3/11/99
alone in the lab (metalographic sample prep/optical microscopy + image analysis)
almost all the time. The lab doesn't have windows to the hallway, so it is difficult for
people walking by to see if I am in the lab, and if I am OK. My manager is
concerned about my safety and is asking me for suggestions. What do other labs do
to make working alone safe?
Everett Ramer
Federal Energy Technology Center
Everett.Ramer@fetc.doe.gov
replace it with a "windowed" door as long as your boss is willing to accept the cost
as a price towards improved safety. Obviously, not a complete answer to the
problem but a first step of common sense.
Mike Bucker
Feed Microscopy
Consolidated Labs of Va
MBUCKER@dgs.state.va.us
I work at Dow Chemical and we have a fairly rigorous "lone operator"
system. If we are working in an isolated area or at a time when there
are few people in the building (evenings, weekends, etc.) we carry
little alert transmitters which call out to plant security (as well as
within the building). The building receivers are location sensitive and
we have a "lone-operator" login book at the building entrance with a
building map. The lone operator marks the map as s/he signs in.
Between the map and the alert location, they can find us pretty fast.
This is pretty elaborate, but maybe a mini version using something like
the "First Alert" products would work ("Help, I've fallen and I can't
get up") - have it tied into a siren or flashing light outside your lab
so that anyone along the corridor would know there was a problem. Maybe
even carry a cordless phone with an autodial button to your site
security - caller ID would get them to you pretty quick.
This is definitely NOT a trivial matter. It is always disconcerting to
me when I am working in an area with nobody else around - I hope you get
an effective solution soon.
Bill Heeschen
Microscopy Group
Dow Chemical
WAHEESCHEN@dow.com
In the past I have been on jobs where a great deal of the time was spent
isolated. Now days I think it is a huge safety liability. One time I had
appendicitis and had to drive myself to 50 miles on back roads to a clinic
with my knees up on the stearing wheel. The point here is, even though
you work in a laboratory complex, if something happened you probably
wouldn't get help until the cleaning crew found you. Bad news! the other
issue is: Life is short and work is long, and working alone sucks. It's
not emotionally healthy. Make a change. Consolidate in with other workers.
Bob
Derm Imaging Center
Microscopist
Ex-wood cutter
underwoo@u.washington.edu
occupations.
You spend almost all your time alone and in the busy season I might be
alone 48 hours at a time so no one would even start looking for me for
a couple of days.
Not many people are killed because of the isolation. Your best protection'
is to think before you do something dangerous.
Gordon
Gordon Couger gcouger@couger.com
Owner PRAG-L PRactical AGriculture List www.couger.com/prag-l
Stillwater, OK 405 624-2855 GMT -6:00
and I came out of the inner TEM room and wondered why the hallways were
deserted. Then a fire marshall came by demanding to know why we hadn't
vacated the building during the fire drill!
The following email notice arrived from our university safety office:
------------
Subject: Safety Alert - Employee Trapped in a walk-in freezer on a Sunday
For questions about this incident, please respond directly to ***** *****
(see address and phone number below). For all other questions about this
email distribution process, contact me by sending a reply or by calling me
at 3-0467.
It happened on campus !
An employee was trapped inside a walk-in freezer for two hours while
working alone on a Sunday. He could not get out because the push knob
inside the freezer malfunctioned and could not open up the door.
For two long hours, he tried to keep himself warm by standing on a carton
box and insulating himself with layers of paper wrappings. In this
particular case, the thermostat inside the freezer was connected to a
monitor company. He managed to draw attention to his predicament by
turning the thermostat all the way down and thereby setting off an alarm.
By copy of this email, all supervisors are advised to regularly check
their walk-in freezers (and by extension all their equipment) to ensure
that they are in functional order, and to revisit the issue of walk-in
freezer safety with their staff, including orientation training and a
buddy system for work at odd hours.
Safe regards,
Glen
Glen MacDonald
Research Scientist
Hearing Research Laboratories of the
Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center
Box 35-7923
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195-7923
(206) 616-4156
glenmac@u.washington.edu