New Training Materials

TT&S is committed to identifying quality training materials for our member companies. If it's an online course, we like to provide the links right in our website under Training --> Online Service Providers. If it's a book to add to our self-study library, we'll add it to our self-study library list.

We have recently added a new online training provider: check out Northwood College's Broadband Academy. One member company has recently had employees take a few courses with good reviews.

Also, here are a couple new titles we've added to our self-study library:

- Mike Holt's Understanding NEC Requirements for Limited Energy & Communications Systems. This book goes over the NEC rules for limited-energy and low power systems.

- Teracom's Intro to Telecom. Last updated in 2022, this book is a great primer to anyone new to the telecom industry.

If you have any suggestions for a vendor or self-study material to add to our list, please send it our way.

Air Quality: What You Should Know

We're fairly used to our clear air here in North Dakota, but this summer has shown that even our state can experience less-than-ideal air quality. Here in Bismarck as of this writing, the air quality is 172, which is squarely in the 'unhealthy' portion of the air quality index. More on that soon.

Air quality is very location-specific. Today air quality in North Dakota seems to range from 62 (moderate hazard) in some eastern parts to 195 (unhealthy) in northwest ND. You can check on your current air quality at AirNow.gov.

This chart (also from AirNow.gov) shows the potential health concerns for each portion of the air quality index:

This activity guide provided by the same site tells you what changes you need to make based on your air quality index category. For instance, if you're in the 151 to 200 air quality range ('unhealthy'), the guide makes the following recommendations:

    Sensitive groups: Avoid prolonged or heavy exertion.
    Consider moving activities indoors or rescheduling.
    Everyone else: Reduce prolonged or heavy exertion.
    Take more breaks during outdoor activities.

Starting in the Purple / Very Unhealthy category, the guide begins to recommend sensitive groups remain indoors. In the Maroon / Hazardous category, the guide recommends everyone avoid physical activity outdoors.

Keep yourselves informed and safe during these periods of less-than-great air quality. We all hope to have clearer skies soon.

TT&S is now an approved SHRM Professional Development Credits Provider!

 

For those of you with a SHRM credential, we've got exciting news. 

TT&S was recently approved to offer SHRM Professional Development Credits for our leadership-focused training materials. This means that by attending our safety leadership webinars, you can earn credits toward your SHRM recertification.

We're planning on holding an "Intro to Risk Assessment" training within the next month, so stay tuned for details! The next topic we'll be offering is Contractor Safety Management.

Other topics we've offered include:

- OSHA Recordkeeping

-  Supervisor Safety Training

- OSHA Inspection Primer

- Management of Change

- Incident Investigations

- Heat Illness Protection Plan

- Stop Work Authority

- Lone Worker Hazards

If you'd like to receive notifications for these training opportunities, please contact me at k.bratz@ttsafety.com and I'll add you to our recipient list.

Note: TT&S is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDC) for SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP recertification activities.

Overhead Power Line Safety: Lineman's Fatal Electrocution

OSHA issued a press release in late July detailing the safety issues that led to a lineman's fatal electrocution due to overhead power lines.

We emphasize in our electrical training course to stay at least ten feet away from overhead power lines unless you have confirmation from the power company that the lines have been de-energized. 

If you work near power lines as a normal part of your job, it's easy to become complacent. After all, if nothing bad has happened for years, why would it now?

Sometimes it's sobering stories like these that can wake us up to the real risks.

From OSHA's release, here are the violations that led to this tragedy:

• Allowing employees to operate a digger truck within the minimum approach distance to non-insulated, energized 7,620-volt overhead power lines.
• Failing to designate an observer to supervise and warn employees working near energized and non-insulated overhead power lines before minimum approach distances were breached.
• Not ensuring protective equipment was in place to ground and insulate the area while employees worked near energized power lines.
• Failing to inspect the site and equipment to make certain employees did not approach overhead power lines and to ground all equipment before starting work.

Over $40,000 in fines were proposed for this incident.

You can read the whole press release here:

https://www.osha.gov/news/newsreleases/region4/07192023

Back to School: Keep Safe Around School Buses

 

It's that time of year again -- parents are stuffing their shopping carts with notebooks and pencils, kids are sighing and dreaming of an endless summer vacation, and school bus drivers are gearing up to get back on the road.

Keep these things in mind for driving around school buses to keep everyone safe.

Motorists must stop from either direction when a school bus displays alternating flashing lights or when a stop sign control arm is extended.

Motorists may not proceed until:

- The red lights are deactivated and the stop is retracted,

- The bus driver signals them to proceed, or

- The bus resumes motion.

Be extra aware around school buses. They must stop at railroad crossings, and they may make other unanticipated stops. Do NOT pass if the red lights are activated or the stop sign is extended.

Children have lost their lives from unaware drivers -- don't let it happen on your watch!

Holiday Inn Partnership

We're excited to announce we've recently partnered with Holiday Inn in Bismarck for a flat room rate. If you need to travel to Bismarck for TT&S' workshops or meetings, feel free to contact the Holiday Inn and ask them for TT&S' flat rate of $94. We're hoping this will help everyone with travel planning and expenses. Feel free to contact us with any questions.

 

Happy and safe travels!

Heat Exhaustion vs Heat Stroke

It's been pretty warm the last couple days. Now is a great time to review the difference between heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Check out this infographic for a review.

Leadership Training Series and Fall Workshop Run

We've been working hard at TT&S to offer some improvements to our training workshops. Here's a few exciting developments we wanted to share.

Manager's Development Series

First, TT&S is excited to partner with BAND and DCN to present a Manager's Development Series presented by BSC. This three day curriculum goes over the basics of management and is designed to prepare employees for leadership positions within the company. Trainees will also benefit from learning about BAND, DCN, and TT&S through lunch and learn events, so they will know the resources available to them through these organizations as they take on leadership positions. What a great opportunity for employees to learn leadership skills they can take back with them to their companies! This series is offered twice, once in mid-November and another in late January. Check out the link to sign up:

https://www.ttsafety.com/workshops/

Annual Offerings

Secondly, TT&S has a long line-up of classes through this fall and into January 2024. We surveyed member companies on which classes were essential for employee development on an annual basis, and we partnered with vendors to make these classes happen and to extend partnerships so we can offer them annually for years to come. Knowing which classes will be offered annually will help in employee development planning -- no more guessing which classes will be offered each year! Classes we're planning to offer annually include:

 - CompTIA A+, Network+ and Security+

- Fiber 1, 2, 3

- WLAN Security

- IPV6

- Wireshark

We're glad to offer these trainings to align with your training needs. We'll review our list of classes after this year to make sure our training offerings are still relevant and in line with your needs.

Class Availability

The last change we're excited about is the inclusion of how many seats are available for each class right on the workshop sign up page. The available seating will be a live count, so prospective trainees can see how much their seat will cost based on how many students are registered for the class. This will reduce uncertainty about training costs, since many classes offer a different cost per student based on how many have registered for the class in total.

Please feel free to explore our workshops. We're available for any questions or comments to make the training we offer and the way to sign up as smooth as possible.

 

Fall Protection Focus: OSHA investigations will rise

Starting in August, OSHA officers will be able to open an investigation on any employee observed not following fall protection regulations. An OSHA inspector can open an investigation on any employee observed even through the course of the inspector's commute to / from work or on the way to another inspection site. The OSHA inspection will initially be limited to fall protection, but the inspection can be expanded by the inspector at his or her discretion to other areas of concern.

This program will be in place for at least the following six months, with OSHA planning to review it at the 6-month mark (presumably January 2024).