“Effective workplace safety is not an accident,” said Thomas M. Lachocki, Ph.D, who serves as CEO for the Foundation. “It takes careful planning and a commitment to education. We’ve got the right tool kit to meet the needs of any organization that wants to assure the health and safety of workers and subcontractors.”
Director of Education Alex Antoniou, Ph.D, added that safety should be the top priority for any business owner. “Staying current with compliance training is critical to protecting the health of any organization,” he said. “With online courses, it’s easy to provide training to employees anytime of the day or week, from any computer.”
Course Descriptions:
Hearing Conservation
According to OSHA, approximately 30 million people in the United States are occupationally exposed to hazardous noise every year. Noise-related hearing loss has been listed as one of the most prevalent occupational health concerns in the United States for more than 25 years. Exposure to high levels of noise can cause permanent hearing loss, which cannot be helped by surgery or hearing aids. Additionally, loud noise can cause physical and psychological stress, reduce productivity, interfere with communication and concentration, and contribute to workplace accidents and injuries.
Learning objectives for the 20-minute Hearing Conservation course include knowing how to recognize that a noise hazard exists in a particular area. Course participants will understand what appropriate action to take to reduce risk of hearing damage and also how to avoid safety problems that may be caused by noise hazards. NSPF says the course will be particularly useful to commercial pool operators, service and renovation professionals, builders and manufacturers.
Lockout/Tagout — Controlling of Hazardous Energy
Controlling of Hazardous Energy, also known as Lockout/Tagout or LOTO, refers to specific practices and procedures to safeguard employees from the unexpected energization or startup of machinery and equipment, or the release of hazardous energy during service or maintenance activities. This safety procedure authorizes a person to place locks and/or tags on energy-isolating devices before working on equipment. Approximately 3 million workers who service equipment in the United Sates, including those in the pool, spa, aquatic industry, face risk of injury and liability if LOTO is not properly understood and implemented. There are specific LOTO standards that apply for general and construction industries, which are critical to pool and spa manufacturers, retailers, service/renovation professionals, commercial pool operators and builders.
Participants of the 30-minute Lock and Tag online course will gain an understanding of isolation devices, the purpose of the lockout/tagout system and how to comply with their own workplace system.
Forklift Safety
OSHA reports that tens of thousands of injuries related to powered industrial trucks, or forklifts, occur in United States each year. Many employees are injured when lift trucks are inadvertently driven off loading docks, fall between docks and an unsecured trailer, are struck by a lift truck, or when they fall while on elevated pallets and tines. Most incidents involve property damage, including damage to overhead sprinklers, racking, pipes, walls, and machinery. Unfortunately, most employee injuries and property damage can be attributed to lack of safe operating procedures, lack of safety-rule enforcement, and insufficient or inadequate training.
Whether you manage a retail store or run a distribution business, knowing how to safely operate a forklift is necessary to prevent injuries and protect the health of workers and customers. OSHA mandates that before an operator can drive a forklift, class and hands-on practical training are required. The new 90-minute Forklift Operator training course offered by NSPF makes it easy to get employees educated on the safe operation of the forklift and is the first step to completing OSHA compliance. The interactive course is set up in six brief segments.
Fall Protection, Ladder Safety and Scaffold Safety
Falls are the most common causes of serious work related injuries and deaths. They are most often due to cluttered work areas, wet floors, inattentiveness, floor and wall openings, holes, ramps, runways, protruding nails, loose boards and working at heights. OSHA requires protection for employees working at heights of four feet in general industry, and six feet in construction. Employees must be protected from falling into dangerous equipment regardless of height. The 20-minute, interactive Fall Protection online course will make participants aware of the OSHA requirements of Fall Protection, Work Positioning, Fall Restraint and Fall Arrest Systems.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reports there are more than 164,000 ladder-related emergency room-treated injuries in the United States each year. Ladders can slip, slide, tip or break. A ladder should be regularly inspected to be sure it is in safe functioning condition. Students who take the 30-minute Ladder Safety course will learn how to identify common terms associated with ladder-related work and to recognize common hazards associated with workplace use of ladders. Participants will understand how to incorporate general safe practices to reduce or eliminate hazards and how to inspect ladders before and after use. Fall protection requirements associated with ladder work will also be explained.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) reported 54 fatalities occurred in the year 2009 from scaffolds. In a Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) study, 72% of workers injured in scaffold accidents attributed the accident either to the planking or support giving way, or to the employee slipping or being struck by a falling object. All of these can be controlled by compliance with OSHA standards. Working to complete jobs at extreme heights, employees must have fall-protection safety devices and training to decrease chance of injury and death. The 30-minute online interactive Scaffold Safety course will help owners and employees understand what constitutes a safe working environment on a scaffold. They will learn to identify the existing and predictable hazards, terms associated with scaffolds, who OSHA mandates is allowed to build and design scaffolds, who is authorized to identify existing and predictable hazards, and to take prompt measures to eliminate them. Additionally, participants will understand required safe practices for working on or near scaffolding, including electrical, structural instability, falls and falling objects.
