Barton Malow Organizational Safety Program Review
Barton Malow is an organization, the activities of which revolve around construction work. Some of the organization’s activities are risky and may pose danger to the workers on a daily basis. Thus, the organization needs to employ health and safety program in order to help identify and eliminate some of the environmental hazards, which the workers may be exposed to. This essay reviews the existing safety measures put in place by the Barton Malow Company and looks closely at the checklist of the basic requirements of a safety measures’ program. Barton Malow Company has an elaborated safety program that seeks to eliminate all possible incidences and accidents, which may cause harm to the employees.
Barton Malow safety program aims at ensuring safety to all employees on a daily basis. In normal working conditions, various hazards may be caused by the fire outbreak or normal ergonomics, for instance. Thus, a number of safety measures eliminating or minimizing such risks is needed. As noted above, Barton Malow has an elaborate safety manual that seeks to identify some of the fire risks and the safest way to deal with such risks in case of their occurrence. On the same note, the company is fully aware of certain ergonomics that may cause injuries to the employees stationed in the offices. The company’s safety management program seeks to protect all employees from all types of injuries or illnesses related to the performance of the working tasks (Warda, Tenenbein & Moffatt, 1999).
Fire Protection and Prevention
The working tasks of the company are related to the risk of fire outbreak, which prompts the need to have well-organized fire protection and prevention program in order to keep all workers safe. Some of the daily activities by the company entail using hot flames during welding, cutting and grinding, which may lead to the occasional occurrence of dangerous open flames. Hot work within the working site is designed to ensure that all flammables are protected to avoid dangerous fires. All combustibles are kept out of a radius of 35 feet from the hot working area. On the same note, hot working areas have protection that keeps walls, floors, and roofs from catching fire from the sparks. The company’s management is also aware of the occasional ignition, which may be caused by the materials that conduct heat; therefore, the non-conducting materials cover all the surfaces within the hot working areas.
It must be noted that Barton Malow uses flammable and combustible liquid that poses danger of fire outbreaks. Such components need proper storage and handling in order to ensure safety to all employees within the working sites. Therefore, Barton Malow Company has an elaborated safety policy that ensures proper storage. Flammable and combustible liquid is stored in leak-proof containers and is labelled as either UL or FL. Moreover, it should be noted that the amount of stored liquid within a given container and store is limited in order to comply with the requirements by NFPA Codes (Goetsch, 2015). All rags used in applying or handling of these flammable fuels require disposal in self-closing containers to avoid inappropriate utilization and handling. All containers with flammable liquid are labeled and stored in a particular protected area in order to avoid any confusion and risk of fire outbreaks.
The company safety program stipulates that one worker must be assigned the role of a watcher in an area prone to the outbreak of fire. Such a worker ensures that all fire prevention gadgets are in place before and after the working operations. Furthermore, the watcher must do an inspection of the floor, roof, and walls of the working area to ensure that there is no risk of potential fire outbreak. Most importantly, such a person must undergo training on how to handle all firefighting equipment, be conversant on methods of detecting and responding to fire hazards, and be aware of all locations of fire alarms. This person should also have emergency communication gadgets to make it easy to inform all the employees to take necessary safety measures in order to avoid injuries in case fire emergencies arise.
Barton Malow has sufficient firefighting equipment in various parts of the working area. Fire extinguishers are one of the most important firefighting equipment conspicuous in various locations, especially in hot working areas that are prone to fire outbreaks. In these areas, various fire extinguishers are labelled according to the type or cause of fire. The locations of these fire extinguishers allow getting easy access for all employees, just in case a fire outbreak occurs. In the setups of the working sites, fire exits are available with clear labels to help all employees escape in case a fire hazardous situation occurs. The company’s policy requires that all obstructions to the fire exits should be removed in order to make it easier for workers to escape. No fire extinguisher should be discharged, unless an emergency situation requires doing so. In case there is a discharge for whatever reason, the fire management department must be able to help facilitating a replacement. Apart from the main fire extinguishers for the primary working areas, other class ABC fire extinguishers are stationed at the locations of the temporary site structures like shops, offices, and storage rooms. Alarm systems are other important firefighting gadget within the working site. All employees have the access to the fire alarm boxes. Fire safety department ensures that monthly inspections and annual maintenance of all fire protection equipment should be done.
According to Warda, Tenenbein and Moffatt (1999), hot work protective clothing uniforms are an important part of fire protection within the working site. All employees in such areas are required to put on necessary protective clothing against fire sparks and other dangerous components that may cause injuries of the eyes, hands and other parts of the body. All the protective clothing is designed in a way to prevent electric shock or potential ignition of fire. The company’s protective clothing is designed to comply with the ANZI Z49.1 “Safety in Welding, Cutting and Allied Processes”. All employees in this area are expected to have face protection and hard hart worn over the eyeglass protection to avoid fire injuries (Goetsch, 2015). Barton Malow Project Team is responsible for prevention of occasional power outages that may cause fire emergency. In most cases, certain power outages may make it difficult for the fire detection system to function properly. In order to avoid such situations, the team ensures that all systems function properly and organizes proper backups in case of outages within the working site.
Smoking is prohibited in open working areas to avoid wildfires within the working sites. Employees are allowed to smoke at designated areas only, where proper protection measures against fire outbreaks are taken. The company requires all employees to be responsible for handling certain materials that may cause fire like cigarette butts, which need proper disposal. There are NO SMOKING signs in all storage areas with flammable fluids. In these areas, smoking is prohibited at all times (Warda, Tenenbein & Moffatt, 1999).
All in all, it is important to note that Barton Malow deals with construction work and most of the company’s employees perform working tasks at the sites, where fire emergency may occur occasionally. Thus, all employees must take necessary safety measures to avoid injuries in case fire emergencies arise. It must also be noted that a few employees of the company work in the offices to help dealing with logistical issues. These employees should also abide by fire protection and prevention program of the company. Site offices are temporary in nature, but they are designed in a way that minimizes any risks of injuries. Therefore, it has to be noted that this company has a well-organized safety program designed to minimize any accidents and injuries of the employees.
References
Goetsch, D. L. (2015). Occupational safety and health for technologists, engineers, and
managers (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Warda, L., Tenenbein, M., & Moffatt, M. (1999). House fire injury prevention update. Part II. A
review of the effectiveness of preventive interventions. Injury Prevention, 5(3), 217–225.