Category Archives: Safety

Don’t Forget to Hydrate in the Winter

We all think about keeping our fluid intake up when we’re working hard, it’s hot outside and we’re sweating a lot, but we frequently forget all about this during the winter months, even though bundling up in layers to protect against the cold can still result in a fair bit of perspiration. Cold air tends to be dry air and that makes your body work harder to keep air in your lungs properly humidified.

And, of course, we all need to take in 2-3 litres of fluids per day to keep ourselves properly hydrated, regardless of anything else we’re doing or consuming.

Our bodies are made up of 60-70 percent water. Studies have shown that if a person is even one percent dehydrated, their productivity at work drops by about 12 percent, with clear signs of mood changes and energy levels dropping. At three-to-four percent dehydration, productivity can be reduced by 25-50 percent. And at 15 percent dehydration, you run the risk of actually dying, so it doesn’t take much to put you in danger.

The lack of productivity is due to two things. The first is that your body is becoming less physically capable of performing work due to the lack of fluids to transmit nutrients around your system.

The second reason is because a lack of fluids reduces your brain’s ability to transmit signals. As your body loses fluids, your brain does as well and without an adequate fluid solution to conduct electrical impulses, your brain becomes far less efficient. This reduces your ability to concentrate, slows your reaction time, and also leads to mistakes and incidents.

At three percent dehydration, your reaction time is the same as being at a 0.08 blood/alcohol level, which is over the Alberta provincial limit for driving. That makes you four to five times more likely to wind up having an incident than if you were properly hydrated. People who are dehydrated are also more likely to get sick and miss work, further reducing productivity while also putting other workers at risk of catching that disease.

So remember to drink lots of water or other fluids over the course of the day.

If you’re consuming something with a lot of caffeine, like coffee, you’ll need even more fluids as caffeine is a diuretic which flushes water out of your system. So try to limit your intake of coffee, cola beverages, or energy drinks which might actually be working against you.

Get yourself into the habit of drinking lots of water as you perform your daily chores and you’ll find yourself feeling more energized, more alert, more productive and safer.

Jim provides safety consulting services in the Lethbridge area and can be reached at jim@flannerysafetyconsulting.com

You can also follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.

References:

Hydration in the Workplace: Keeping Employees Hydrated Can Increase Productivity – http://www.aquaterracorp.ca/page.aspx?name=WorkplaceHydrationE#sthash.cj1rsNEq.dpuf

Employee Dehydration: Affecting Your Bottom Line? – http://bluelivingideas.com/2013/12/04/employee-dehydration-affecting-bottom-line/

How Heat Stress Affects Performance – http://ohsonline.com/articles/2010/05/01/how-heat-stress-affects-performance.aspx

Is Dehydration Affecting your Productivity? – http://worklifepeace.com/dehydration-affecting-productivity/

8 Tips for Hydrating in Cold Weather – http://www.active.com/nutrition/articles/8-tips-for-hydrating-in-cold-weather

Article originally published in Buck Up! Magazine, Issue 3, Jan, 2015

Positivity in Occupational Health and Safety

Leave a reply

I reckon that the occupational health and safety professional at any given job site is often the least popular person around. He or she is seen as the person who just makes everyone miserable with their constant nit-picking and criticism.

This, to me, is one of the fundamental problems the safety industry faces, and we tend to do it to ourselves.

The focus in the safety business tends to be very negative—What are the hazards? What did the worker do wrong? What documentation was forgotten? What process failed?

For instance, I’ve seen any number of inspection forms that are designed to document problems, with little or no thought to documenting what was good! After a while, the expectation is that every time a site inspection happens, it means there will be a bunch of negativity thrown around and everyone, from the top of the totem pole to the bottom, gets into that negative frame of mind.

But it is still possible to turn that wagon train around and blaze a new trail. Something I always insist on is that every documented inspection have at least one positive comment written on it. If the workers had their pre-job hazard assessments complete, write it down—and tell the workers you appreciate their efforts! If the housekeeping is in good shape, make note of it. If everyone is wearing the proper Personal Protective Equipment, congratulate them on doing things the right way.

Provide positive reinforcement for the things you want to see and you’re likely to get more of the same. More than that, you might start to change the perception that the safety team are nothing but low-down varmints looking to cause trouble.

Take time every day to talk to your team out in the field, get to know them, learn about their lives and what makes them happy. And celebrate all the things they are doing right. By fostering an environment where safety is not seen as a negative and a burden, you’ll get better buy-in, more personal investment into the process and a generally better attitude from the team.

When participating in a safety meeting, make sure to discuss the good things that people are doing to keep each other safe—talk about goals achieved, people who took the initiative to fix something before it became a problem, new procedures that will improve the health and safety of everyone.

Incentive programs to reward good behaviour can sometimes have pitfalls—sometimes they become an expectation regardless of performance; sometimes people who get away with bad behaviour get rewarded anyway. But planning an effective incentive program that rewards positive behaviour can be a great addition to your safety program when properly executed.

Obviously, if something is noted that poses an imminent hazard to life and health, work needs to be stopped immediately and the situation must be addressed. Likewise, if a substandard act or condition is present on site, it needs to be corrected. The key function of safety—to prevent injuries, damage, and loss of process—must always be kept in mind.

But don’t allow the job to be all about finding the deficiencies. Don’t set yourself up for everyone to get stressed out every time you come talk to them. Always remember that a pat on the back for a job well done is at least as important as a boot to the rear when something is wrong.

Article originally published in Buck Up! Magazine, Issue 2, December, 2014

Jim can be reached at jim@flannerysafetyconsulting.com

You can also follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.

OHS For Farms Is Coming Soon to Alberta

Leave a reply

Photo: Tracey Flannery

Revised 4-Dec-2015

Alberta’s New Democratic Party was the only major party in the 2015 provincial election to even mention Occupational Health and Safety in their platform. Now, as they really start getting to business, they have officially introduced a farm safety bill that will take effect on January 1, 2015.

Bill 6 can be reviewed here.

As of this moment, Alberta is the only province in Canada where farming and ranching is not covered by OHS legislation. The Conservative Party, which had held office provincially since 1971, had consistently dragged their heels on this issue rather than risk angering a significant part of their support base. But the NDP, with their fresh take on business-related policy, are determined to ensure that every employee in Alberta enjoys the same protection.

The move affects about 60,000 workers—about as many people as are currently living in Airdrie—in 43,000 farming and ranching businesses. The bottom line is that all these people will enjoy protection under Alberta’s OHS legislation as well as mandatory Workers Compensation Board coverage, something they have not had in this province before.

It should be noted that recent clarifications by the government indicate that Bill 6 will have no impact on family farms and ranches—the OHS, WCB and employment standards revisions are strictly going to be directed at the protection of employees, so wives, sons and daughters who are not drawing paycheques as employees will be able to carry on as before—this is potentially a can of worms, so it will be important to stay current on any developments on this front as it may be perceived as creating a competitive advantage for some businesses over others.

Although the farming and ranching industry will have to get up to speed on OHS in only a few weeks, it still remains to be seen exactly what compliance for this industry will look like—there are currently no parts of the OHS Act, Regulation, or Code that pertain to farms or ranches and it will undoubtedly take some time to incorporate those things. In fact, in accordance with Bill 6, the OHS Code will not apply to farms and ranches until revisions to the Code have been made to address the farming and ranching industry.

What we can say for sure are that the general requirements of Alberta’s OHS Act and Regulation will now apply. Beginning in January, workers will have the right to know, the right to refuse unsafe work, and the right to participate in the safety process. Employers will have the obligation to identify and control workplace hazards and to ensure their workers understand what those hazards and controls are.

Although the Code will not officially apply until 2017, in order to exercise due diligence it is probable that farms and ranches will need to be at least somewhat familiar with some of the pertinent parts. Aside from hazard assessment and control (OHS Code, Part 2), there are several parts of the Code that might apply to farms and ranches, for example:

Chemical and Biological Hazards (Code, Part 4),
Emergency Preparedness (Code, Part 7),
First Aid (Code, Part 11),
Lifting and Handling Loads (Code, Part 14), and
Powered Mobile Equipment (Code, Part 19).

Farms have been able to take on WCB coverage to this point, but have not been required to do so. That’s also changing on Jan. 1 with farms and ranches expected to provide WCB for employees in the same way as other business in Alberta. Because there are so many businesses that will need to set themselves up with WCB coverage, farms and ranches will have until April 30, 2016 to get set up in one under one of the four industry codes, with premiums ranging from $1.70-$2.97 per $100 of insurable earnings.

Further details on WCB for farms and ranches can be found here.

Flannery Safety Consulting can help with your questions about OHS, WCB and the impact the coming changes will have on the farming and ranching industries. Give us a call at (403) 715-4162 or email us at jim@flannerysafetyconsulting.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.

Competence

Leave a reply

“Competent” is one of those words that pops up every now and then in Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety legislation that many people don’t think too much about, which is a huge mistake. That word means something and when you see it, you need to pause and put some thought to you’re game plan going forward.

According to the definitions found at the beginning of both the Alberta OHS Regulation and Code:

“competent” in relation to a person, means adequately qualified, suitably trained and with sufficient experience to safely perform work without supervision or with only a minimal degree of supervision.

Perhaps you are someone who grew up on a farm. At a very young age, you began helping out with chores and one of them was operating a forklift used to offload bales of hay for the farm animals. By the time you got your driver’s licence at age 16, you were an expert forklift operator. You have plenty of experience and your parents and relatives may have given you a bunch of training in how to run that piece of equipment. But until you’ve gone through a forklift training course and received a certification to prove that you’re adequately qualified, you can’t be deemed competent and can’t, by law, operate a forklift as part of your occupation.

There are lots of situations where this kind of thing comes up. For instance, all scaffolds must be inspected and tagged by a competent worker prior to use and every 21 days thereafter. (Code, Part 23, 326(3)). Again, you may have been putting up scaffold for most of your career, but unless you’ve been properly deemed competent, you’re doing it illegally and could be fined.

Bottom line: If you’re looking through the legislation to see what the Alberta OHS expectations are for a particular circumstance and you see the word “competent,” you need to stop and ask yourself three questions: Am I adequately qualified? Am I suitably trained? Do I have sufficient experience? If the answer to any of those questions is “no,” you’ve got some things to take care of prior to beginning that work or you could find yourself in a whole heap of trouble.

Flannery Safety Consulting provides services in the Lethbridge area. If you have any questions or inquiries, please don’t hesitate to contact Jim Flannery at jim@flannerysafetyconsulting.com or (403) 715-4162.

You can also follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.

How Can Flannery Safety Consulting Help You?

Leave a reply

Flannery Safety Consulting offers clients safety consulting, training and management. Whether it be for building or improving your safety program, group training, or monitoring your safety activities, we can assist you in achieving your safety goals.

So much of the safety world seems to be wrapped up in the negative, focussing on what can go wrong, how many injuries or incidents a company has had, etc. We strive to make your experience a positive one, looking at what is being done right and building on that.

Flannery Safety Consulting has a number of different ways to help you:

Consultant Auditing through the ACSA
Ongoing monitoring and support for your safety program
Assistance in incident investigation, injury claims management
Training in generic and company-specific WHMIS
Help and advice on managing your WCB account
Assessment of your company’s unique safety needs and requirements
Assisting in the creation and/or improvement of your safety program
Assisting in development of safe work practices and safe job procedures
Assisting in developing custom forms to fit your company and advice on whether a paper format or an electronic one is best for you
Help with registering in the Partnerships in Injury Reduction (PIR) program through Alberta’s WCB and selecting a certifying partner to best suit your needs
Pre-audit evaluation of your program to ensure it meets Certificate of Recognition (COR) or Small Employer Certificate of Recognition (SECOR) standards
Assisting in rolling out the safety program to your company

Jim Flannery is an NCSO and has worked in the construction safety field since 2000. He has worked for companies with as few as six workers as well as multi-national corporations, giving him a broad-based understanding of construction safety in a variety of scales and scopes. He has completed the University of Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety certificate program, is a Gold Seal-certified Safety Coordinator and is a Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP). Jim has a BA in English, has a quarter-century of construction experience under his belt both on the tools and off, and is a part-time freelance writer.

If you have any questions or inquiries, please don’t hesitate to contact Jim Flannery at jim@flannerysafetyconsulting.com or (403) 715-4162.

You can also follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.

Office Ergonomics

Leave a reply

Ergonomics is not a word you’ll hear very often out on a ranch while busting broncos or baling hay. It is, however, a major concern in the modern office environment.

It is becoming a well-established concern for the 21st Century office worker that sitting at your desk all day is a very unhealthy practice. A recent study by the Conference Board of Canada and ParticipAction suggests that prolonged sitting promotes hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. In other words, sitting could very well be killing you.

But all is not lost. A few simple changes around the office can improve your health by leaps and bounds and break the chain of bad consequences for sitting.

The first change is to get up and move around. Make it your business to walk around the office—even for just a minute or two—once or twice per hour. These micro-breaks help break the negative effects of long sedentary periods by getting the blood flowing and your muscles moving.

Something else you can easily do to get out of the saddle and onto your feet is to stand while taking phone calls. In my office there are actually a couple people who pace around the office whenever they’re on a cell phone call. Again, an opportunity to be moving while doing something that doesn’t require you to be right at your desk.

Some companies are trying out standing desks as an alternative to sitting in a chair all day. As noted on Smithsonian.com, using a standing desk instead of the traditional sitting desk results in reduced risk of obesity, reduced risk of Type 2 Diabetes, reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, reduced risk of cancer, and lower long-term mortality risk due to all those previous benefits.

If you’re still stuck sitting for your job, there are still some steps you can take to make it as easy on your body as possible. Make sure your task chair is set up properly—it needs to be at the right height, putting your knees are at right angles with your feet flat on the floor, it needs to give you proper lumbar support and it needs to keep you upright and reduce the likelihood of you slumping or slouching.

The keyboard should be positioned so that your elbows are at right angles, with the “H” key centred on the monitor. The mouse should be positioned close by, such that it can be used with the wrist flat and straight, not bent up or down.

Lighting levels need to be adequate to reduce squinting and reduce glare off the monitor.

Set up your office properly and you can mitigate several issues associated with sitting.

This isn’t just a good idea for individual workers; it’s a good idea for companies as well. Healthy workers observing good ergonomic practices are thinking more clearly, make fewer mistakes, get injured less often and are away due to illness less frequently. The net result is better productivity and better profitability. And that is, after all, the point of operating a business.

References:

Sedentary living is the ‘new smoking’ and we’re paying for it, study says. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/sedentary-living-is-the-new-smoking-and-we-re-paying-for-it-study-says-1.2811872

Five Health Benefits of Standing Desks. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/five-health-benefits-standing-desks-180950259/?no-ist

Article originally published in Buck Up! Magazine, Issue 7, May/June, 2015

Jim can be reached at jim@flannerysafetyconsulting.com