggings are also examples of PPEs that protect against chemical burns. Respiratory Hazards o Respirators, safety goggles, surgical masks and face shields are examples of PPEs that protect workers from inhaling harmful particles and organisms present in the workplace air supply. OSHA o The Department of Labor Occupational and Safety Administration requires that personal protective equipment be used in all situations where a worker's health and safety is at risk. However, it is up to the employer to require employee use and to monitor PPE effectiveness.
