Historical Safety Bulletins

1842 Mines Act (British),
Limited conditions and hours of work for children 12 years of age. Before this act, children as young as 7 years were harnessed with chains to haul heavy coal trucks in low and narrow passages.

1911 - Triangle Shirtwaist
Fire in the upper floors of this New York City “sweatshop” caused the death of 146 workers.

• Most were young, immigrant women
• Many jumped to their deaths

If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights.

Some people are like Slinkies… not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs.

How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

Raw cashews are poisonous and must be roasted before they can be eaten (this is probably one reason that you can't buy cashews in the shell)

The first electric Christmas lights were created by a telephone company PBX installer. Back in the old days, candles were used to decorate Christmas trees. This was obviously very dangerous. Telephone employees are trained to be safety concious. This installer took the lights from an old switchboard, connected them together, strung them on the tree, and hooked them to a battery.

The average cost of rehabilitating a seal after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska was $80,000. At a special ceremony, two of the most expensively saved animals were released back into the wild amid cheers and applause from onlookers. A minute later they were both eaten by a killer whale.

A woman came home to find her husband in the kitchen, shaking frantically with what looked like a wire running from his waist towards the electric kettle. Intending to jolt him away from the deadly current she whacked him with a handy plank of wood by the back door, breaking his arm in two places. Till that moment he had been happily listening to his Walkman.

Did you know that you are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a poisonous spider?

The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.

The nursery rhyme Ring Around the Rosey is a rhyme about the plague. Infected people with the plague would get red circular sores ("Ring around the rosey..."), these sores would smell very badly and common folks would put flowers on their bodies somewhere (inconspicuously), so that it would cover the smell of the sores ("...a pocket full of posies..."), People who died from the plague would be burned so as to reduce the possible spread of the disease ("...ashes, ashes, we all fall down).

By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand

In the 1500’s those with money had plates made of pewter. Unknowingly at the time, food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

In the 1500’s lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along roadside would often take them for dead, and prepare them for burial. The "deceased" were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days, and families would gather around, and eat, drink and wait to see if the person would wake up, thus began the custom of holding a "wake."

One of the many Tarzans, Karmuela Searlel, was mauled to death on the set by a raging elephant.

A family of six died in Oregon during WWII as a result of a Japanese balloon bomb.

On average, 100 people choke to death on ball-point pens every year

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds recieved in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

Studies show that if a cat falls off the seventh floor of a building it has about thirty percent less chance of surviving than a cat that falls off the twentieth floor. It supposedly takes about eight floors for the cat to realise what is occuring, relax and correct itself. At about that height it hits maximum speed and when it hits the ground it's rib cage absorbs most of the impact.

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

Abe Lincoln's mother died when the family dairy cow ate poisonous mushrooms and Ms. Lincoln drank the milk.

In Kenya they don't drive on the right or left side of the street in particular, just on whichever side is smoother.

Drinking two glasses of Gatorade can relieve headache pain almost immediately – without the unpleasant side effects caused by traditional "pain relievers."

Did you know that Colgate toothpaste makes an excellent salve for burns.

Before you head to the drugstore for a high-priced inhaler filled with mysterious chemicals, try chewing on a couple of curiously strong Altoids peppermints. They'll clear up your stuffed nose.

Achy muscles from a bout of the flu? Mix 1 Tablespoon of horseradish in 1 cup of olive oil. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes, then apply it as a massage oil, for instant relief for aching muscles.

Sore throat? Just mix 1/4 cup of vinegar with 1/4 cup of honey and take 1 tablespoon six times a day. The vinegar kills the bacteria.

Cure urinary tract infections with Alka-Seltzer. Just dissolve two tablets in a glass of water and drink it at the onset of the symptoms. Alka-Seltzer begins eliminating urinary tract infections almost instantly even though the product was never been advertised for this use.

Pending Ontario Confined Space Legislation: Are You Ready?

Within the safety community, there has been a considerable amount of buzz generated around the pending Ontario Confined Space Regulations (becoming law as of September 30, 2006). The legislation is much more prescriptive than the current legislation, and ultimately provides a better level of protection for those working in and around confined spaces. Aside from the clear requirements for written Hazard Assessments, Entry Plans and Rescue Plans for each confined space, the pending legislation identifies specific requirements for worker training.

As per the pending legislation,

• Every worker who enters a confined space or who performs related work shall be given adequate training for safe work practices for working in confined spaces and for performing related work, including training in the recognition of hazards associated with confined spaces.
• The employer shall appoint a person with adequate knowledge, training and experience to conduct the training.

The question becomes, what is adequate training, and what qualifications are required to perform such training. The pending legislation goes on to define adequate as:

• Sufficient for both its intended and its actual use, and
• Sufficient to protect a worker from occupational illness or occupational injury;

In other words, the content of the training and the experience and knowledge of the trainer must be sufficient to ensure that workers receiving the training will be able to use the information to work in confined spaces in a safe manner.  This is a tall order, given the variables involved in confined space work (i.e. dozens of potential hazards, along with potentially dozens of controls that must be understood and followed in order to mitigate the hazards). 

Although there are no “formal credentials” required to provide training in confined space entry, the following is a list of trainer qualifications that should be considered essential to the delivery of an adequate training program:

• A thorough understanding of the applicable legislation (current and pending), as well as best industry practices.
• Significant experience in performing and documenting confined space hazard assessments, written entry plans as well as written rescue plans.
• A solid understanding of subject matter as well as a proven ability to train on control programs relating to confined space entry work, including lockout, ventilation, hot work, etc.
• Hands-on experience as well as an ability to demonstrate and train personnel on equipment such as Davit Arms, combination winch / SRL devices, fall protection and prevention equipment, air sampling instrumentation, etc.
• Specific experience in the types of confined spaces facing the client.  Each confined space is unique; experience with the specific type of confined space faced is priceless.

It’s important to recognize that the above list should not be considered exhaustive, nor should the trainer’s knowledge of confined space entry be limited to theoretical / classroom experience.  Confined space training sessions always generate pointed questions aimed specifically at the target group’s confined space(s).  Without a healthy level of hands-on experience that will allow the instructor to provide a direct response, participants will leave the session with more questions than they came with.  In other words, an inadequate training session will only generate the need for more training.

More Did You Know.

Fall Protection Harold Lloyd first tested the safety precautions for the clock stunt in one of his famous movies, by dropping a dummy onto the mattress below. The dummy bounced off and plummeted to the street below.

Auto Safety The first person to be killed in an auto accident in the United States was Henry H. Bliss, a 68-year-old real estate broker. On September 14, 1899, in New York City, Mr. Bliss stepped from a streetcar, turned to assist a woman passenger, and was hit by a cab.

Insurance The Travelers Insurance Company probably issued the first accident policy in the United States to James Bolter of Hartford, Connecticut, in 1864. The policy covered Mr. Bolter for his walk from his job at the Post Office to his home on Buckingham Street. Cost of the premium: 2 cents.

Air Safety The first fatal plane accident occurred on September 17, 1908 – the pilot in that crash was none other than Orville Wright. In mid-flight, the propeller broke and the plane plunged 150 feet. Orville suffered multiple hip and leg fractures but Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge of the U.S. Signal Corps., who was also on board, died.

Food Safety The ancient Greeks thought that if they ate parsley, they wouldn't get drunk. They were wrong.

Hazardous Materials In 1919 Harold Lloyd was handed what he thought was a prop bomb, which he lit with his cigarette. It turned out to be real and exploded, blowing off Lloyd's right thumb and index finger, and putting him in the hospital for months. When he recovered, he went back to making movies, wearing a white glove while on screen to hide his damaged right hand. He did his stunts in this film and Feet First (1930), dangling from ledges, clocks and windows, using only eight fingers.

Auto Safety There is a town in Maryland called Accident. It sits on a major state highway linking western Maryland with the rest of the state. On the approach to the town is a road sign that doubles as a warning and is always true, no matter what the traffic condition. The sign says: ACCIDENT AHEAD

Grooming Safety An eighteenth century Parisian named Jean Jacques Perrett became tired of having his face cut while his barber shaved him. Wouldn't shaving be much safer and more comfortable, he wondered, if a wooden guard were attached to the straight razor blade so that only a snip of the blade protruded? And so was born the safety razor.

Emergency Response Wanting always to be prepared, a Cincinnati man wrote to Washington for a copy of the U.S. Government publication #15.700, Handbook for Emergencies. Shortly thereafter he had his first emergency: he received 15,700 copies of the handbook.

Fire Safety La Paz, Bolivia, which is about 12,000 feet above sea level, is nearly a fireproof city, and the fire engine ordered out of civic pride gather dust in their firehouses. At that altitude, the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere barely supports fire.

Electrical Safety Benjamin Franklin's kite-flying experiment was a success. Not so for the next person who attempted the feat. Trying to repeat the sentry-box experiment, Russian physicist G.W. Richman was killed in St. Petersburg in 1753 when a "palish blue ball of fire, as big as a fist, came out of the rod" and struck him in the head. Richman died instantly from the lightning bolt and became the first martyr to the new age of electricity.

Electrical Safety President Benjamin Harrison and the first lady never touched the light switches themselves when electric lights were installed during the renovation of the White House in 1891. Fearing shock, they would call for a servant whenever they wanted the lights on or off.

Water Safety The Titanic’s whistles could be heard from 11 miles away

Water Safety The first British ship to use the SOS distress signal was the Titanic

Water Safety Ice warnings received by Titanic on day of collision: 6

Water Safety Number of lifeboat seats not used: 472

Water Safety There were approximately 2,228 people on board the Titanic when it sank. Of this, only 706 people survived.

Emergency Spill Response On May 9, 1999 approximately 600,000 gallons of whiskey flowed into the Kentucky River during a fire at Wild Turkey Distillery in Lawrenceburg.

Pet Safety During World War II, Russians used dogs strapped with explosives to blow up German tanks. They trained the dogs to associate the tanks with food and ended up destroying about 25 German tanks using this method.

Preventative Maintenance In World War II, the German submarine U-120 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet.

Modified Work? The first Emperor of China, Ch'in Shih Huang-Ti, imposed tough laws. If a member of the public works team did now show up on time, his entire team would be executed.

Fall Protection In 1876, Maria Spelterina was the first woman to ever cross Niagara Falls on a high wire.

Worker’s Comp? Lorne Green had one of his nipples bitten off by an alligator while host of Lorne Green's Wild Kingdom.

WHMIS Marie Curie, the Nobel prize winning scientist who discovered radium, died of radiation poisoning.

Worker’s Compensation Mary Hart, the co-anchor of Entertainment Tonight, has each of her legs insured for one million dollars.

Safe Lighting Levels Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb was afraid of the dark.

WHMIS? Following directions off the Internet and chemicals obtained from a mail order company, a team of U.S. scientists created an identical copy of the polio virus.

Radiation Safety The microwave oven was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

WHMIS The WD in WD-40 stands for Water Displacer.

Wellness Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, “Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and the bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health.”