What's UP?

What's UP?

It’s been a while since I wrote an article and I will get back to what I hope are informational, entertaining, and useful articles in the near future.? By the way, if you ever have a topic you’d like to read about please let me know in the comments.? I’m always looking for new ideas.?

?One thing I have learned since I started writing content for software and articles is that my preference for writing material requiring links or footnotes can’t be termed to be White Papers, which are seldom content dense and are often used as advertising.? The closest description that matches is Technical Paper.? I have tried to write White Paper but they always end up a deep dive.? No wonder I suck at marketing ??.

?Because I’ve been too busy to do the research for an article, I thought I’d write about what has been keeping me occupied: my first stand-alone digital app and what goes into the opening of the new digital products store.? First the store.

?I was smart enough when negotiating with my code developing company to put the chore of creating the store and getting it online on my website on them, phew!!? I could learn to do this but it would take too much time that could better be spent creating content.? But I had to decide which type of store software to choose, the one I had selected immediately sank into the background of the website software and I only get reports that it has been backed up once a month.? Seriously, I added it and cannot find it!

?Right now, I’m trying to figure out which tax software to purchase, they have provided three choices.? Did you know that I can’t just charge Wisconsin tax because the store is ‘located’ in Wisconsin?? Nope, I have to charge the tax for the location of purchase, such as a street in Texas with state, county, and local taxes.? Plus, the tax software companies are being cute about how much they charge, it is based on use.? That’s fine but how much use per how much money would be nice to know.? This is what I’ve been doing most recently instead of researching and writing articles, or working on saleable content.? I actually write these articles for fun and interest in the topic.? They can take up to 10 hours to write, including research but I try to keep it under 5.

?I worked with a client last year who needed a training presentation that was short and simple, compared to their previous consultant presentations that took a week and left everyone confused.? While creating a User centered power point training presentation, one they could perform rather than hire me, or anyone, again (I know, not a good business practice) I noticed that the Department of Transportation’s required Hazardous Materials Shipping Paper had their employees flipping back and forth through a little orange book with fine print to entering data in the Paper and it just seemed there must be an easier way.?

?First things first: did an app already exist?? That answer is yes, sort of, but only on a platform.? I’ve always intended to make one off apps, because sometimes all you need is that one app and the onboarding of a platform is confusing and intimidating and, let’s face it, expensive.?

?The small orange book is the Emergency Response Guide, referred to as the ERG, produced by the Department of Transportation.? It is available as an Android app but it’s still requires searching by name, looking up and copying down the information from a table to a piece of paper.? It is also searchable by UN #, which can be found in section14 of the Safety Data Sheet, but if you have that you also have all the other information you need. ?So, using the name, not only is still a time-consuming task but it is rife with the potential for error (see the discussion of chemical names below.)

?The next step was to deep dive into the Federal Register regulations for Department of Transportation regulations affecting the contents of the shipping paper and other information the User might need for the Shipping Paper and getting the package out the door.? All you have to do is follow Title 49 Transportation Subtitle B Other Regulations Relating to Transportation, Chapter I Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Department of Transportation, Subchapter C Hazardous Materials Regulations, take a look via this link .? Part 172 has the Hazardous Materials Table with a variety of relevant information required to fill in the Paper.?

?There were references to hundreds of pages of information so, to make it more manageable I skipped transport by rail, aircraft, and water, sticking just to “Carriage by Public Highway”.? The app will build out to those methods of transport at a later time.? One thing I noticed was that most people were looking up data based on the name in the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) but some chemicals have more than 30 names.? You could think the chemical you were shipping was not regulated if you searched for the wrong name.? The Chemical Abstract System (CAS) # would be much more reliable and a lot easier to type in than 4-Methyl 3-Ethyl Death.

?Some Hazardous Materials were Forbidden, either just for transport on a plane, such as acetaldehyde, or for all methods of transport, such as Hot Charcoal Briquettes.? So, if you want to transport your grill, hot and ready to cook brats, to the tail gate party then you have to do it non-commercially.

?I downloaded the table and hired some part time data entry friends to put in the CAS# for the chemicals, developed a Shipping Paper template with a second page for the Placards, Packaging Codes, with definitions, and so on, and then started looking for code developers to hire to create the app.? Local quotes were around $100,000 but an app I found on line connected me with three possible companies that were all below $25,000 and interviewed them several times.? Fortunately, the lowest bidder had the best communication skills.? The loan application came through and they got started.

?Naturally, that wasn’t really all there was to it or someone would have made the app a long time ago.? Some of the chemicals have 2 or more Packing Group numbers, I, II, or III, based on flammability but the same CAS and UN #s.? This is our latest pause in getting the app to the store.? While the easiest fix is to have them enter the Packaging Group from section 14 of the SDS it is still useful to use the app because the second, or last, page contains more required information on labeling and packaging the chemical.? The app will also provide access to an excel workbook that contains additional information, such as Load & Segregation rules, Security, etc.

?Meanwhile I’ve been adapting an app that was on my old company’s platform, my initial idea for a digital product to make life easier for Safety Professionals, into an eBook and a hard copy text book. ?It requires formatting to identify it as a Practical Safety Software Tools! product.? I’ve started with my most frequent citation back when I was in enforcement: Hazard Communication Programs.? This is one of the most frequently violated standards, probably because it applies to the greatest numbers of workplaces.? It is also the easiest standard to make more complicated than it really needs to be in order to comply with the standard.? I started describing this product but not only did this article run a little long but, as I said, I’m short on time.? With the Appendices, one for each type of hazard, and handy information to know handouts, the book is about 300 pages long, single spaced, 11 font, not enough pictures.

?Suffice it to say that this is the first of a series of apps and books that will cover the standards requiring written programs.? The format is similar to tax software in that it provides information, asks a question, then slots the answer into the Program and into a power point Training presentation.? Software developers call this a Wizard and expect everyone else to know what that means.? I’d never heard the term before the first time I worked with a developer at my previous business so I am now free to use a more intuitive term: Tutorial System.

?I call it a Tutorial System because once it is completed not only does the User (person reading and answering questions) have a completed written Program and Training presentation but they also have a deep understanding of the standard and what it requires.? This is what is missing when downloading a Program or off loading the responsibility for the development and implementation of the Program and Training onto a consultant.?

?Yes, I’m eliminating another revenue stream for my on-site business.? (Bad business owner, bad!)? What I’ve always told the businesses I inspected and my consulting clients is that the first responder to an accident or to a change in workplace conditions, new chemical etc., is the onsite Safety Professional.? For example, reducing the potential for a spill to become life threatening must be initiated immediately by someone well trained in the chemical hazard and that is the onsite Safety Professional until the second responders, HazMat or the Fire Department, can get there.? Also, it could be up to a year before their consultant is brought back to conduct training or for some other reason and, in that time, there could be a serious hazard waiting for attention.? OSHA does not site the consultant and your consultant will not be explaining to the employee, or the employee’s family why the hazard that injured or killed them was not abated.

?It’s been decades since I heard this example but it’s an eye opener to keeping up with SDS chores.? A large Chemical Manufacturer did not catch a significant change in the chemical composition on the newly revised Safety Data Sheet.? The chemical had been changed from a base to an acid, the hazard was still corrosive and either the Safety Professional for the company did not see it, did not understand the company’s processes well enough to recognize the hazard, or did not have the chemical background to recognize the hazard.? Regardless, the hazard that went unrecognized was this: 500 gallons of the formerly basic chemical was added to the tank with 500 gallons of basic chemicals as part of the production process.? Bases and acids are incompatible and mixing them can cause a reaction that creates heat.? The amount of heat depends on the strength of the ingredients.

?In this case a strong acid was added to a strong base and the resulting heat was sufficient to create an explosion that took out the north and east walls of the facility killing three employees and injuring many more.

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