Safety & Personnel
- July 02, 2013
To amend a famous phrase: "Nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes...and pathogens." That is right. These tenacious little trouble makers are constantly knocking at our doors in the food industry. It is hard not to resent their tenacity and the ill effects they bring with them on a daily basis. However, there is hope! Get ready to give our microscopic mischief makers the boot!
A new tool in the fight against pathogens called the “HACCP Defender Boot Sanitizing System” will have your employees lining up to focus on this very issue. The HACCP Defender is a walk-in station that utilizes the proven power of Alpet D2 Surface Sanitizer to thoroughly treat employees' boots before they walk into critical areas of your operation.
The HAACP Defender uses infrared sensors to operate control doors and sprayers, that combined are designed to ensure boots get a thorough application of ALPET D2. Featuring stainless steel construction, the walk-in design
- April 24, 2013
Nelson-Jameson, Inc. has the largest collection of reagents assembled exclusively for food & dairy testing laboratories. Reagent chemicals should be handled only by qualified individuals trained in laboratory procedures and familiar with their potential hazards. “Right to Know” laws make it mandatory that anyone handling a hazardous substance be informed of the health hazards and safety precautions associated with that chemical.
Material Data Safety Sheets (MSDS) are provided by Nelson-Jameson as required by OSHA’s Hazard Communication Law for products designed as hazardous. Our automated system assures that you will receive an MSDS with your first purchase of that hazardous item. You may also contact us to request MSDS information
- January 23, 2013
Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) are quite familiar to anyone working with hazardous chemicals in such environments as: labs, distribution warehouses, food operations, etc. The sheets describe “the physical and chemical properties, physical and health hazards, routes of exposure, precautions for safe handling and use, emergency and first-aid procedures, and control measures.” OSHA cites that these documents, along with labels and training in the workplace, are key elements in maintaining proper handling of hazardous materials in the workplace. It is also essential that employees are familiar with MSDS documents and know where to find them in your operation.
- November 07, 2012
From school labs to medical labs to QA/QC labs in places like the food industry, eye protection is a safety concern that receives a lot of attention. Rightly so, as every day in the United States, about 2000 workers are treated medically for an eye injury. In addition, eye injuries "alone cost more than $300 million per year in lost production time, medical expenses, and worker compensation." The proper use of goggles and safety glasses can make a significant difference in lowering these numbers.
One can browse through countless policy manuals for schools, government agencies, and some industrial settings, where eye protection is mandated. With such universal attention paid to eye safety, why do the numbers of injuries and costs remain so high? The answer isn't a simple one, but some factors can include the following: compliance and standards issues, user error, or simply put: momentary indifference.
Compliance and standards issues involve many possibly enabling factors for eye injuries in the lab. A lack of employee training can factor in, as can a lack of knowledge of federal and state standards. For instance, an employee may not understand that their daily glasses do not provide sufficient protection. Contact users and glasses-wearers need to have additional eye protection, such as goggles that fit around the glasses, or have their prescription incorporated into an ANSI Z87.1 compliant design. These issues may seem quite obvious to some operations, but these causes for concern continue to occur in the lab. To learn more or to refresh your knowledge on eye protection in the workplace click here.
In terms of accidents in the lab, user error is another factor that can come into play. Employees need to ensure that their eye protection is Z87 compliant. Further, they need to know what kinds of hazards exist, and to select the proper eyewear for those hazards. Finally, the eyewear must be properly fitted. For some helpful information on hazards and choosing the proper eyewear for the job, click here.
- October 18, 2012
A pen is a pen; a glove is a glove, right? When purchasers are trying to adhere to the bottom line, this might make some sense. It doesn’t seem right that you should have to spend more on metal-detectable products, when you can buy it at the base price. As you figure out what is best for your operation, consider this: the price of something like a box of metal-detectable pens or a box of metal-detectable gloves are much less expensive than a recall caused by plastics contamination in your product.
For those that keep track of food recalls, “plastic contamination” is an all-too-familiar phrase. From cake to tuna to dog food, the discovery of plastic contaminates is a troubling event for both the customer and for the producer. Pen caps, pens, gloves, aprons, etc. are possible contaminants that can show up in a finished product, acting as choking hazards, laceration hazards, biological hazards, and as a shock to those consuming the product or to those serving it.
