Workplace Safety – Is Your Workplace a Killer?

No? People who worked at the warehouse where John Petropoulos died were probably not convinced either. However, guess what? Their workplace was a murderer…and it left me widowed. Read the Best info about Curso operador de empilhadeira.

Cst John Petropoulos of the Calgary Police Service responded to a break-and-enter incident at a warehouse on September 29th, 2000. He joined the premises beside the K-9 officer and his dog. To look for the intruder, John proceeded up to the mezzanine level, stepping from a safe platform onto a fake ceiling. He fell nine feet into the lunchroom below and died from a head injury within hours.

John was 32 years old. We were both.

The break-in allegation was proven false; no intruder was in the building. It was, in fact, a false alarm, the third that night, triggered by the wind.

The ensuing inquiry found that, according to the law, a safety railing should have been installed. Anyone may have made the same mistake as John. The danger was presumably familiar to those who worked at the warehouse daily since there was a warning sign hanging from the roof…ten feet past the real peril.

So John didn’t have a chance when he walked into those strange environs in the dark to conduct his job of securing the property.

“If our job as law enforcement officers are to protect the public and their interests,” said Darren Leggatt, the K-9 officer who accompanied John inside the building, “the reality is that people need to make efforts to protect us while we’re protecting them.”

Emergency personnel such as police officers, firefighters, and paramedics have risky occupations. However, when communities work together and individuals begin to see workplace safety as a shared duty, several methods exist to reduce the hazards that these employees confront daily.

Whether you work in a shopping mall, office building, warehouse, manufacturing facility, construction site, ranch, farm, oil rig, or refinery, there are steps you can take to guarantee emergency responders return home safely to their families at the end of each shift. And by making your workplace secure for emergency personnel, you are making it safer for everyone.

Place yourself in their shoes.

Turn off the lights, sound the alarm, and put yourself in the shoes of emergency personnel who could be at your office during an emergency, such as a fire, active crime, or medical crisis. Is it safe at your workplace because it is their workplace?

No? Then make the necessary changes to save a life.

Here’s how it’s done:

Practical suggestions for making your workplace a safer environment for everyone

• Clear all broken glass, sharp items, tools, spills, and debris from corridors and exits.

• Firefighters operate with limited amounts of air and must move swiftly through and out of buildings during a fire…every second counts.
• Stretchers are used by paramedics to navigate hallways.

• Emergency exits should never be locked, blocked, or chained.

• If there is an EXIT sign on a door, people must be able to exit.

• Pallets and other stacked materials should be stored safely.
• Maintain safe storage of hazardous and explosive goods

• Keep alleys and sidewalks free and accessible for emergency vehicles and personnel Secure any scaffolding

• Obtain a permit for all modifications

• Have renovations completed by a professional

• Ensure adequate signage placement

• Post close to the actual danger

• Keep signage current for changing dangers and hazards

• Ensure exposed holes are closed

• Especially essential in industrial yards where there is no sensor illumination
• Deal with culverts and sinkholes as soon as possible;

• Ensure the appropriate operation of alarm systems;

• Test regularly;

• Deal with malfunctions and false alarms as soon as possible;

• Ensure entry points to building sites are designated for emergency services.
• At construction sites, halt overhead cranes and swinging loads when emergency responders arrive.

• Conduct frequent hazard assessments by asking yourself:

• What may go wrong here?

• What can I do to make sure nothing goes wrong here?

How you can make roads safer for emergency personnel:

• Pay close attention!
• Avoid distractions such as cell phone use, texting, eating, and applying make-up.

• Check your rearview mirror regularly.

• Yield to emergency vehicles with lights activated.

• If an emergency vehicle comes behind you, get out of the way as safely as possible.

• Slow down when passing emergency responders – and their vehicles – when stopped on the road…and give them room to work.

When K-9 officer Darren Leggatt discovered John in the lunchroom, he immediately began CPR. Because of Darren’s fast efforts, John could be placed on life support to remove his organs for donation. Unfortunately, this also meant I could spend the day with John as he died. As grateful as I am to have said goodbye to a living but brain-dead husband rather than a corpse, the ultimate result is the same.

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