ENFORCEMENT PRACTICES FOR 

EMPLOYEES  

OSHA defines personal protective equipment as equipment worn to minimize exposure to serious workplace injuries and illnesses. These injuries and illnesses may result from contact with chemical, radiological, physical, electrical, mechanical, or other workplace hazards. Personal protective equipment may include items such as gloves, safety glasses and shoes, earplugs, etc.

With that said, as the saying goes, "you can lead the horse to water, but you can't make him drink" So, the question is, you can provide the items needed to protect the employee, but how do you make them use it? OSHA requires more than availability.

There was an interesting article in Safety/NewsAlert titled "Is it enough to provide safety gear, or do you have to make 'em use it"? Article Link Even though this pertained to a workers compensation case, it raises a good question that I believe every operator should ask themselves. What do I do to promote the use of the devices that will keep my employees safe?

 The following are some ideas that should be part of your list:

• Are employees held accountable for not using protective equipment? How severe should the punishment be? Termination?
• How easy do you make it to find the equipment you want them to use? Are they in a properly labeled container in close proximity of the hazard?
  

  
• Do you train the employees to understand the risks of not using the protection and show them how and when to use it?
• Do you have written policies regarding the company's expectation for using the safety equipment?
• Is the equipment clean and comfortable to use?
• Do you have a maintenance plan to keep the equipment in good working condition?
• Did you assign a person to monitor a personal protection program? Are you aware of how effective it is?
• Do you use signage to warn employees of the hazards and advise them what equipment to use? Are the signs readable and in the proper language?
  

  

  
  
• Do you encourage employees to report unsafe conditions that would require protection equipment? (Front line eyes & ears)

Car wash tunnels and especially equipment rooms are usually the areas that pose the most serious threats to your employee's well-being. This makes the use of personal protection equipment by your employee one of the most important aspects of any safety program. At a minimum, these questions should become a checklist along with any additional ideas you may have to engage the staff to use these devices.

Keep in mind, as employers, there are at least two reasons compliance is critical to your business. First, if an employee is hurt and depending on the severity of an injury, OSHA may elect to levy fines for what they may consider non-compliance with the intent of the regulation. Secondly, even more importantly, an injured worker will cost your company a great deal of time and money. Begin today!

For additional information on personal protection equipment, please visit the following links to car wash safety 101.
Link 1
Link 2

Let us know what questions you would add to our list.

Remember, a safe wash protects people and profits!






Does the Glove Fit?

I reached out to Al West, North East Sales Manager at Simoniz USA, Inc. (http://www.simoniz.com/) for additional PPE information.


Al writes - Thanks for asking me to research the answer to your blog readers question ‘Are there differences between one type of glove and another in terms of safety when handling chemicals?’.


I spoke with our lab tech's and our plant/safety manager. They told me, unfortunately there are thousands of types of material for chemical protection in gloves, there are specific materials designed to handle alkaline and different materials designed for acids. There is also material that handles both - these would be considered the highest quality glove.


They said the most important factor in protection is the "Rate of Permeation". Typical gloves that we buy at CVS or Home Depot etc. can be as low as an hour or two. This presents the biggest risk in safety as people could be using gloves that may be keeping their hands clean yet not truly giving any protection.


The gloves we use have a rate of permeation at around Two Weeks, that's big. We buy "Ansell" gloves model "Sol-Knit Nitrile Glove". We buy these from Graingers. Hey every Car Wash guy knows Graingers (http://www.graingers.com/) they are a great source for so many things.


Ansell also has excellent disposable gloves that would give excellent protection to our industry - models "Touch N Tuff" and "Micro Touch EP". You can check out their website http://www.ansellpro.com/.

Thanks Al I appreciate your team’s expert advice.