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There are more women performing work that requires personal protective equipment (PPE) than ever before. A 1999 OSHA report stated that poorly fitting safety gear did not function properly nor provide the intended protection. While the situation has improved in the past 13 years, there still are relatively few full-body work harnesses that fit most women well. There are some options that are better than others, and our female customers have let us know which harnesses in particular a …

Falls in confined spaces are often painful. Sometimes they require rescue from other team members. In these cases it's important that the fallen worker isn't simply hanging by their harness for the entire time it takes the rescue team to get them out of there. A typical harness, even though they meet OSHA and ANSI standards for fall protection, will really squeeze the legs when a worker is suspended, and this can lead to a serious problem called suspension trauma (otherwise known as Ort …

Paddle-gate! The great ping pong doping scandal of the 2012 Olympics. How did we miss this when it happened? The one opportunity for levity in our confined space world? How often does Olympic Ping Pong collide with sophisticated RAE Systems gas detection devices? Not often enough, in our view. Since the 1970s serious ping pong players have apparently been souping up their paddles to increase performance. Early spin doctors found they could gain more control and even add speed by smearin …

Just because you aren't entering a drainage system, silo, septic tank, or some other confined space every day, or even every week, doesn't mean you can avoid getting the equipment necessary to make you OSHA compliant. But it does mean that you will be perfectly satisfied with a basic confined space entry system. For folks working in city waste water treatment facilities or manufacturing which requires regular maintenance and inspection of confined spaces, it makes sense to have the m …

Have you ever been looking for your glasses and then realized they were on top of your head? The great thing about the Petzl VIZIR face shield is that is the first place you are going to look for them. The cleverly named VIZIR visor mounts to the top of a VERTEX VENT or ALVEO helmet creating convertible eye protection. Down when you need it, up when you don't. But your eye protection is always available as long as your helmet is on your head. The VIZIR has several advantages over reg …

Who is Gas Clip Technologies? Whether you work in oil and gas, utilities, telecommunications, marine, or other demanding industries, you need portable gas detectors that are reliable and durable. Gas Clip Technologies (GCT), although a relatively young company, started a revolution in the gas monitor industry using quality products with innovative new features. According to users GCT gas monitors are affordable, reliable, and easy to use. However the reason they’ve been adopted so qu …

Gas produced and put into bottles for bump testing and calibrating gas monitors has a finite shelf life, and paying attention to that expiration date might save your life. Using expired gas can lead to incorrect calibration of your gas monitor. Gas concentrations have been known to drop over time. Reactive gases such as hydrogen sulfide react with the material of the cylinder container, and tests have shown some levels to slip from 20 parts per million (ppm) to 6 ppm over a 12-month peri …

"When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all" (Futurama). Most days employees arrive, do their jobs, and then leave for the day. Often, it isn't until an injury occurs, that people question the safety policies in place or the person that designed them. Welcome to the role of the Industrial Hygienist. What is industrial hygiene? The practice of industrial hygiene, also known as occupational health, involves identifying existing and potential hazards in …

If a workspace contains hazardous permit-required spaces, OSHA mandates the employer must inform exposed employees of their existence, location, and the hazards they pose. This can be done by posting unambiguous warning signs such as "DANGER-CONFINED SPACE- AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY." And while signs like that are pretty clear, there will still be folks who assume it doesn't apply to them. So OSHA also requires physical barriers such as locks, chains, and other impediments to entr …

What is MERS? The acronym stands for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome also known as Camel Flu. You may also see the abbreviation MERS-CoV referring to MERS Coronavirus (the virus itself). The virus is zoonotic, spreading between camels and humans directly and indirectly. The virus spreads through an infected person's respiratory secretions, such as through coughing. 150 people have contracted MERS and 16 people have subsequently died since a new outbreak in South Korea last month. …