Tag: workplace safety

Improving Safety in the Workplace: Drone Inspections

The versatility of drones is immense when it comes to accessing areas that were impossible or difficult to access before. The professional drone pilots that work with top drone companies and the military are nothing short of incredible. There are even drone racing leagues that can be viewed on various channels online and on television.

Drones have grown in personal usage popularity although there are some unfortunate amateurs that break their drones on the first flight. The ability to capture a beautiful view without putting yourself in peril has taken videography and photography to the next level. Commercial usage of drones is growing due to the incredible amount of ground that can be covered. Surveying an area has now become far more accurate and rapid due to drone imaging technology.

Imaging is a huge aspect of drone usage but so is the inspection of assets such as transmission and distribution lines, bridges or other areas of infrastructure. Accidental falls from heights are the main cause of death in construction workers. Doing a final inspection from a height can lead insurance costs for a business owner to skyrocket. Drone inspection helps mitigate risk which makes a worksite far safer. Inspecting a road is a perfect example as an inattentive driver can lead to the deaths of workers.

Pipelines can take hundreds of hours to inspect manually while presenting danger. The last thing anyone wants is chemicals to injure you or impact your health long-term. The fact that thermal imaging can be done on the pipeline makes it easier to find cracks or holes. Not to mention that these need to be scaled and can be quite slippery for an individual to traverse.

Adopting a comprehensive drone program as part of safety inspections has proven very effective for many industries. The number one benefit is that safety is improved when compared to more traditional methods. Additionally a drone inspection can be carried out quicker, and if the inspection is of an industrial plant then production does not have to be stopped for as long. The ability to inspect an industrial plant without stopping production pays for the drone inspection in itself. Today’s world is all about productivity and the bottom line which has led a number of industries to investigate the usage of drones.

Drones can also be used to assess natural disaster damage, which tends to be easier, quicker, and safer than teams on the ground. Drones can provide real-time footage for rescue teams, and help find people in distress. Infrastructure inspection during this time can be lifesaving as a downed electrical line can be deadly. The last thing anyone wants is more lives ruined after a natural disaster as the recovery process is already difficult enough.

Drone inspection on difficult terrain

Saving Money in the Process

Safety is most important in the workplace only to be followed by profit margins. Drone usage for inspections and a number of other areas can save time and money. Staying on schedule for a project is far easier when drones are being used to inspect an asset, rather than every measure that would need to be in place to physically scale and inspect a structure.

Solar farms are something that need to be inspected to ensure they are working efficiently and no panels are overheating. Doing this through thermal imaging can help make solar power more efficient. The ability to repair a panel that is not working at full capacity will help maximize the ROI on the panel. Improving clean energy is just the beginning as efficiency has always been a concern of critics of natural energy.

Drones are a part of the future that we need to get used to in a variety of areas. With Amazon testing out drone delivery, it could only be a matter of time before we see drones daily if we do not already. Drones improve the safety of a number of inspections and will continue to be adopted internationally. Finding a top company to assist with an inspection with licensed drone pilots, which is required for commercial use is imperative. FlyGuys can assist with your drone inspection needs and can provide a top drone pilot for your project/inspection.

Premises Liability: Proper Outfitting for Your Small Business Location

Business owners face a variety of legal hassles when operating a business. Obtaining permits, collecting and paying taxes, and dealing with the ever present possibility of litigation can be cumbersome. Small business owners who operate a business that is open to the public also have a duty to keep their property free of hidden hazards. Failure to do so may result in liability for negligence.

premise liability
Image by mattj

Hazardous Conditions

One important note is that the property does not have to be free of hazardous conditions. The hazardous conditions must be latent, or hidden to be a liability. Additionally, the law normally requires the business owner to know about the condition or at least be in a condition where he or she should have known about it. This responsibility extends to the employees. Spills happen, people drop glass items, and individuals come into the store while physically ill on a regular basis. If the business uses a larger property with few employees, taking an occasional walk throughout the business to check for hazards or signs of theft may be a good idea.

With a small business, hazardous but hidden conditions can appear in a variety of ways. Obstructed or slippery floors can result in a slip and fall injury; oil, water, and ice are often invisible on the neutral-colored linoleum used by many small businesses. If the building is open during construction or maintenance, visitors may also encounter exposed wiring. If items are improperly stacked or if the shelves are of poor construction, items may fall off the shelves and onto customers, causing serious injury.

Protecting Yourself From Liability

The Perecman Firm says that, “property owners [at least] in New York are responsible for keeping people on their property reasonably safe from injury.” However, business owners who do not know or could not reasonably have known about the defect may not have a duty to repair it. Courts in most states hold the business owner liable for his or her constructive knowledge if the hazardous condition was caused by an employee; in other words, the business may be sued if the owner’s agent caused the defect. As a result, claiming ignorance of a defect is not normally a good tactic to avoid litigation.

Business owners can satisfy their duty to their customers in two ways. The first is through the use of warnings. Warnings can include signage, caution tape, fencing, or any other similar measure that would cause a reasonable person to recognize the hazardous condition. The second way to avoid liability for injuries stemming from the hazardous condition is by repairing the condition itself. By removing the danger altogether, business owners can avoid customer injuries.

The Issue of Negligence

Most U.S. states use a doctrine known as comparative negligence. In these states, a plaintiff who suffers an injury as a result of another party’s negligence may recover even if he or she was largely responsible for the injury in the first place. Different states have different rules on the matter; some states require that the defendant be at least 50 percent negligent to recover anything. However, some states do not have any cutoff limit. In those states, a slow-witted plaintiff can recover at least some damages even if he or she was 99 percent at fault for the accident.

This is important because when it comes to warnings, it does not take much to make a colorable argument that the defendant was one percent negligent or even ten percent negligent. Simply arguing that more signs, more warning lights, better placement of existing signs, or auditory signals would have reduced the probability of an injury happening can be enough to convince a jury that the store owner bears some of the responsibility for the accident. Warnings should only be used while the hazardous condition is being repaired, such as when an employee is getting a mop or a broom. From a liability standpoint, fixing the condition will be better than simply leaving a warning sign alerting customers to the defect.

When a hazardous condition appears on the property, owners have a duty to either repair the condition or warn customers away from it. In practice, most business owners will use a combination of the two approaches. For example, if water or ice is spilled in an aisle, posting temporary signage or briefly closing the aisle while an employee finds a mop and a bucket is a common tactic that businesses use to avoid liability. Closing a section of the store briefly while a defect is being repaired may cost the store a percentage of its daily sales, but it will be much less expensive than paying for an injured customer’s medical bills.

About the Author: Saam Banai is a freelance writer and editor and proponent of safe business practices.

Is Your Office Building on Solid Ground?

For the small business owner who rents or owns an office space, one of the bigger concerns can be whether or not the facility is secure and safe.

As some business owners have discovered over time, their offices can be located in areas that are prone to security issues, weather issues and general overall safety concerns.

One such concern can be whether or not the building could be damaged by water should there be excessive rains and/or leaks on the grounds.

flooded office
photo credit: Craig Does Stuff via photopin cc

If that is a concern for your company’s office location, one way to go about fixing that is by putting in place underground leak detection services.

In the event you are not up to speed on how such services can assist your business, take note of:

Potential damages – In the event your building is hit with heavy rains and/or leaks due to faulty equipment on the grounds, you could end up spending a large amount of money to fix the problem or problems. With the right underground leak detection provider, you can quickly determine where the leak is coming from to minimize damages. If the damages are left unchecked, it can lead to safety and health issues that could cost your business more money in the long run. One such problem if left unchecked can be the emergence of mold, which can impact the safety of you and your workers. Not only will mold appear around damp walls and floors, but it also can produce spores that eventually will work their way into the air you breathe;

Age of your equipment – As some business owners who have rented or bought space over time will discover, the equipment in the building can be going bad. Faulty water pipes as an example can break over time, leaving the business owner with a financial headache, along with inconvenience for them and their employees. With the right leak detection provider, you can check and determine where leakage is coming from with pipes, under concrete, pavements, walls, sewer lines, utilities and more. In the event the piece or pieces of equipment are old, you can determine exactly what needs to be replaced;

Energy audits – Another plus when using such services is that you can determine where you need to zero in on in order to save money. With an energy audit, you can see where dollars are being lost, and what needs to be done to fix such wastes. As many small business owners who rent or own spaces can tell you, office energy expenses can prove very expensive over time. Knowing where you need to fix things can save your business money;

Keep the future in mind – Lastly, letting potential water issues go in your office could lead to damages that prevent you from selling the building down the road. By using an underground service periodically or when you know there is a problem, you can lessen the chances of permanent damage to the building. With that being the case, you can maintain a decent resale rate for the property should you choose to unload it at some point.

With the New Year off and running, are you detecting it may be time to give your office space another look?

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers small business topics for various websites, including finding the right underground leak detection for your company.