Welcome Spring! Boo Pollen!

EPISODE 10 PODCAST OUTLINE

Welcome

Thanks to our sponsor Formetco! As well as other fans of the show!

Thanks to my remote engineer Chuck.

Spring Time Facts

Online classroom for climber certification currently available

                OSHA 10 and 30hr classes

                Qualified Climber Classroom – Currently planning one for April

                Defensive Driving Class

Fun stuff on the FB page

Mail and Comments thebillboardsafetyguy@gmail.com

Announcements and In the News

March is Blindness Prevention Month – www.preventblindness.org 

NSC National Safety Month Give Aways

OSHA’s Electrical Roll Up Initiative 

EPA Delays TCE Ban

Magid Glove Offering Free Safety posters - www.magidglove.com 

May Fall Prevention Stand Down

Female Safety Equipment: More Than Just Shrink It and Pink It

DOL OIG to Audit OSHA’s Workplace Violence Prevention Efforts

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Welcome to this episode of the Billboard Safety Guy. I am Jim Pode, the Billboard Safety Guy. I asked ChatGPT for some springtime music, and this is what it gave me. Kind of like it, you know, kind of had me zoning out like I was back in um with 1985 or somewhere about then. Some of you weren't even born when I say that, so you don't understand. Anyway, I found it kind of relaxing, kind of nice. Thought it would make for a good intro. I hope everyone had a safe St. Patrick's Day. Hope you got some fun out of some of the comments that I made about it. Before I get into the show, let me go through and thank my sponsors for Metco as well as the fans of the show. Uh, always remember for Metco everything outdoor. They can do everything from nuts and bolts to the digital board to affix to the pole. So give them the one-stop shop call. They can definitely take care of you if you're looking for a billboard. Uh, excuse me, we're starting off early that way. I also want to say thanks to my remote engineer Chuck. He helped me do some troubleshooting and fine-tune some of the uh software that I have that I'm working with. So always good to have him listening in and giving the sage advice that he does on how I should handle everything. And let's see, oh, I was going to talk about the springtime stuff. A number of people were very uh excited to hear the information I did on St. Patrick's Day, and so they uh asked me to do some things about springtime and uh kind of give you some facts about spring, since it's right around the corner. Uh, spring is that time of year when the days get longer, the birds get louder, and the pollen declares war on your sinuses and your car coding. So, living in the southeast, I have become very aware once again of how pollen can fall for just no reason at all. Kind of a lyric to a song, it sounds like nearly. Anyway, here's some facts for you about springtime. The first day of spring is called the vernal equinox, and that's when night and day are almost the exact same length of time. And after that, daytime starts winning the battle and the days start getting longer. Uh during spring, the earth is tilted just right, so our hemisphere gets more direct sunlight, basically, nature slowly turning up the dimmer switch, so to speak. Uh, baby animals are everywhere in spring because many species time the birth of their spawn, their children, uh, for warmer weather so that there's more food. It's basically the season of nature's daycare. And birds don't just sing more in the spring for fun, that's actually territory defense and attracts mates. So that peaceful chirping, it's kind of competitive. Uh, the smell you notice after spring rain actually has a name. It's called petrichore. Pardon me, petrochore, and it's caused by plant oils and soil bacteria being released into the air. And more people fall in love in spring, and they think that it's because the days are longer with more sunlight, which boosts the serotonin levels and improves mood and energy. And good old tornado season peaks in the spring in the U.S. So if you are anywhere near Tornado Alley or somewhere that is prone to tornadoes, you should be preparing for this type of weather to come at you. So, with that said, that's our facts for this episode as far as the springtime coming in. I do want to mention that, pardon me, the online classes are still available. As a matter of fact, the qualified climber classroom, we're going to be scheduling one in April very soon. So if you're interested in doing an online climber classroom, now you need a competent person at your location to be able to complete all of the training, but the classroom part I can handle for you remotely. So we're looking at doing one of those. If you're if you're interested, let me know. Drop me a line, I'll put you on the wait list for information. We're only going to let uh 10 people in on this one this time because we're working out some of the bugs as far as the payment goes and uh you know how to make it to where it's fair for everyone so that we don't get overrun with too many people, like I've done a couple of times. Anyway, so that takes care of our online stuff. Uh the fun stuff on Facebook page is starting to pick up a little bit. I encourage you if you've got something humorous you'd like to put on there, make sure that it's uh family friendly before you post it on there, because I have a lot of people who come to the website to take a look. So feel free to uh post anything you would like there within reason. And always I have to mention that if you have any questions or comments, you can reach me at the Billboard Safety Guy at gmail.com. And let's get into the news. It's like I went away for a couple extra days and come back, and there's all kinds of things that I feel like I need to mention to everyone. We'll start out with uh this article from Health and Safety magazine that March is workplace eye wellness month. I didn't know that there was one, but just so you know, they do have one, and the it's an advocacy group, and they are called Prevent Blindness. You can go to their website at www.preventblindness.org, and they said that this month they're focusing on eye wellness in the workplace, and they're offering free guides on preventing eye injuries, managing digital devices, how blue light impacts the eyes, and they have animation on there for you to use to train people on this, uh, with characters named Iris and Cornelius, ha ha ha, uh, who are shown taking proper eye safety precautions while participating in various activities. And they're going to be covering topics uh which are kind of focused on office workers with such topics as uh video screens or computer vision syndrome, which is affected by placing computer screens 20 to 26 inches away from your eyes and a bit below eye level. Use a document holder when it is when the document is placed next to your computer screen close enough so you don't have to turn your head back and forth to constantly change your eye focus. Adjust lighting to reduce glare and harsh reflections. Also use glare filter over your computer screen, use an adjustable chair, choose screens that can tilt and swivel. The keyboard should be adjustable as well. Wear computer glasses with yellow tints that block the blue light. This may help ease digital eye strain by increasing contrast. Wear anti-reflective lenses, these can reduce glare, increase contrast, and block blue light from digital devices. I don't know if that's the same as computer glasses. I would think that they're pretty close. But anyway, there's a plethora of free things there that you can get just by going to the preventblindness.org. And speaking of free things, if you go to the National Safety Council's webpage, nsc.org, you can sign up for the June giveaway that they have. June, in case you didn't know, is National Safety Month. And week one, they're going to focus on moving forward, advanced culture of safety with forward-thinking strategies and tools. Week two will be staying safe on the roads, help reduce crashes with practical guidance for drivers, pedestrians, and fleets. Week three will be promoting holistic worker health, support total worker well-being, and insights on mental, physical, and emotional health. Week four, preventing slips, trips, and falls, reduce commonplace, common workplace and home hazards with targeted prevention resources. And you can get all of this in the form of campaign posters and participant guides, weekly fact sheets with five-minute safety talks, uh, weekly curated videos, articles and research, the go green for safety sign, safe at work pledge, and all of this, you get it for free if you go to their site and you sign up for it. If you're a member of the NSC, you're automatically signed up for it. If you're not, then you do need to go there and fill out their form that they have online so they can uh know where to send the stuff to. I've done this many times in the past, and I've got to tell you that they never really come back at you with that information as far as you know, sales calls or anything like that. So nothing to worry about there. Um let's see, our next topic is one I found interesting. It's also in Safety and Health magazine. It's called OSHA's OSHA and Vell's new initiative, Electrical Rollup Initiative. And as part of an ongoing effort to bolster electrical safety in the construction industry, which could also overlap into the general industry, OSHA has launched the Electrical Rollup Initiative. The initiative is aimed at promoting basic electrical safety awareness throughout the industry. Now, here's something that they posted that I found kind of amazing whenever I read this. Electrical hazards affect more than just electricians, OSHA says in an electrical safety toolbox talk. In fact, 74% of workplace electrical fatalities occur in non-electrical occupations. Many employees may not be trained to perform electrical work and may not recognize electrical hazards. I would never have thought that that number would be that high. Electrical work should not only be assigned to qualified employees as they are or should only be assigned to qualified employees, as they are trained to work on or near energized parts. They have the knowledge, the skill, and training to perform electrical work. A competent person is someone who can identify hazards and has the authority to correct them. If you go to the OSHA website and you search for the electrical roll-up initiative, they will give you some free information, such as a fact sheet featuring safety measures using the hierarchy of control. They will also give you five tips for using extension cords and a PowerPoint presentation that provides an overview of the initiative, and it's customizable, so you can make that PowerPoint your own by adding your own information to it. Okay. Now then, here's something that is safety, but not exactly billboard safety, but still safety enough that I felt like it was noteworthy to bring up. This is also in Safety and Health magazine, and it says EPA again delays provisions for tri-chloroethylene ban. Now, first off, let me tell you a little bit about dealing with EPA. I have done many OSHA hearings and OSHA cases throughout my career. I have done a handful of EPA DOT type inspections. Anytime if I was ever asked, you know, which would you prefer, an OSHA inspection or an EPA inspection? I'd say give me 10 OSHA inspections. Because OSHA can be tough, but they have a very rigid set of guidelines that they work within. So they're required to declare an opening conference, tell you why they're there, give you certain rights, go over those with you. I mean, they have have this down to where they have a very strict set of rules they have to play by. EPA will come in and say, we're here to do an audit. Where would you like us to sit for the next 30 days? And there's not a lot of discussion at that point. You have to accommodate them. They come in, they can go through all your records, they can see whatever they want. I mean, it is these guys have some authority. And I'm not saying that it's bad because there are some people that perpetrate some pretty horrendous uh things out there with disposal or improper disposal of chemicals and things like that. But these guys are like they're like the bulldog, you know, they're coming in and they're gonna make you aware of how things are. Well, because of that reputation, when I read this, I was absolutely blown away. The uh, well, trichloroethylene is known as TCE. And TCE is a known carcinogen. It's not thought it is, it does cause cancer, it can cause developmental and neurological effects. It can, it is or should let me back up, it is toxic to the liver. This is bad stuff, and yet TCE is used not just in industrial applications, there are some. Let me go to here to tell you about some of them. Trichloroethylene is used in cleaning wipes, aerosol cleaning solutions, paint removers, spot removers, carpet cleaners, adhesives, typewriter correction fluids. It's used in dry cleaning, mechanics, fabrics cleaning, printing, mechanical work, uh, rubber cement masonry, anybody that uses vapor degreasers. But what they don't really tell you is it's also in dishwashing soap, like for automatic for your home dishwashing machine. Um, it's also in parts cleaners that are used in cleaning brakes on cars. It was used for a while in the process to decaffeinate coffee. So, because of all of that, I would think that this would be a hot item that they would be ready to ban this stuff without even having to have a meeting on it. But on February 18th, they announced that they were going to delay this and kick the can down the road a little bit further because there are some exemptions under the Toxic Substances Control Act that weren't defined enough for their liking. So they were trying to allow some manufacturers, like those that process uh batteries, battery separators uh for lead acid batteries, or certain essential laboratory activities, they were trying to get an exemption for them, but they couldn't get that through in time. So this has been dragging on for quite a while, and now it is kicked even further down the road. So I would say while we're waiting, I would encourage everyone that uses any type of cleaner, dishwashing soap, anything that is a degreaser, if that's what the TCE is. I would encourage you to look at your home products and ensure that you don't have a product that has TCE in it or trichloro chloroethylene. And if it does, try to find something that doesn't to substitute for that product there that they are trying to decide whether they're gonna outlaw it or not. It just amazes me because I don't think there's any gray area in this at all. Excuse me. Okay, uh, let's talk about MGR Glove. M-A-R MG M-A-G-I-D. I may be saying that terribly wrong, but McGid Glove, if you go to www.m-a-g I D, G-L-O-V-E, dot com, they have a ton of free stuff there that you can get for uh just signing up and requesting it, it looks like. Um they have, let me pull it up here. They have safety posters, they have safety classes online, they have fun safety videos and safety advice. And let's see, uh, let me pull one up so I can tell you. Just for instance, the posters, severe heat illness, moderate heat illness, are you getting hydrated, treating heat stroke? Those are free posters there. Um, there's how-to posters, confined space, wearing a mask, uh, like a dust arrestor mask, PPE, body harnesses. I there's just a ton of information here. So I would encourage you. Oh, and some of it's in Spanish as well, if you have a need for that. But I would definitely go here and fill out their form and get their free posters. They they really are look, they look amazing, and I think that for free, how could you beat beat that, you know? Okay. Let's go back to where. All right. Now then I'm gonna change this up a little bit. I'm gonna save this one topic for last. Um May. What happens every May that people tell To forget about till the last minute is the construction stand down. And this May, May 4th through the 8th, they are having the national safety stand down to prevent falls in construction. Now, what's a stand down? A stand down means everybody stops working, they pull the workers together, they have meetings, and they do what they can to train and improve fall protection programs. Matter of fact, it says suggestions for stand down activities, create or improve your written fall protection and rescue plan, conduct a toolbox talk, inspect equipment and revisit job hazard analysis, JHAs, they call them usually, discuss fall experiences and their consequences, schedule a demonstration of a fall protection equipment. So there's any number of things you can do. And if you go to uh OSHA.gov, usually they're giving away some stuff on fall protection to use, also. So I would say go search OSHA.gov and see if there's anything available there for the people to help them out with the stand down activities. All right. Let's see. All right, now in OHOHS Occupational Safety and Health Magazine, March 23rd, there's an article here written by this lady safety person who says, female PPE beyond shrink it and pink it. And it's a great article because I think I may have told everyone before uh in a previous podcast about how when I was at one of the ANSI meetings, a lady came up and was chastising all the manufacturers there for not making equipment to properly fit the lady workers in the construction industry. And she held up a harness as an example to show it was something that would not fit her. And um she went on, you know, to tell us you need to start caring about what the female customer is wearing. So in an industry where there's about, oh, I think they said 80,000 female workers. Oh, no, no, way off, Jim. Uh, there are more than 80 million female workers in the U.S. workplace, making up 47.6% of the total workforce. Um, the answer that the manufacturers had was, yep, that's a great idea. And what they did was they just took men's small safety equipment and called it a ladies' medium and made it pink. They did the same thing with hard hats. I mean, there's things that you've got to take it beyond those steps. And I believe in the last um podcast I did, I talked about some of the measuring techniques they're coming out with that are amazing, that are gonna help with some of the manufacturing of this equipment. But these manufacturers are gonna have to spend some money and some time putting this stuff together so that uh women aren't sliding and they have equipment that fits them properly. So, in the event they have to use it, no one's gonna be wishing that they hadn't said anything. You know, it's gonna operate the way that it's supposed to. So I applaud her for bringing that forward. I think that's a great article that was done. Now then, the last news of today is out of Safety and Health magazine as well. DOL OIG to audit OSHA's workplace violence prevention efforts. Uh workplace violence prevention efforts. Okay. OSHA efforts to address and prevent workplace violence. We'll get a closer look from the Department of Labor of Inspector General, according to DOL, OIG financial year or fiscal year, I'm sorry, 2026 work plan. The office's planned audit on the subject will be the first for OSHA in 25 years. In a September 2001 report, DOL OIG stated that OSHA could take additional steps to address workplace violence issues, needed to assess its training and outreach officers on workplace violence prevention, and needed to develop record keeping systems for information related to workplace violence. The work plan states that of the 5,486 fatal workplace injuries recorded in 2022, 849, which is 15.5%, were cases of intentional injury by another person. So almost a thousand people were killed on the job intentionally by someone else. And OSHA has not done anything about this in 25 years. To me, I say good things and bad things about OSHA, but I will say that is a travesty. A thousand people, that's the ones that were killed. There's a number of people, I guarantee you, that were injured or mentally humiliated in a way that didn't report. And that to me, I just it makes me sick to think of that being something they would even allow in print that they haven't looked at something like this in 25 years. Um, I'm I'll tell you a story real quick about something regarding that. Um, there was a plant that I I may have told bits and pieces of it before, but I'm gonna tell it all here. Uh, there was a plant when I was over some of the facilities, and there was some dispute over some of the activity that was taking place there, and there was a crew that had gone out to change advertising copy, and they were up on a billboard, and they thought that rather than get into it with this gentleman and his grown sons over this question they had about the lease, pardon me, they would call the guy out who was the real estate manager, and this guy, I knew him fairly well, not super well, but I knew him fairly well. Incredibly nice guy, and he shows up and he goes with the lease and he's trying to be cordial, and he's showing these people that are there the lease and what it says about access to changing the copy and the pay and you know the whole breakdown of what they had agreed to. Well, something happened during the discussion, and one of the grown sons hit him in the face, and then the other one jumped on top of him, and they proceeded to beat him and kick him until he fell to the ground, and then they proceeded to kick him and beat him and rip his clothes off of him, to where he ended up losing some teeth and he was bloody, and he had to crawl back to his car, and he had to drive back to, well, he drove to the hospital actually, and they checked him out, and then they gave him a gown, and he went to the office, and he was so humiliated he packed up his stuff and left and never came back. Now, the guys on the board watched all this happen, and they chose not to get involved. These were you know good-sized men, guys that were construction worker types, and they decided that they would allow this to play out rather than go down and try and defend the guy that they worked with, somebody they knew, somebody they had been friends with, or said they were friends with. Well, when I heard about it, I heard about it through HR, and I tried to get his phone number because they asked him if he wanted to press charges, and he said no. He was so humiliated by what took place, he didn't want to have anything to do with it, he just wanted to leave. And I tried every way in the world to get in touch with the guy just to tell him he needed to press charges. These guys that attacked him needed to be put in jail, and he said no. And finally, the HR department told me I needed to stand down. He decided that he wasn't gonna pursue it. We were not the ones to push him, and he was no longer an employee, so consider it over and done with. That how would they like it if somebody from their family got beat that way and no one did anything? They just stood and watched. And how I was sure four of them could have taken the two other guys that were there, and that I was disappointed that they would do something as so heinous as stand and watch somebody they called a friend take a beating like that. Now, I don't know if it's what I said, I don't know if it was them thinking it over, but it wasn't long that all of them had quit working there, or been a couple of them even got fired. And to that, I hope that they learned a lesson. I hope that they know that watching violence, being part of violence or anything like that in the workplace, pretty much anywhere, unless it's a self-defense situation. I don't condone it and I don't think it's good. And if you can stop it, you should. So I apologize. That that story always gets me more angry and more fired up every time I think of it because it was so needless and it just should have been prevented. But anyway, that is going to conclude all of our um news updates for this episode. If you have any comments, feel free to reach out to me at the Billboard Safety Guy at gmail.com, or you can reach out to me through the Facebook page, the Billboard Safety Guy, and I'll be more than happy to answer any questions you have or to um try and help you with any issues that you may have that come up. I mean, I'm always trying to avail myself. I do have some uh issues, not issues, I have some projects that I am working on. Um I am about to get some uh a break to where I'll have some time to work on some other stuff. So if there is anything that you need a hand with, feel free to give me a call. And as always, let me close out by saying that this is Jim Pogue reminding you that you don't have to change the whole world, just make your part of it a little bit safer. Thank you very much. Have a safe day.