Within the past year and a half, there have been several new rooftop safety standards added. To make it easier to become compliant, we have listed the top 5 that you should be taking immediate action to remedy.
10 Common Rooftop Safety Hazards
When working on rooftops, safety should be everyone’s number one priority. There are, unfortunately, many different hazards that can be present on rooftop environments. This article goes into the top 10 common hazards to note before stepping foot onto a rooftop.
10 Reasons You Could Benefit from A Cart Mover
Material Handling Solutions: Powered Cart Movers|Lifting Equipment |Lift Tables
Cart Movers are designed to easily move heavy loads throughout your facility. These material handling units are perfect for ensuring worker safety and increasing productivity when pushing or pulling heavy equipment. They are convenient and portable, and do not have electric cords or pneumatic hoses to trip over.
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6 OHSA Changes Those Will Impact Ontario Employers
Amendments called the Stronger, Fairer Ontario Act, 2017 (Bill 177), have been made to the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and went into effect on December 14, 2017.
Amendments called the Stronger, Fairer Ontario Act, 2017 (Bill 177), have been made to the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and went into effect on December 14, 2017. These amendments are the largest changes that have been implemented into OHSA in over 15 years. Some of the changes include tripling corporate OHSA penalties and quadrupling individual OHSA penalties.
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SWL/WLL/MRC – What do These Abbreviations Stand for and When Should they be Used?
Do you know the difference between SWL/WLL/MRC and when they should be used?
Vacuum Lifting 101
Vacuum lifters are ergonomic devices used to transport a variety of products within a set area, such as a warehouse or a manufacturing facility.
7 Key Advantages to Using a Hydraulic Lift Table.
A hydraulic lift table is an ergonomic device utilized to raise, lower or tilt workloads such as pallets.
Seven Steps to Safer Behaviour
One of the most common denominators for organizational performance issues is behavior, especially when it comes to safety. It is because of this that we often see repeated poor safety performance with no sustainable change in behavior due to the fact that the focus is on the action and not the behavior that lead to the action.
How to Prepare for an Incident?
Though you may take all of the proper preventative measures to decrease the chances of an injury occurring, they still happen and it is important to be prepared for them – that way you can ensure that they are handled correctly.
Racking and Storage Safety
Keeping your pallet racking safe is vitally important. In addition to your annual rack safety inspection by a trained inspector, you should carry out regular internal inspections at set intervals (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly etc). But what should you check for? This blog post will go into detail about how to keep your pallet racking safe!
Safety Tip: Be Prepared for the WHIMIS Inspectors
Ready or Not, Here Come the WHMIS Inspectors.
What is Your Playground Safety Policy?
This blog post will go into detail about the purpose of a playground safety policy and what it entails, but first let’s begin with some facts. What is a playground safety policy?
The Lifting Equation
Did you know that The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has a lifting equation for calculating a recommended weight limit for one person under different conditions?
Overhead Crane Dictionary 101
What directions do Overhead Cranes move in? This blog post will review some of the terminology that is frequently used in Overhead Crane conversations in addition to providing an Overhead Crane Dictionary.
The Signaller and Crane Operator Relationship
It can be an extremely difficult task to operate a crane with the precision needed to ensure loads are picked up and dropped off without causing any damage to the environment or people around it. Which is why having a strong signaler and crane operator relationship is key in crane safety.
What Personal Protective Equipment is Right for Me?
When working at heights it is imperative to select the right fall protection for a specific task and understand why it is the best choice. A well-known system which is used to help select your PPE is the Hierarchy of Fall Protection.
Overhead Crane Safety 101
When working with overhead cranes, dropped loads are one of the most common safety hazards. Improper operator training, side pulling with the crane, poor rigging technique, using an incorrect lifting device and hoist overloading, are the most common causes for dropped loads.
Daily Inspection and Maintenance Required for Overhead Cranes
When using an overhead crane for material handling applications, having a preventative maintenance program in place is IMPERATIVE. This maintenance program should be centered on crane manufacturers recommendations, and based on an effective and thorough safety and inspection program that is conducted on a regular basis.
Push Towards Fixed Access Ladders
Recently there has been a push to ensure the safety of workers by making sure the way that they access rooftops is safe.
The Importance of Athletic Equipment Inspections.
One of the main focuses of schools, and more specifically a school’s athletic department should be focusing on helping students achieve their highest athletic aspirations. But in order to truly do this schools need to provide a safe environment, and more specifically safe equipment to practise with.
Prevent Accidents with Overhead Crane Safety
Accidents, property damage and fatalities occur every year due to improper use of cranes and equipment failure. Identifying hazards and adhering to simple inspection can safety guidelines reduce the probability of these unfortunate occurrences.
The Importance of Securing Product in Pallet Rack Bays
By definition, a pallet rack is a device or equipment usually used in big warehouses to store a number of materials. It has skids or pallets that are positioned in a horizontal way that reach up to 4 or more levels. Pallet Racking systems have the potential to minimize construction costs and increase storage capacity to the highest level, but when used incorrectly fundamental safety and security issues will arise.
Common Ways to Misuse Hand Chain Hoists
Hand Chain Hoists are ideal for construction, maintenance and industrial applications. They provide unmatched durability and reliability but this does not mean that they are indestructible. If proper technique is not used during a lift, a Hand Chain Hoist can be very susceptible to damage. This blog post will go into detail about the most common ways to misuse a Hand Chain Hoist.
Four Benefits of Golf Netting
FORE! A high quality netting system is a great investment for your golf course or range. Golf Ball Barrier Netting is an essential piece of athletic equipment to ensure that golf balls stay where they belong; within the range or course.
Three Important Risk Factors in Flatbed Truck Safety
The safety challenges associated with flatbed trucks can lead to hospital bills, lawsuits and worker downtime. To protect employees and reduce business risk, three important factors need to be understood.
The Importance of Load Testing Overhead Cranes and Hoists
It is critically important that lifting equipment is in proper working order before placing it in service, for the safety both employees and a facility. When it comes to safety, any part of equipment inspection cannot afford to be overlooked. The equipment inspection and maintenance process includes the testing of equipment before it is used in operations. We will be going in depth about the importance of load testing overhead hoists and cranes throughout this blog post.
Ergonomics in the Canadian Workplace
The retention of human resources is a key factor in the competitiveness of Canadian companies. In the Canadian workforce alone it is estimated that time loss occupational injuries arising from MSI’s resulted in a direct cost of 3.2 billion dollars to the Canadian economy. Ergonomic program elements include things such as: stretch programs, ergonomic workstation design, formal job rotation, job matching and documented ergonomic risk identifications. The benefits of ergonomic training in any industry are endless.
How to Cost-Justify Ergonomic Improvements 101
The ability to demonstrate the pay back on ergonomic improvements is an ongoing challenge for many safety professionals. There are three primary driving forces to invest in an ergonomic improvement which are: regulatory compliance, health and safety performance and production enhancement.
How to Prepare if Someone Files an Injury Claim Against You?
When injuries occur during school hours, they are more likely to happen in the school’s gym than anywhere else on the preemies. Parents have the right to believe that schools will provide a safe haven for their children and protect them from bodily injury and undue harm. All schools have a legal duty of obligation to protect their students; this duty begins the minute the student steps on the school bus in the morning and ends when the student steps off the school bus at night.
Improving Automotive Shop Safety
Safety in automotive shops is always of the up most importance. Keeping your workers, yourself and your customers safe amongst the countless dangers of automotive repair is the most important principle in any shop. There are many things that can go wrong during every day work at an automotive shop, but luckily there are also several ways you can ensure both your employees and your own safety.
Roll Handling: What it is, Why it will Benefit You and What You Should Consider Before Purchasing
Roll handling solutions are one of the many ways that you can enhance your employees productivity levels and ensure your product does not become damaged within transport. This article goes into detail as to what a roll handling solutions is, what it’s benefits are and what you should consider before purchasing one.
The Importance of Fall Protection Training and Systems
Fall protection is one of the primary systems which should be put in place for a worker who may lose his or her balance at height; when one of these systems is put in place you are able to control and reduce the risk of injury and potential fatality.
Why Being Pro-Active is the Best Way to Deal With MOL Blitzes
Ensure that you are prepared for a MOL Blitz or MOL Inspection with these tips. The Ontario Ministry of Labour has recently hired hundreds of new inspectors making it more important than ever to ensure that you are complying with the law.
The Safety of Playgrounds: Injuries on the Rise
The number of injuries occurring on playgrounds is rising despite the safety improvements that have been put in place for playground equipment. Every year approximately 28,500 children in Canada require medical treatment as a result of injuries which are caused by playing on playgrounds.
The Benefits of Implementing an Ergonomic Solution
Whether you are looking into implementing an ergonomic solution in order to move rolls, barrels or another item; there are a vast variety of different benefits that you can gain by implementing an ergonomic solution.
Fall Prevention for Solar Panel Maintenance Workers
With solar panels becoming more and more common place on rooftops, it is time to consider the safety of the maintenance crews of these solar panels; are they being properly protected from falls?
How to Make Playgrounds Fun for All Children: Annex H
Every child wants to play, and one of the places that they go to in order to do so are playgrounds, which is why it is so important to ensure that every park is accessible for every child.
In fact in May 2007 the Canadian Standards Association or CSA released an updated version of its CAN/CSA Z164 or the Children’s Playspaces and Equipment Standard.
The Benefits of Modernizing Your Crane
Increased production, faster operating speeds, better controls, or automation and those are just the tip of the ice-burg of what you can gain when you decide to modernize or upgrade your crane.
The Value of a Preventative Maintenance Program
When it comes to your crane or other heavy-duty equipment you want to be sure that it will work for you when you need it to. Which is why a high quality preventative maintenance program should always be one of the number one things ensure you are a part of, not only will it help to reduce the amount of down time that your equipment may experience, but it will also help to ensure that your equipment is safe to use for your employees.
Why Pick Modules and Mezzanines Need a Fall Protection System
Pick Modules and Mezzanines are amazing ways to increase the production levels of a factory or warehouse, but they also introduce risk for employees. For employees working on them, there is the risk of falling, and for employees under them, there is a risk from falling product
How to Create a Safety Culture
You have probably heard of this term before “safety culture”, but what is a safety culture? And how can one cultivate one within your organization?
Fall Protection Safety for Workers at Heights
When you consider a job that involves the risk of falling on the job, your mind most likely flashes to jobs that involve scaling tall buildings. But the reality is that a worker has a risk of falling three or more meters, a fall protection system should become a critical component of your occupational health and safety (OHS) practices and procedures.
How Inspection and Maintenance Programs Can Extend the Life of Your Overhead Crane
The secret to having a safe and reliable crane is no secret at all, in fact it is quite well known. But in case you unaware I’ll share with you what that secret is… the way to extend the life of your crane is to have regularly scheduled and professional preventive maintenance and inspection programs, because the best type of maintenance is preventative maintenance.
Related: PM Programs, Inspections, Load Testing & Hoist & Crane Repair
The secret to having a safe and reliable crane is no secret at all, in fact, it is quite well known. But in case you unaware I’ll share with you what that secret is… the way to extend the life of your crane is to have regularly scheduled and professional preventive maintenance and inspection programs because the best type of maintenance is preventative maintenance. Unfortunately, many companies are turning a blind eye now to the idea of regular inspection programs and preventive maintenance in favour of saving both time and money.
The chances of having a mechanical failure on your equipment without having any kind of warning signs or symptoms are just as likely as winning the lottery and then right after being struck by lightning (or in other words, it is extremely rare).
There are though several reasons as to why a mechanical failure in an overhead crane may occur these include:
- The cranes are being inspected to OSHA/OHSA standard, but the frequency of these inspections are not enough to accommodate the duty cycle of the crane
- The item which failed was not included as part of the inspection contract agreement, which means it was not checked during the inspections and maintenance
This brings up an extremely important question: why would a company invest so much time and money into such a critical piece of equipment, but later on allow for it to fail and cause big problems within their workplace?
Many cranes come with an O.E.M. owner’s manual, these manuals typically offer manufacturer recommendations regarding the frequency in which major components of the crane should be inspected and maintained. Unfortunately though because these are just recommendations many companies fail to design a standard inspection/preventative maintenance program around these guidelines.
Too often people believe that any type of inspection will work that by simply having an annual OSHA inspection they will be completing their inspection/maintenance mandates and will be ensuring the reliability of their equipment. While it is extremely important to meet OSHA requirements for inspections from a safety standpoint, often though these inspections only check to ensure the crane meets the minimum requirement of the regulated safety guidelines. A standard OSHA inspection rarely even comes close to meeting the O.E.M. preventative maintenance and inspection recommendations meant to help you maintain your equipment and extend its life.
Often times these inspections are awarded to a supplier on a fixed price basis, and it usually ends up going to the lowest bidder. So while these types of inspections may meet OHSA/OSHA’s minimum requirements, it is extremely unlikely that the customer will receive any type of professional service catered to the equipment’s specific needs.
Which is why one should keep the three stages of inspection in mind when they start to contemplate creating inspection and/or preventative maintenance plan, the three stages are:
- Initial Inspection: this is completed by a qualified person to ensure the crane is safe to use when it is first installed
- Periodic Inspections: these should be completed by a professional (this is also when any preventative maintenance would occur). These inspections occur at different intervals depending on your usage of the crane:
- Normal Service: Yearly
- Severe Service: Monthly to Quarterly
- Special Service: As often as recommended by a qualified inspector
- Frequent inspections: these should be completed daily or before each shift during normal service conditions and they should be, completed by a competent person.
Before awarding the contract for an inspection/maintenance plan, you should keep several things in mind:
- Does the supplier have a good reputation within the industry?
- Are they willing to make adjustments as they go along, and are they willing to accommodate your scheduling needs?
- Will they perform all of the standard maintenance needed during each visit (things such as fluid changes, greasing the bearings, runway checks and other similar maintenance tasks)?
- Will they ensure that the crane meets OSHA/OHSA’s safety requirements?
When you start to evaluate service providers, you should ask yourself what exactly your current supplier is doing for you now, and what they could be doing better. Chances are that your service provider could be doing more, but is instead doing what is required to meet the criteria stated in their contract. All too often these decisions are made based on a low price, without considering the full value that could be received from some of the higher bids. Programs that are focused on meeting only the minimum requirements and are awarded to the lowest bidder will not allow you to extend the life of your crane and could cost you in the long run in maintenance and repair fees.
Often times there is crane(s) located within a facility, which is used more than others. In these cases, these crane(s) will require more attention than the others. This is where the periodic inspection rating comes in, based upon the usage of each crane will determine if you need annual, quarterly or monthly inspections, the ideology of “one size fits all” does not apply to cranes. So before you request bids for equipment maintenance, make sure that you are aware of your specific needs (if you are unsure as to what category your cranes fall under contact a crane specialist), because every inspection and service provider is different. If you wish to extend the life of your crane, the cost of a professional inspection program, which is catered exactly to your specific needs, will be a worthwhile return on your investment.
Do you have an overhead crane?
Do you have an inspection schedule?
What would you recommend for people to look out for when picking out an inspection and service company?
Comment below and share your thoughts!
Everything You May Need to Know About Girder Cranes in One Spot
Single top running, single under running, double top running and double under running, these four distinct different categories are what sets girder overhead cranes apart from each other.
This article will focus on each one of these distinct categories separately so you can gain a complete understanding of just what is a girder crane, and what one might suit you best.
Unravelling the Mystery of Workstation Cranes
Often times one of the best ways to transport product throughout a warehouse facility is through lifting it up and moving it overhead. By handing products and materials overhead you can help to increase productivity, enhance worker safety and increase the amount of available floor space.
Spring Has Sprung: How to Have Safe Rooftop Maintenance
With spring just around the corner it is time to start thinking about your seasonal must-do’s for rooftop maintenance.
So where can you start?
A General Overview of Gantry Cranes
If you don’t wish to install heavy and expensive lifting equipment, but you have large heavy materials to move you may believe that you are stuck in a pickle, fortunately for you though you do have options.
Jib Cranes: What are They?
What are jib cranes, and what are their uses? A jib crane is like the supporting actor to an overhead crane, they don’t get all of the attention, but without them the show could not go on.
Everything You Need to Know About Overhead Cranes and Then Some
Die Carts
Die carts can help you save time and prevent back pain, but without proper inspections and maintenance they can break down.
What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You
What could happen if you don’t get your chain sling inspected?
Ensuring Your Web Slings Are Safe to Use
What should you be doing in order to ensure your web sling is safe to use? What are the three stages of inspections?
Fall Arrest Systems: Maintenance, Inspections & Classification
How can you extend the life of your fall arrest systems, while also ensuring they are safe for your employees to use? This post explains how.
All About Below-The-Hook-Attachments
What are below the hook attachments?
How do you maintain them?
Learn about some of the tips and tricks of how to operate a below the hook attachment, based on what subcategory it falls under, and how to properly maintain them.
Dock Levellers
Why is it so important that dock levellers be inspected? What can happen if they are not properly inspected? Read this article to learn more…
Air Balancers
How to properly use them and why & how to inspect them.
Electric Hoists: Durability, Longevity & Maintenance
Why do people Use Electric Hoists? How can you maintain and ensure the longevity of your electric hoist? Should I have my electric Hoist Inspected?
Wire Rope: Maintenance and Signs to Look Out For
What should you look out for or do in order to maintain and extend the the life of your wire rope?
Below the Hook End Effectors
What are End Effectors, End of Arm Tooling or Robotic End Effectors? What is their purpose? Why do people use them? How can they benefit me?
Five Potentially Fatal Machine Guarding Problems
Machine guarding is very important, but unfortunately many organizations either do not maintain their machine guards or simply do not install them at all. Here are five potentially fatal machine guarding issues and some reasons why the investment is recommended.
Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders
What are Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders? What can you do in order to protect yourself from developing one? What signs should you look out for? Read this article to find out more about this disorder.
Unsafe Playgrounds
Every year thousands of children are harmed simply because they are playing on playgrounds that are not properly maintained. What signs can you look for in order to ensure the playground your child is playing on is not an unnecessary injury waiting to happen?
One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty
One thousand seven hundred and fifty, that is the number of people injured on average at baseball games each year. It is because of this staggering number that many baseball stadiums are looking to extend there netting to protect spectators.
How to Prepare for the Machine Safety Blitz
With the Machine Safety Blitz upon us it is time to take action in order to be prepared. So what can you do?
Let’s Change 735 Injuries to Zero
Machines need machine guarding, that’s a reality! There is a cost involved, however at the end of the day, it can and will save your employees.
OSHA Fines Set To Increase
In Ontario, we have OHSA, Occupational Health and Safety Association, they set out minimum health and safety standards to protect workers against hazards on the job. If those standards aren’t upheld, there are stiff financial penalties to pay.
Spring Rooftop Maintenance
Spring is a time of renewal, spring cleaning and maintenance. It’s time to do your seasonal must do’s for roof top maintenance. Ensure your roof top work environment and rooftop access are safe and protected with RoofGuard. Taking shortcuts when working on a rooftop without proper protection will only spell disaster.
How to work safely at heights in Aviation.
For many years now, working safely at heights has been at the forefront of issues that regulators and inspectors review for job site safety. Recognizing that even relatively small falls can result in devastating injuries, lost production, and larger fines, employers are more likely than ever to look for different options for fall protection solutions to keep workers safe. In an effort to simplify this goal, however many employers get sidetracked by setting oversimplified goals intended to meet the letter of the law.
Liftsafe Group of Companies 