There are a lot of certifications out there, and depending on the industry you work in, some of them can be more meaningful than others. FM Approvals, on the other hand, is a name that demands respect no matter where you see it.
Roofs are inherently one of the most dangerous places in any facility, for obvious reasons. Roof access itself, unfortunately, can also be dangerous. Not only are there almost always ladders involved, but traditional tip-up roof hatches present their own set of problems.
Some floods come with advance warning, whether it comes in the form of weather alerts, seasonal data or river level reports. Other floods come quickly as infrastructure fails or conditions exceed expectations. In both scenarios, having flood protection already in place or stored nearby can give you the edge you need to stop water from inundating your property.
The primary assets included in this acquisition will be Flex-Cover®, Flex-Gate® and Flex-Wall®, which together make up an innovative lineup of flood barrier products constructed using a revolutionary combination of high-strength textiles and corrosion resistant hardware. Many of these products are stored at the point-of-use and are unique in the marketplace. As of January 17, 2023, these products will be manufactured by PS Industries and sold under the PS Flood Barriers brand.
CHI St. Alexius Health in Bismarck, North Dakota, was struggling with a safety solution that was causing a problem of its own. The busy regional hospital was employing gates on various stairwells in order to keep patients and staff safe, but the gates themselves closed with a deafening “clang” that echoed through the building. CHI St. Alexius needed gates that did their job without disrupting staff or patients.
The idea of American governing bodies requiring that materials used in publicly funded projects originate in the United States is not a new one. In fact, the original Buy American Act originated in 1933, requiring federal agencies to purchase “domestic end products” and use “domestic construction materials.” This act has been amended multiple times over the past 90 years or so, including revisions in the late 1970s and the Build America, Buy America (BABA) Act introduced in 2021 (and taking effect in 2022). How do these regulations govern the inclusion of doors in a project? Read on for more information.
Each company’s processes, products and ventilation requirements are unique, and that can lead to certain facility entry points being unique as well, either in size or in usage – or both. As a result, custom-made doors or hatches can become a necessity, and finding a manufacturer that can meet those needs becomes an important part of success.
Flood protection is serious business, and rightly so. If a company claims that a product will perform a certain way under flooding conditions, failing to live up to those claims can be disastrous for everyone involved. As a result, various organizations have evolved in North America over the past century with the purpose of standardizing, testing and certifying manufactured flood protection measures. However, each of these entities approaches this critical task in a slightly different way, and that can lead to confusion on the part of those purchasing and installing the products. Here’s a brief overview of the most important organizations in flood control – and what each of them views as their responsibility in making sure that flood products live up to their promise.
All production facilities, from manufacturing to agriculture to food preparation, deal with industrial spills. These accidents range from inconvenient (like an accidental sprinkler release) to hazardous (oil or chemicals, for example), but all spills require a fast, dependable response that benefits from planning. For the most part, the adverse impact of an industrial spill of any scope is inversely proportional to the preparedness of the team and facility responsible for it. In other words, the more you plan for spills, the less of a problem they present.
Work for any length of time in the business of keeping workers safe, and you will become familiar with a large number of acronyms that represent safety-based organizations or programs, some of which provide government oversight and others that offer private certification. To the rest of the workforce, though, these acronyms represent an arcane and challenging dilemma – everybody knows that acronym-named organizations like OSHA are important, but they would be hard-pressed to explain what they do.
