Personal protective equipment (PPE) is crucial when it comes to preventing injuries and ensuring your health and safety on the job. One often overlooked and important type of PPE is safety shoes which is designed to protect your feet from common manufacturing hazards.
Depending on the job activity and equipment you use, the following exposures could lead to serious foot injuries:
Corrosive materials
Electrical hazards
Hot or slippery
surfaces
Static electricity,
which could cause an explosion under the right conditions
Heavy objects, which
could fall or roll onto your feet, crushing them
Sharp objects, which
could puncture your feet
Molten metal, which
could splash onto your feet and cause burns and other injuries
When these risks are present in the workplace, employees must
wear protective footwear to ensure safety and reduce injury risks. This Safety
Matters examines various types of safety shoes common in manufacturing.
Types of Safety Shoes Available
There are several factors that determine what type of footwear is
appropriate for you, including the potential hazards you’re exposed to, the
machinery you use and the requirements of your position. What’s more, there are
different types of safety shoes, each designed to mitigate specific workplace
hazards. The following are the most common kinds of protective footwear:
Steel-toe,
reinforced safety-toe or reinforced toecap shoes—These types of shoes are
designed to protect against crushing injuries caused by falling or dropped
objects. For extra protection, metatarsal guards can be used, which help to
safeguard the bones between your toes and ankle.
Puncture-resistant
shoes—These shoes are typically reinforced with metal and are designed to prevent
injury should you step on a nail, screw or other sharp object.
Metal-free
footwear—These types of shoes are nonconductive and protect against
electrocution risks. In general, these types of shoes can provide protection for
up to 600 volts of electricity in dry environments. It should be noted that moisture
and wear on shoes can impact the effectiveness of these kinds of safety shoes. For
added protection around electricity, follow all applicable safe work procedures
and wear metal-free footwear alongside other nonconductive PPE.
Nonslip
soles (rubber or wooden)—Slip-resistant shoes are equipped with a
specialized sole that can reduce slip, trip and fall risks. These shoes are
especially common in shop environments where cords, materials and other items
increase trip hazards.
Insulated
footwear—These shoes are designed to protect feet against extreme
temperatures. It should be noted that there are specific shoes for both hot and
cold environments. Furthermore, risks related to chemical burns require
specially treated shoes.
Regardless of the type of safety shoes you use, it’s important to
ensure they fit properly and are well maintained. Safety shoes should be inspected
before each use for signs of wear. If a shoe is cracked or shows other signs of
damage, replace it immediately.
For any questions regarding safety shoes, speak with your supervisor.
California’s Leader in Insurance and Risk Management
As one of the fastest growing agencies in California, GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. is able to provide its clients with the latest and greatest of what the insurance industry has to offer and much, much more.
We are headquartered in Turlock, CA, with locations across the heart of California’s Central Valley, Northern California and beyond to provide a local feel to the solutions and services we provide our clients. We pride ourselves on exceeding our client’s expectations in every interaction to make sure that our client’s know how much we value and appreciate their business. Contact us today 1-209-634-2929 for your comprehensivebusiness insurance quote!
On Oct. 1, 2019, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration began using a new OSHA Weighting System (OWS) for the 2020 fiscal year, creating OSHA inspection changes. The administration had used its previous weighting system since the 2015 fiscal year.
OSHA hopes that the OWS will encourage the appropriate allocation of resources to support its approach of balancing safety and health in the workplace. The new system is intended to develop and support a management system that focuses enforcement activities on areas where OSHA’s efforts can be most impactful.
OSHA Inspection Changes and Adjustments
The OWS comes with several
adjustments and adaptions compared with its predecessor, including additional
enforcement initiatives, such as site-specific targeting. The new system also
encourages the agency’s field staff to conduct compliance-assistance
activities.
Previously, OSHA inspections were weighted heavily based on the amount of time that they took to conduct. With the OWS, OSHA is hoping to make time less of a factor when weighting the potential impact of an inspection while emphasizing other factors that have an effect on overall workplace safety and health.
The new OSHA Inspection Changes have been formulated based on a working group’s recommendations and evaluation of existing criteria.
What has Changed?
The previous weighting system
measured inspections using enforcement units. The OWS will continue to tally
enforcement units, but will do so based on different factors, such as agency
priorities and the impact of inspections. OSHA hopes that the OWS will further
its goal of taking a balanced approach toward workplace health and safety and
will properly incorporate the three major work elements performed by its field
agents: enforcement activity, essential enforcement support functions and
compliance-assistance efforts.
“Moving forward, inspections will be weighted based on a combination of factors, such as if the inspection targets a highly hazardous workplace, if it is conducted as part of a strategic hazard emphasis program or by the complexity of the inspection.”
According to OSHA, the changes in how inspections will be weighted under the OWS will make it impossible to fairly compare total enforcement units moving forward to numbers from past years. For example, the new system gives additional weight to programmed inspections targeting what the agency calls the “fatal four/focus four,” which refers to the leading causes of workplace fatalities: Falls, struck-by object, electrocutions and caught-in/between.
Under the previous system, the 2016-18 fiscal years consisted of 40,199,
38,692 and 38,760 total enforcement units respectively. If applied to the new
system, those numbers would have all been over 60,000. OSHA does plan to apply
the OWS retroactively for past years and compare both methods in order to
assess the performance and appropriateness of the new system.
OSHA Inspection Changes Moving Forward
Moving forward, OSHA inspections will be weighted based on a combination of factors, such as if the inspection targets a highly hazardous workplace, if it is conducted as part of a strategic hazard emphasis program or by the complexity of the inspection.
Overall, OSHA’s goal for the OWS is to put an emphasis on enforcement
and compliance assistance in order for the agency and its agents to be able to
be proactive in promoting safety and health in the workplace, rather than being
reactive to incidents after they have occurred.
Click here to read OSHA’s official press release regarding the OWS. For additional information from the agency, click here.
California’s Leader in Insurance and Risk Management
As one of the fastest growing agencies in California, GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. is able to provide its clients with the latest and greatest of what the insurance industry has to offer and much, much more.
We are headquartered in Turlock, CA, with locations across the heart of California’s Central Valley, Northern California and beyond to provide a local feel to the solutions and services we provide our clients. We pride ourselves on exceeding our client’s expectations in every interaction to make sure that our client’s know how much we value and appreciate their business. Contact us today 1-209-634-2929 for your comprehensive insurance quote!
The loading dock is an essential component of ’s business, but despite its daily use, it still presents serious safety hazards. There are risks for pinch point injuries from rolling doors, falls from elevated docks and truck beds, and accidental collisions between equipment and workers, among other injury-causing hazards. Keep this loading dock safety list in mind for your California warehouse business. Contact GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. for your complete warehouse insurance package. 209-634-2929
All
workers must be alert to these hazards to avoid injury. To stay safe at your
facility’s loading dock, consider these useful recommendations:
Always wear the proper personal
protective equipment (PPE), such as gloves and steel-toed boots with grip
soles. Wear earmuffs or plugs where required.
Make sure trailer lanes are
clearly marked so that backing up, parking and spotting is easier.
Make sure that dock bumpers are
in place and in working condition. Report any damaged bumpers to your
supervisor to ensure that they are replaced as quickly as possible.
Do not sit idle on a dock. This will
prevent unnecessary exposure to diesel exhaust.
Never lean on or hang over a
loading dock, as you could fall off the dock or be crushed by a backing
trailer.
Stay clear of trailers when a
forklift is loading or unloading.
Check dock levelers or bridges
before using them.
Use trailer-locking devices to
prevent a gap from opening between the trailer and the dock.
Do not operate any machinery
that you are not trained to use.
Never load trailers that are not
firmly seated against a dock, and always check the weight capacity of the
leveler before you begin loading a trailer.
Inspect the trailer’s
floorboards to assure that they can withstand the load, the lifting device and
your body weight combined.
Your load should never exceed
the capacity of your loading equipment.
Keep aisles and working areas
free of clutter and debris on loading docks.
Only walk in the designated
pedestrian walkways.
Safety First!
If you notice any safety hazards at the loading dock, or have any safety concerns, contact your supervisor. A safe workplace starts with being alert to potential hazards!
California’s Leader in Insurance and Risk Management
As one of the fastest growing agencies in California, GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. is able to provide its clients with the latest and greatest of what the insurance industry has to offer and much, much more.
We are headquartered in Turlock, CA, with locations across the heart of California’s Central Valley, Northern California and beyond to provide a local feel to the solutions and services we provide our clients. We pride ourselves on exceeding our client’s expectations in every interaction to make sure that our client’s know how much we value and appreciate their business. Contact us today 1-209-634-2929 for your comprehensive warehouse insurance quote!
Manage Cookie Consent
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional cookies
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
