Safety Circuits, Force Guided Relays vs. General Purpose Relays

When we have catastrophic events such as the club fire in RI, the inspection process that allowed code violations to go uncorrected for two years needs to be revisited. Many inspectors view their daily work in a way that results in the low hanging fruit getting picked, but the more difficult to reach fruit on high branches going untouched. When an agency is responsible for inspections for compliance with safety, health, fire and/or environmental standards there needs to be a meaningful quality control or improvement program in place. Citizens or your community deserve no less.

In the past few years, Hydrovacs and "daylighting" have gained industry acceptance by minimizing the challenges of exposing underground pipelines, fiber-optics, and utilities. "Daylighting" is a non-destructive process using pressurized water (hydro) and a vacuum system (vac) to remove soil cover, thereby allowing a visual observation of underground lines. Hydrovacs expose these facilities to daylight, thus the term "daylighting".

Significant engineering and test efforts have been undertaken in the last few years into the area of arc flash/blast hazards in electrical equipment. The result has been a better understanding of arcing faults and how to prevent and/or minimize the hazards to personnel and equipment. This paper highlights some of the findings that may help in safety management and equipment selection. This paper concludes with some design considerations that will help reduce the hazards of arcing faults.

The challenge of managing the aspects of occupational health and safety (OH&S) in the workplace can often times feel overwhelming. There are many legal, moral and financial reasons for you to pay attention to OH&S obligations. With all of these challenges, it's important not to waste time, money or place efforts on things that simply don't work. In terms of successfully managing OH&S issues, the following Top 10 list includes some of the common errors that organizations make.

June 2024 marks National Safety Month, an annual occasion to highlight the critical importance of workplace safety and raise awareness about potential hazards. For industries that rely on industrial equipment and heavy machinery, proper maintenance practices and safety protocols are vital for preventing accidents, injuries, and fatalities. Continuously striving to improve workplace safety is not only the ethical thing to do, but also keeps facilities productive, reduces downtime, and protects businesses from legal action.

Because maintenance departments are often recognized as caretakers of company safety initiatives, they're inundated with all things safety: messages, procedures, meetings, checks, equipment, training and permits, etc. Despite their good intentions, however, some maintenance professionals still get hurt on the job. To understand why, we need only to draw a parallel with automobile accidents.

Hydraulic systems must store fluid under high pressure. Three kinds of hazards exist: burns from the hot, high pressure spray of fluid; bruises, cuts or abrasions from flailing hydraulic lines; and injection of fluid into the skin. Safe hydraulic system performance requires general maintenance. Proper coupling of high and low pressure hydraulic components and pressure relief valves are important safety measures.