Do you have a safety plan?

Most small businesses, including pressure washing, do not follow the same rules or guidelines like large corporations because they are not as closely watched by local, state and federal agencies, but they should. OSHA and ANSI safety guidelines should be known and followed. Here are their sites, please go find and read the sections that cover your business. OSHA http://www.osha.gov/, ANSI http://www.ansi.org/

As we have touched on in earlier posts, you should still follow best work practices and procedures no matter what the size of your operation, or number of employees (1-100+). Since labor is usually your number one expense, keeping this expense safe should be a number one consideration. We will assume that you already know and have the insurance you should have to safely operate your business, this being a topic to cover at another time. This being the case we can move on to more specific things for safety.

First know the chemicals you will be using for the jobs you will be doing. The first way to know what you are working with is to read and understand the MSDS that came with the product. If for some reason you do not have an MSDS for a product, get one immediately, and place a copy in every MSDS book it needs to be in. Please reference and read our earlier post on MSDS procedures at some point during this series. Date posted 9/17/09.

Second be sure you have are using the safety equipment suggested in the MSDS including, masks, gloves, aprons, boots etc. Here are a few sites to find these items.

Lab Safety http://www.labsafety.com/
Approved Gas Masks http://www.approvedgasmasks.com/index.htm
Masks N More http://www.masksnmore.com/index.html

Next be sure any first aid measures that are called for in the MSDS of product you are using can be met. This includes having eye wash bottles, hydrofluoric acid cream (Calcium Gluconate gel 2.5%) as well as a stocked first aid kit available with you on every job, on every rig or in every vehicle.

Here are a few links to places you can go to find these items:

Mask N More http://www.masksnmore.com/sweykit.html
Lab Safety http://www.labsafety.com/Plum-Saline-Eye-Wash-Solution-500mL-Bottle_s_156646/Personal-Eye-Washes_24545268/

For Calcium Gluconate gel:  ATT Minerals: http://attminerals.com/other_items.htm
                         Lab Safety: http://www.labsafety.com/Calcium-Gluconate-Gel_24544074/?CID=9PP001
The First Aid Kits: http://www.thefirstaidkits.com/products/41780.html

Not all medical facilities understand or know how to deal with chemical emergencies so you must have the information ready for them including the emergency phone number listed on the MSDS for the product you are using. For us that is Infotrac at 800-535-5053. If you get your most of your products from the same supplier you should put the number they supply in your automatic dialer in your cell phone or at least in the address book under 'MSDS Emergency'. If you use any hydrofluoric product from us you will also receive a special hazard sheet along with the MSDS every time you purchase product that contains any amount of hydrofluoric acid, because of how hazardous it is. Keep this with the MSDS to have available for medical staff.

Tomorrow we will discuss safety procedures for mixing, storage, and handling of chemicals while you use them.