If you’re on the Eastern seaboard of the U.S. and reading this, you’ve probably made it safely through Hurricane Irene.  Now comes the cleanup, which can be just as dangerous as the storm.  Don’t be a victim.   

Before you attack a fallen tree or limbs with a chainsaw, or climb a ladder to start repair or reconstruction,  think about the personal protective equipmennt and clothing you may need:

• Safety goggles, safety glasses with sideshields or faceshields;
• Earplugs or muffs when using power equipment;
• Heavy-duty, non-slip gloves;
• Safety shoes or boots;
• Trim-fitting clothes, with long-sleeve shirt and pants;
• Hardhat if there is a chance of being struck from above; and
• High-visibility reflective vest or other apparel.

Regardless of what PPE you buy and use, make sure it’s up to the task.  The best way to do that is to look for evidence that it meets performance standards.  Safety glasses, goggles and faceshields should meet ANSI/ISEA Z87.1.  Hardhats should show compliance with ANSI/ISEA Z89.1 on the label.  High-visibility apparel should meet ANSI/ISEA 107.   For optimal hearing protection, earplugs or muffs should have a noise reduction rating (NRR) of at least 22dB.

 Here are other tips to reduce the risk of injury:

• Before you begin to clean up, analyze your surroundings.  If there are downed power lines, you must call in professional utility workers.  Do not go near such lines until you have verified that the power is off.
• Make sure the area in which you are working is free of bystanders and animals.
• If there are other people nearby, make sure they are protected against hazards like flying or falling objects, dust or noise.
• When chain sawing, be sure that the chain does not touch foreign materials such as rocks, fences or nails.  Such objects can be thrown off, cause the saw to kick back, or damage the saw chain.  And remember that the person standing next to you needs the same hearing protection as you do.
• Have a first aid kit handy to treat cuts, scrapes and other minor injuries.

There’s more information available from OSHA, post-hurricane flood response guidance from NIOSH, rebuilding advice from FEMA, and everything you ever wanted to know about hurricanes - and more – at NOAA’s National Hurricane Center site.   Go to ISEA’s Buyers Guide to find suppliers of the PPE you need.  And be careful.

When stakeholders weighed in on a draft plan from the National Personal Protective Technology Lab (NPPTL) to address certification of PPE (as we reported last month), the agency made some adjustments.  Its latest draft strategy, prepared for an internal government review and shared with ISEA and other stakeholders, backs off the risk-based certification scheme envisioned by the Institute of Medicine committee, in favor of developing a conformity assessment framework that addresses worker needs while making the best use of institutions and processes already in place. 

Given the reality that resources will not be available to expand government’s certification role, NPPTL believes there may be support for development of a conformity assessent voluntary standard and/or an expanded audit and oversight function within NIOSH.   Defining the shape and scope of this new framework would be driven by some key questions concerning public/private cooperation, coordination among federal agencies, marketplace realities and where independent conformity assessmment might be needed.  To get there, the lab plans to establish a working group to develop the framework over the next couple of years, including a serious of public meetings.  Another year would be devoted to working with standards developing organizations to translate the framework into a workable conformity assessment tool.

Obviously, this makes a lot of sense to ISEA.  Moving forward in the direction suggested by he IOM committee would result in expansion of third-party certification to almost all PPE.  While this may still sound good in theory, it fails to consider all the elements of the US system that provide high quality protective equipment without mandatory certification.  ISEA’s Standards Policy and Planning Committee has been working on a voluntary standard for conformity assessment, and by the time time NPPTL completes its framework assessment we hope to be ready with a document that meets the need.