WHMIS at home?

Why not?  Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System provides a system for the safe use and storage of chemicals.  This includes cleaners, solvents, fuels, compressed gases, insecticides and pesticides.  If it is a chemical, this system will help you use it safely.  While it is designed for use in workplaces, it doesn’t take any imagination to apply it at home or on the farm.

So, let’s start at the beginning.  What chemicals do you have?  Look in the garage, storage sheds, under the kitchen sink, in the bathroom and laundry room.  Do you have a hobby or work on crafts, look there too.  Write down the name, manufacturer and website of each and every chemical you have.  We’ll call this your chemical list.

Next, get access to a computer.  If you don’t have one, stop off at the library, they have one you can use for free.  Now, type in the website or manufacturer into the search area.  This should bring you to their website.  What you are looking for is Material Safety Data Sheets or MSDS’s.  This is the “sheet” that contains all the information you need to know about the chemical you have.  If it is your computer at home, make a file and store the MSDS’s there.  If not, have them printed and keep a file at home for reference later.  Make sure to get the right MSDS for the chemicals you have, match up the exact product name with the MSDS.  If you are having trouble finding one, most websites have a contact the company section.  Request the information from them and supply your mailing address.  They will send you the information you request.

Now that you have the information you need, it’s time to sit down and read it.  Don’t let the technical language on some throw you off.  If you look them up you get to know the “language” quickly and easily.  These sheets tell you how to use and store the chemical safely.  What chemicals it should never be mixed with, and if you do mix them, what to do.  One section is first aid information and what to do in an emergency involving the chemical.  Knowing what to do if someone is exposed to the chemical is important stuff to say the least.  A very important section of an MSDS is “Toxicology”.  This is the testing and information that must be provided if the product is poisonous.  Read this section carefully, this is where the technical language is commonly used.  If it is terategenic it has the ability to cause birth defects.  A carcinogen can cause cancer.  Mutagenic cause genetic mutation (mess up your DNA), this is bad for you and any future children as these genetic changes may be inherited from an effected parent.

Now you understand the chemicals you have, you may chose to remove some and replace them with less harmful ones.  Use the information on the MSDS’s to arrange your storage (keep incompatible ones apart) and use them appropriately.  About once per year you should “update” your chemical list and go through the process again to make sure new chemicals don’t end up under the sink without you knowing their hazards.

School Bus Safety

When is a child in the most danger, when they are on a bus or approach/leaving the bus?  You and I both know the answer to that one.  As drivers it is not only essential that we know the rules but follow them as well.

When backing onto the street or pulling out of parallel parking watch for the kids, they may not be paying attention either.

When driving in neighborhoods with schools, watch out for the kids darting across the road to avoid being late or to catch up with friends.

Slow down.  Watch for children playing and gathering at bus stops or walking on the street, especially if there are no sidewalks.

A few thoughts as you come up on the next school bus:

• If the lights are flashing, stop, the children are getting on or off the bus and may cross the road ahead of the bus (out of your immediate sight).
• If the bus is slowing down, do not race to pass it, children may be “racing” to the bus stop across the road.
• Don’t crowd buses, they need space to slow down, turn and stop.  Placing your headlights in their mirrors makes this and spotting the children much harder.

As the parents of children, there are some things we can teach our kids to help protect them around buses.

• Get the children to the bus stop at least five minutes before the bus is scheduled to arrive.
• When the bus pulls up have them stay at least three giant steps (6 feet) back from the curb.
• Tell your children to wait until the bus stops and the driver has the door open before they approach the bus.
• If children must cross the street in front of the bus, have them take five giant steps (10 feet) ahead of the bus before they cross.  This ensures the bus driver can see them and keep the stop lights on to warn oncoming traffic to stop.

With all the distractions of winter driving, decreased daylight and the “I’m running behind” syndrome pushing everybody these days, I’m finding more often being stuck behind a bus is a welcome break.  Instead of blowing past the bus at your first opportunity, sit back, unwind a little and enjoy.

Fire Hazards

Do products like adhesives, sealants and solvents present an increased fire hazard in the shop?  If so, what increases the risk of a fire?  If a fire occurred involving these materials, what would you use to put the fire out, water?

OOPS, that could be a big mistake.

We need to go back and read the Material Safety Data Sheet, section four for the specific product we are using.

There are three levels of fire hazard these products can present—none (my personal favorite), combustible or flammable.

No fire hazard means exactly that, the product will not burn.  This has little to no information in section four of an MSDS.

Combustible means the product will burn. Generally, it must receive heat to produce vapors that will burn.  The fire hazard of these products is seriously increased if excess oxygen is also present, they may also burn vigorously and be easier to light if the air has excess oxygen.

Flammable means the product can be easily ignited under normal conditions.  This hazard can become extreme in air that has an excess of oxygen.

Now, read the MSDS’s again.

Do adhesives, sealants and solvents present an elevated fire risk?  Most often the answer is yes.

If the surface of a floor, wall, cabinet top or frame is coated with a flammable solvent, adhesive or sealant the flames will “run”.  This causes a few problems:

1. The flames may spread very rapidly trapping you or running back to the open container and bursting into a much larger fire.

2. The fire may spread to an area that is not accessible and therefore you can’t get to it to put it out.

3. As you attack the fire with your hand held fire extinguisher you push the fire back.  To continue your attack you advance and that can be a fatal mistake.  While the fire extinguisher put the solvent, adhesive or sealant out the unburned portion of the fuel is still there.  As you advance you may be standing in a “pool” of fuel.

Murphy’s Law states—that is when your fire extinguisher will run out.

Never get so close to a fire that you are standing in the fuel.

How are the solvents, adhesives and sealants going to get lit?  The possibilities are many, for example:

Grinding—the metal filings are very hot and could easily ignite these flammable materials.  Watch where the equipment is throwing the sparks!

Electrical—even a small, quick ground out could cause the wire ends to melt, drop to the floor and ignite flammable materials on the floor or the cabinets.  Drills and circular saws have open motors, they commonly throw sparks when dust is present (like saw dust).

Welding & cutting – using this equipment the fire hazard is obvious, look around, not just at what you are doing, but what is being done around you.

This is why no job is done until the clean up is finished and the tools are put away.