Glove Selection Guideline

 

Public Domain Photo at flickr.com

The right kind of glove can be very helpful in preventing exposure to toxic chemicals. Discover some glove guidelines from this excerpt at ISHN.

Skin contact is a potential source of exposure to toxic materials; it is important that the proper steps be taken to prevent such contact.

Most accidents involving hands and arms can be classified under four main hazard categories: chemicals, abrasions, cutting, and heat. There are gloves available that can protect workers from any of these individual hazards or any combination thereof.

Gloves should be replaced periodically, depending on frequency of use and permeability to the substance(s) handled. Gloves overtly contaminated should be rinsed and then carefully removed after use.

Gloves should also be worn whenever it is necessary to handle rough or sharp-edged objects, and very hot or very cold materials. The type of glove materials to be used in these situations include leather, welder’s gloves, aluminum-backed gloves, and other types of insulated glove materials.

To read the full article, visit www.ishn.com. 

How To Prevent Back Injuries

Sailors carry boxes by Official US Navy Imagery via flickr.com

Back injuries are a serious risk to any laborer, so take heed from this TotalLandscapeCare.com article, even if you're in a different field.


The Accident: A crewmember is loading project materials from the landscape company’s lot onto the bed of a pickup truck. He bends down to grab a stack of pavers, twists his body to place them in the bed and feels a snap in his back. He falls to the ground and calls 911 from his cell phone. He is transported to the hospital where he is treated for swelling and pain caused by a pinched lumbar nerve.

The Bottom Line: Lifting injuries are far too common in the industry, and their effects can last a lifetime. While carrying and moving materials – like trees, cement blocks, flagstone or bags of fertilizer – might be a regular part of a crew’s day, there are measures they can take to prevent back problems.

Read the full article on TotalLandscapeCare.com. 

6 Steps to Lowering Worker Comp Costs

Landscape Worker at Machu Picchu by David Berkowitz via flickr.com 

Even very small operations need to learn the rules behind workers compensation. Every state is different, but there are common sense rules any business ought to follow. Learn more in the article excerpted below from GreenIndustryPros.com. 

For landscapers all over the United States, the premium of workers’ compensation insurance is a large expense that’s often required by state laws. In other words, there’s not much you can do about it. Or is there?

Understand your state’s laws

Not every state requires businesses to provide workers’ comp. In fact, most states only require businesses to provide it when they have more than three employees.

Even when not required by law, offering workers’ comp is still beneficial for landscapers to avoid prosecution from injured employees who waive their rights to file damage lawsuits against the employer when receiving workers’ comp benefits.

The premium for workers’ compensation insurance is designed to provide sufficient funds to not only pay for benefits to the injured employees, but also to operate the system that delivers those benefits. It is a pre-funded insurance system, which means that premiums are determined before the policies are issued, and that premiums are intended to meet all future claim payments made under those policies.

Read the full article on GreenIndustryPros.com. 

Quality vs. safety: Not a superiority contest

Tug of war by Joshwept via flickr.com

Safety professionals and others in the company often come into conflict when it comes to convincing management who to prioritize, but Dr. Leemann thinks that is counterproductive. Instead, both sides need to come together to improve a company's success. Read more in this ISHN.com article. 

Recently a colleague at my office, Dr. Ron Schulingkamp, shared a Quality Progress article entitled “Quality vs. Safety” by Mustafa Ghaleiw.  As a quality professional, Ron found it interesting that Ghaleiw draws upon Lowellyne James, a quality lecturer at the Aberdeen Business School in the United Kingdom, pitting the quality culture against the safety culture when describing the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster.  James concludes in his blog post, “Safety is not the issue; it is a lack of an understanding of quality and its impact on the triple bottom-line — economic, social and environmental. It is time for BP, the oil and gas industry and regulators to adopt an industry-wide approach that embraces continuous improvement that goes ‘beyond quality.’”

In sharing the article, Ron asked the question,

“How would we describe our quality culture at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?” 

Read the full article at ISHN.com. 

What’s the Future Of Green Buildings In 2014? Industry Leader Offers Top 10 Megatrends

Green Building by quint via flickr.com

Happy New Year's Eve! As we welcome the year 2014, let's take a look forward at one of the most significant building and maintenance issues - being green and sustainable. Today's Facility Manager offers their perspective on green building trends. One surprise might be the focus on making existing buildings more green, instead of only new building. What do you see coming?

What are the major trends likely to affect the green building industry and markets in the U.S. in 2014? As one of the world’s leading green building consultants, Jerry Yudelson thinks he knows the answers. In fact, his Top 10 list of green building megatrends has become an annual event.

At the top of Yudelson’s 2014 list is the prediction that green building in North America will continue its strong growth in 2014, with the ongoing expansion of commercial real estate construction together with government, university, nonprofit, and school construction. “Green building is the tsunami of the future that will inundate the entire real estate industry,” says Yudelson.

The second megatrend on Yudelson’s list is the growing focus on energy efficiency in all kinds of buildings, including the increasing role of building automation…

Read the full article at Today's Facility Manager. 

Happy Holidays and a Wonderful New Year

We hope you enjoy your holiday season with family and friends!

Best Wishes,
Power Pusher

Getting the decorations out by m_shipp22

5 Questions Landscapers Hate to Hear

by Ryan Milani, via flickr.com

This article on TotalLandscapeCare.com makes it clear that potential landscaping clients sometimes misunderstand the process of hiring a landscaping professional. How do you handle client expectations, or try and educate them about what the process involves?

Are there questions you dread? Here are landscaper Ben Bowen’s top five inquiries he doesn’t like hearing:

1. Are you guys expensive? I don’t know. “Expensive” is totally relative, and I have no idea what you are using as a reference. I can’t honestly say “Yes” or “No”.

2. What does something like this cost? First of all, I am horrible with ballpark figures. Second, I know you say you won’t hold me to it — but you kind of will.
Read the full article on TotalLandscapeCare.com.