Common Noise Hazards and What Hearing Protection to Wear!

A workplace that exposes you to loud noise constantly can really affect your hearing in the long run. The louder the noise you are exposed to, the more damage it can do and in some serious cases, it can even lead to permanent hearing loss.

You may be at risk! These are the most common noise hazards:

- Powered or pneumatic tools

- Impact tools, such as hammers, drop forges or riveters

- Powered cartridge-operated tools, guns or punching tools

- Constant interfering noise, such as a vacuum cleaner, busy street or crowded bar

Activities that generate high levels of noise:

- Agriculture

- Waste recycling

- Wood & plastic processing

- Heavy construction, demolition or road repairs

Wearing hearing protection should always be worn by those who are exposed to noise levels that are above 85db(A).

Hearing protection comes in two main forms – protection that covers the ear such as safety ear muffs and electronic hearing protectors. As well as protection that is inserted into the ear such as ear plugs.

L&A Safety offers high quality safety wear and equipment at affordable prices. Be sure to pop into one of our stores in Cape Town, Vredenburg or Robertson otherwise take a look at our website www.landasafety.co.za

Hearing protection is just as important as wearing safety goggles and hard hats, so make sure you wear the right protection that fits you right and that is properly maintained!

Stop using these Safety Excuses!

If you have been a safety professional for a while, you’ve probably heard all the safety excuses in the world. They can range from the most ignorant excuse to the absolute absurd. Yet we continue to hear them.

Make sure to check out L&A Safety for a wide range of quality safety wear and equipment, don't make any excuses - order today!

Part of a safety professional’s job is to get these people to understand that by making excuses they are actually putting lives at risk. Here are some of the most common safety excuses.

   I’ve been doing it this way for xxx yearsOkay I’m pretty sure that every single person has heard this one before! Old-schoolers are very resistant to change, that’s why they believe that what they have been doing for all those years is okay. Just because a man has never died before from falling doesn’t mean he should never wear fall protection.

  Seemed like a good idea at the timeDid it? You should never buy into this excuse. This statement shows that certain employees never stopped to think before what they were about to do. One of your biggest tools in your toolbox should always be planning.

 I have a job to do / I wasn’t thinking / I forgotThis excuse shows that the worker does not take their own safety very seriously. If a worker has this attitude they have not been properly educated on the risks of their job, they probably need training and quickly!

 This is how I was told to do it / the boss said…If this excuse is accurate then you may have a problem and the supervision is putting the workforce in serious danger. First you have to get the employee to understand that they have a say in their own safety and they need to speak up, especially if they feel they have been forced into a dangerous situation.

 You caught me the ONE time I did this
This excuse is actually quite funny. How many times have you seen a worker the ONE time they weren’t wearing their safety goggles. The fact of the matter is, if you catch somebody during an inspection, odds are they’ve done the exact same thing before when you weren’t around.

Sometimes the worst thing about these safety excuses is that the companies or workers actually believe them. Part of being in the safety profession is to understand that an excuse is an excuse and it can lead to dangerous accidents.

Why Nitrile Gloves are best for Dairy Farming

Disposable gloves have many uses in agriculture, especially when it comes to dairy farming. Nitrile gloves, for example, are perfect for this application.

Research shows that gloves have experienced increased usage in this industry over the past ten years. This is because of a need for improved worker and animal health – not to mention, a desire to produce higher-quality milk. In fact, nearly 50 percent of all dairy farms use gloves because of these reasons.

Nitrile gloves in particular provide several benefits:

- Cleaner milk due to less bacteria transferred from hands to the milk, as the bacteria does not adhere to the nitrile as easily as to the crevices of your hands

- Protection against repeated exposure to teat dips

- Superior resistance to iodine used to prevent contamination between cows, a resistance not found with latex gloves

Wearing gloves is a crucial sanitation practise for dairy farms. If cows become infected, they represent lost revenue. This problem becomes worse if an infection spreads between cows.

Rather than risking lost profits and low-quality milk, dairy farmers should be sure to replenish their nitrile glove supplies to get the appropriate level of barrier protection.

For a wide range of PPE, including a selection of work gloves – visit L&A Safety’s website today or pop in at one of their stores in Cape Town, Vredenburg or Robertson.

How to clean your Respirator Mask

Taking care of your respirator is simple stuff, but it can have a big impact on your health and safety at work. L&A Safety explains the best way to keep your non-disposable respirator clean and how to prolong the life on your cartridges.

Most people never clean their respirators. Why? Maybe they love germs, or accumulated grime, or maybe, they just wipe it out with a rag occasionally and keep working. Hey, I’ll do it right from now on.

Masks are worn to protect workers from dangerous atmospheres, and properly cared for; they will continue doing that for quite some time. However, if you’re wearing a mask, chances are you’re not working in the cleanest environment and they need to be washed to remove any residue occasionally.

To clean your respirator, first wash your hands. You don’t want to take the dirt and replace it with the paint or chemicals you’ve been working with. If you’re not sure how to do it, check the written instructions that came with your mask. Make sure you don’t lose any seals or washers that may be in place with the cartridges.

It probably goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway: you can’t wash your cartridges. If you have cartridges with rigid exteriors, you can wipe the dirt or over-spray off. But make sure you set them to the side when you are washing.

Next, hand wash the respirator face piece in warm water. Use a disinfectant soap. Check with the manufacturer to see if there are recommended brands.

After you have cleaned the respirator and all the parts, let them air-dry before reassembly.

The other important thing to remember about caring for your respirator is keeping your respirator and cartridges stored correctly. Sunlight, dust, extremes of both heat and cold, and chemicals can have a negative effect on the longevity of your mask.

Ideally the cartridges should be removed after each use and put in a zip-lock bag for storage. If you have a half-face mask, it will fit into a big bag without having to take the cartridges off. Always store your mask away from the job site or any other chemicals.

If you have any questions about your safety gear, respirators or safety equipment in general, contact L&A Safety today!

Preventing Injuries When Welding

Eye injuries account for one-quarter of all welding injuries, making them by far the most common injury for welders. Those most at risk for welding-related eye injuries are workers in industries that produce industrial and commercial machinery, computer equipment, and fabricated metal products.

The best way to control eye injuries is also the most simple: proper selection and use of eye protection. Helmets alone do not offer enough protection. Welders should wear goggles or safety glasses with side shields that comply with ANSI Z87.1 under welding helmets and always wear goggles or other suitable eye protection when gas welding or oxygen cutting. Goggles provide better protection than safety glasses from impact, dust, and radiation hazards.

Unfortunately, workers don't always wear goggles or safety glasses because of low perception of risk, poorly maintained lenses, discomfort, having to wear prescription lenses underneath, and vanity. It is important to stress to workers that welding-related eye injuries come from a number of sources, including:

Mechanical damage from being struck by flying particles and chipped slag

Radiation and photochemical burns from ultraviolet radiation (UVR), infrared radiation, and intense blue light

Irritation and chemical burns from fumes and chemicals

To help in reducing eye injuries, you should educate workers about all of the dangers they face and should implement an eye protection plan that outlines proper welding behaviour.

Looking for welding safety goggles or glasses? L&A Safety  has a wide range of PPE. Visit them in Cape Town, Vredenburg or Robertson or take a look at the website today! 

Future trends in PPE

Good fit, comfort and sustainability, in relation to PPE, were three areas of focus in a recently published report identifying growth areas for PPE. The report was compiled using recent global research in occupational health and safety trends.

The report focuses on two areas where effective use of PPE can minimise risks – hearing and respiratory protection.

Effectiveness of PPE is governed by the fit and one size will not fit all, when it comes to hearing and respiratory protection. Fortunately, technology has developed in response to demand and the report draws attention to innovative new fit testing techniques for hearing and respiratory protection that allow health and safety managers to confirm that the PPE is suitable for each individual. The report also looks into improvements in design, as workers demand that their respirators release hot humid air quickly to avoid build-up of unpleasant heat inside their masks.

An emerging issue it highlights is the need for end-of-service life indicators for respirators. Currently, the cartridge change schedule is based on modelling, but the report looks to future developments in end-of-service life indicators that may allow workers to tailor the cartridge change schedule to individual situations.

The report draws attention to the importance of comfort as well as the potential fit and comfort problems created by combining separate items of PPE. The report says ‘When PPE is competing for space on the same face and head, and the products are designed to be used individually, workers may be tempted to remove or improperly use one component or the other’. The report urges safety and health professionals consider all the different types of PPE being used when selecting specific models and to provide equipment that works well together, in terms of fit and comfort.

Other trends detailed in the report include: managing PPE supply and demand through a vending machine, the need for customised PPE for certain industries, and sustainability.

The advantages of using a vending machine for dispensing PPE include being able to track which employee and department received each piece of equipment. The machine also notifies the distributor when stock needs to be replenished.

It is easy to see that demand for industry-specific PPE would increase as the knowledge around what is causing health and safety problems increases. Industries cited in the report as potentially benefiting from specifically designed PPE, include mining – where hearing loss is a huge issue, food and beverage – where respirators need to protect against particulate hazards, such as flour and grain, and the military, which has to combine hearing protection with the need to be able to hear and communicate instructions. Although not mentioned in the report, increasing use and awareness of the risks of nanomaterials could also lead to more demand for specifically designed PPE.

Sustainability is a worthy inclusion in the report and also an important one. Companies are increasingly looking to become more sustainable in the way they operate and companies manufacturing and providing PPE are no exception.

The report states that currently PPE manufacturers use materials derived from fossils resources – such as polyester, polyamide, polyethylene and other polymers – and in the future PPE manufacturers may look at using more biopolymers for disposable PPE, and other natural fibres, such as hemp and linen.

The report also reminds that improvement in tracking and tracing and the addition of end-of-service indicators would help extend the life of PPE and so reduce its carbon footprint.

Roof Washing: Hazards and Considerations

Roof washing is probably never on anybody’s top-5 list of ways to spend an afternoon, but it certainly can become a necessary evil.  If it were just a matter of aesthetics, you could almost write it off as vanity and leave your roof to become whatever filthy mess it was destined to become, but that’s not the case.  There are a number of reasons somebody might want to clean their roof. 

For example, preventing the build-up of food sources for birds and rodents or preventing chemical build-up that can damage the roof membrane. However, it’s become even more important in recent years with the emergence of energy-efficient buildings and construction.  Build-up of dirt, soot, algae, or other residue can alter the amount of light and heat your roof absorbs or reflects.  Washing it is necessary to keep it as efficient as when it was installed.  However, there are some things you need to consider:

> Environmental Concerns

Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as lathering it up and letting it run down a drain.  Know what’s required in your area before beginning, according to water restrictions, etc. You’ll also want to protect plants, shrubs, and other parts of your building that could be damaged by the run-off, especially if chemicals are being used.

> Warranty

Most likely your warranty will not cover the roof if you’re washing it for aesthetic purposes, but it could if washing it is necessary to keep it as energy efficient as designed.  Know what will and what won’t negate your warranty before starting or hiring a contractor.  If this is the case, the manufacturer/installer of your roof may have recommendations or requirements for you to follow which will dictate what type of brushes to use, what pressure a pressure washer can be used at and more.  Any damage you cause is going to be on you, so be familiar with this.  As another option, your installer can help you write your cleaning plan or may actually offer cleaning services.  Weigh your options and the possible outcomes.

> Safety

This is important because people not used to working on roofs may not take the precautions necessary.  Fall protection is going to be a major concern.  If you can do the job from a ladder and maintain three points of contact, you may not need fall protection, but I find it difficult to believe you’ll be able to apply the necessary soaps and water without letting go of the ladder.   If you use an aerial lift or do the work from the roof itself, you are going to need to have fall protection.  On a commercial roof, you may have the benefit of a parapet that meets the requirements for fall protection but if not, you need to figure out how to protect your workers. L&A Safety offers a number of different safety equipment and PPE, pop into one of L&A Safety’s stores in Milnerton, Robertson or Vredenburg today!

You will not only have open edges where you or your employees will be exposed to a fall, but slippery surfaces as well.  Remember, this is a concern on flat roofs as well as sloped roofs.  Personal fall arrest systems may be your best bet, but you need to determine a proper anchor point, ensure your employees are wearing their harnesses and lanyards properly, and ensure they have been trained in the proper use of their fall protection equipment.  

Sometimes, things seem simple.  If you need to wash your roof, you may think you just have to throw some soap up there and rinse it off with some water, how hard can it be?  Unfortunately, if you take a moment to look further into it, you could be putting yourself and your employees at risk.  The bottom line: Know what you’re doing or hire somebody that does.