Safety Presentation

Presenters: Darryl Kan, Greg Karpicus, Liane Kocka, Mike Millar, Walter Sebaste, Stephen Getman
Date: Tue Mar 13 2012

This presentation was given during the 4-week series of In-service Meetings in Feb/Mar of 2012.

Caveat: We on the Safety Committee are not professionally trained emergency service personnel nor are we experts, but these are our best efforts to make Free Geek safe for everyone.

We encourage everyone to make Free Geek safe by eliminating the hazards that you can, and reporting the ones that you can't eliminate to the Safety Committee. These hazards could be ones that make moving about the building dangerous, but also can include things like your sitting position when at your desk, or hand position on your keyboard. Listen to your body when the way you're doing something doesn't feel right.

Please consult with us on the Safety committee so we can all make our workplace healthier. Sometimes reporting a minor problem that you're having can lead to 3 good things: 1) your problem not getting worse, and 2) a solution that can help others who are having the same issue, and 3) raised awareness about that issue.

In addition to this presentation, good information is located on the wiki page called Safety.

Safe Lifting - Greg, Walter

How to Lift Safely

Bend your knees

Keep the load close to you

CRT's - hug the glass (monitors & TVs)

Lift smoothly. if it's too heavy, get help.

Lift as a team on large / heavy / bulky items

Watch out for fingers when putting stuff down.

Additional tips

Don't sacrifice your health for the sake of efficiency, use tools

Lift smart not hard

Use These Safety Tools

Gloves for protection and better grip

Backbrace for back support

Handtruck for multiple computers that can be safely stacked

Cart for non-stackable items, oddball, or misc items

Walter & Greg's demonstration of safe lifting techniques.

Trip / Slip / Fall Hazards - Liane

How do they happen

Objects on the floor

Big chunky things like computers, printers & monitors

Thin slippery things like cardboard, computer side panel, thin plastic sheet

Wet Floor (spills / dripping from "rained-on" items)

Hazards in aisles, walkways, where walkways and work areas intersect

Firecode demands that all walkways are a minimum of 42"

Questions?

Demonstration of aisle widths

Problem areas in the building

• AV collection area
• Hardware ID table with chairs in walkways and containers on the floors
• AT/Hardware Testing equipment and containers on the floor
• TARDIS doorway
• Advanced Recycling
• Printer incoming stuff on the floor

First Aid & Medical Emergencies - Mike, Stephen

When injury occurs, always offer first aid insurance form in case they decide to seek medical help, even if it's much later.

Examples: A small cut is not an injury, but a deep cut is.

Fill out RT ticket in incidents queue with name, volunteer ID, date and what happened including staff names

• Common Injuries

Cuts

Direct volunteer to First Aid kit.

Ask them to clean the wound and to dispose of their gloves, gauze they used, etc in the trash.

Instruct them to use a band-aid to cover the wound.

Pinch - finger caught under object, between objects

If there is no cut, offer an ice pack to relieve swelling

Back pain from a strain

Ask them to sit or lie down, which ever is more comfortable, and rest.

Ask if they need professional medical attention

Check back with them later on status - pain level, swelling, etc

• Serious Medical Issues

Loss of consciousness and other serious medical emergencies

Instruct someone else to call 911, or do it yourself

Follow these First Aid principles

• Stay with person
• Make sure area is safe
• Attend to injuries the best you can

If person is unconscious and not breathing adminster CPR, or find someone who can do this

Good Samaritan law says: read out of booklet

• Who is trained in CPR/FirstAid/BPP

Ask people to raise their hand

We will post lists of CPR/FirstAid/BPP trainees near First Aid Kits (need updating)

As of March 2012, these staff members have current CPR/FirstAid/BPP training: Liane Kocka, John Ashcraft, Liliana Gaitain, Sean Ellefson, Cliff Fortune, Amelia Lamb.

Reporting Injuries

Volunteers - Use Red folder in file cabinet near Volunteer Desk

• Staff member fills out Part A of form
• Injured volunteer (or proxy) fills out Part B of form
• Staff gives Insurance Info card to volunteer - they're covered by our liability insurance
• Staff creates RT ticket in "Incidents" queue.

Donors & Customers - Use Blue folder in file cabinet near Volunteer Desk

• No form, but get name/address/phone of injured party, refer them to HR or Safety member
• They're covered by our liability insurance.

Staff - we're covered by worker's compensation insurance. Refer to HR or Safety member.

Fire Extinguishers - Greg

Walk around and point out exits, electrical panels, fire extinguisher locations

Point out maps with details of exits and extinguishers (need to be updated)

See this reference document: Floor Plan 2012

How to use fire extinguisher - Greg demonstrates

1) Pull the pin and hold the extinguisher upright.

2) Stand about 8 feet away from the fire.

3) Point the nozzle at the base of the fire.

4) Squeeze the lever and sweep from side to side.

After using an extinguisher:

Inform a Safety Committee member of the now discharged extinguisher so that it can be replaced ASAP.

Tell the Safety member where the spent extinguisher is.

Blood Spill - Darryl

We should always treat casualties as if they're infectious. Here are step by step instructions for cleaning up a blood spill. This procedure applies to cleaning up any other bodily fluid (such as vomit, urine, or feces) and applies to any spill, large or small.

1. Use gloves. Avoid any direct contact with blood.

2. Absorb blood with paper towels or rags.

3, Spray the area with bleach.

4. Put the paper towels/rags into a ziplock bag, ensuring that the blood does not contact the outside of the bag.

5. Take the gloves off by turning them inside out, then place them in the same ziplock bag.

6. Now double-bag the towels/rags/gloves, again in a ziplock.

7. Label the bag as biohazard and dispose of it in the dumpster outside the warehouse.

As we are not a medical facility, we are not required to provide dedicated biohazard disposal (e.g. red containers).

Emergency Evacuation - Darryl

• The regular alarm signals an Emergency.
• Everyone should exit the building by the nearest safe exit.
• Be aware of which exit is nearest, but also be aware of your alternatives, because the nearext exit might be blocked by the emergency.
• Of course, head away from fire, explosion, or other threatening situations.
• Assist anyone in your area with limitations, but don't put yourself at risk.
• If you walk by a closed door that may have someone inside, bang on the door to notify them of the emergency. (e.g. deaf person in bathroom).
• BUT DON"T PUT YOURSELF AT RISK (e.g. heading back into a dangerous situation to check rooms)
• Don't add to the body count. Let the Fire Dept, Police and other trained personnel do the dangerous work.
• Gather at the NE corner of 10th & Market (kitty-corner from our own parking lot)

Recommendations:
a) We recommend that the Technocrats look into improving our paging system. This will allow us to give everyone critical info during a crisis (e.g. "Exit thru the warehouse immediately!)
b) We also recommend that Technocrats look into using our regular alarm system as a way of alerting everyone of an emergency. (Can we trigger alarm from several locations with a "Break glass in case of emergency" device?)
c) If the emergency alarm trigger described above is implemented, we suggest that there be signs informing everyone of the location of the triggers.

FIRE DRILL - Liane

We're going to have a fire drill later today. Instead of the regular alarm, we'll be using a cowbell.

When you here a cowbell sound (our alarm substitute), please exit the building by the nearest safe exit, then gather at the NE corner of 10th & Market. Is that clear to everyone?

OK. Everyone go about your regular business. Nothing to see here.