Safety

[mostlyharmless]

Gone!  You made me moderate. I was cruel and heartless. Bam! Gone! Cut-off! But I did it safely. You must at least say the word safety to stay on topic.  Aaaah the heady feel of power.

[mostlyharmless]

Ive been trying to access this site http://nishasafety.org/
So far it does not work.

[Rennhack]

Ive been trying to access this site http://nishasafety.org/
So far it does not work.

Try http://www.nisha.org/

[retired nuke]

When I try them, they both take me to the same place.

and the links don't work...

[HydroDave63]

and the links don't work...

Ya mean MostlyHarmless has us tying off to links that don't work? That don't sound safe....

[mostlyharmless]

I'll write a bbs on it. Error precursor: blind trust.

[mostlyharmless]

Went to a vendor demonstration for gloves the other day. My primary interest was puncture and cut resistance. Was shown the difference between a blunt object puncture and a sharp object puncture. With an extraordinary puncture resistant glove was subjected to a sharp it did well,unbelievably well. When subjected to a blunted object, it the object poked through with a bit of sustained pressure. I was quite surprised.A needle would not penetrate but the blunted end of a wire flag did. Leather gloves suffered the same fate with the flag. Makes you think about reliance on PPE. Every thing has a limit. Knowing the limit is the key.
I tested a pair of cut resistant gloves once and found that the back of the hand side was more cut resistant than the palm side,palm side being advertised as the cut resistant side
Sometimes its amazing how much difference something you dint think about can make. Like the surface you stand on. If you have ever had to stand in one place for a long time,you know how important a good pair of shoes are. Try a gell pad for the floor. It makes a good difference for your lower back,ankles and knees.
Now, since it has been hotter than the blazes of hell, or hotter than ten ba****ds for you Hunter S Thompson fans, lets discuss heat stress. I personally have left puke and sweat all over the country. Literally I have thrown up, and succumbed to heat stress in many places. I have worn ice vests and used plastic suites with expansion valves,fresh air hoses run through ice barrels( the hose running over hot asphalt and subsequently re heating the breathing air). I have not used anything that resircs cool(or warm) fluid. I have lost so much body fluid during the course of a shift that though I drink and drink I did not urinate the entire shift. I have pushed myself until I barely had enough to get back up the cavity ladder. I have sprayed the pressure washer up to let the cool water run off the plastics to carry away heat. I have managed heat wisely and foolishly. Wisely feels much better. I have found that heat stress is self managed allmost everywhere I have been. It is always discussed, but the general rule I have seen is be your own best judge.
Anyone care to add to the topic?

[mostlyharmless]

Ultimately the topic is safety. Heat stress was the last thing I mentioned, also there is PPE,gloves specifically,and foot comfort. If you want to discuss something else choose a topic.

[mostlyharmless]

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/heatstress/ Here is a nice web site filled with info about heatstress. Heat stress is a serious concern right now. 100F right now. Any one doing any work in temps were heat stress could be a problem should know the symptoms.

[mostlyharmless]

http://www.50degree.com/files_custom/8832_1740.pdf     more on heat stress.

[mostlyharmless]

I'm looking for a web site that evaluates and compares different types of ppe used to prevent heat stress. If you know of one or find one or if you have experience with or know about ppe for heat stress please post it here.

[Rennhack]

Ever feel like you are talking to yourself?

[mostlyharmless]

It does ,and thats unfortunate. What I see everyday and what I have seen make me think its a worth while topic. I thought the safety professionals would be more interested. But alas and alack. Maybe I could liven it up with my personal stupidity events, or talk about safe snake handling practices: I captured a snake in my facility the other night. I do get a few nibbles every now and again. I know people read the posts,if nothing else for the overwhelming prose. And there is the occasional spelling corrector or the person like above who only wants to make a (emoticon for intelligent donkey) comment but really has nothing to add. Theres nothing that cant be ignored until it effects you personally. Sometimes its fun but lately I hear nothing but Eccs. Sounds like bad lyrics from a song.   Beuler...Beuler....Ben Stine reading war and peace. But I get an E (little e) for effort.

[mostlyharmless]

What I am after is : how is it done where you work,what do you think works better? I also think we can learn from each others  personal experiences. Also if you are a safety professional,what career paths are available?
This is not about telling the worst story like steam line ruptures or electrical arcs, but certainly do not hesitate to share. This is an attempt to bring safety a bit forward in thinking and discussion.

[mostlyharmless]

The other day I was at the beach. People began pointing toward the water and I got up to investigate. I saw what I thought was a child with light blue swimmies being born by the tide  out and down the coast.
While the park rangers on their atv's notified the rescue squad someone from the beach with an inflatable tube swam out and brought the person in, and there was much rejoicing. Turns out what I thought was  an was an adult man app.30years old and in very good shape, I mean all muscled up( not bulky) and low body fat. He was holding on to a blow up noodle.
One minute you're floating along dragging your toes in the sand and life is great: next thing you know you're way off shore  terrified for your life clinging to a child's blow up noodle. Meanwhile someone  on another child's blow up toy is swimming out to your rescue . After it was all over, except the poor mans humiliation, the rescue squad shows up.
The moral is: dont overrely on your tools,if you cant swim stay in the shallows ,it gets deep fast sometimes,even if you think you're a good swimmer,pay attention. Most important,pay attention.
This is not only about swimming.

[Hondo]

MeterSwangin,

It seems like you have all the bases covered. He three safety guys you mentioned –

The nice guy – you don't like him because he apparently tries to develop a rapport with the craft.

The conscientious guy who makes corrections – you don't like him because he apparently is DOING his job, (at very least part of it, probably much more than you'd care to admit).

The office/paperwork guy – gee, RPs have NO administrative stuff that MUST be done – maybe you were passes over for this type of position?

Safety guys aren't into carrying the ball? Really? BeerCourt has that answered pretty well – as a safety professional, you are often totally alone – the very people who hired you will turn on you if you – even ever-so-professionally and tactfully – stand up for what is right.

The "burnout" quip – yeah, right.

We often remember the ignorant cop who wrote us a citation (regardless of whether we were in the wrong or not), We rapidly forget the cop who stopped on a rainy night to change a flat for an elderly motorist.  That's human nature, sadly.

I encountered a HUGELY ignorant female RP who threw a SCREAMING fit at us because a scaffold in containment – that was properly yellow tagged, dated and signed off on by a competent person at the beginning of the shift and was NOT anywhere near where our company/employees were working – was lacking a toeboard. She did not understand that 29 CFR Parts 1910 & 1926 do not prohibit the tagging of scaffolds that may be worked on and are missing a component such as a toeboard provided they are so tagged, inspected and signed off on by said competent person. She brought a copy of some pages of the reg into he safety meeting waved them around, and shrilly shrieked about "OSHA says toeboards SHALL be affixed."
She was rapidly instructed by the project manager, he civil superintendent and he scaffold supervisor on the tag system. She shrank, shriveled and shut up – thank goodness.

One of many such encounters with RPs.

Why is it like his? Is it because RP/HPs don't typically get paid as much as safety operators? Is it because RP/HPs sometimes double as safety on some jobs when full time safety operators are not hired and hay are upset when safety people ARE hired?
Who knows – and I don't care.

Now, the "not required by OSHA" snivel – I've had people whine they wanted GRAPE flavored sports drink, NOT lemon-lime. I've had people snot about not liking the safety glasses (they wanted something "fashionable"). I've had people screamingly demand bifocal (reader) safety glasses – again, safety should not order equipment. However, I ask these last bifocal tantrum throwers if they came to work unprepared to do their assigned work. If the company wants to buy readers, so be it – not my responsibility, not my job.

-When I set up a job, I stipulate that the safety department does NOT order, inventory, select or issue equipment – and that ESPECIALLY includes hard hats, gloves, safety glasses, etc – THAT IS EQUIPMENT.

You want equipment, (including safety glasses or gloves?); I'll show you where the tool room is if you don't know where it is.

Grape kool-aid, (along with pink lens safety glasses, lilac scented commode water and Midol in the lunch/break area are, (drum roll), NOT...... REQUIRED BY OSHA!

Don't like it?  So sad, too bad – now get back to your assigned work area and get [back] to work.

This is not PC, but here goes – RPs make poor choices to be safety operators. And – union people should NEVER be hired to do safety. The latter constitutes a huge conflict of interest.

It is the crew foreman's responsibility to make the work area ready and safe for their crew to go to work in. I've been called by a foreman a half mile away – I walked over there and he pointed to a 3 foot 2" X 4" laying on the walking surface and told me – profanely, "do you f*****g job for once and pick that up!"

We got that straight in short order.

The finest, safest job I was ever on was a non union job in the South.

So, Mr. MeterSwangin, (do you keep a Schwarzenegger poster taped on your bedroom ceiling?), grow up!

[duke99301]

my god the last post is so right I agree . I been in safety the last 20 years, even though I did alara a few times. Money was to good to pass on. A safety person has to to look at a lot of things and decide what is the problem and suggest how to fix it. safety starts with you and the pre job  birefs, I have made it point in my last site report all workers need to attend the pre job briefs thats includes rad techs. so they understand what the work is. I work a lot of project oversite and the most problems I see is when they take someone out of the craft do to having and brand new osha card and that person can do it. there is a lot of paper work knowing the plant procedures and nowing who you are working with. I have old friends in HP ask me how to get over to safety and I tell them they need to know someone. Safety is a trade just like anything else takes a long time to learn to deal with the postion and the people.
one thing other workers forget we are all just s support group for the outage or job.

[redline]

my god the last post is so right I agree . I been in safety the last 20 years, even though I did alara a few times. Money was to good to pass on. A safety person has to to look at a lot of things and decide what is the problem and suggest how to fix it. safety starts with you and the pre job  birefs, I have made it point in my last site report all workers need to attend the pre job briefs thats includes rad techs. so they understand what the work is. I work a lot of project oversite and the most problems I see is when they take someone out of the craft do to having and brand new osha card and that person can do it. there is a lot of paper work knowing the plant procedures and nowing who you are working with. I have old friends in HP ask me how to get over to safety and I tell them they need to know someone. Safety is a trade just like anything else takes a long time to learn to deal with the postion and the people.
one thing other workers forget we are all just s support group for the outage or job.

im hopin you get anybody to proof read your reportses

[JeremyCantrell]

Hi,

Some of you might remember me from years back  on Nukeworker as "DainJer".

I've slightly succumb to the dark side again and will find myself once again working at a nuke plant.
Although in the past, I was a Carpenter/Scaffold Builder/Millwright..I'm now One of these "Evil" Safety Professionals.

My mainstay has been Wind Projects for Siemens and other Wind Companies for the last few years...but during the "offseason" I will start filling in time with the fossil side of the house.

I'm surprised what a few years can bring with changes around here...way back when BeerCourt was a Jr. Tech ...but NuclearNascar was a Mod then as well...so not everything changes.

I look forward to shotting problem,s across this "council of many" when needed.

Now to go persue the "watts Bar" housing area.


Jeremy

[Sun Dog]

Hi,

Some of you might remember me from years back  on Nukeworker as "DainJer".

I've slightly succumb to the dark side again and will find myself once again working at a nuke plant.
Although in the past, I was a Carpenter/Scaffold Builder/Millwright..I'm now One of these "Evil" Safety Professionals.

My mainstay has been Wind Projects for Siemens and other Wind Companies for the last few years...but during the "offseason" I will start filling in time with the fossil side of the house.

I'm surprised what a few years can bring with changes around here...way back when BeerCourt was a Jr. Tech ...but NuclearNascar was a Mod then as well...so not everything changes.

I look forward to shotting problem,s across this "council of many" when needed.

Now to go persue the "watts Bar" housing area.


Jeremy

Please share your recipe for successfully transitioning from scaffold builder to Safety Professional.  Many RP Techs and craftsmen are looking to get into safety and away from working for a living.

[JeremyCantrell]

Sun Dog,

I'm afraid it was mainly Luck of the Draw.
I was finding work slow and applied for a "part time" filler job at a Wind Project in Lena, IL.

I was Safety  for the General contractor for that project.
Not long after I got a call from a friend of a friend asking if I wanted to do Wind Power Safety.

I went to work for a firm out of New York, working on Siemens Wind projects as HSE.
I've completed 3 wind farms for Siemens.
Doing safety at Watts Bar will be for Siemens again...with my short background in Nukes (8 outages?) I at can at least spell "Rad" and know what a becquerel is.

Keep trying to grab as many certs/training/college as possible. We roughnecks tend to overlook that sort of thing.
Get good on computers i.e. MS Office programs especially.

Most importantly, keep up a good network of friends and acquaintances.
If you ever tell somebody you'll be there at 5am on Friday...be there at 4:30.

Safety is a hard career choice, you have to be good at making "we" hard headed crafts think that being safe was our idea and not the safety guys.
It's comparable to the FBI going into the Mob to arrest them armed with water balloons, if you do not have the patience, understanding, and a thick skin...you won't make it.

On another note...grab a mop!
They are always looking for Deconners.
Many, Many transitioned to Rad Tech from Decon.

[Rennhack]

Some of you might remember me from years back  on Nukeworker as "DainJer".

We've missed you.  Send me an email or call me when you get a chance.

[Already Gone]

Welcome back, I guess you have been gone long enough that you don't realize that Sun Dog is being sarcastic.  Which is why I'm not going to extend this invitation to him at the present moment.
Send me a resume if you want.
PM me if you're interested and I'll give you the email address.

Rennhack, that goes for you too.  Couldn't hurt.

[hrdwrkndgs]

Jeremy,
     Thanks for sharing your path in to the safety side of the business.  I am currently pursuing a degree in occupational safety and hope to move over to that side in the near future myself.  My decision has nothing to do with looking for a free ride just some thing I have become very interested in and passionate about over the years.  Best to you...

[Sun Dog]

Sun Dog is being sarcastic.

Not really.  My aim was to have him explain how he successfully changed careers...something that many NW members aim to do.  Thankfully, he wasn't shy or cynical and he provided some insight that helped at least one person.

Jeremy,
    Thanks for sharing your path in to the safety side of the business.  

Oh, and don't worry, I probably would not have accepted the invite (at the present moment).

I'm not going to extend this invitation to him at the present moment.

But...if you'd like, I'll take a look at your resume and see if there is somewhere I can place you.  Send me a PM if you are interested.