Happy New Year, wherever you are!
We here at Purcell Enterprises are hopeful that you have had a prosperous and safe 2016, and that you are looking forward to more progress in safety in 2017. We are hopeful that this blog has been helpful to you in providing valuable safety information that keeps you up-to-date and on top of the latest safety best practices and that your business is a little safer and better informed. I, of course, love any and all feedback you have – positive or negative – about this blog, my website or any of the services I provide. I am always looking for ways to reach my clients in more effective ways, and looking for ways to improve what I do and how I do it, and I will take all feedback into consideration as I move into the new year.
To end the year, I have a couple of Safety Snippets to add to your stockpile that you’ve gotten from me these past 12 months. If you like them, you’re in luck, because I will have more in 2017.
If you don’t really like these safety briefs, you’re in luck … you’ll get to not like them again in 2017. They’re the gift that gives on giving!
Europe Takes on MSE Safety
Europe’s safety organization, EU-OSHA, is well aware of the challenges that micro and small businesses (also known as MSEs, or micro and small enterprises) face when it comes to safety issues and workplace incident prevention and risk mitigation. The challenge has been how to address the high percentage of fatal workplace injuries that occur in MSEs.
EU-OSHA released a report about MSEs and the challenges they face that may describe the increased frequency of fatal injuries at worksites, and as one might guess, the main factor is financial. While safety is an investment rather than an expense, for very small companies and businesses, the cost involved to have safety programs can easily be that – a cost. When you are just getting by month to month, it’s difficult to make too many investments except in tangible equipment.
To help with that challenge, EU-OSHA has implemented 99 online tools, among them the Online Interactive Risk Assessment, all of which are designed to provided free information and knowledge that micro- and small-business owners can acquire to begin implementing some kind of safety program for all workers with minimal expense. The Online Interactive Risk Assessment is one of the first tools an owner should use, and the results of the assessment can dovetail into many other tools that can help formulate a safety program appropriate for the business and its workforce size.
Yep, We Even Got an App for THAT!
You know technology has progressed to sublime levels when even a pocket guide – a guide that fits in your pocket and can go with you anywhere – is still not as convenient as an app on your mobile device.
Yet here we are, officially.
If you are someone who handles hazardous materials and you consider the NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards as your bible for working safety, you will be heartened to know that now you can go to your mobile device in your front pocket to refer to the guide, instead of having to twist your torso to reach into your back pocket.
Anything to minimize injury risk, right?
NIOSH has now put its Pocket Guide even more into your hands by introducing a mobile app version of the guide. But this might actually be a more user-friendly version, in that a user can search for a chemical by any number of ways – chemical or trade name, DOT or CAS number – plus bookmark an entry for future reference, and even have settings to control how much data is displayed for each chemical referenced, and the types of data to displayed. Workers can download the app at this link.