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OSHA determined that both injuries could have been prevented if the employer followed safety standards and provided the proper protection on equipment. In the second incident, OSHA found, the company had ignored safety standards by failing to secure the rack.
Securing Objects and Materials Against Crushing Hazards
Workers can be crushed by objects and materials (as opposed to moving equipment like forklifts) when they are exposed to:
- Unsecured objects that can shift, including storage shelving and cabinets that are not secured against falling, and equipment that is not secured against “walking” or similar movement.
- Improperly stacked and stored materials that can shift, slide, or topple onto them.
Join us on Thursday August 20, for our in-depth webinar, Protecting Employees from Energized Equipment: Strategies for Effective Lockout Tagout and Machine-Guarding Programs
In order to protect workers against these hazards, make sure that you:
- Anchor pieces of equipment that could fall, “walk” or shift, including:
- Large equipment;
- Tall bookcases and file cabinets; and
- Large tanks and gas cylinders.
- Stack and store materials to prevent shifting, sliding, and toppling:
- Ensure that stacks are stable and self-supporting;
- Stack bags and bundles in interlocking rows to keep them secure;
- Stack bagged material by stepping back the layers and cross-keying the bags at least every ten layers (to remove bags from the stack, start from the top row first);
LOTO and machine guarding are consistently on OSHA’s top 10 violations list, so taking a proactive approach puts you in better position to minimize citations during inspections. Click here to learn more!
- Store baled paper and rags inside a building no closer than 18 inches to the walls, partitions, or sprinkler heads;
- Band boxed materials or secure them with cross-ties or shrink plastic fiber;
- Stack drums, barrels, and kegs symmetrically;
- Block or chock the bottom tiers of drums, barrels, and kegs to keep them from rolling if stored on their sides;
- Place planks, sheets of plywood dunnage, or pallets between each tier of drums, barrels, and kegs to make a firm, flat, stacking surface when stacking on end; and
- Stack and block poles and other cylindrical materials to prevent spreading or tilting, unless they are in racks.
Need more practical advice on controlling hazards? You’ll find it at Safety.BLR.com.