Dust explosion in grain elevator - 3 dead, 3 missing

An apparently dust explosion in a grain elevator in US caused 3 deaths and many unconfirmed injuries. 3 persons are missing. The blast effect could be felt upto 4 miles from the place of the incident. The incident occurred while loading corn into a train.The full story is available here.

Drinking water or chemical in a water bottle?

Today in a local daily, I read a person died two days after drinking sanitary fluid phenyl, assuming it as fruit juice. Earlier, I heard from a friend about his relative drinking hydro chloric acid (HCl) in a bottle assuming it as water and developing blisters in the mouth. Before that, I heard another incident of a boy taking water from a jug placed on a water cooler, that was used earlier for phenyl and had symptoms of stomach burning for few days.  There were many lab incidents due to the use of a chemical that is not same as the label on the bottle.
All above incidents stress on importance of proper labeling, safe procedure for handling of chemicals, proper hygienic practices and supervision. Otherwise, such incidents keep recurring at regular intervals.

Can Disobeying a Safety Rule Be Safer than Obeying It?

Can Disobeying a Safety Rule Be Safer than Obeying It?

LINK

The dos and don'ts of weight loss - Yahoo! Lifestyle India

Now-a-days, I am concerned about over weight and its impact on working styles. Found an article in yahoo. The link is given below.

The dos and don'ts of weight loss - Yahoo! Lifestyle India

LINK

To Prevent Accidents, We Must Change Attitudes

We develop attitudes over a period of time due to our past experience and as the experience repeats, beliefs are reaffirmed. Attitudes also develop due to influence from others. Wrong attitudes are due to wrong advice and changing these attitudes requires a lot of effort. It requires teaching with examples, being a role model, and may be some admonishing at the end. The article at the following link dwells upon changing the attitudes for accident prevention.

To Prevent Accidents, We Must Change Attitudes

LINK

There are no exceptions. Follow the Rules, even if it is an emergency

In an incident, a coworker was assisting a crane operator in lifting the injured, by standing on a steel structure without a safety belt or any other protective gear. The employer was charged by OSHA for the violation.
This is an emergency case. But, many times, showing some reason or the other as emergency or important, people wilfully disobey the rules trading for short term gains. Even the experienced and senior colleagues preach such practices citing the urgent requirement. Funnily, the activities which were not attended for weeks will become suddenly urgent on the day they propose to take up and do not follow any safety procedure because they do not have time at that moment.
The example in the link below will serve as an eye opener to those who take chance by not following safety.
Lessons from a California Case

LINK

Safety incentives: Boon or bane?

Any incentive to employee towards safety programme implementation will help only in the beginning. Later on, they demand more and more which becomes a vicious circle and is like opening so called Pandora's box. If you try increase the standards after attaining and maintaining certain level, you will face resistance from the employees. In fact, as the article says, they may hide the issues and do not report, not only for getting the incentive, but that they may be rebuked by colleagues, if the person is involved/reported accident/near miss and deprived others of the incentives.

http://safetydailyadvisor.blr.com/archive/2011/10/17/safety_management_incentives_pros_cons.aspx#comments?Source=SDF&effort=13

No increase in brain cancer from mobile phone use - Danish study

Earlier, we read from WHO study that mobile phone may cause brain cancer. Now, a Danish study says no increase in brain cancer due to mobile phone use. There are conflicting statements/reports from different study groups. Whatever it is, as electromagnetic energy can have biological impact, it is better to minimize exposure and follow the principle of ALARA i.e as low as reasonably possible.
If you are a business man and sitting at one place use fixed phone instead of mobile phone. If you are on the move, you can postpone your conversation till you reach your residence or office. If you are a marketing executive on the move, use earphones that are declared safe. Use of mobile phone on move also introduces other hazards like lack of concentration and can involve you in road accidents.
You may be lured by mobile applications, but the time spent on surfing or learning the applications is more than the actual gains and burning the pocket.

What is the safe voltage to work?

Many assume 24 V power supply is safe to handle. But an article in the link below shows that shock is possible even at 12 V, some sensation can be felt and secondary effects of such shock can endanger the person.
Even for DC supply, with a body resistance of 500 ohms in wet condition and 41 mA DC current leading to painful shock to women means 500 x 0.041=20.5 V.
People are reluctant to have earthing for the machinery saying that the voltage is less but we do not know what can happen and are ready to trade safety for a worst experience (shock!!!).
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_3/4.html

Electrocution during cleaning of welding machine

In an incident reported in a local news paper, a person died of electrocution while cleaning the welding machine in the morning. This implies damaged cables and improper/no earthing to the machine. Possibly the power supply was not switched off the previous day and in the same condition, the person would have carried out cleaning of the machine.
It is common to see use of structural columns as return lines and no earthing will be available neither for the machine nor the job on which welding will be done. Sometimes when proper length of cable is not available, people use rods or sheets or similar metal pieces as return lines. It is difficult to ensure safety in unorganized sector and even in organized sectors when the work is outsourced.