- Employee’s Personal Safety
- Eye Protection
- Fire Prevention & Safety
- Protective Clothing & Equipment
- Hearing Protection
Safety Manual Table of Contents
Employee’s Personal Safety
OSHA citation 1910.21-32, 1910.132
- When required by the conditions of the job, only closed shoes of leather or semi-impervious (not canvas) material shall be worn. All shoes must have a non-skid sole.
- It may be dangerous to wear jewelry around equipment.
- Know and use the proper safety equipment and clothing for your particular work area.
- Do not remove, alter, or make inoperable any safety device or feature on equipment. If the safety devices on tools you are using have been tampered with, immediately call this to your supervisor’s attention.
- Walk carefully. Report or clean up slippery spots as soon as possible. Proceed with caution around blind corners. Running on the job may be dangerous and is seldom called for. Don’t run on stairways. Use handrailings.
- Do not pass under suspended loads of machinery or material. When operating a lifting device, it is your responsibility to enforce this rule. Avoid striking overhead objects while walking below. Whenever possible, the area beneath a suspended load shall be made inaccessible.
- Obey all warning signs. See that they are properly selected and placed on your job. Remove all signs when the job is done and the hazard no longer exists.
- Be aware of all possible pinch points in your work area.
- To avoid puncture wounds, do not carry sharp pointed tools in your pockets.
- Remove or bend down all nails in used lumber, boxes, containers or other places where they present a hazard.
- Close all drawers and doors when not in use.
- If possible, use non-solvent based materials. If using industrial solvents follow manufacturer’s directions and use only in well-ventilated areas. Read and follow product label and MSDS recommendations.
- Minimize skin contact with machine cutting oil and avoid inhalation or exposure to oil mists by wearing an approved respirator and other appropriate protective equipment.
- Request an MSDS sheet if not available. Also request eye protection, gloves and/or a respirator when appropriate. (See Hazard Communication on page 49.)
Eye Protection
OSHA citation 1910.133
- Eye protection is required for certain jobs and areas of work. It is the employee’s responsibility to use, and the supervisor’s responsibility to provide, eye protection as required for the job being performed.
- All employees exposed to such hazards as flying objects or particles of dirt, dust, wind, molten metal, gases, fumes, smoke, liquids, reflected light or glare in their normal work areas will be provided with appropriate eye protection, shields or goggles. Supervisors may designate jobs requiring eye protection.
- An eyewash and deluge shower is required where chemical splashes are possible.
- Foreign objects should be removed from an employee’s eye only by a person qualified to give such treatment. Report incident as required.
- Eye protection equipment and prescription eye glasses are available through your department. Various tasks require different eye protection, eye goggles, or glasses. The National Society for the Prevention of Blindness recommends not wearing contact lenses in certain situations; if you wear contact lenses, ask your doctor for instructions.
Fire Prevention and Safety
OSHA citation 1910.35-38, 1910.155-165
- If a fire or explosion occurs in your presence, activate the building evacuation alarm and call the Emergency number (9-911). Do not hang up until the operator tells you to. Send someone to meet Fire Department personnel outside the building to direct them to the scene. If you cannot account for everyone, inform the Fire Department.
- Do not use the elevators. Keep calm; shut off gas, open flames and your equipment before leaving if this does not endanger you. Move any obstructions to one side to allow passage. Close, but do not lock, doors behind you. Proceed at a fast pace, do not run, to the nearest exit. Do not re-enter the building.
- Be sure to stay between your escape route and the fire; do not let it trap you. If you are trapped by a fire, stay low to the floor. Crawl to an exit and try to breathe through a wet cloth. In high-rise buildings, get below the fire where you will be safer. If you cannot leave your room, hang something out the window. Do not smash windows, but open them slightly at the bottom and top.
- If your clothing catches fire, stop, drop and roll. If a coat or blanket is within five or six steps, roll in it to help smother the flame.
- Everyone should be familiar with the location and use of the alarm stations, fire extinguishers and fire hoses. Your knowledge may be called upon to save someone’s life or College property.
- Each fire extinguisher has directions for its use on it. Any use, vandalism, or corrosion of an extinguisher must be reported to EH&S.
- Flammable or combustible mixtures must be stored and transported only by approved methods and in approved containers. Approved grounding and bonding shall be used when transferring flammable liquids to prevent ignition by static discharge. Do not smoke around flammable material or in any other posted area.
- St. Olaf is a smoke-free campus; smoking is not permitted in any building or College owned vehicles.
- Facilities workers see places that other workers do not generally come in contact with and should be alert to recognize potential fire hazards. If a danger exists, notify EH&S. (See Confined Space Entry at the Training Manual link.)
- If a pan of grease or a deep fat fryer catches on fire, turn off the heat. Know the location of the switch panels and turn these off immediately. Use a dry chemical or carbon dioxide extinguisher or baking soda to stop the flames. Never carry a burning liquid. Burning liquids may ignite your clothing.
- All decorations for special events must be approved by EH&S so that a fire hazard is not created and state law is met.
- Each person should be familiar with building evacuation plans required by OSHA, which are to be posted in each building.
- Replace burned out bulbs in exit signs immediately. Call the Facilities office at x3280.
Protective Clothing and Equipment
OSHA citation 1910.134-137
- It is the employee’s responsibility to obtain, use, maintain, and clean protective equipment. It is the supervisor’s responsibility to furnish protection as required for the job being performed. It is both the employee’s and supervisor’s responsibility to keep equipment clean and usable. All equipment and clothing should be checked periodically to insure that all safety features are intact.
- Avoid loose fitting clothes and gloves. Gloves will be provided and must be carefully selected for each specific job. Shirts with sleeves and long pants must be worn, if furnished, to avoid unnecessary injuries. Do not take protective clothing home with you.
- Daily changes of uniforms, shirts, and trousers shall be provided to all employees who apply pesticides and herbicides on a regular basis. If this work is on a part-time basis, coveralls will be provided.
- Head protection (hard hats) must be worn on jobs where there is danger of being struck by falling objects or in areas where head room is limited or obstructed.
- Respirators must be used in certain cases when adequate local exhaust or general ventilation cannot be provided.
Hearing Protection
- All noise-hazard areas should be marked.
- All employees working in known noise-hazard areas will be provided with:
- their choice from among several different types of hearing protectors,
- annual training in their usage and importance, and
- annual hearing exams.
- Use ear protection when working around noisy equipment. Generally, hearing protection is required when ambient noise is above 85 decibels. The College’s hearing conservation program is developed and administered by EH&S and includes area testing to determine hearing protection requirements. For more information contact EH&S.