What does an injury or claim actually cost a company! Example
The results of the OSHA calculations are staggering. Looking at a simple example, assume that Company A has annual sales of $10 million with an 8 percent pre-tax profit margin. The cost of a single injury due to an amputation is estimated to be:
Average Direct Cost: $21,718
Average Indirect Cost: $23,890
Estimated Total Cost: $45,608
The additional sales necessary to cover:
Indirect Costs are: $298,625
Total Costs are: $570,100
In this example, the next 6 percent of sales growth will go solely to pay for the total cost of the accident. Is business slow? If your pre-tax margins are less, the sales impact is even greater! Now consider a less severe injury, such as a laceration. Using the same company data, the total costs of this injury are $6,055, while the incremental sales needed to cover the costs are $75,688.
Download OSHA's free software to figure out specific injuries cost you! Link
Clothing considerations no polyester or nylon, it will melt and cause severe burns. Cotton is the better choice for everyday wear. Also no tags or embroidery on your shirts.
Uncontrolled motion or potential energy
Situations you may not be aware of after lockout tag out.
If only the main breaker on machine tool is off there may be an interlock circuit tapped off the main that is still hot. A lot of times the wire colors are orange for this circuit
Tool changers can sometimes contain a closed loop hydraulic circuit that stays pressurized depending on where tool change arm stops
axes with brakes. If brakes fail gravity will pull the spindle head down. Make sure to block these up with something before working on them.
Hydraulic fixtures often have check valves to keep pressure maintained
Spring loaded devises such as spindle drawbars, ballscrew covers
Accumulators in hydraulic system
Counter balance weight on vertical or slant axis
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New Arc Flash OSHA regulation quick summary
Arc flash info. www.arcflash.com. Basically it required you to use a protective suite that covers you from head to toe. Bussmann has an arc flash calculator on there website.Link Holt electric hosts free seminars to learn more about arc flash if you have one in your area Link
Why should you consider it?
It takes 3-5 years for your workman comp claims to come back down after a serious injury not to mention the lawsuits if someone is injured seriously in your plant. Some arc flash occurrences have paid around 1.3 million for the one injury. Is it worth buying the protective clothing? Yes. If you don't implement it completely at least use it while doing work on your main power buss in your plant. It can easily mean life or death. The clothing I'll admit can be very hard to work in but Its better then having an explosion in your face with severe burns. Example: If someone is standing behind you, bumps, trips, or falls into you while you are in an electrical cabinet, you have no control of what happens and how careful you are. This is why you should have power off. If this is not possible protective clothing is your next best option. You might think its not a big deal because you know what your doing, but its the other guy that can easily cause you to become injured.
