When it comes to chemical reactions and accidents involving them at plants, factories, and any sort of production line the causes are numerous. However, there’s always a list of the most common causes for any type of incident. Precautions are always beneficial to preventing these incidents, however accidents always happen. With chemical explosions and fires the accidents can be disastrous, which is where US HAZMAT Rentals comes in. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says 1.2 million workers miss work from being injured, and that number has been decreasing steadily over the years. The median number of deaths each year is usually around 4,000, this number fluctuates depending on the gravity of the incidents. In an attempt to lower this number even more, we have compiled a list of some of the most common workplace accidents. These accidents occur on a sliding scale of dangerousness, with chemical reactions resulting in the most disastrous of these incidents. Nevertheless, here are some of the most common accident causes in the workplace.
User Error, the Human Element
In nearly every aspect of life, it’s common knowledge that human error causes a large majority of issues and problems that arise. It’s the reason we have regulations, insurance, and many other respondent services or reactive preventional measures. In industrial workplaces, workers who fail to follow safety procedures cause a large majority of accidents to take place. This is information brought to you by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s always important to instruct your workers and personnel on the safety procedures with whatever they’re working with. Regarding chemicals, this is extremely important. US HAZMAT is integral to this due to our breadth of knowledge regarding the regulations and procedures in storing and handling chemicals and hazardous materials. Machines are no joke either, we all know of machine related safety procedures if we’re at all integrated into the industry.
Insufficient or Inaccurate Training
Leading off of the first reason for industrial accidents and disasters, insufficient or inaccurate training are another primary cause. When training your personnel to handle chemicals or operate machinery it’s not only important to know the safety procedures but exactly what is involved in the work that they’re doing. It’s beneficial to know the uses and end results of the tasks they’re performing. Not only to show them the worth of what they’re doing but for them to better understand the weight and danger of the materials or machines they’re handling. Workers and personnel tend to be as mindless as the tasks they perform. Herein, helping them be mindful of their tasks and operations allow for less mistakes to take place. It’s also extremely important to train your personnel on what the procedure is for handling incidents when they arise.
Defects in Machinery or Improper Storage
The first few reasons are resulting in improper human interference or operations. This also extends to the humans that build the machines that build the machines, and so on. No one is perfect, and no creation of anyone is resultantly perfect. When working in a chemical plant, defective machinery is a common cause of accidents. This is important to know, because of a machine shows signs of malfunctioning it needs to be immediately taken out of commission disregarding its threat level. A small malfunction of a defective machine can lead to a catastrophic incident. The companies who disregard the machines that malfunction slightly usually pay the most in the end. OSHA does not look at these incidents lightly, and making sure that your machines and devices are operating at top efficacy is not only beneficial to your company in the long run but it can also save lives. This is why those inspectors exist, but it shouldn’t be left up to them. It’s no mistake to pay for private inspectors or to hire them in general to maintain well running machines and devices.
Maintenance Not Performed or Improperly Executed
When industrial accidents happen as a result of lack of maintenance, companies are heavily fined. A lack of maintenance can cause extremely high risk working scenarios and these scenarios never last forever. There’s always one tick or check box away from a death or severe injury, and this is unacceptable in the eyes of the government, regulatory services, and of course us here at US HAZMAT. Maintenance should always be performed when it is needed, and valuing an immediate return in the short term does not begat longevity to your company. Making sure those “pesky” maintenance procedures are done and done properly is integral to the success of any industrial business.
If you have questions on how US HAZMAT can assist you please feel free to call in and ask our professional staff. We have a wide range of companies that employ our business and we are happy to help take care of the extreme regulations regarding chemical storage and handling procedures. We also can get our storage lockers to your immediately in the case of emergency maintenance.
