Talking Safety

March/April 1996 

An effective safety program takes more than basic training—it also requires constant reinforcement of key ideas and rules. Here’s a collection of some key safety topics to discuss—and repeat—with your employees. Every recycler can agree that safety is important. After all, safe operations not only protect employees from harm, but also improve the bottom line by reducing workers’ compensation premiums.

Every recycler would also likely agree that you can’t have safe operations without having an in-house safety program. And as anyone who has implemented a safety program will tell you, a solid program takes more than lip service, more than simply putting rules on paper.

Establishing a good safety program is like learning a foreign language—it takes considerable practice and repetition before becoming ingrained and automatic. And, also like a foreign language, safety rules can be forgotten if not used and reinforced regularly.

One way to ensure a good safety program is to hold a regularly scheduled 30-minute to hour-long meeting once a month during which you discuss one major safety topic. Then, every day, offer a reminder to your employees of a point covered in the meeting. This can be done in a number of ways, such as via department supervisors, posted fliers, and/or short daily employee meetings. It is only through such repetition that employees will develop a safety mindset, where they think and act safely as automatically as they reach for a seatbelt in the car.

So, what topics should you emphasize in your safety meetings? While there are scores of them, and while safety priorities will vary from company to company, the following topics and discussion points should get you started. 

Personal Protective Equipment
It’s a dangerous world out there, and scrap recycling employees certainly face the potential for occupational injury in myriad ways—from equipment, materials, the elements, and more. To work safely, therefore, employees must have and be required to wear protective equipment appropriate to their jobs.

Talking Points

• Benefits to employees and the company from wearing protective equipment
  
• Types of protective equipment
  Eyes and face (glasses, goggles, face shields, helmets)
  Head (hard hats)
  Hands (gloves)
  Skin (coveralls, aprons)
  Feet (steel-toed boots)
  Ears (plugs, earmuffs, canal caps)
  Back (support braces)
  Lungs (respirators)
• Checking the fit
  
• Equipment required for all employees
  
• Equipment required for specialized jobs
  

Lockout/Tagout
Scrap processing and handling equipment can be dangerous when operating, but it can be equally dangerous when not operating, for it can move, start, or release stored energy if proper precautions aren’t taken. Working safely on, in, and around equipment is more than a matter of simply turning off the power, as OSHA’s lockout/tagout requirements indicate.

Talking Points

• The meaning of lockout/tagout
  
• Types of processing and handling equipment that need to be locked and tagged out
  
• OSHA’s lockout/tagout standard
  
• Lockout/tagout procedures
  
• Materials/products needed for proper lockout/tagout
  
• Qualified vs. unqualified employees to conduct lockout/tagout
  

Fire
Fire can strike in any place at any time in scrap recycling operations, whose fire hazards include oils, flammable vapors, friction in machinery, torching sparks, cigarettes, and more. The best way to fight fire is through education and prevention, with employees being well-versed in how to prevent as well as fight on-the-job fires.

Talking Points

• Types of fires—electrical, gas, liquid, wood, and paper—and their different characteristics
  
• Potential on-site fire hazards
  
• What to do in case of fire
  Whom to call
  Fire-fighting procedures for different types of fires
  What to do if you catch fire
  Escape routes
• Types, operation, and location of fire extinguishers
  
• Fire-resistant and fire-retardant apparel
  What kind of protection it does and doesn’t provide
  When to wear it

Confined Spaces
Most scrap recycling operations include a variety of areas that could be considered confined spaces, which OSHA defines as areas that are large enough for employees to enter and perform work, that have limited means of entry or exit, and that are not designed for continuous occupancy. (See “Managing Confined Spaces” in the July/August 1994 issue for further details on identifying confined spaces, including photographs depicting sites that would and would not be considered as such.)

Since implementing its confined space standard in April 1993, OSHA has made this a top regulatory priority.

Talking Points

• Defining a confined space
  
• The dangers of confined spaces
  Atmospheric hazards (oxygen deficiency, flammable spaces, toxic gases)
  Physical hazards (engulfment, dangerous configuration, falls, heat, live wires, moving parts)
• OSHA’s confined space standard
  
• Permit-required vs. non-permit-required spaces
  
• Procedures for permit-required spaces
  
• Working in a confined space
  Employee training requirements
  Proper equipment to wear
• Documentation requirements
  
• Identifying confined spaces—both permit and non-permit—at your plant
  

First Aid
No matter how effective your safety program is, there’s always the potential for an injury, so it’s best to know what to do when—not if—one occurs. Knowing proper first aid procedures can truly mean the difference between life and death.

Talking Points

• Identifying different types of injuries
  
• What to do if you get injured
  
• What to do if a coworker gets injured, such as whom to call, whether to move the victim, first aid to attempt vs. first aid to leave for medical experts
  
• Discussing the injury incident with other employees
  
• Workers’ compensation issues
  

Equipment
Scrap recycling is an equipment-intensive industry, which means that employees are constantly exposed to potential injury from machinery. For maximum safety, each machine should have its own set of operating rules for both the operator and those working nearby.

Talking Points

• Material-handling equipment
  Forklifts
  Front-end loaders
  Conveyors
  Cranes
• Processing equipment
  Shredders
  Shears
  Balers
  Briquetters
  Block breakers
  Grinders
  Wire choppers and strippers
  Torches
  Power tools
  Hand tools
• Trucks/other vehicles
  

Lifting
While lifting appears to be an easy activity that doesn’t require much forethought, many employees suffer back and other injuries from lifting for that very reason—they didn’t think before they lifted. Knowing how to lift properly—and what not to lift—is the best remedy for this problem.

Talking Points

• Injuries that can be sustained from improper lifting, such as hernias, spinal dislocations/ruptures, and strains to back, knees, neck, and muscles
  
• Proper lifting techniques
  
• Protective equipment to aid and ease lifting
  
• Machinery that can aid in lifting and when to use it
  

Working Smart and Safe
Safe employees are those who are always aware of potential dangers and who act safely automatically. Achieving this kind of a safety culture requires regular reinforcement of the rules and constant vigilance on the part of both employees and management.

Talking Points

• Know the company’s safety rules
  
• Focus on the job at hand—don’t be distracted and don’t fool around on the job
  
• Ask safety questions before acting
  
• Watch out for other employees’ safety in a buddy system
  
• Report unsafe activities by coworkers
  

Flying Objects
Sometimes danger comes in unexpected ways—such as through the air. In scrap operations, a variety of materials can be projected into the air from many sources, potentially striking and injuring employees. A few simple preventive steps can eliminate the potential for some of these UFOs—uncontrolled flying objects.

Talking Points

• Materials that can become airborne, including scrap fragments, machine parts, sparks, tools, molten metal, high-pressure fluids
  
• Sources of airborne materials, such as processing and handling equipment, railcars, power tools, hand tools, trucks, torches, gravity
  
• Protecting against flying objects
  Equipment guards
  Personal protective equipment
  Housekeeping

Ergonomics
While the human body can accomplish amazing feats, it can’t operate indefinitely in uncomfortable, inhospitable conditions without suffering injury. As a result, many recyclers are trying to give their employees a more ergonomic work environment, one that reduces the bodily strain of every job.

Talking Points

• Defining ergonomics
  
• Ergonomic-related injuries, including repetitive-motion injuries and back, eye, or muscle strain
  
• Jobs that present ergonomic concerns
  
• Exercises to minimize or eliminate ergonomic problems
  
• Ways to make a job more ergonomic
  

Injuries
While scrap recycling employees can be injured in all kinds of ways on the job, the majority of claims for workers’ compensation fall into five main categories, each of which could be a discussion topic in itself.

Talking Points

• Getting struck or caught while operating, maintaining, or working around scrap processing and handling equipment
  
• Material-handling injuries incurred while loading, sorting, lifting, throwing, moving, or pulling scrap
  
• Strain from repetitive-motion duties
  
• Falls from ladders, scaffolding, roofs, equipment, or loading docks, as well as on slippery surfaces
  
• On-the-road automotive injuries
  

Stored Energy
Equipment and scrap materials can hold stored energy that, if released suddenly, can harm employees. This danger, addressed in OSHA’s lockout/tagout standard, can be mitigated or eliminated through a few preventive steps.

Talking Points

• Scrap that can contain stored energy, such as coils, compressed/baled materials, taut stringers between two points
  
• Equipment that can contain stored energy, including hydraulic lines/pumps, pressurized air, elevated or retracted components of machinery that could release up or down
• Procedures for releasing stored energy safely or preventing its release while working on, in, or around equipment
  

Substance Abuse
Drugs and alcohol can significantly affect an employee’s physical and mental abilities while on the job, putting the employee, as well as his or her coworkers, at great risk of injury. To combat the potential for such problems, many recyclers have made their operations substance-free workplaces.

Talking Points

• Effects of alcohol and drugs on the body
  
• Use of legal as well as illegal drugs
  
• Workplace dangers created by substance abuse on the job
  
• Company policy on substance abuse, including alcohol/drug testing requirements
  
• Where to get help for substance abuse—for instance, the company-sponsored employee assistance program, community resources, or professional therapy
  

Electricity
Scrap recycling operations rely on electricity to power equipment, light buildings, and run security systems, among other things, which means employees constantly face the potential for electrical injury. That’s why it’s essential to teach a healthy respect for electricity and ensure a basic understanding of it.

Talking Points

• Electricity basics 
  How it works
  When it’s dangerous
  How to work with it
• Proper operation and handling of electrical equipment and devices
  
• Repair procedures for electrical equipment
  
• Lightning and outdoor safety
  
• Overhead power lines
  
• Electromagnets
  

For More Information

Further guidance on many of these topics and ideas on additional safety meeting topics can be found in ISRI’s safety reference manual, which is available to members for $60 and to nonmembers for $600. The association also offers a series of guides detailing safe operations of various types of machinery and equipment used in the industry, which can also be helpful in tailoring your safety meetings. These are available to members for 50 cents each (or $3.50 for the complete set of nine guides) and to nonmembers for $1 each (or $8 for the set). For more information or to obtain a publication catalog and order form, call 202/ 737-1770.

An effective safety program takes more than basic training—it also requires constant reinforcement of key ideas and rules. Here’s a collection of some key safety topics to discuss—and repeat—with your employees.