Men, we begin simply as “snips and snails and puppy dog’s tails” until we morph into Men and June happens to be men’s health month and it’s to remind men that your health is in your hands as high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer are all preventable and/or treatable when detected.  I understand, you’d rather stop and ask for directions than see your doctor but you can improve on the 77.4 year average life expectancy in the U.S. by eating right, (more fruits and vegetables and less steak and potatoes) exercise, (reaching for the remote control doesn’t count) and don’t put off discussing any issues you may experience with your doctor.

In fact, did you know that four of the top 5 man killers are, #1 Heart disease, #2 Cancer, #4 Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and #5 Stroke!  I’ve saved the number 3 killer for last, Accidents!  Men, seriously!  We go through all of these life style changes, exercise routines and medical tests to avoid killers 1,2,4 and 5 from doing us in only to go climb out on a three story building roof without any fall protection gear! Instead of taking the time to do a proper LOTO because you’re in a rush you’d rather just climb into the belly of a piece of machinery to make an adjustment, “don’t worry it’ll only take a minute”!  You give up smoking so you can instead fill your lungs inhaling silica dust because you don’t look cool in a dust mask!  Do you see the problem here?  A little hypocritical?  Or should we just say men’s health is an oxymoron?  Tell you what, let’s ALL work together to eliminate Men’s killer #3.  We don’t need donations, we don’t need hundreds of scientist researching for hours, we just need YOU to work safe, wear the proper PPE, wear fall protection, always perform LOTO and question any potential hazards you see and then you can spend more time with your loved ones. I guess since we’re talking about accidents, this unfortunately must be another episode of Companies Behaving Badly.

                                 HAPPY FATHER’S DAY

 

OSHA levels $130,700 in penalties on two Kyle Field contractors over death of worker – PREVENTABLE – Angel Garcia a 25 year old worker, trusted the fact that his employer, Lindamood Demolition wouldn’t let him use a skid-steer loader that wasn’t approved for the task he was performing.  That is until the 3,340 pound concrete stub an employee of Texas Cutting & Coring was cutting, tipped over the loader due to the excessive weight and fell 70 feet, ejecting Angel from the loader.  He died later that day at the hospital.  Both companies failed to provide employees with safe demolition procedures despite concerns from workers and for this both companies were hit with Willful violations and Lindamood placed in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program.   Casey Perkins, OSHA’s area director said, “This disregard for worker safety is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”  As I’ve said before fines are nice, but some management people should be in a jail cell.  Always check the weight capacity any piece of equipment can handle safely before operating it.  Don’t let anyone tell you it’s o.k. to exceed that limit.

OSHA cites company in workers’ deaths – PREVENTABLE – Timothy Lang, a 53 year old construction worker who loved his vegetable garden and decorating for the holidays died on site while his coworker Scott Winkler, a 50 years old family man with 5 children and who enjoyed the outdoors died several days later in the hospital after a concrete wall that was not properly braced fell on them.  A third worker Rafael Zakota, 37 sustained injuries that will heal but the memory of this accident will be with him for the rest of his life.  Halmar International their employer was hit with 2 serious violations one of which occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have know.  Since this was a mock up site to get ready for the actually project my guess is the company tried to save money by omitting the needed supports.  Again, this is a time where the person in charge should be facing murder charges.

OSHA investigating fatal grain mill accident – PREVENTABLE – On a cool, beautiful early Tuesday morning at Great Falls Montana Specialty Mills, Barry Ladd died as he bled out after having lost his leg when he stepped in an auger.  The accident is currently under investigation but records show that Specialty Mills was found to have 7 safety violations in a 2012 routine inspection by OSHA that resulted in a $24,000 fine.  Two of the violations involved protective coverings of floor holes and revolving parts.  The others involved floor cleanliness, electrical equipment and protocol for working in confined spaces.  All sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.  You shouldn’t have to remember where all the holes in the floor are.  They must be properly marked and made safe enough for you to get the job done without falling or an amputation.

MA Steel fabrication shop cited after worker crushed – PREVENTABLE – A 46 year old worker at Boston Bridge & Steel Company had trusted that his employer had properly secured the 12,000 pound steel arch beam he was assigned to paint.  As he worked, probably thinking about the upcoming holidays, the 6 ton arch fell on him and crushed him to death. OSHA found that his trust was misplaced as Boston Bridge failed to make sure the beam and 3 others like it, were not properly braced to prevent falling.  Have you ever seen how a pilot does a walk around his jet as part of a pre-check?  He knows that his company has some of the best talented mechanics in the world taking care of that jet, but he knows that “stuff” can happen.  So as an added safety measure, he walks and looks.  Before you work on any project you should take the few minutes to do the same.

OSHA Cites Chicago Company for Repeat Violations – PREVENTABLE – Pan-Oceanic Engineering Company in Chicago is either very arrogant or just very stupid as they were cited for a second time this year for failing to protect workers in trenches from cave-in hazards. They were given a willful violation which in plain english means they knew they were putting workers in danger and couldn’t care less.  Think about what it’s must be like to work for a company that doesn’t care if you are buried alive and suffocate.  Warming isn’t it?  They were also cited for a serious violation after someone found evidence of a potential cave-in and did nothing about it.  For all this they were only fined $147,000 and placed under the Severe Violator Enforcement Program.  In fact, according to OSHA since 2003 they have been cited multiple times for violations of trenching standards and why they’re allowed to continue one wonders.