Accident Prevention e-News December 2006	Volume 1/Issue7/December 2006
In this Issue: Holiday Fire Protection Conveyor System Safety Safety Groups Rebates Product recall: Dewalt framing saws IAPA’s Top 10 Free Downloads Newsmakers

Season of Lights: Protecting Your Home from Fire

Entertaining over the holidays? Social gatherings, food preparation, and seasonal decorations such as illuminated trees and candles can all pose fire hazards in your home.

Statistics from the Ontario Fire Marshal's Office show that the number of fires and fire deaths typically rises sharply during the holiday season. Unattended cooking, overloaded electrical outlets and flammable decorations are just a few of the hazards that can quickly trigger a deadly fire.

To ensure you have a happy and safe holiday, review the holiday fire safety tips below and safety-proof your home.

Decorations

• Choose decorations that are flame-retardant, non-combustible and non-conductive.
• If you have young children or pets in your home, avoid very small decorations.
• Avoid using angel hair (glass wool) together with spray-on snowflakes. This combination is highly combustible.
• Do not use metallic ornaments on a Christmas tree with lighting. If they make contact with defective wiring, they could become a shock hazard.

Ornamental lights

• Check fuses or circuit breaker panels to see what your home can handle, and stay well within the limits.
• Use only Canadian Standards Association (CSA) certified light strings and sets.
• Inspect all cords before using. Make sure they are CSA certified. Look for loose connections or frayed or exposed wire. Discard defective cords. Read the labels and manufacturers’ instructions to ensure proper use.
• Match lights to their environment. Indoor light strings/sets lack weatherproof connections for outdoor use. Some outdoor light strings/sets burn too hot indoors.
• Inspect light strings/sets before use. Make sure each socket contains a bulb. If a bulb is burned out, leave it in place until you can replace it. Immediately replace any cracked bulbs or broken bulbs with exposed filaments.
• Do not use electric light strings/sets on metallic trees. Illuminate metallic trees with coloured floodlights placed at a safe distance from the tree and out of reach.
• Fasten outdoor lights securely to trees, walls, or other firm supports using insulated staples, or run them through hooks to protect lights from wind damage. Do not nail, tack, pinch, nick or stress wiring.
• Keep all outdoor plugs and connectors off the ground, away from puddles and snow.
• Don’t run indoor extension cords under rugs, around furniture legs, or across doorways.
• Turn off all tree and display lights when leaving the house or retiring for the night.

Candles

• Place candles away from absolutely anything that could catch fire.
• Burn them only when a responsible adult is overseeing the flame.
• Put candles in sturdy holders on a stable surface, well away from drafts, curtains, children and pets.
• Cut candle wicks short to prevent a high flame.
• If using candles in a centrepiece, make sure they don't burn low enough to ignite the decorations.
• Snuff them out before leaving the room or going to sleep.

The Christmas tree

• If buying a real tree, choose one that’s been freshly cut. It will stay green longer and pose less of a hazard.
• Test for freshness before buying. Very few needles should fall when the butt of the tree is tapped on the ground. Needles on the tree should bend, not break, and the stump should be sticky with resin.
• Use a tree stand that has widespread legs for better balance and a large water reservoir in which to immerse the tree base. Keep the base immersed in water.
• Place the tree away from heat sources, such as a radiator, television, fireplace, stove, heating duct, burning candle or sunny window. Do not block doors or windows with the tree.
• Never use lighted candles on the tree.
• If using or buying an artificial tree, check to make sure it is inflammable.
• Never use electrical decorations on metal trees. A faulty system could energize the tree and shock or electrocute anyone coming into contact.
• After the holidays, put the tree outside as soon as possible.

The fireplace

• Never burn gift wrappings, boxes, cartons, or other types of packing in the fireplace. They burn too rapidly and generate too much heat.
• Don't hang Christmas stockings from the mantel when the fireplace is in use.
• Always use a screen in front of the fireplace to protect against flying sparks.
• Never use gasoline or any other flammable liquids to start a fire.
• Use only seasoned and dried wood.
• Never leave the fire unattended or let it smoulder.
• Clean the ashes regularly. Place the ashes in a metal container and store outside away from flammable materials.
• Don't use Christmas trees for firewood.
• Have your chimney cleaned and inspected annually to prevent problems that may cause a carbon monoxide build-up. A carbon monoxide alarm will alert you to the presence of this deadly gas.

Other heat sources

• Furnace: have it inspected each year by a licensed technician.
• Space heaters: keep portable heaters at least one metre away from anything that can burn, including you. Don't use heaters to dry shoes or clothes.

Electrical outlets

• Avoid overloading wall outlets. This is unsafe even for short durations.
• Watch for flickering lights, sparks from appliances or wall outlets, warm electrical plates, plugs, or outlets, and dimming lights or television screens. They may signal potential danger spots that could cause an electrical fire.
• Match plugs with outlets. Never force a three-pronged plug into a two-hole outlet or extension cord.
• Insert plugs fully into outlets. Poor contact may cause overheating or shock.
• If you have children in the house or are expecting young visitors, check for cracked or missing outlet covers. Use safety caps to cover outlets.
• For outdoor lighting, plug electrical cords only into a ground fault interrupter-protected receptacle.

In the kitchen

• Look while you cook. Unattended cooking is the leading cause of kitchen fires. Wear tight-fitting or rolled-up sleeves while cooking, and keep all combustible materials a safe distance from the stove.
• Grease and fat fires are a leading cause of home fires in Canada, so be extra careful when doing this kind of cooking. Here's what to do if grease in a pot or pan catches fire:
  • smother the flames by covering the pan with a lid
  • turn off the heat immediately
  • use baking soda on shallow grease fires (flour can be explosive)
  • never turn on the overhead fan, as this could spread the fire
  • never throw water on a grease fire

Gift suggestions

• home smoke alarm
• carbon monoxide detector
• multi-purpose (ABC) fire extinguisher
• candle snuffer
• thermostatically controlled deep fryer

And finally…

• It’s the law in Ontario to have functioning smoke alarms. The fire service recommends you install one on every level of your home and outside all sleeping areas. Test your alarms regularly and change the batteries at least once a year.
• Develop a fire escape plan and practice it with your entire family. If a fire occurs, get everyone out as quickly as possible.
• Before going to bed, make sure the stove is off and any cigarettes are properly extinguished.

Sources: Canada Safety Council, Health Canada, Ontario Fire Marshal’s Public Fire Safety Council, Sequachee Valley Electric Cooperative (Tennessee)

How Safe Is Your Conveyor System?

Almost every manufacturing workplace has a conveyor system. It’s a top productivity-enhancing tool found almost anywhere goods are regularly moved from one spot to another.

Most of us walk by conveyors every day without giving them any thought. They move goods at the same steady pace all day long, usually requiring little direct involvement from anyone until something goes wrong. This is when it often goes bad.

Many injuries occur during maintenance and repair work. For example, a conveyor that has been inadequately locked out suddenly starts up while someone is working on it. Alternatively, a passing worker notices that a product has slipped out of position, tries to adjust it and gets pulled in.

“Unsafe conveyors are very unforgiving,” says IAPA Strategic Alliances consultant Mike Whitson. Just ask Candace Carnahan. During her university years, Candace found a summer job at a paper mill. One day she took a short cut over an unguarded conveyor that she and others, including supervisors, used regularly. Candace never made it across. One foot became trapped in the conveyor and sustained injuries so severe that it had to be amputated.

Mike Whitson notes that, while conveyor-related injuries may occur less often than others, “they tend to be more severe.” From 2000-2005, the average time lost from a compensable conveyor injury in an IAPA member workplace was 60 days. Total workdays lost: almost 100,000. Total cost of these injuries to Ontario’s compensation system: $10,434,637 (source: EIW Database).

Why conveyor injuries occur

Whitson attributes the number of injuries to several factors:

• we see conveyors working all day long without incident, and stop perceiving them as safety hazards
• we tend to focus our safety efforts on equipment with which people interact regularly
• we’re reluctant to shut down a conveyor when a problem occurs, and instead try to fix it while the conveyor is still operating
• a guarding device has been disabled or removed, allowing access to moving parts

12 conveyor safety rules

The following rules can help you reduce the hazard posed by conveyors.

1. Don’t service a conveyor until the motor disconnect is locked out.
2. Service a conveyor with only authorized maintenance personnel.
3. Keep clothing, fingers, hair, and other parts of the body away from a conveyor.
4. Don’t climb, step, sit or ride on a conveyor at any time.
5. Don’t load a conveyor beyond its design limits.
6. Don’t remove or alter conveyor guards or safety divides.
7. Know the location and function of all stop/start controls.
8. Keep all stopping/starting control devices free from obstructions.
9. Keep all personnel clear of the conveyor before starting.
10. Operate a conveyor with trained personnel only.
11. Keep the area around conveyors clear of obstructions.
12. Report all unsafe practices to your supervisor.

Source: Cisco-Eagle.

Read Candace’s story

Candace Carnahan is now a spokesperson for Passport to Safety, and travels across Canada promoting a safe work environment for young people.

• Click here for her personal story.

WSIB pays IAPA safety group $2.1 million in rebates

Reducing their injury rates has earned the 304 firms participating in IAPA’s 2005 Safety Group $2,124,845 million in compensation premium rebates from Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.

The firms earned the rebates by reducing their lost-time injury rate by 27% and their overall injury severity rate by 29%.

Participating companies make a minimum one-year commitment to the program, and are assigned to a local chapter. At the beginning of the year, each company selects from a list four “elements” of a health and safety program that it will build into its existing program, and the safety group as a whole is assigned a fifth element selected by a steering committee. The committee includes a representative from each chapter.

IAPA, as the group’s sponsor, facilitates chapter meetings, liaises with the board, and provides firm representatives with support and resources.

The representatives attend five local safety group meetings per year. At the end of the year, each firm is evaluated on how well it has integrated the selected elements. However, firms receive rebates based on the success of the entire group.

Membership in IAPA’s safety group program continues to rise since its formation in 2004. The group began with 121 member firms, and by 2006 had grown to 587. IAPA anticipates 750 firms will sign up for 2007.

Act on the safety group opportunity

Join the IAPA 2007 Safety Group and you'll be entitled to

• NEW! 10% savings on IAPA training courses, workshops, regional conferences, and onsite training, including technical services such as ergonomics assessments and industrial hygiene testing… IAPA training requested or required above and beyond training offered to the safety group as a whole.*
• training sessions… offered to safety group chapter members that are not offered to any other firms.
• membership privileges… support and advice from IAPA's consultants and technical staff, including site visits, identification of potential improvements, discussions with management and your JHSC regarding recommendations, and access to our safety group community website with scheduled CHAT time on selected elements.
• access to IAPA resources… safety and claims management information, public training, video/DVD/CD-ROM training, conferences, publications, and access to our Information Centre collection and services.
• opportunity to network… in person at group meetings or by email with participants across Ontario to share best practices, procedures, experiences and the ability to mentor other firms. IAPA also maintains a web page exclusively devoted to safety group members.

* Exceptions include Certification Training (Parts I and II), CSA/IAPA training and events, Confined Space Entry (2 day), and Health & Safety Canada 2007 Conference and Trade Show.

Product recall: Dewalt framing saws

CSA International and Dewalt Industrial Tool Company have issued a recall for the company’s DW378G and DW378GT framing saws sold between January 2003 and August 2006.

Dewalt has received four reports of the lower guard failing to close, including three reports of lacerations. One user received lacerations to the hand and two others received lacerations to the leg, all requiring medical attention.

The framing saws affected by the recall are models DW378G and DW378GT 7-1/4" only, having date codes 200301-49 through 200637-49. The model number appears on the side of the housing. The date code appears either on the nameplate or under the handle near the power cord exit. Framing saws marked with a "V" on the underside of the handle near the corset have already been repaired and are not involved in this recall.

If your workplace has one of these saws, stop using it immediately and contact Dewalt toll free at (866) 854-5214 between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, for a free repair.

IAPA’s Top 10 Free Downloads

Last month visitors to IAPA’s website downloaded over 112,000 documents. Ten documents accounted for 43,015 downloads, or almost one in three. Here they are:

Newsmakers

IAPA welcomes three new members to our Board of Directors.

Helder Botelho, plant manager of AOC Resins and Coatings, Guelph, is responsible for the firm’s profitability, manufacturing, customer service, health, safety and environmental. Robert Coffey, a management consultant, advisor and coach, is a former vice chair and head coach of KPMG. Wayne Weatherbee is vice president, service delivery, for the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).

IAPA greatly appreciates the contributions made by two departing board members. Brock Horseman is the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)’s chief operating officer. Horseman joined the board in 1997 as vice president, Prevention. In this capacity he introduced the board’s then-new prevention mandate, and helped establish the Occupational Health and Safety Council of Ontario. Brockman recently announced his retirement from the WSIB, effective at the end of this month. Laura Babcock is a senior partner and co-owner of POWERGROUP Communications in Hamilton, Ontario.

Thinking of volunteering? Hundreds of volunteers representing over 600 firms help IAPA reduce and eliminate workplace injuries and illness in their communities. The roles volunteers assume are as varied as their interests, expertise and availability.

Elsewhere, the WSIB has appointed Tom Beegan to the position of Chief Prevention Officer, effective February 1, 2007. Tom will oversee and lead the board’s Prevention Services, Best Practices and Provider Relations Branches. Beegan comes from the Health and Safety Authority of Ireland, where he served as CEO. He replaces Brock Horseman, who is retiring at the end of December.