SportsTurf

October 2012

SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.

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TOP 10 national OSHA VIOLATIONS 1. Scaffolding 2. Fall Protection 3. Hazard Communication 4. Respiratory Protection 5. Lockout/Tag out 6. Electrical, Wiring Methods ference anyway. It's best to be open with me. Don't try to block my line of site by bring- ing a bunch of employees along on the walk- through. I'll wait until I get to see what I want to see. Some of us use digital cameras. Some of us even videotape the inspection. Be prepared to answer questions. Have all required OSHA documents, including those outlining safety plans, ready for me. Don't discourage employees from talking to me. I'll talk to them one way or another. I find ways to slip employees my business card, and once I do, they usually call. If necessary, I'll get a subpoena to talk to your employees. Don't lie to me. That makes me angry. Think about hazards, not just standards, 7. Powered Industrial Trucks 8. Ladders 9. Electrical, General Requirements 10. Machine Guarding when you evaluate your workplace for safety. I look for hazards, not standard violations. Have your training documents in order. I do look at them. If you have Hispanic em- ployees, make sure you have documentation that they understood your safety training. Plan ahead and designate a person or peo- ple who will meet with me. Make sure the person is prepared. It doesn't matter to me whether you have a full-time safety manager or not. That doesn't make me any tougher or easier on a company. Check out OSHA's Field Operations Manual for inspectors. Even though it's writ- ten for inspectors, it's available to anyone for free on the OSHA website (you can down- load a PDF. It's a great resource to prepare any company for the possibility of an OSHA in- spection. BACK TO THE EPA In 1976 Congress passed the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). This regulates hazardous and non-hazardous waste from our facilities. We all store oil, gasoline, pesticides, antifreeze and other chemicals. We all change our equipment and vehicle oil, antifreeze, gasoline and change out our florescent light bulbs from our shops, in- terior and exterior of buildings and parking lots. But how do we store them when they be- come waste? www.stma.org SportsTurf 21 oil, solvents, gas, antifreeze, paint, batteries and other chemicals. All containers must be secure and placed on or have secondary condiment in case of spills or leaks. Haz- ardous waste storage items like used motor oil, used antifreeze, used gasoline and other used or contaminated chemicals along with burned out florescent light bulbs must be la- beled with substance and have placards to identify their dangers. Also every state might have different regulations and protocol for hazardous storage and hazardous waste stor- age. Please go to http://www.epa.gov/osw/ wyl/stateprograms.htm for your state's regula- tions and laws to be in compliance. Finally, there is not enough room in this Hazardous storage items could be motor article to list every CFR that pertains to our sports turf industry however, we cover the es- sentials. Always cover yourself with documen- tation. A lot of us might already be in compli- ance with OSHA and the EPA; however we all need to showcase our environmental and safety efforts and procedures within our or- ganizations. showcase their environmental and safety prac- tices in future articles. There are tough laws and regulations coming down the road simply because of the finger pointing game that has been played over nutrient management or worse yet the green washing epidemic that has taunted our turfgrass industry to cover it up. I commend all you sports turf managers that belongs to or are certified through an en- vironmental organization, but remember we have to lead the way, not the organization. We have to implement change not tomor- row's sports turf manager. Let's hear what everyone else is doing and let's learn from each other. Let's all lead by example for a sus- tainable tomorrow. ■ Kevin Mercer is superintendent of grounds at St. Mary's College of Maryland. I would like to challenge my cohorts to

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