Get smart about safety.* It has been just a year since I last discussed the lagging safety record of plastics processors. The latest OSHA OSHA n. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a branch of the US Department of Labor responsible for establishing and enforcing safety and health standards in the workplace. figures show that plastics processing Plastics processing Those methods used to convert plastics materials in the form of pellets, granules, powders, sheets, fluids, or preforms into formed shapes or parts. still has a 20% higher incidence of nonfatal injuries and illnesses than all U.S. manufacturing. Even though the plastics figures have been improving at a slightly faster rate than the manufacturing average, plastics still have plenty of catching up to do. There are plenty of new resources available to help plastics processors make their workplaces safer. The Society of the Plastics Industry Founded in 1937, The Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. is the trade association representing one of the largest manufacturing industries in the United States. SPI's members represent the entire plastics industry supply chain, including processors, machinery and equipment has formed alliances with U.S. OSHA and with state occupational safety agencies in Michigan, Indiana, and Kentucky. These partnerships have produced joint SPI/OSHA machine-safety training courses on injection molding injection molding n. A manufacturing process for forming objects, as of plastic or metal, by heating the molding material to a fluid state and injecting it into a mold. , extrusion, and thermoforming; a new web page, "OSHA Assistance for the Plastics Industry," at www.osha.gov / SLTC SLTC Salt Lake Technical Center (OSHA) SLTC Society of Leather Technologists & Chemists /plastics / index.html; and an online training "eTool" to educate processors on machine guarding at www.osha.gov / SLTC / machineguarding_etool / index.html. SPI (1) (Stateful Packet Inspection) See stateful inspection. (2) (Service Provider Interface) The programming interface for developing Windows drivers under WOSA. also promotes safety through development of new machine safety standards Safety standards are standards designed to ensure the safety of products, activities or processes, etc. They may be advisory or compulsory and are normally laid down by an advisory or regulatory body that may be either voluntary or statutory. by its Machinery Div. And SPI has an informative page on the relatively new subject of ergonomics for workers. At www.socplas.org/public / worksafe/faqs.htm, you can find links to state programs on ergonomics and information at OSHA and NIOSH NIOSH National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health, see there NIOSH Recommendations for Safety & Health Standards Agent NIOSH REL*/OSHA PEL† Health effects . SPI also has online bulletins on specific issues like workplace hazards from mineral oil mist and Legionnaires Legionnaires may refer to:
NON-FATAL OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES & ILLNESSES (Lost Workday Cases Per 100 Full-Time Workers) Year 1996 1998 2000 All Manufacturing 4.9 4.7 4.5 All Plastics Products 6.1 5.7 5.4 Unsupported Film & Sheet 4.6 4.5 4.3 Unsupported Profile Shapes 4.2 5.8 4.3 Laminated Plate & Sheet 6.1 5.9 3.9 Plastics Pipe 5.5 5.2 9.6 Plastics Bottles 5.0 4.0 4.7 Plastics Foam Products 6.8 6.1 5.5 Custom Compounding 3.9 7.4 4.2 Plastics Plumbing Fixtures 6.9 3.8 6.9 Other Plastics Products 6.6 5.9 5.5 Year 2001 2002 2003 (a) All Manufacturing 4.1 4.1 3.5 All Plastics Products 4.6 5.2 4.2 Unsupported Film & Sheet 3.4 5.2 3.7 (b) Unsupported Profile Shapes 4.6 3.6 3.2 Laminated Plate & Sheet 3.6 3.9 3.0 (b) Plastics Pipe 3.9 3.7 3.9 Plastics Bottles 2.6 3.5 4.2 Plastics Foam Products 5.9 4.7 -- Custom Compounding 4.6 5.2 5.8 Plastics Plumbing Fixtures 5.1 5.0 -- Other Plastics Products 4.9 5.6 4.5 (b) (a) Charge in industry classification system. (b) Not strictly comparable to earlier figures. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion