ON TOPIC:Mostly For Inside Guys:Cleaning Spills with Integrity

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I made no comment as to the action I took or didn't take, nor will I.

That's because you are all talk, no action.

 

[bbsam]

Really?
Seriously, who cares?

I care. That's why I asked. You are free to ignore the question and the response.

 

[Integrity]

That's because you are all talk, no action.

This is an untrue statement.

 

[bbsam]

This is an untrue statement.

I guess we'll never know.

 

[Integrity]

I guess we'll never know.

Knowing is not necessary to furthering this discussion.

 

[Operational needs]

Knowing is not necessary to furthering this discussion.

You know, if you posed these situations as hypothetical rather than observations, you might get a better reception, and in turn, better and more cooperative responses. Just sayin.

 

[Integrity]

You know, if you posed these situations as hypothetical rather than observations, you might get a better reception, and in turn, better and more cooperative responses. Just sayin.

Thank you.

 

[Integrity]

For Discussion:

Recently while in a facility I noticed a pile of damp speedy dry in the middle of main thoroughfare.

It was left there for hours and it was walked through and driven through until it was pulverized and spread throughout a large section of the building.

Of the many individuals who walked and drove through this contamination at least 10 had to be management. Among the management was PT, FT and Manager level employees.

There were also many hourly employees who walked and drove right through it. Among the hourly employees were PT, FT, Shop Stewards, Designated Responders.

What should have or could have been done differently to adhere to UPS Safe Work Methods and training?

INYO: Any OSHA violations here?

Serious, "On Topic" replies only please.

Thanks to those who have added to this discussion.

Moving forward with this discussion; let's investigate it more closely.

Based upon the evidence there are obviously things we know about this incident and things we don't know.

For starters; two things known are there was a liquid spill of some kind and the spill was in a main walkway area in the facility.

Two things unknown are what the liquid was and if the spill was internally generated or from the contents of a package.

Also known is someone knew about the spill because someone put absorbent on it.

It is not known who knew about it or who put the absorbent down but it is supected to be someone on an earlier shift.

To be continued....

 

[bbsam]

If it was tracked through hour after hour, we know that far more than one someone knew about it. We also know that one someone who knew about it started a thread on BC about it giving limited information for discussion purposes.

Here's the simple answer. Somebody should have cleaned it up. Probably the porter other janitor or whatever.

Anything beyond that seems to me like some pseudo-intellectual brain fart trying to make the obvious and mundane more fantastic and sublime.

 

[Integrity]

Thanks to those who have added to this discussion.

Moving forward with this discussion; let's investigate it more closely.

Based upon the evidence there are obviously things we know about this incident and things we don't know.

For starters; two things known are there was a liquid spill of some kind and the spill was in a main walkway area in the facility.

Two things unknown are what the liquid was and if the spill was internally generated or from the contents of a package.

Also known is someone knew about the spill because someone put absorbent on it.

It is not known who knew about it or who put the absorbent down but it is supected to be someone on an earlier shift.

To be continued....

We don't know if when it was first noticed was it a known substance or an unknown substance. We don't know if the spill was reported to the hourly designated responder or if not the hourly to the management person trained as a designated responder.

To be continued...

 

[Integrity]

If it was tracked through hour after hour, we know that far more than one someone knew about it. We also know that one someone who knew about it started a thread on BC about it giving limited information for discussion purposes.

Here's the simple answer. Somebody should have cleaned it up. Probably the porter other janitor or whatever.

Anything beyond that seems to me like some pseudo-intellectual brain fart trying to make the obvious and mundane more fantastic and sublime.

It is not that simple. Proper spill cleanup is critical to safety and compliance. I am pretty sure this was a major problem with OSHA in the 90's.

 

[Integrity]

Based upon the observation it is pretty clear that the culture within that facility for dealing with spills is very poor. This can arguably considered a known.

To be continued...

 

[UPS Preloader]

Many failures most likely led to this situation.

Many things should have and could have been done differently.

How about you?

Arguably there probably existed an OSHA violation or 2 in this situation.
You?

When you participate in your own discussion and answer legitimate questions I will give you legitimate answers. Until then, I will not waste my time answering your questions.

 

[Integrity]

When you participate in your own discussion and answer legitimate questions I will give you legitimate answers. Until then, I will not waste my time answering your questions.

I frequently participate in my own discussion and I do answer legitimate (non-personal, on topic) questions.

I do agree with and encourage you not to waste your time if you have nothing to contribute to further the on topic discussion.

 

[Integrity]

Based upon the observation it is pretty clear that the culture within that facility for dealing with spills is very poor. This can arguably considered a known.

To be continued...

Although we don't know who responded to the spill and we don't know what the spill was we do know some things about the initial response/ cleanup attempt.

Let's first assume a non hazardous spill, let's say for discussion sake the liquid was a water spill.

Let's also say this was determined by the gallon water bottle found broken open at the location of the spill.

This being the case the following becomes known:

The best method for cleanup was not used. Speedy dry is not the best clean up for a simple water spill, but it will work.

The speedy dry, not the best practice but ok to use, was used improperly.

This improper use of speedy dry arguably created a more hazardous, more out of compliance and a more serious violation than existed by the initial spill.

To be continued...

 

[Ms.PacMan]

You said you have no idea when the spill occurred or if the liquid is hazardous but someone did put absorbent down.

The second component to using an absorbent to clean up a spill would be time. Time to let the absorbent absorb the liquid.

I would not agree that the safety culture, at your hypothetical center at this point in your scenario, is poor.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

You said you have no idea when the spill occurred or if the liquid is hazardous but someone did put absorbent down.

The second component to using an absorbent to clean up a spill would be time. Time to let the absorbent absorb the liquid.

I would not agree that the safety culture, at your hypothetical center at this point in your scenario, is poor.

How much time are we talking about here? 15-30 minutes with the area properly blocked off would seem more appropriate than what happened here.

 

[Integrity]

You said you have no idea when the spill occurred or if the liquid is hazardous but someone did put absorbent down.

The second component to using an absorbent to clean up a spill would be time. Time to let the absorbent absorb the liquid.

I would not agree that the safety culture, at your hypothetical center at this point in your scenario, is poor.

True. Initially yes, but to further let's just say it was water.

Absorbent has very specific directions for use both on the packaging and on any MSDS for the absorbent.

Clearly not used as directed by any directions or MSDS that I have ever seen.

You may have misunderstood, I didn't make any general statement about the safety culture at this non-hypothetical facility. I did however make the following comment:

"Based upon the observation it is pretty clear that the culture within that facility for dealing with spills is very poor. "

I do stand behind this statement based upon the known facts of this incident.

 

[Ms.PacMan]

How much time are we talking about here? 15-30 minutes with the area properly blocked off would seem more appropriate than what happened here.

Integrity's posted about water as I was writing that reply.

Regardless, a non hazardous absorbent used on a non hazardous substance - would not be a hazard. Unless Integrity has an actual absorbent label or MSDS sheet or a company policy to post then I'll assume it's directions say something to the effect of "to be used on XXX, but not limited to...."

I still cannot conclude that the hypothetical center has a poor safety culture when dealing with spills.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Integrity's posted about water as I was writing that reply.

Regardless, a non hazardous absorbent used on a non hazardous substance - would not be a hazard. Unless Integrity has an actual absorbent label or MSDS sheet or a company policy to post then I'll assume it's directions say something to the effect of "to be used on XXX, but not limited to...."

I still cannot conclude that the hypothetical center has a poor safety culture when dealing with spills.

So you're OK with kitty litter being dumped on a spill, allowed to sit there for hours with people freely walking through it?