Bangin' heads in the workplace

(OzMuseum.com)

At this time of year, football seems to dominate the the national attention as the Superbowl approaches.  Many types of sports present the performers (players) with opportunities for severe head injuries.  It seems like concussions have shown up in every corner of the football world over the past year:  on the field, on locker room posters, in Congressional hearings, in labor negotiations. There's even a blog devoted to them.  Whenever you talk about concussions, you inevitably end up talking about helmets.

Working in theatres is no different. We encounter low-lying beams, pipes, conduit, all-thread, the sharp edges and corners of stage lighting instruments, and the occassional metal flange or rebar sticking out where we least expect it. Of course, we also spend an inordinate amount of time around other people (Remember them? They are the most dangerous thing in the theatre!) that may not be watching where they are going with that oversized chunk of wood, scenery, ladder, or scaffolding.

Wearing a hard hat doesn't make you a geek. Get over the concern about making a fasion statement.  In fact, many theatres REQUIRE that they be worn.

The nature of our work in the theatre causes many of us to spend alot of time bent over working on stuff, so keeping a hard hat on your head can be a bit of a problem.  There is an easy fix for this:  Get a chin strap to keep your hard hat in-place.m  they cost very little and they can keep you from calling HEADS! from the catwalk as your hard hat plumets to the floor below.

One thing to keep in mind when purchasing a chin strap is to look at the clips that attach to the hard hat.  Some products only have a bent metal 'U', while others have a clip type attachment like show here.  These are much easier to keep in place and are highly recommended.

 

ANSI standard OSHA approved hard hats are fairly inexpensive (usually under $10) and the chin straps are even less.  These shoudl be fairly easy to justify for your budget, as a football helmet cost between $50 and $400.

Protecting your hairy eyeball: Safety Glasses with Magnification

For those of use that lack perfect eyesight, wearing corrective lenses and safety goggles at the same time can be a real pain. Put on the goggles and you can't read the manual or see the fine detail of your workpiece, or try to wear them both and get dust leaks and/or fogging. Dang!  No good deed goes unpunished.  Until now.

 

Sperian Protection (www.sperian.com/), a world leader in personal protective equipment (PPE), announced that its flagship eyewear brand, Uvex, has launched the Uvex Stealth® Reader Goggle, the industry’s first safety goggle with reading magnifier lenses.  The lenses are available in five diopter strengths ranging from +1.0 to +3.0.

“The Uvex Stealth family of safety goggles . . . combines modern design with the best technology and materials,” said David Iannelli, senior product manager for Sperian Eye & Face Protection. “Now workers can enjoy the added benefit of magnifying fine details with comfort and safety.”

The Uvex Stealth Reader Goggle is available in a clear lens with Uvextreme® anti-fog coating, and its economical lens replacement system extends the life of the goggle.  Made in the USA, this goggle meets the ANSI Z87.1-2010 standard for high impact protection as well as the CSA Z94.3 safety standard.  Like all Uvex® lenses, the Uvex Stealth Reader Goggle offers 99.9 percent ultraviolet protection.

Works for those with unibrows, too.

The Uvex Stealth Reader Goggle’s low profile and wrap-around style delivers complete coverage and unobstructed vision on the job. Its wide, adjustable slide headband features pivoting clips for an easy-to-adjust fit for complete comfort, even when worn with hard hats.  Its soft elastomer body conforms to facial contours for a secure, gap-free fit to provide optimum all-day protection.  With multiple models to choose from, the Uvex Stealth family offers workers the protection they need and the selection they want, helping promote a culture of safety in the workplace.

More information about the Uvex Stealth family of safety goggles is available at: www.uvex.us/

A friendly reminder:  No spare eyeballs are available at this time.
You loose 'em, scratch 'em, or poke 'em, and you are S-O-L.

Glow-in-the-dark Brain Buckets

As I have mentioned before, Hard-hats are a really good idea in the theatre. There are lots of sharp corners, low-lying steel beams, and stage lighting instruments that can leave a real bonk on yur noggin.  3M has combined the photoluminescent pigment technology with a standard hard-hat to create a nifty lil' skull protector.

3M™ Glo-Mega™ Omega II GLO Photoluminescent Hardhat.

Of course, we theatre folks tend to spend alot of time leaning-over with our heads pointed down.  So,if you buy a hard hat, spend the extra buck-n-a-half for a chin strap so you won't be hollerin' "HEADS!" as you watch your PPE fall to the floor below . . . those built-in head-bands don't work so well when you are inverted.

OSHA Head Protection Regulations 1910.135 and 1926.100

Could you sharpen that stick a little bit more - I'm not sure it will fully pentrate my skull!

All-thread rod that protrudes below the air duct mounting bracket - cut an an angle to ensure damage to anyone that dares to come near . . . yet another reason to wear a hard-hat!

Toe busters!

Here is a metal strip that was intended to cover the transition from a sprung wood stage floor to the adjacent tile on concrete floor.Here you can see a side view of the metal showing how it has become bent and sticks up into the travel path.
Here is a floor pocket that was not properly installed and is resting upon the stage floor deck instead of being set flush with the wood surface.

Skin Shredders - Things that cut you in the dark.

Junction boxes, like the one shown above, abound in theatres. Unless there is some structural problem with embedding the box flush in the wall, surface mounted boxes should not go into new construction. However, when they are installed, the contractor that provides the cover plate should see that it is fabricated with a cover plate that matches the face dimension of the back-box.

Retrofit Recommendations:

• If possible, have an electrician remove the plate and take it to a metal shop to have the excess metal sheared-off and the edges ground smooth.
• Replace the plate with a new on that is properly sized (and some good labelling would be nice, too!) Custom plate fabrication is not very expensive. Draw what you want and dimension it, including the mounting screw holes and engraving, and get a quote. Now is a good time to add connectors, relable circuit numbers, and even change the color of the plate. Black may be good for the upstage wall, but for just about everywhere else that the audience can't see, white is much easier to find and read in the dark, particularly in floor pockets.
• If the plate can't be modified or replaced, then install hardwood blocking around the box so that the perimeter of the wood framing is slightly larger than the exposed metal cover plate. Routing a recess in the face of the hardwood frame to make the face of the plate flush to the face of the wood perimeter is also recommended. Note: Don't drive screws into the box sides, as they can pierce the insulation on the wiring within the box. With the power disconnected, install the screws into the wood from inside the box.

Another place that frequently has surface-mounted back-boxes are catwalks. These may be single or multi-gang back-boxes that were designed for flush mounting but were installed along an open railing. The standard sized gang cover plates that are then installed for DMX, Microphone, and Intercom receptacles, or light switch cover plates, are over-sized and leave sharp corners exposed to snag and cut.