Mine safety showers
Employers must maintain, as far as is practicable, a workplace in which employees are not exposed to hazards. Measures must be taken to ensure persons at the mine are not exposed to hazards.
Mine Safety Auditing is a recognized systematic method to monitor, review and check whether a safe working environment is provided and maintained.
There are two main types of mine safety audit:
• management system
• high impact function (HIF).
A management system audit is “horizontal” in that it looks across the whole organization structure and considers the broad scope of management policies and procedures that are in place to manage the organization’s safety and health at the site.
HIF audits are “vertical” in that they look at the detail of a specific activity through a vertical slice of the organization’s structure, from senior management to the workplace
Site visits by Australian mine safety inspectors and dangerous goods officers over the past year have revealed that far too many safety shower and face or eye wash combination units do not comply with clause 9.5(b) of the current Australian Standard AS 4775:2007 Emergency eyewash and shower equipment.
That is, the shower and wash components do not perform efficiently when used simultaneously.
The safety inspections carried out by the regulator have identified the most common fault as water supply pressures that are low and do not meet the manufacturers’ minimum requirements.
Not only do showers and face or eye washes need to be regularly checked by the mine operator, they must also be maintained in good condition — no-one wants to discover there is a problem when they already have a hazardous substance on their skin or in their eyes.
To raise awareness of this issue, Resources Safety has produced a poster that summarizes the requirements of the Standard, and can be used as a prompt when checking these emergency installations.
The poster can be downloaded here: SAFETY SHOWER POSTER
Safety showers for corrosive and other splashing accidents including the famous Comfortcool for outdoor, sun exposed situations. AS4775 and ANSI Z358.1 compliant.
Emergency Shower and Eyewash Guide | How to Comply
