3M Science of Safety

Part one of our two-part series focusing on Protective Coveralls, 3M PPE Specialist Maurice Gould takes host Mark Reggers through the considerations employees and workers must be familiar with when it comes suitable and appropriate PPE Coverall protection.   Besides the obvious role of coveralls in keeping workers and their clothes clean, coveralls' main role is usually to avoid workers' skin bein...

When you need to work in environments where breathing the air could prove to be hazardous - even fatal - and filtering that air simply won't guarantee you safe supply, you might have to carry your own air with you. SCBA (Self-Contained breathing Apparatus) allows you to create a portable, safe, clean air solution, and can provide. If fitted properly, maintained and used with the right training and...

How prepared are you if a major disaster or emergency happens at work? Are your responses detailed and practiced? What if the emergency impacts more than just your business or place of work?  Do you have the right strategies in place to ensure your communication and response is in line with the management systems of local, state and national emergency response organisations? In this episode, host...

In this episode, host Mark Reggers and 3M's Terry Gorman, Occupational Hygienist and respiratory protection specialist in PPE, are discussing all about Supplied Airline Systems. Usually, respiratory protection takes the form of filtering or air purifying products, that take the air being breathed in from the environment and filter out the unwanted impurities, such as particles or vapours. Supplied...

In this episode, host Mark Reggers and guest Jane Whitelaw, Certified Occupational Hygienist and RESP-FIT Board Member (more detailed bio below) discuss the RESP-FIT program, which has been developed in response to a need to improve the respirator fit-testing standards and practices in Australia. The Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists (AIOH) developed the program and provides employer...

In this episode, host Mark Reggers and guest Professor David Crouch, 3M's Global Subject Matter Expert – Application Engineering (Defence & Public Safety) continue where they left off and resume their discussion on respiratory protection related to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear hazards. CBRN is an acronym for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear. It is a terminology used...

In this episode, Professor David Crouch, 3M's Global Subject Matter Expert – Application Engineering (Defence & Public Safety) joins host Mark Reggers for the first of a two-part series to discuss respiratory protection as it relates to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear hazards. CBRN is an acronym for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear. It is a terminology used worldwide t...

In this episode, host Mark Reggers and guest Adrian Sims, Managing Director at Vent-Tech Ltd continue where they left off and resume their discussion on the subject matter of local exhaust ventilation. Local exhaust ventilation (LEV) is an engineering control designed to reduce or eliminate worker exposure to dust, fumes or other hazardous airborne substances that are created by numerous processes...

In this episode Adrian Sims, Managing Director at Vent-Tech Ltd joins host Mark Reggers for the first of a two-part series to discuss local exhaust ventilation. Local exhaust ventilation (LEV) is an engineering control designed to reduce or eliminate worker exposure to dust, fumes or other hazardous airborne substances that are created by numerous processes in the workplace. An LEV system captures...

In this episode, Sarah-Jane Dunford, Director and Principal Consultant from Riskology and One Touch Contracting joins host Mark Reggers to discuss managing contractors. Contractor management refers to a method of controls to effectively manage outsourced work conducted for an individual company to prevent and or minimise potential health and safety risks. It addresses the challenges associated wit...

In this episode, host Mark Reggers and guest Mike Clayton, 3M's Senior Respiratory Protection Research & Application Specialist for the Personal Safety Division in the United Kingdom continue where they left off and resume their discussion on the subject matter of conducting a respirator fit test. Tight-fitting respirators must seal to the wearer's face to provide the expected protection. A respir...

In this episode, Mike Clayton, 3M's Senior Respiratory Protection Research & Application Specialist for the Personal Safety Division in the United Kingdom joins host Mark Reggers for the first of a two-part series to discuss conducting a respirator fit test. Tight-fitting respirators must seal to the wearer's face to provide the expected protection. A respiratory fit test ensures that the respirat...

In this episode, Kerry Cheung, Certified Occupational Hygienist and Technical Specialist at WorkSafe New Zealand joins host Mark Reggers to discuss their work-related health strategy. Work-related health acknowledges the interaction between a person's work and their health, focussing on the way work could impact worker health and the way their health might influence safe work practices. WorkSafe N...

In this episode, Zach Lawler, Quality and Application Engineer for 3M's Fall Protection Business in the Personal Safety Division joins host Mark Reggers to discuss fall protection connectors. When it comes to fall protection, connectors are devices that attach the full-body harness to the anchorage system. They are an essential element of any fall protection system used when working at height. The...

In this episode, Sarah-Jane Dunford, Director and Principal Consultant from Riskology and One Touch Contracting joins host Mark Reggers to discuss safety management systems. Safety management systems provide a systematic business-like approach to managing safety elements in the workplace. They are used to continuously identify and monitor hazards, control risks and to help in the prevention of acc...

In this episode Robert Blackley, Senior Health Physicist and Radiation Services Manager at ANSTO returns to discuss non-ionising radiation with host Mark Reggers. As opposed to ionising radiation, non-ionising radiation is a source of relatively low-energy radiation that does not have enough power to ionise atoms or molecules and unable to change the composition of a substance. Non-ionising radiat...

In this episode Mike Clayton, 3M's Senior Respiratory Protection Research & Application Specialist for the Personal Safety Division in the United Kingdom joins host Mark Reggers to discuss respiratory protection equipment factors. Respiratory protective equipment factors are numbers that reflect how much protection a respirator is capable of offering the wearer, for the level of air contaminants i...

In this episode Zach Lawler, Quality and Application Engineer for 3M's Fall Protection Business in the Personal Safety Division joins host Mark Reggers to discuss fall protection body harnesses. A full-body harness is a critical component of a fall protection system used when working at height. In the event of a fall, the harness retains the wearer keeping them connected to the anchorage it is att...

In this episode Tejaswi Shetty, Microbiologist and Senior Property Risk Consultant at Greencap joins host Mark Reggers to discuss cooling towers and the hazards they can present. A cooling tower is a heat rejection device used to lower the temperature of the water contained within it through evaporative cooling. It expels waste heat to the environment outside the building allowing the cold air to...

In this episode Robert Blackley, Senior Health Physicist and Radiation Services Manager at ANSTO joins host Mark Reggers to discuss ionising radiation. Ionising radiation is the energy produced from natural or artificial sources in the form of waves or particles. It has enough power to change the composition of substances it interacts with by breaking their chemical bonds. Although radiation has m...

In this episode Carmen Naylor, Certified Occupational Hygienist supporting High Reliability at ANSTO as the Occupational Hygiene Leader joins host Mark Reggers to discuss the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), who they are and what they do. ANSTO is one of Australia's largest public research organisations and provides the Australian and international community with pro...

In this episode, Terry Gorman, 3M's Lead Application Engineer for the Personal Safety Division in Australia and New Zealand joins host Mark Reggers to discuss surgical masks and respirators, and the difference between them. Surgical masks and respirators may look similar, with the names often used interchangeably. However, when it comes to respiratory protection, they are quite different. They eac...

In this episode, host Mark Reggers and guest Carolyn Topping, Acting Director of the Occupational Health and Hygiene Unit within Workplace Health and Safety Queensland continue where they left off and resume their discussion on the subject matter of engineered stone and silica. In recent years there has been much discussion surrounding engineered stone benchtops causing a resurgence in silicosis,...

In this episode, Carolyn Topping, Acting Director of the Occupational Health and Hygiene Unit within Workplace Health and Safety Queensland joins host Mark Reggers for the first of a two-part series to discuss engineered stone and silica. In recent years there has been much discussion surrounding engineered stone benchtops causing a resurgence in silicosis, a fatal and life-debilitating lung disea...

In this episode, host Mark Reggers and guest David Hauser, Team Manager in Property Risk at Greencap resume where they left off and continue their discussion on the subject matter of Property Risk. Property risk relates to a broader area than just the land and buildings in question. It covers risks associated with the asset, the infrastructure and people. It looks at how a property is managed to m...