OSHA 30 ESSAY

Submitted By radman31b
Words: 1270
Pages: 6

Out of 3,929 worker fatalities in private industry in calendar year 2013, 796 or 20.3% were in construction―that is, one in five worker deaths last year were in construction. The leading causes of worker deaths on construction sites were falls, followed by struck by object, electrocution, and caught-in/between. These "Fatal Four" were responsible for more than half (58.7%) the construction worker deaths in 2013. But with proper education and understanding on each of these fatal hazards that number can drastically decrease each year. That falls on the employer’s responsibility to ensure that all of their employees get that training.
Fall hazards are present at most worksites and many workers are exposed to these hazards on a daily basis. A fall hazard is anything at your worksite that could cause you to lose your balance or lose bodily support and result in a fall. Any walking or working surface can be a potential fall hazard. Falls from heights are the leading cause of fatalities in construction, while falls on the same level (slips and trips) are one of the leading causes of injuries. Any time you are working at a height of four feet or more, you are at risk. OSHA generally requires that fall protection be provided at four feet in general industry, five feet in maritime and six feet in construction. However, regardless of the fall distance, fall protection must be provided when working over dangerous equipment and machinery. The importance of fall protection cannot be stressed enough. OSHA’s fall protection standards require employers to provide fall protection for you when you are exposed to a fall hazard. The standards set the criteria and practices for fall protection systems and require training. The standards cover hazard assessment, fall protection and safety monitoring systems. Controlled access zones, safety nets, and guardrail, personal fall arrest, warning line and positioning device systems are also addressed. Employers are required to assess the workplace to determine if the walking/working surfaces on which you are to work have the strength and structural integrity to safely support workers.
According to OSHA, caught-in or between hazards are defined as: Injuries resulting from a person being squeezed, caught, crushed, pinched, or compressed between two or more objects, or between parts of an object. This includes individuals who get caught or crushed in operating equipment, between other mashing objects, between a moving and stationary object, or between two or more moving objects. The key factor in making a determination between a Caught event and a Struck event is whether the impact of the object alone caused the injury. When the impact alone creates the injury, the event should be recorded as Struck. When the injury is created more as a result of crushing injuries between objects, the event should be recorded as Caught. OSHA standards require your employer to ensure that hand-held power tools are fitted with guards and safety switches. The type of guard will be determined by the power source of the tool (electric, pneumatic, liquid fuel, hydraulic, or powder-actuated). Exposed moving parts of power tools, such as belts, gears, shafts, pulleys, etc. must be guarded. Points-of operation – where the work is actually performed on the materials – must also be guarded. Power saws are a primary type of equipment that requires a point-of operation guard. In-running nip points, such as where the sanding belt runs onto a pulley in a belt sanding machine, must also be guarded. Your employer should provide a lock-out/tag-out program or equivalent system to ensure that equipment is not accidentally energized during maintenance or repair. Lockout/tagout procedures are specifically required for equipment used in concrete and masonry operations.
Struck-by injuries are produced by forcible contact or impact between the injured person and an object or piece of equipment. Having said that, it is important to point out