Occupational Safety Basics

Respirator Use

• Employers must obtain a physician's written permission for employee respirator use.

Stress and Force

• Stress in an object is equal to the force applied divided by the area.

Trenches and Shoring

• Shoring is required for trenches deeper than 4 feet unless sloped or stable rock.
• Trenches are narrow excavations never wider than 15 feet.

Standards and Organizations

• The American Society of Mechanical Engineers has the most standards for unfired pressure vessels.

Ramps and Safety

• Maximum ramp slope is 15, and should never be more than 20 degrees.
• If an unsafe act is found, inspectors must stop, instruct on and report the unsafe act while training.

Guarding and Safety

• Advantages of fixed guarding include customizability, high protection, and low maintenance.

CAD and Software

• CAD stands for Computer-Aided Design
• CAD/CAM stands for Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing
• Word processing and database management are common occupational safety software packages

Warranties and Liability

• Manufacturers can be held liable if products fail to meet warranties.

SQL and URL

• SQL stands for Structured Query Language.
• URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator.

Inspections and Notifications

• Notify supervisors in writing for minor infractions during inspections.

Contractors and Hazardous Chemicals

• Employers employing contractors for hazardous chemicals need a contractor screening process.
• Employers assess contractor work methods and experiences, and maintain a site injury/illness log.

Process Safety Management

• Employers must develop and implement emergency action plans including alarm systems and evacuation/relocation procedures.
• Employers must certify every three years that they comply with OSHA standards.

Highly Hazardous Chemicals

• Chemicals with toxic, reactive, flammable, or explosive properties are highly hazardous under OSHA's standard.

Air Collection Systems

• Wet and fabric collectors remove dust, gases, or vapor contaminants from air.

UN Labeling System

• Provides information about packaging, but not specific contents or dangerous goods labeling.

Hearing Protection and NIOSH

• NIOSH recommends reducing NRR for hearing protection depending on type of earplug.

Radioactivity and Units

• Radioactivity measures ionizing radiation released by materials.
• Units include Curie (Ci), Becquerel (Bq)
• Exposure measures radiation traveling through air (e.g., Roentgen (R), C/kg).

Process Safety Management (continued)

• OSHA's process safety management standards apply to facilities employees visit periodically.
• Highly hazardous chemicals, from OSHA's criteria, contain explosive, toxic, flammable, and reactive properties

Process Flow Diagrams and Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams

• Diagrams are required under OSHA's process safety management standard
• Employee Participation is required under the Clean air act.

Employee Participation (continued)

• Employers need to create screening processes for contractors who handle hazardous chemicals to ensure they're capable.

Process Technology Information

• Maximum inventory limits for process chemicals must be included in process technology information
• Limits beyond upset conditions must be included
• A qualitative consequence analysis or result of deviations from design intent needed

Process Hazard Analysis

• Detailed guidance on process hazard analysis methodologies can be obtained from the American Chemical Society.
• Operating procedures certification for tasks needs to be updated annually.

Pre-Start Up Safety Review

• Equipment construction must adhere to design specs.
• Adequate operating procedures & worker training need to be in place.

Emergency Action Plan

• Plans must include alarm systems, evacuation/relocation procedures, and pre-planning for releases

Certification

• Employers must validate OSHA compliance every three years

Engineering Controls

• Examples include shielding ionizing radiation sources.

Point Source Airborne Contaminants

• General ventilation with 10+ compressors controls airborne pollutants originating from a point source.

Insurance

• Stock insurance companies handle profit-motivated insurance.
• Manufacturers/contractors coverage handles liability for hazardous waste site cleanup.

Ventilation Design

• Calculating air changes involves dividing the volumetric air flow rate by the room size.

Chemical Labels

• Chemical labels are required for hazardous materials in drums, gas cylinders, and bottles

OCP

• OCP stands for (abbreviation not explicitly given).
• Data loggers are electronic instruments used to collect sensor data.
• Devices convert physical data into signals

Safety Data Sheets

• Safety Data Sheets consist of 16 sections.
• OSHA does not enforce sections 12-15.

NFPA 101 Life Safety Code

• Classifies buildings/structures based on content hazards.
• Levels of hazard include "Low," "Ordinary," and "High" hazard levels

Atmospheric Testing

• The appropriate order for atmospheric testing in confined areas is; oxygen, flammability, and toxicity.
• Near-infrared radiation is invisible and warm, with a wavelength of 700nm to 1400nm.
• Scotoma is invisible vision loss from retina damage.

Radiation

• Near-infrared radiation is invisible, feels warm, and has a wavelength of 700nm to 1400nm
• Scotoma is loss of vision in part of the visual field.

Insurance Coverage

• Insurance categories: property, liability, life
• Property insurance covers property losses.

Business Income Coverage

• Includes loss of income and extra expenses.
• Business Income is part of basic BIC.

Safety Concepts

• GFCI opens circuits in ~0.02 to 0.03 secs
• Falls are absorbed by arrest systems.
• Ozone is produced when welding stainless steel or during electric arc welding sessions

Advanced Safety Concepts

• Hexavalent chromium forms as a by-product
• Total pressure within a closed system is static & velocity pressure combined.
• CE marking indicates a product aligns with European health/safety standards.

Process Safety Management (continued)

• Emergency action plans must consist of alarm systems, evacuation/relocation, and pre-planning for releases.
• Employer compliance with OSHA standards must be validated every 3 years

Safety Regulations

• Original inspection reports from Transportation departments need to be stored for 14 months after the inspection.

Laser and Infrared Concepts

• Infrared-B wavelengths = 1.4 to 3 micrometers
• Far-infrared (IR-C) = 3 to 1000 micrometers
• LASER= Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation

Electrical and Fire Safety

• Electrical bonding safely joins metals to create electrical pathways
• Tagout devices have a 50-pound minimum unlocking strength.

Chemical Hazards

• Perchloric acid with water causes significant heat/explosions.
• Sodium hydroxide with water generates significant heat/explosions.
• Metal carbonates, when reacted with acids, yield salt, water, & carbon dioxide.
• Hazards are often divided into: toxic, flammable, reactive, and corrosive.

Fire suppression

• FM certification identifies fire-suppression products

Control Systems

• Active vs. passive systems in worker tasks.
• Active controls require worker action to safely operate devices; passive are self-regulating.

Fall Arrest Systems

• Fall arrest systems are required to support at least 5000 pounds.

Loss Exposures

• Property insurance covers direct property damage
• Liability insurance covers cases where insurance is responsible for a situation
• Businesses can cover income losses or extra business expenses due to issues using insurance.

Advanced Safety Concepts (Continued)

• BIC covers elements of property, perils, and consequences.
• Perils are serious/immediate dangers.

Ventilation

• Overall system pressure in a closed ventilation system = sum of velocity and static pressures

Product Markings

• CE marking denotes adherence to EU safety standards.

Web and Computer Concepts

• Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) links, images, and text are in URL addresses.

Scientific Concepts

• A spectrometer measures transmission of liquids or solids as a wavelength function.
• Chromium formation is a manufacturing process
• Water solubility is maximum solute concentration in equilibrium.

Safety Regulations

• OSHA ensures employer compliance with safety standards.
• OSHA does not enforce SDS sections 12-15.
• NFPA 101 classifies buildings by hazard content level (Low, Ordinary, or High)

Atmospheric Testing and Radiation

• Testing confined spaces goes: oxygen, flammability, then toxicity.
• Near-infrared radiation is invisible, has heat; 700 - 1400 nanometers.
• Scotoma is vision loss due to retina damage.

Advanced Safety Concepts (Continued)

• In crashes, impact energy needs to remain below critical thresholds for worker safety.
• Safety shields can reduce worker exposure to ionizing radiation.
• Stock insurance companies operate for profit.
• Liability coverage available for cleanup of hazardous waste sites.

Ventilation Design

• Calculating air changes involves dividing volumetric air flow by room or area.

Hazardous Materials

• Chemical labels are required for hazardous waste, gas cylinders, & chemical bottles.

Permeation and Osmosis

• Permeation involves sorption, diffusion, and desorption of chemicals through a substance.

Electrical Safety

• Electrical bonding creates a conductive path for electric current.
• Fail-safe designs for spare pump systems mean the backup pump turns on automatically if the primary pump malfunctions
• Electrical arc radiation can occur during tasks such as welding
• Hydrogen gas can be produced during tasks such as lead battery charging
• Arc welding often produces ozone

Respiratory Protection

• Full face respirators have a 1,000 protection factor.
• SCBA respirators, including those using positive pressure, have a 10,000 protection factor
• Particulate respirators are needed for tasks like grinding.

Structural Safety

• Steel reinforcement in concrete is essential in areas of low support.
• Ground fault circuit interrupters/GFCI circuit breakers respond quickly (~1/40th sec) to potentially hazardous situations.

FMEA & FTA

• FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) takes more time than FTA (Fault Tree Analysis).

Fan and Ventilation Systems

• Fan speed directly relates to CFM (cubic feet per minute).

Cut Sets and System Failure

• Cut sets represent parts of a system that can be shut off to ensure proper operation or non-operation.

Gas Detection and Measurement

• To convert LEL % to ppm, multiply by one million.
• Minimum foot-candles for general construction is 5; 30 foot-candles are required for aid stations.
• Formaldehyde testing uses filters, impingers, and visible absorption spectroscopy

Organophosphates

• No definition provided

Blood Testing

• Tests for cholinesterase inhibitors need to monitor changes in blood.

Lockout and Tagout

• Double blocking and tagging involves closing & locking/tagging two valves followed by opening & locking/tagging a drain/vent valve in between them.

Line Breaking

• Intentional opening of a pipe/line/duct to release flammable, corrosive, or toxic material, inert gases, or fluids (at volume/pressure/temperature, potentially dangerous to people/equipment).

Inerting

• Using non-combustible gases to replace air or modify atmosphere in closed areas or spaces to prevent spontaneous combustion

Hazardous Substances

• Potassium reacts with water, releasing heat & gases
• Perchloric acid is best stored at room temperature

Dipping and Coating Operations

• Airborne substance concentration must remain below 25% of its Lower Flammability limit(LFL).
• Written procedures required to address changes, and modify processes, chemicals, tech, and equipment/facilities

Air Collection Systems

-Cyclone and electrostatic precipitators remove particulates from the air.

Particle Size and Measurement

• Dust/coarse particles (2500 - 10,000 nm) and fine particles/particulate matter (100 - 2500 nm)
• Nanoparticles are 1 to 100 nanometers.
• Atoms and small molecules are 0.1 nanometers or less.

Ladder Safety

• Ladder tops must extend further than 3.5 feet for safety in reaching landings.
• Clearances for rungs and/or grab bars needed on both sides
• Climbing side ladder must allow 30-inch minimum clearance

Fire Suppression

• FM (Factory Mutual) certification is required on certain fire suppression products.

Control Systems

• Active systems require continuous user action(s) during operation to avoid injuries
• Passive systems are user-independent

Fall Arrest Systems

• Fall arrest systems need to support a minimum of 5,000 lbs

Crane Operations

• Crane load rating cannot exceed rated capacity specified by the manufacturer.

Radiation Safety (continued)

• Absorbed dose measures amount of radiation absorbed by a person or object (in Gray and Rad).
• Dose equivalent considers both the amount of radiation absorbed and its effect (using Siemens and Rem).
• Order of safety testing in contained spaces is oxygen, flammability, then toxicity or other hazards

Employer Responsibilities

• More than one employer may be cited in multi-employer work sites.
• Specific employers creating or exposing workers to hazardous situations can be cited for General Duty clauses; or for violating OSHA standards in a common workplace.
• Workers correcting a hazard that other employers created should also have appropriate OSHA safety training.

Advanced Safety Concepts

• Fundamental BIC (Basic Business Interruption Coverage) form covers Property, Perils, and Consequences.
• Perils are immediate/serious danger.

Fire Safety

• Ignition needs particles suspended in the air
• Illumination levels should adhere to industry standards

Respiratory Protection

• Closed-circuit SCBA systems recirculate breathing air
• Open-circuit self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) use a high-pressure tank.
• Air purifying respirators should not be used in atmospheres containing equipment.

Electrical Safety

• A fail-safe design can activate spare pumps automatically if the primary pump fails.
• Electrical bonding aims to eliminate potential difference between conductors.

Hazards and Risk Assessment

• Types of severity include negligible, marginal, catastrophic, or critical (permanent disability).
• Substance effects on the body may be synergistic, additive, antagonistic, or potentiating or exacerbating each other.
• BLEVE is boiling liquid, expanding vapor.
• NaOH (sodium hydroxide) corrodes several metals (aluminum, lead, zinc).
• Ames test measures how damaging a substance is to genetic material or has mutagenic properties

Radiation Safety (continued)

• Ci stands for Curie, and Bq stands for Becquerel.
• Exposure describes the amount of radiation traveling through air..
• Exposure units are roentgen(R) and coulombs per kilogram(C/kg)