Following are typical of daily safety messages:
Quitting Time is the end of the normal workday and we often refer to getting home safely at night as the measure of a safe day on the job. Of course, we go home and work on a "honeydo" project, cook a meal, go for a drive, or engage in some leisure time activity - maybe even organized amateur sports. All of these involve a certain amount of risk and it is important that we remember all the basic things we know about safety when we are doing them.
Generally, we don't have MSDS's in the kitchen or the workshop, but we nonetheless can plan to carry out these activities safely, avoid unnecessary and unreasonable risk, and even use personal protective equipment.
If we do it right, we can measure a safe evening at home by our arriving here at the lab the next day for Starting Time in at least as good condition as when we left the afternoon before.
Which brings us to the thought for the day. Safety has neither Quitting Time nor Starting Time, it's a constant job - it's our lives.
Last week, we talked about the long term effects of exposure to hostile agents as a frequently overlooked safety problem. One of the most frequently overlooked hostile agents is noise. While regulations control exposure to excessive noise in the work place, as usual, we must watch out for ourselves the rest of the time. Whether a power mower, a power saw, or a rock band, noise is all around us and excessive noise can cause permanent damage. The eardrum is one of the few body parts that cannot repair itself; it's up to us to preserve our hearing. While I'm not suggesting that you wear acoustical earmuffs the next time you go to a rock concert, you should consider them or earplugs when you start your next noisy home project. A few dollars for hearing protection now could save you a lot of dollars for hearing aid batteries later.
Yesterday, I got some razor blades from the storeroom. The attendant wouldn't give them to me until I convinced him that I had an appropriate holder. Thanks Mark, for looking out for my fingers. Maybe it's time to republish the blade rule.
After all, perhaps the single most dangerous item in the storeroom is the single
edge razor blade. It is deceptively simple and with the nice doubled-over back,
it even looks safe. That smooth back deceptively suggests that it is safe to
use without a proper holder. BE NOT DECEIVED, SINGLE EDGE RAZOR BLADES ALWAYS
NEED HOLDERS.
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