Tweet
Another tidbit from SafetyXchange.com (especially considering our current climactic conditions here in the Eastern US):
CHRONICLE OF A PREVENTABLE DEATH
Heat Stress & the Importance of Training By Glenn Demby
It's hot out there, folks. Hopefully, all of you have trained your workers on the dangers of heat stress including how to recognize and react to the symptoms of various heat-related illnesses. If you haven't, you're putting your workers' lives in jeopardy.
This is not hyperbole. Here's an example how a company's failure to provide education about heat stress directly contributed to a worker's tragic death.
The Story Begins
The story begins in Newfoundland in the spring of 1992. Anthony Dalton and Ronald Morrissey are trained boilermakers and good friends. They decide to take a job in New Brunswick repairing pipes in a paper mill. Here's a chronicle of what happened next:
May 20, 1992
Dalton and Morrissey report for their first day of work. The temperatures outside are high for May — 22° C and 35% humidity. It's even hotter in the mill where chemicals are heated in enclosed spaces — especially on the scaffolds where Dalton and Morrissey are working. Nobody tells them anything about the dangers of heat stress. Later, the contractor will testify that he assumed that trained boilermakers would know all about heat stress. It turns out to be a tragically flawed assumption.
Dalton and Morrissey work all day in the heat. Dalton starts experiencing fatigue. It's the first warning sign. But since neither man knows anything about the signs of heat stress, it goes unrecognized.
May 21, 1992
The outdoor temperature has climbed to 28.5° C. Humidity is at 33%. The heat and hard work in the mill continue. Dalton and Morrissey work the entire day. Dalton is getting worse. When the two get back to their motel after work, Dalton starts experiencing muscle cramps. He's exhausted. He passes out on the bathroom floor of the motel room. He drinks a beer, not realizing that the last thing somebody in his condition should do is drink alcohol.
May 22, 1992
It's even hotter today — 30.5° C. Dalton is still exhausted but decides to drag himself to work. He spends the morning inside one of the tanks helping to build a scaffold. He's in big trouble. After afternoon break, he tells the supervisor that he's just too exhausted to go back to work. He sits on the floor with his back against the base of a column. When the shift ends, he can barely stand up. He's incoherent. He stumbles about 100 metres and finally collapses. Even now, nobody knows what's wrong. The ambulance takes Dalton to the hospital. But it's too late. Dalton dies of heat stroke the next day.
The Moral
Perhaps the saddest part of the death of Anthony Dalton is that it could have been prevented. There was ample warning: Dalton's fatigue, the cramps, his passing out on the bathroom floor, etc. Anybody attuned to the signs of heat stress would have recognized what was going on and acted while there was still time. Tragically, because none of the workers or supervisors with whom Dalton worked had received any education on heat stress, every opportunity to save him was missed.
NOTE: This story is reprinted from Bongarde Media's newsletter, Safety Compliance Insider, Vol. 2, No. 6, page 7.
Author Biography - Jim Montanaro
Jim Montanaro has worked in a metalworking mfg business environment for 30 years in various capacities including Production Control, Mfg, Quality Control, Lean Mfg, Projects & Planning, and Safety and currently works as Lean Mfg/Safety Manager at Tecomet, a subsidiary of Viasys Healthcare Orthopedics, where he has been for the past 25 years. Tecomet has been a supplier of precision mfg technologies and assembly services for over 40 years with applications world wide in the orthopedics, aerospace, military, defense, and communications industries. (www.tecomet.com)
Jim Montanaro
Lean Mfg/Safety Manager
Viasys Healthcare — Tecomet Subsidiary
115 Eames St.
Wilmington, MA 01887
(978) 642-2410
Around this time and periodically through till about mid 1997 even the Army was experiencing heat related emergencies, with the death of at least 4 Infantry Recruits during that time.
Take care 'n Stay safe if you're working outside in this wonderfully hot weather.
CHRONICLE OF A PREVENTABLE DEATH
Heat Stress & the Importance of Training By Glenn Demby
It's hot out there, folks. Hopefully, all of you have trained your workers on the dangers of heat stress including how to recognize and react to the symptoms of various heat-related illnesses. If you haven't, you're putting your workers' lives in jeopardy.
This is not hyperbole. Here's an example how a company's failure to provide education about heat stress directly contributed to a worker's tragic death.
The Story Begins
The story begins in Newfoundland in the spring of 1992. Anthony Dalton and Ronald Morrissey are trained boilermakers and good friends. They decide to take a job in New Brunswick repairing pipes in a paper mill. Here's a chronicle of what happened next:
May 20, 1992
Dalton and Morrissey report for their first day of work. The temperatures outside are high for May — 22° C and 35% humidity. It's even hotter in the mill where chemicals are heated in enclosed spaces — especially on the scaffolds where Dalton and Morrissey are working. Nobody tells them anything about the dangers of heat stress. Later, the contractor will testify that he assumed that trained boilermakers would know all about heat stress. It turns out to be a tragically flawed assumption.
Dalton and Morrissey work all day in the heat. Dalton starts experiencing fatigue. It's the first warning sign. But since neither man knows anything about the signs of heat stress, it goes unrecognized.
May 21, 1992
The outdoor temperature has climbed to 28.5° C. Humidity is at 33%. The heat and hard work in the mill continue. Dalton and Morrissey work the entire day. Dalton is getting worse. When the two get back to their motel after work, Dalton starts experiencing muscle cramps. He's exhausted. He passes out on the bathroom floor of the motel room. He drinks a beer, not realizing that the last thing somebody in his condition should do is drink alcohol.
May 22, 1992
It's even hotter today — 30.5° C. Dalton is still exhausted but decides to drag himself to work. He spends the morning inside one of the tanks helping to build a scaffold. He's in big trouble. After afternoon break, he tells the supervisor that he's just too exhausted to go back to work. He sits on the floor with his back against the base of a column. When the shift ends, he can barely stand up. He's incoherent. He stumbles about 100 metres and finally collapses. Even now, nobody knows what's wrong. The ambulance takes Dalton to the hospital. But it's too late. Dalton dies of heat stroke the next day.
The Moral
Perhaps the saddest part of the death of Anthony Dalton is that it could have been prevented. There was ample warning: Dalton's fatigue, the cramps, his passing out on the bathroom floor, etc. Anybody attuned to the signs of heat stress would have recognized what was going on and acted while there was still time. Tragically, because none of the workers or supervisors with whom Dalton worked had received any education on heat stress, every opportunity to save him was missed.
NOTE: This story is reprinted from Bongarde Media's newsletter, Safety Compliance Insider, Vol. 2, No. 6, page 7.
Author Biography - Jim Montanaro
Jim Montanaro has worked in a metalworking mfg business environment for 30 years in various capacities including Production Control, Mfg, Quality Control, Lean Mfg, Projects & Planning, and Safety and currently works as Lean Mfg/Safety Manager at Tecomet, a subsidiary of Viasys Healthcare Orthopedics, where he has been for the past 25 years. Tecomet has been a supplier of precision mfg technologies and assembly services for over 40 years with applications world wide in the orthopedics, aerospace, military, defense, and communications industries. (www.tecomet.com)
Jim Montanaro
Lean Mfg/Safety Manager
Viasys Healthcare — Tecomet Subsidiary
115 Eames St.
Wilmington, MA 01887
(978) 642-2410
Around this time and periodically through till about mid 1997 even the Army was experiencing heat related emergencies, with the death of at least 4 Infantry Recruits during that time.
Take care 'n Stay safe if you're working outside in this wonderfully hot weather.
(Me)
Comment