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An arc flash is a dangerous situation in which an electrical current leaves its intended path and leaps through the air from one conducting source to another, or even sometimes the ground. Many times the transfer of electrical energy resembles and arc, hence the term arc flash. However, it is important to never underestimate the power behind an arc flash. An arc flash can vaporize metals, plastics, and even flesh. Many times arc flashes cause irreversible damage and harm to people and surrounding objects. In fact, most people injured in arc flash situations often never return to the same quality of life due to severe injury stemming from heat and burns. The heat of an arc flash has been calculated to be near 35,000 degrees Fahrenheit which is four times as hot as the sun's surface! What Causes an Arc Flash? There are many possible contributors towards an arc flash, which makes it difficult to really fully stop one from occurring. Some common culprits that may add towards the probability of an arc flash include dust, condensation, corrosion, material failure, faulty construction, dropping a tool, or simply accidental touching. National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Boundaries In an attempt to help protect employees and visitors from electrically charged equipment possible of creating arch flashes, certain safety boundaries have been put into place by the NFPA. The boundary resembles a target and in the middle is the energized equipment, and then there are four outer rings around the center with each ring labeled and specified for safety. The first ring, closest to the center (energized equipment) is called the prohibited approach boundary, then the next ring further out is called the restricted approach boundary, the next ring is called the limited approach boundary, and the furthest ring out from the center is called the flash protection boundary. Let's quickly describe each boundary. Prohibited Approach: Being within this boundary during an arc flash

Waste water treatment plants are usually operated by municipalities or private utility companies, and are regulated by the states wherein they reside, but their standards were enacted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 (amended in 1986 and 1996), all local treatment systems are regulated so that the water they treat is tested for contamination, their improvement plans are reviewed, they have onsite inspection to ensure that machinery and sanitation efforts are functioning properly, that personnel are properly trained, and that they comply with all standards (or face stiff penalties). On top of these regulations are safety expectations imposed by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) under the U.S. Department of Labor. Waste water treatment plants have so many potentially hazardous areas that can impact people, directly and indirectly. Who is Affected? Directly, employees at the plant run the risk of workplace injuries from working around the huge pumps, walking near and above open water treatment containment tanks, agitator pools, furnaces, pipes, and various other facility obstacles, machinery and equipment which can create pitfalls for unsuspecting workers. Indirectly, end users of the treated water run the risk of drinking and using improperly treated water, but this post is primarily concerned with the safety of workers and visitors to the treatment plant. Ways to Make It Safe Pump pipe marking label image from wikipedia Workers who must work near open vats of raw sewage or even treated water should have all opportunities for falling into the water prevented via various safety devices, warning signs, or precautions. Potentially hazardous holding tanks or agitators should have traction tape laid on walkways or catwalks to reduce slipping. All pipes should be clearly marked with pipe marking labels to display what the contents of the pipes are. Any electric panels should b

Signs are everywhere! Whether you are shopping in a large mall, visiting a zoo, or simply driving in your car, there are signs helping to guide you along your visit or journey. However, one place that signs are highly utilized is within the workplace, especially within industrial work environments. With all the safety hazards possible in different types of jobsites, appropriate workplace signs are a must to help ensure safety. View our "10 Tips For Safety Signage Part 1" Slideshare Presentation Common Signs in the Workplace Signs can convey all sorts of messages from helpful directional arrows guiding employees and visitors to a specific location all the way to urgent, danger zone messages that require people to stop and use extreme caution. Let's discuss some of the most common types of workplace signage. Restriction Signs - These signs often refer to restricted areas or zones, restricted speeds for forklifts, or restricted weight amounts. When a restricted sign is used there are often certain limits in place. Danger Signs - Signs that warn employees of danger are often high-contrast and feature the colors of black, white, and red. These signs can warn of electrical shocks, toxic materials, or any other dangerous situation. Fire Signs - This type of signage is usually white and red and can either warn employees about fire hazards or provide information on where fire safety equipment can be found. Mandatory Signs - Mandatory signs are signs requiring that certain precautions be taken before entering or utilizing an area or piece of equipment. Some mandatory signs may require employees to wear certain protective clothing before entering. Hazard Signs - Often times these signs feature the colors yellow and black. Hazard signs warn employees and visitors of potential hazards in the area. Hazard signs may warn about forklift traffic, slippery floors, or radiation risks, among many other things. Guide Signs - This type of signage is often used

The safety of employee's remains one of the top priorities of many businesses. Without clearly defined safety guidelines, the health and wellbeing of employees is at risk. In order to ensure that employers provide the protection necessary, OSHA provides the guidelines needed to develop a safety plan. Many states have enacted their own rules for safety plans; in fact at least 24 states have enacted their own state mandated safety plans. Furthermore, many businesses choose to turn their safety plans into one detailed safety manual that can be utilized by employees in nearly any work position. Reasons for an OSHA Safety Plan OSHA safety plans are written documents that outline the processes and procedures to help avoid health hazards and injuries, as well as identify the proper steps that should be taken if an accident does occur. This is especially important when it comes to hazardous work environments such as construction sites, factories, mining caves, and long shoring. For example, when a new construction project is being started, an OSHA safety plan will be implemented. First, the employer will need to thoroughly assess the project site for potential health hazards. Each hazard should be accounted for. Once the hazards have been identified, remedies should be sought or provided to either lessen or remove the hazard completely. When looking to reduce a hazard, steps such as providing personal protective equipment or using a special type of safety scaffolding for employees working at heights of more than 6 feet should be implemented.

If there is one industry where FOD has had devastating effects it is the aviation industry. Anyone working in the airline industry has heard about FOD and the havoc they wreak upon the industry with losses annually running into billions. This debris can come in form of nails, fasteners, wires, loose tools and other implements. Although they may sound simple and harmless they present real hazards that can result to immense injuries and fatalities. When it comes to the aviation industry there are measures put in place to minimize or completely eradicate these FODs. There are lots of training programs to educate the staff on the impact of this debris and on how to use various FOD products to lessen the accumulation of debris. The damage There is no doubt that FOD can result into debilitating impact on an airplane engine. The plane engine is like a mammoth vacuum cleaner that sucks up everything it comes into contact with. If the engine intake is close to the ground it becomes more prone to FOD as with the large engine pieces of rocks, grass, nails, bottles, soda cans or even snow can be taken up into the engine causing huge damages to the internal systems such as the compressor and others. The result of this is a huge outlay of cash in terms of repairs or complete overhaul of the whole engine system.

Industrial color codes To minimize workplace injuries and accidents requires the combined input of both the employer and the employees. There are tens of hazards lurking everywhere within the organization and while it is not possible to cover every angle, properly informing the relevant persons of the potential hazards can go a long way towards ensuring safety. Workplace safety is a great concern and immense regulations have been put into place and they are strictly enforced. These regulations have also ensured that the workers clearly understand their responsibilities and their rights. The employer has a huge responsibility of enforcing the set standards and ensuring safety to all. This can be achieved through a number of ways, including using industrial color codes and other appropriate marking and signs. Involving the staff Workers have a major stake in the safety of the organization and they will determine the success of any safety regulations put in place. It is hence important that they be involved right from the start and they be adequately trained to understand the purpose and meaning of each industrial color code and marking used. Sticking to simple and easily understandable colors and signs

Construction sites are filled with tools. Workers use hand tools like hammers, screwdrivers and wrenches all the time. They use power tools like drills and chainsaws on a regular basis, too. Tools may seem pretty straightforward, but you shouldn't assume that everyone understands how to use tools properly and safely. (A recent survey even found many millennial workers don't possess as much knowledge of tools as older workers.) When used improperly, tools can pose obvious hazards like cuts and lacerations. They also create conditions that can lead to slow-developing problems like carpal tunnel syndrome and other ergonomic injuries.

Almost every workplace is prone to hazards. Be it from falling objects, falls, skids or opens electric wires, there are dangers everywhere. According to statistics there are immense injuries and even deaths resulting from work related hazards. Organizations often lose a lot in terms of compensation and lost human resource opportunities. There is no telling when an accident can occur but the good news is that most of these hazards can be minimized through the use of line marking tapes and floor tapes. Safety in the construction site Construction sites top the list of the most hazard prone areas. With so much going on safety standards might fail to be strictly adhered to and this can expose the workers and passersby to great risks. It is hence crucial that they maybe adequately informed of the areas to avoid. Line marking tapes can be used to forewarn any passersby to exercise caution when approaching a certain site. Floor tapes can be used to indicate the safest pathways to use so as to avoid falling objects or other dangers characteristic of a construction site. If it is a renovation project being carried out in the office temporary line marking tapes can be utilized to warn the occupants of the potential hazards. They can also be used to redirect people towards am alternative entrance or exit. Warning people of danger zones Various colors of line marking tapes portray different messages. In the workplace, there is a need to warn people of the existing dangers. In the industrial organizations where there is possible exposure to hazardous materials if it important to erect permanent measures to ensure that all those concerned are adequately aware of the danger lurking within. Relevant floor tapes can be used to reflect danger. A tank that contains oil products should be conspicuously marked to warn any persons within the organization to avoid bringing flammable objects near the site. Warning tapes should also be applied in areas close to the chemical labs and pi

Lean Management - A Guide To Starting Out Right Much like anything over-used and spread before those singing praises have done a lot of research, Lean is a concept that sometimes, despite the best of intentions, misses its mark. Lean principles aren't particularly tricky, but with many offshoots and brands of the ideology, it can be easy for new Lean managers to get caught up in misinformation. At its core, lean is about eliminating all kinds of waste from your business. It sounds simple enough, but one of the biggest problems for many newbies is changing your concept of just what "waste" is. Once you've got a grasp on that, you need to move onto individual strategies that can help you eliminate that waste. In this article, we're going to go over how to accomplish both of these tasks as a manager who may be new to Lean by exploring unique facets of this management type and how they interact with elements of your business. One of the largest differences between Lean management and traditional styles of management is that in a traditional methodology your primary (and nearly sole) concern is the end of the line result. While Lean is of course concerned with achieving superior end results, its focus is on the processes that get you there. In this sense, what you learn and practice as a Lean manager is more about making individual pieces work together efficiently than having a tunnel-vision focus on numbers and figures at the end of the cycle. The Relationship Between Lean management, Waste Elimination, and Continual Improvement "If someone tells you that "lean management is this" and not something else, if someone puts it in a box and ties a bow around it and presents it in a neat package with four walls around it, then that someone knows not of what they speak. Why? Because it is in motion and not a framed picture hanging on the wall. It is a melody, a rhythm, and not a single note." - Lawrence M. Miller, Management Meditations While perhap

When working on construction sites or other places with high heights, one of the most dangerous situations is when someone drops something, or an item is accidently knocked off an edge. These items can get up a lot of speed, which can be devastating to anyone in the area below. For this reason, falling objects safety must always be taken extremely seriously. Many companies make the mistake of only focusing on the actions of the people on the ground. Having them wear hard hats when below a work area, for example. While this is important, it is not nearly enough. Another common mistake is assuming that the only people who are at risk are those who are directly under the worksite. The reality is, however, that a falling object that hits something on the way down can be sent flying in any direction, exposing people in the surrounding area to significant danger. Sadly, this is what happened at a New Jersey construction site. A worker was 50 stories up on a building when he accidently dropped his tape measure. It fell down, striking another piece of equipment before it hit a worker who was talking to someone in a truck some distance away. The individual was taken to the hospital, where he died from the injuries. You can read more about this sad story HERE. While terribly unfortunate, this event can show that if something as simple as a tape measure can become deadly when it is falling, imagine the dangers of objects like hammers or bricks or other large items. With this in mind, consider implementing the following five strategies to help improve the falling objects safety for your company. Many of these things can help make immediate improvements that may actually save someone's life.

When injuries occur at an industrial workplace, sudden fatal explosions or electrical flashes can be the culprit. For this reason, many factories use arc flash labels to warn employees of hazardous areas. At any time, a large number of employees obtain electrical charges that can cause immobility in their arms and hands. Additionally, it can also threaten their lives if they are not careful. Without adequate safety precautions and proper training, employees are open to serious danger from electrical malfunctions. Factory owners should practice electrical safety to protect their employees and the assets of their business.

Workplace practices for keeping employees safe and improving the safety of their environments has improved vastly over the past century. While part of this improvement comes, without a doubt, from the vast leaps in technology. An equally important piece of the puzzle comes from what we've learned from experience. For the most part, processes that don't work get phased out while those that do get brought conveniently to the forefront of publications and articles to help industries constantly re-invent and improve their "best practices" for safety. One system we're glad to see making its exit in recent years, is the "simple" safety system, in which safety statistics and decisions are based almost exclusively on the opinions of management and the actual reported accidents and injuries that occur on the job. While the latter part of that system can provide useful data, it is reactionary rather than preventative, and requires someone to get injured or property to get damaged before corrective measures are taken.

To those who are used to a warehouse environment, walking through the maze and sorting out the various items safely might sound like a walk in the pack. To the visitors or new employees it is a different story altogether. Huge warehouses can be quite complicated especially with the various equipment's and different chemicals everywhere. There is hence a need for vigilance to ensure all the relevant people are informed on how the operations within the premises are run. Safety Safety within the warehouse is vital if the basic objective of an organization is to be achieved. It is imperative that the employees and any visitors feel safe within the workplace precincts. Warehouse signs can play an important role in this. Warehouses can be dens of danger if there are no adequate safety measures in place. Studies have shown that hundreds of workers die every year from work related injuries. These can result from; electrical faults, contact with hazardous chemicals, tripping from a slippery floor, a blast from explosives or from a forklift gone wrong. The hazards are many and so are the solutions. There are tens of stipulations on how employees' safety can be safeguarded but the most important of them is through the use of signs. Labeling of the various hazard areas can go a long way in ensuring that employees and visitors are adequately informed of the lurking dangers and appropriately informed on the precautionary measures to take. Effective signs The key purpose of signs is to inform or convey a specific message to another individual or individuals. Warehouse signs serve the same purpose and ensure that employees are well informed of what they are expected to do. To achieve this hence these signs should be well designed and written. The message to be conveyed should be clear with no room for ambiguity. The signs should be written in a language that is easily understandable to all without discrimination. If English is used, it is important to use another common lan

Arc flash is a problem that can cause enormous property damage and even loss of life. It is when an electric current jumps a gap between phases or a fault in the terminals. This electrical arc contains enough juice and heat to turn everything in the vicinity to a plasma projectile, and creates a pressure wave capable of blasting a person across a room! Knowing the potential threat arc flash poses, it is important to know arc flash protection guidelines as dictated by OSHA , NFPA 70e, and IEEE 1584. This includes tooling, PPE, and all standards for proper arc flash labels for proper category rating. Arc flash injuries and property damage can be prevented. You need to properly equip your workers with the correct personal protective equipment (PPE) and training information. The other day, I was looking online for examples of arc flash accident videos, and I came across this one (WARNING: This video is pretty graphic - it's not fully known whether the guy in this video was okay or killed, which perfectly displays how dangerous arc flash really is):