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Sustainability should be the goal of every workplace
with zero accidents and zero employee downtime achieved through best
practices and continuous improvements.
Most industrial employers have made an effort and expended major
resources to reach these goals, while others have just gone through
the motions.
But an effective approach includes performing hazardous risk
assessments, qualifying the most effective personal protective
equipment (PPE) in terms of flame resistant clothing and safety
products,
and implementing the most intense environmental, health and safety
procedures to prevent accidents and garment fires in the workplace.
However, some facilities have actually gone through the whole gamut
of procedures to assure that their employees have the proper
protective equipment, then allow the characteristics of flame
resistant
clothing and safety products to be compromised by allowing improper
laundry procedures.
Home laundering has been a common practice in some industries,
despite a longstanding recognition of hazards such a practice can
pose. Note, however, that to date there is a greater awareness of
hazardous workplace contaminants being introduced into the family
household, runoff
systems and the environment.
Recently, the New Jersey Supreme Court broadened the state’s
duty-to-warn doctrine by extending landowners’ obligations to
workers’ spouses who handle clothes covered with asbestos dust.
Just as a company owes a duty to workers for the foreseeable risk of
asbestos exposure,
it has a duty to spouses “based on the foreseeable risk of exposure
from asbestos borne
home on contaminated clothing,” the court ruled.
The ruling means that a Woodbury, NJ man can pursue a wrongful death
claim on behalf of his wife, who died in 2001 at the age of 82 after
being diagnosed with mesothelioma a year before. The woman
cleaned the man’s asbestos-soiled work clothes when he worked as a
welder and steamfitter at the Exxon Mobil oil refinery in Paulsboro
from 1947 until his retirement in 1984. He suffers from a
nonmalignant form of asbestosis.
The court said the employer should have known that the man’s wife
faced a potentially hazardous condition.
“As early as 1916, industrial hygiene texts recommended that plant
owners should provide workers with the opportunity to change in and
out of work clothes to avoid bringing contaminants home on
their clothes.”
To make things worse, home laundering does not effectively clean
garments, particularly heavily soiled garments exposed to carbon,
tar, hydraulic oils, mineral spirits, gasoline and other
manufacturing by-products. Most common commercially available
household laundry detergents,
powders and soaps are not suitable for to avoid bringing
contaminants home on their clothes.”
To make things worse, home laundering does not effectively clean
garments, particularly heavily soiled garments exposed to carbon,
tar, hydraulic oils, mineral spirits, gasoline and other
manufacturing by-products. Most common commercially available
household laundry detergents,
powders and soaps are not suitable for Flame Resistant Clothing due
to the presence of chlorine bleach. Another common practice at home
that is not acceptable is the use of fabric softeners.
Remember that every home has its own laundry habits and practices
that at best follow a practice of
necessity than protection.
Protective Clothing and Safety Products are expensive when compared
to regular uniform clothing. They have specific functions in
protecting employees against hazards in the workplace. It is
important that the protective properties are not compromised due to
improper laundry processing and maintenance.
Protective Clothing and Safety Products require modified laundry
procedures to protect the integrity of the flame resistant
properties. Other things considered - mending, patching and repair
should also be done correctly to maintain the protective properties
of these products. Protective Clothing and Safety Products must be
mended and repaired to their original protective capabilities with
the use of correct fabrics, threads and same accessory materials
like FR reflective tapes, zippers, snaps and buttons.
The use of home laundry must be fully scrutinized. Consider the use
of a professional laundry provider. Keep in mind the following
points when considering a professional laundry provider for your
industry:
• Does he adhere to the regulations and standards given by OSHA,
NIOSH, NFPA, ANSI and the ASTM test methods?
• Does the laundry protect the protective clothing and safety
products in accordance with the guidelines provided by the fabric
manufacturers?
• Is there extensive experience in handling and processing of
protective clothing?
• Is a waste water treatment system maintained that protects the
environment and meets regulations?
• Does it use a garment tracking and management system to monitor
the protective clothing and safety products and their useful life in
the workplace?
• Does it provides training and procedures in the correct handling
of contaminated protective clothing and safety products?
• Does if offer customer training in the proper service
communication between provider and users?
Industry accidents do not happen at home. Protect your workers’
loved ones, and keep in mind that financial, emotional and social
liabilities should remain within the confines of the workplace and
industry. FSM
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