Weekly Testing of Plumbed Eyewash Safety Showers

Background

OSHA Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 1910.151(c) requires that suitable facilities for drenching or flushing of the eyes and body be provided near locations where any person may be exposed to injurious corrosive materials.

Many facilities install combination eyewash safety showers to meet this requirement. These are typically plumbed, or connected to a continuous source of domestic water.

Flushing exposed body parts within seconds immediately following an eye injury or chemical splash is critical to minimizing damage. Emergency eyewashes and showers often go unused for long periods of time. When a chemical exposure occurs, these devices must function properly. Regular testing and inspection of combination eyewash safety showers is very important.

Inspection Requirements

OSHA does not provide specific testing requirements for eyewash and safety showers. Instead, OSHA defers to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z358.1 standard for the requirements of all plumbed emergency eye, eye/face wash and emergency shower equipment.

Frequency

Based on the ANSI Z358.1 standard, plumbed eyewash safety showers should be inspected weekly to ensure they are operable.

Inspection Instructions

At a minimum, the inspection should include verifying water flow to the eyewash nozzles and safety shower and that there is a clear, unobstructed path to the eyewash safety shower.

1. Verify there is a clear path to the eyewash / safety shower.
2. Ensure no materials are stored under unit.
3. Verify water supply to safety shower. Flush water for 30 seconds.
4. Verify water flow to eyewash. Flush water for 30 seconds.
5. Ensure dust caps are on eyewash nozzles.
6. Record inspection results.
7. Initiate corrective action for deficiencies identified during inspection.

Required Tools and Supplies

Barcode scanner to record inspection results.
5 gallon bucket to catch flushed water.
Safety Shower Test Curtain
Spare eyewash dust caps

Labor Time Requirements

It typically takes less than 5 minutes to perform a weekly inspection of and eyewash safety shower. However, the following need to be considered when estimating labor time requirements for completing weekly tests:
 

• Labor estimates should consider travel time to and from each eyewash.
• Inspections in clean room environments require additional time for gowning.
• Collection and disposal of flushed water must be considered.
• Water flushed from an eyewash is easily caught in a 5 gallon bucket.
• A test curtain may be needed to catch the water while testing a safety shower.
• Water from your tests can create slip hazards. Allow time for cleaning up water.

Recording Inspection Results Using FieldDataPro

Managing the inspection of eyewash safety showers scattered around a large facility or campus can be challenging. FieldDataPro can help you use barcode technology to track when each unit is inspected and more importantly, identify units that are not inspected or have deficiencies that need to be corrected.

When collecting eyewash inspection data with FieldDataPro you can use either the Detailed method or the Pass/Fail method. Either method makes effective management of the inspections easy and eliminates paperwork and manual record keeping.

With the Detailed method, the inspector records the status of each inspection point for each unit as shown in the image below.

With the Pass/Fail method, the inspector creates a timestamped record indicating that the device was inspected, and whether it passed inspection or was found to have deficiencies.

For a more detailed description of how FieldDataPro can help you manage Safety Inspection data, see this blog post (How it all works).

Call us at (919) 323-3703 to set up a demonstration.

For more information, email us at info@fielddatapro.com.

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Pipe Fitters Exposed to Acid Waste, Safety Shower Saves Day

Late last year two pipe fitters were exposed to acid waste when a pipe broke at a Durham manufacturing plant.

According to news reports: "The contractors immediately washed the acid off in nearby showers, which are located throughout the building as a precaution"

The incident occurred at a Cree, Inc. manufacturing plant. Cree uses handheld data collection software from FieldData Pro, Inc. to manage their eyewash / safety shower inspection program.

Luckily, eyewashes and safety showers are not used every day. But because of their infrequent use they must be tested regularly to make sure they will function when they are needed.

Luckily for the two exposed employees, the Facilities Department at Cree takes this responsibility very seriously.

To read the entire news article, click on the following link:

Cree Eyewash News Article

How do you document your safety equipment inspections?

Most facilities are required to perform periodic inspections of safety devices. These often include several types of safety equipment that are located at many locations around a facility or campus, including:

• Monthly Fire Extinguisher Inspections
• Weekly Eyewash Testing
• Quarterly Fume Hood Flow Checks
• Monthly Fire Aid Kit Inspections

There are several ways to document these inspections. These include

Work Order
Local Tag
Electronic Data Collection

Work Order - In many cases the documentation for safety device inspections will consist of a work order that is generated periodically. The work order serves as a reminder that the task needs to be done. It also allows the costs associated with effort (labor, materials) to be attributed to the effort. One disadvantage of using a work order as the sole documentation is the lack of granularity of whether a specific device was inspected, when it was inspected and whether any deficiencies were found.

Local Tag - Safety inspection documentation often involves tags at the individual devices. These tags are then dated and initialed when the inspection is performed. Tags are commonly used to record inspections for eyewashes and fire extinguishers. One benefit of the local tags is that the occupants in the area can easily see when the device has been tested or inspected. A disadvantage of relying on local tags for documentation is that the manager responsible for ensuring the inspections get done can not determine easily if any devices are not being inspected. Often times this verification is done in an annual audit, which is very time consuming and may allow devices to go months without inspection.

Electronic Data Collection - Safety device inspections can also be documented electronically using handheld computers with barcode scanners. In this method, a barcode label is placed at each device location. The barcode contains identifying information about the safety device(s) at the location. After scanning the barcode the user may be prompted to answer a few questions about the device inspection. Timestamped results of the inspection are saved to a database. Managers can easily determine if any inspections are being missed, minimizing the risk of device inspections "falling through the cracks" and the safety equipment not being capable of performing when needed in an emergency.

Our software solution, which includes the mobile application FDPMobile and the web application FDP Plant, is designed to make very effective management of safety device inspections extremely easy. With no added effort on the part of the inspector(s) or managers, you can havedetailed time stamped records of your inspections and easy to use reports that help identify missed inspections. For more information follow this link. (FDP)

Contingency Planning For Eyewash / Safety Showers

When a facility has corrosives onsite, it is required that drenching facilities be readily available. These drenching facilities could include an eyewash, eye/face wash, shower or combination eye/face wash shower depending on the amount of possible exposure to the chemical by the employee. This requirement is found in the OSHA Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 1910.151(c).

If you have plumbed eyewash / safety shower(EWSS) installed they must be tested weekly to verify that they work properly.

What do you do if you find an EWSS that does not work? Do you stop all activities that involve chemical handling in that area? For a manufacturing plant, hospital or commercial laboratory that could very expensive.

What happens if the water supply to multiple EWSS's is unexpectedly shutdown?

It is important to do some contingency planning so you are not caught off guard if you lose some or all of your eyewash safety showers. Here are some things to consider when doing this planning:

• Communication needs to be part of any effective plan. Make it part of your procedures to notify the occupants of affected area if their eyewash safety showers are out of service. Emails, overhead announcements and posting signs may play parts in your communication plan.
• It is helpful to maintain a fleet of spare, portable eyewashes safety showers. The number you keep on hand depends on the size of the facility. Portable eyewashes need to be maintained too. Be careful when lending these out for construction projects, as they do not always show back up.
• Clearly mark that the out of service eyewash safety shower is out of service. Use yellow caution tape to block access to it. If you can not place a portable unit at the same location, be sure to have a sign at the location directing people to the nearest working eyewash safety shower.

It is common to do contingency planning for critical cooling systems, electrical power or plant water supply. This same level of planning and analysis should be applied to the safety systems thaat protect our employees.

Review our early posts a detailing the FieldDataPro solution can be used to set up a very effective safety inspection program. It is especially useful when trying to manage weekly testing of eyewashes that are distributed across a large campus or facility.
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