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OSHA Resources Helping Katrina Recovery Workers
A new group of QuickCards and fact sheets produced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in English and Spanish provide information that can be used to help protect workers who are dealing with disaster recovery hazards.
Available on the hurricane recovery page on the OSHA Web site, the dozens of listed topics include general decontamination; demolition; dangerous animals; molds and fungi; hydrogen sulfide; respiratory protection; grounding portable generators; and tree trimming. In response to specific requests from workers and employers, more topics are being added to the series on a continuing basis, and three of the cards are now available in Vietnamese for the first time.
“These materials provide concise, expert information that will help workers avoid the vast array of hazards they will encounter during the Gulf Coast clean-up and recovery operations,” said Jonathan L. Snare, the acting assistant secretary of labor for OSHA.
Thousands of the information tools have been printed, laminated and put in the hands of clean-up and recovery workers throughout the Gulf Coast area devastated last year by Hurricane Katrina.
Demolition Safety Tips
OSHA warns that in addition to the hazards that arise during regular construction activities, demolition raises concerns about a number of other factors, including lead-based paint, sharp or protruding objects and materials containing asbestos.
The agency offers the following tips to ensure the health and safety of demolition workers:
- Brace or shore up the walls and floors of structures that have been damaged and which employees must enter.
- Inspect personal protective equipment (PPE) before use.
- Select, wear and use appropriate PPE for the task.
- Inspect all stairs, passageways and ladders; illuminate all stairways.
- Shut off or cap all electric, gas, water, steam, sewer and other service lines; notify appropriate utility companies.
- Guard wall openings to a height of 42 inches; cover and secure floor openings with material able to withstand the loads likely to be imposed.
- Floor openings used for material disposal must not be more than 25% of the total floor area.
- Use enclosed chutes with gates on the discharge end to drop demolition material to the ground or into debris containers.
- Demolition of exterior walls and floors must begin at the top of the structure and proceed downward.
- Structural or load-supporting members on any floor must not be cut or removed until all stories above that floor have been removed.
- All roof cornices or other ornamental stonework must be removed prior to pulling walls down.
- Employees must not be permitted to work where structural collapse hazards exist until they are corrected by shoring, bracing or other effective means.
General Mold Cleanup Tips
OSHA offers these tips on protecting workers who are cleaning up mold:
- Make sure the working area is well ventilated.
- Discard mold-damaged materials in plastic bags.
- Clean wet items and surfaces with detergent and water.
- Disinfect cleaned surfaces with 1/4 to 1-1/2 cups household bleach in 1 gallon of water, being cautious not to mix the bleach with other cleaning products that contain ammonia.
- Use respiratory protection. An N-95 respirator is recommended.
- Use hand and eye protection.
These resources can be downloaded from OSHA’s hurricane recovery page, or can be ordered by calling OSHA’s publication office at 202-693-1888.
For more information on construction safety, e-mail Rob Matuga at NAHB, or call him at 800-368-5242 x8507.
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