Asbestos

Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals,[1] which all have in common their eponymous asbestiform habit: long thin fibrous crystals, with each visible fiber composed of millions of microscopic "fibrils" that can be released by abrasion and other processes. They are commonly known by their colors, as blue asbestos, brown asbestos, white asbestos, and green asbestos.

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Asbestos

The three main diseases caused by asbestos exposure are;

Asbestosis –Fibrotic scarring of the lung

• Restricts breathing by reducing lung capacity

• Dose response relationship

• Latency period between 15 –30 years

Lung Cancer –Abnormal growth of cells in the lung

• Dose response relationship

• Latency period ~30 years

• Increased risk with smoking

Mesothelioma–Cancer of the chest cavity or in the lining of the abdominal cavity

• No dose response relationship

• Rarest of the diseases

• Latency period 30-50 years

 

Back injuries can be extremely painful and long-lasting. According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the back injuries of more than 1 million workers account for nearly 20 percent of all injuries and illnesses in the workplace. Only the common cold accounts for more lost days of work.

Back Safety and Lifting

Proper Lifting Techniques

Back Safety in the Workplace

Purpose: The prevention of Bloodborne Pathogens (BBP) Safety Officer oversees identified occupations (e.g., military police, firefighters, and life guards) as having a reasonable possibility of contact with human blood in the performance of routine work duties, per the Base Exposure Control Plan. Barriers can be created through engineering controls, work practices, the wearing of PPE, vaccinations, and housekeeping measures to help break the chain of infection for these occupations.

General Information: The BBP program manager attends a one week, OSHA-approved specialty training class. This individual is then certified to present initial and annual refresher training for those individuals in identified occupations.

Contact Information: For more information or BBP-related training, please contact the Program Manager at (703) 784-2752.

 

• OSHA Bloodborne Pathogen Standard
• Naval Safety Center Website
• Department of Navy BBP Directive

Cold Weather Guide

Confined Spaces are enclosures that:
(1) Are large enough and so configured that an employee can bodily enter and perform assigned work; and
(2) Has limited or restricted means for entry or exit (for example, tanks, vessels, silos, storage bins, hoppers, vaults, and pits are spaces that may have limited means of entry.); and
(3) Is not designed for continuous employee occupancy.

Permit-Required Confined Spaces are confined spaces that have one or more of the following characteristics:
(1) Contains or has a potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere;
(2) Contains a material that has the potential for engulfing an entrant;
(3) Has an internal configuration such that an entrant could be trapped or asphyxiated by inwardly converging walls or by a floor which slopes downward and tapers to a smaller cross-section; or
(4) Contains any other recognized serious safety or health hazard

The HAZCOM Program and the recently (1 June 2016) fully-adopted Globally Harmonized System (GHS), also known as the 'Right-to-Know' Standard, is designed to maintain a healthy work environment by increasing employee awareness about the hazards of the chemicals with which they work.  A written HAZCOM Plan must be developed and implemented after making determinations of identifiable chemical hazards in work centers. Health, flammability and reactivity hazards must be included.

OSHA web page on the GHS

GHS Purple Book

OSHA’s Guide to the GHS purple book

29CFR 1910.1200 Hazard Communication

DoDI 6050.DoD Hazard Communication

HAZCOM Fast Facts

JHA Training for Safety and Health Staff

JHA At-a-Glance

Radiation                                                                               

Light is electromagnetic radiation within a certain portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The word usually refers to visible light, which is visible to the human eye and is responsible for the sense of sight. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), between the infrared (with longer wavelengths) and the ultraviolet (with shorter wavelengths).