As for the fire extinguisher, just remember to PASS: Pull the pin, Aim, Squeeze the trigger, and Spray the fire from the bottom up. Also, make sure that fire exits and fire extinguishers aren’t blocked in any way at any time.
Hazardous Materials Hazardous materials need to be locked away in an OSHA-acceptable cabinet, which few companies actually have, Fife says. Gas cans are a notable problem. “Two gallons of gas in a 5-gallon can [has the potential to] destroy a building [if it ignites],” Carl Potter says.
Make sure MSDS sheets are kept up-to-date and in a place that is easily accessible to firefighters, such as a locked box near your gate.
Load Building This function has four major potential safety issues: the use of forklifts, the use of banders, lifting techniques, and the risk of falling loads.
One of the biggest dangers in load building, Deb Potter says, is when a person sees a load start to shift and “jumps up there to try to hold it. It’s the equivalent of trying to hold a building up,” she says.
Make load building safer through regular equipment maintenance; training in the use of the bander, forklifts, and proper lifting techniques (including standards for items that require two people to lift); and establishing banding stations. In addition, elevated banding stations with equipment sheds make it easier on the back to band the load, and they provide a central location for clips, snips, gloves, wrapping material, and spacers to help secure loads.
Fife notes that metal bands can produce severe cuts, so gloves should always be worn while building loads.
This spring, NLBMDA and Koons will debut “Delivery and Fleet Safety,” a training program about proper load building and fleet safety.
Material Stacking Be on the lookout for improperly stored materials on racks and for broken pallets, says Jeff Tanenbaum, a San Francisco–based attorney who specializes in occupational safety and health. For example, bagged items that aren’t palletized can break and deflate, creating an imbalance in the stacks.
Secure placement and safe storage on overhead racks has been “a great subject of investigation by OSHA,” Tanenbaum says. They’re looking for violations such as stacking and storage of materials above head level without safety netting or other protective measures.
Respiratory Protection Sawdust has been listed as a carcinogen since the late 1990s, Koons says. Employees exposed to wood dust need to be protected as required by OSHA.
Working “Cold” Some injuries in lumber operations are back and muscle injuries, and occur during the first hour of the day, Fife says. “It’s because we’re not warmed up,” he notes. “If you can take five minutes to have people do basic stretching, that will come back to you in saving lost time and injuries.” He recommends back stretches, trunk twists, and hamstring stretches. Tanenbaum agrees wholeheartedly. “It’s one of the most important things you can do,” he says. “You [wouldn’t] go out and run a marathon without training for it. Working is like a marathon. You’re there eight hours. You need to be in shape.” —Pat Curry is a contributing editor for PROSALES.
