Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) - Accident Prevention Program - Miner's Tips

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Mine Safety and Health Administration
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Mine Type: All Surface

Category: General Safety

MSHA's Accident Prevention Program Miner's Tips "First Aid Kits" Printer Friendly Version

Need a bandage? How about a bottle of eyewash? Maybe a little burn ointment? No problem, there's some in the first aid kit. What!!! It's gone? I don't understand. I got some last week. Did I tell anybody? Ah, well, no, but someone should have noticed that we were getting low on supplies.

Sound familiar? First aid kits are a wonderful thing to have when you need them. But it is easy to forget to tell someone that you took a bandage. It is also easy to forget to check them for low supplies. Ben Caplan of Alden, Iowa has offered a solution that works at his operation.

As he tells it:

I assigned each kit to one of the Safety Committee Members. They are to check the kits monthly, before the Safety Committee meeting and report any items that need replacing. In order for them to remember to check the kits I have added a reminder to the Safety Committee Meetings notice, and also have given the Safety Committee a monthly form to check off after each inspection. Not only are the first aid kits full at all times, the Safety Committee Members feel like they are doing something worthwhile to help promote safety at our mine.

MSHA would like to add another tip on this subject. Use a seal wire to seal the first aid kit. If supplies are needed, the broken seal wire makes it easy to see that the kit contents need checked and /or replaced during the month.

Issued:	01/12/2005
Tag #	AP2004-M103

MSHA extends a thank you and a tip of the hardhat to
Ben Caplan,
a winner of a limited edition sticker and patch.

If you have a tip you would like to pass on, you can e-mail it to zzMSHA-MinersTips@dol.gov. If your Miner's tip is selected, you will receive credit in this space.


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