Tools hazards

Hand tools may include anything from axes to wrenches. The greatest hazards posed by hand tools result from misuse and improper maintenance. The employer and workers must take actions to keep tools and equipment in good working order. Employers should caution employees to keep saw blades, knives, and other tools away from aisle areas and other employees working in close proximity. The use of appropriate PPE can help protect workers against tool hazards. 

Two main groups of controls for hand tool hazards are safe practices and safeguards. 

Hand and portable powered tools Hazard communication Hazardous chemical exposures... 

Design procedures are developed with the intention of improving the safety of equipment. Tools used in this step are hazard and operability studies and quantitative risk analysis (ORA). The following scheme may be used ... 

Threshold limit values for the components of cemented carbides and tool steels are given in Table 14 (176). There is generally no fire or explosion hazard involved with tool steels, cemented carbides, or other tool materials. Fires can be handled as metal fires, eg, with Type D fire extinguishers. Most constituents of tool materials do not polymerize. 

The use of agarose as an electrophoretic method is widespread (32—35). An example of its use is in the evaluation and typing of DNA both in forensics (see Forensic chemistry) and to study heritable diseases (36). Agarose electrophoresis is combined with other analytical tools such as Southern blotting, polymerase chain reaction, and fluorescence. The advantages of agarose electrophoresis are that it requires no additives or cross-linkers for polymerization, it is not hazardous, low concentration gels are relatively sturdy, it is inexpensive, and it can be combined with many other analytical methods. 

Hazard and Risk Assessment Tools The hazard and risk assessment tools used vary with the stage of the project from the early design stage to plant operations. Many techniques are available, both quahtative and quantitative, some of which are hsted in the following section. Reviews done early in projects often result in easier, more effective changes. 

Reactive System Screening Tool (RSST) The RSST is a calorimeter that quickly and safely determines reactive chemical hazards. It approaches the ease of use of the DSC with the accuracy of the VSP. The apparatus measures sample temperature and pressure within a sample containment vessel. Tne RSST determines the potential for runaway reactions and measures the rate of temperature and pressure rise (for gassy reactions) to allow determinations of the energy and gas release rates. This information can be combined with simplified methods to assess reac tor safety system relief vent reqiiire-ments. It is especially useful when there is a need to screen a large number of different chemicals and processes. 

Chemical incompatibility charts can help in organizing available data on the incompatibilities existing between expected mixtures. Frurip (Frurip et ah, 1997) gives one procedure for developing a chemical compatibility chart while describing some of the tools available. CCPS G-13 also provides a table of known incompatibility hazards. 

The assessment tool shown in Appendix B, Sample Toller HS E Assessment is designed to draw attention to existing HS E problems. This example may be especially appropriate for toll contracts involving materials or processes of high hazard. 

The acronym for chemical process quantitative risk analysis. It is the process of hazard identification followed by numerical evaluation of incident consequences and frequencies, and their combination into an overall measure of risk when applied to the chemical process industry. It is particularly applied to episodic events. It differs from, but is related to, a probabilistic risk analysis (PRA), a quantitative tool used in the nuclear industry... 

An incident information management tool for hazardous materials emergency responders. 

Routing Sawing Shearing Turning Fire hazard Lubricant or coolant Material and shape of cutting tool Quality suitability for ... 

Deciding among a number of process options having inherent safety advantages and disadvantages with respect to different hazards can be quite difficult. The first step is to understand thoroughly all hazards associated with the process options. Process hazard analysis and evaluation techniques are appropriate tools (CCPS, 1992). These include ... 

In many cases, formal tools for decision making can be useful, particularly if the hazards vary greatly in type of consequence or impact. Many of these tools introduce additional rigor, consistency, and logic into the decision process. Some available methods include ... 

Research chemists cannot do these searches independently. There are a number of tools designed to identify and evaluate hazards. Several of these "identification tools are described below. 

The What if..method, the checklist, and HAZOP are well-publicized hazard identification tools. CCPS (1992) presents guidance on the use of these tools. 

A number of vendors offer software based hazard assessment tools that help determine the magnitude of the hazards involved. With this software, calculations can be made to reflect the hazard for various failures. Some risk ranking software combines hazard assessment with probabilities of occurrence so that the relative risk levels can be assessed. 

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