2009 Job Safety Calendar

Every Washington worker deserves a safe workplace

The 2009 Job Safety Calendar: At Work in Washington features photos by award-winning Seattle photographer Meryl Schenker. The photos represent the diversity of work and industry in our state and remind all of us that every worker deserves a safe workplace.

Learn more about the safe measures used

Scroll down this page to see the photographs from the calendar, plus captions that identify the worker(s), company and safe measures used.

Ordering calendars

Additional copies of the 2009 Job Safety Calendar are available without charge to residents of Washington State and companies operating in the state until supplies are exhausted.

To order one or two copies, please call L&I’s Safety and Health Video Library at 360-902-5444 (toll free 1-800-574-9881). To request three or more calendars, contact Susan Whitney at 360-902-5645 or e-mail laru235@Lni.wa.gov.

About the photo project

In 2006, L&I began a year-long project to portray through photography people at work in Washington State. Meryl Schenker traveled throughout Washington, taking pictures of people working in our state’s industries—construction, health care, agriculture—12 industries in all. Her work culminated with At Work in Washington: Portraits of the People We Help Protect, a photo exhibit now displayed in the reception area of L&I’s headquarters in Tumwater. These photos also appear in L&I publications, including this 2009 safety calendar.

Photos: Copyright Meryl Schenker.

2009 Job Safety Calendar
Calendar Cover
Ignacio De La More Ranch, Outlook Raul Vivero pours his bucket of cherries into bins. He wears a harness designed to carry the bucket close to his body as he climbs up into the trees to pick the fruit. Once the bucket is full, he climbs down and pours the cherries into the bin. He crouches down as he pours to protect himself from back strain. Raul must be careful not to slip and fall as he climbs up and down the ladder while carrying cumbersome loads. Falling from a ladder is a common injury among agricultural workers. Photo: © Copyright, Meryl Schenker
January	February
The Boeing Company, Skin and Spar Factory, Frederickson Theresa Haller sands a long, thin aluminum “stringer” — one of many that will be used to help form the inner structural grid of a new airplane’s wing, to which its outer skin is attached. Boeing employees who do this type of work wear full protective gear that includes high-impact gloves and bifocal safety glasses, as well as breathing masks and Tyvek coats that protect them from dust. Boeing ergonomists and safety teams regularly consult with workers to evaluate their jobs and develop solutions using new protective and ergonomic equipment to keep them safe and comfortable while working. Photo: © Copyright, Meryl Schenker	Comcast Cable Call Center, Fife Donald Clark works in customer service for Comcast Cable Call Center, where he spends his day talking to customers. Donald uses a headset rather than a telephone receiver to prevent neck strain. His employer provides ergonomically designed work stations to prevent strain and fatigue associated with awkward postures, keyboarding, and looking at computer monitors. Disorders such as back, neck and wrist strain are the most common and costly injuries in offices, which are otherwise one of the safest working environments. While the vast majority of office workers are at very low risk, intensive computer work in places such as call centers can result in serious injuries. Photo: © Copyright, Meryl Schenker
March	April
Don Fudge Contract Cutting, Inc., Longview Mel Barnes, a logger for more than 30 years, carefully carries his chainsaw over his padded shoulder as he moves to another work site in the dense forest of Southwest Washington. He protects himself by wearing Kevlar chaps, a helmet, ear muffs for noise protection and a mesh screen to protect his face and eyes. Logging is historically one of Washington most hazardous industries. Loggers work in rugged, steep terrain and are exposed to hazards from falling trees, equipment, cuts, falls and noise. These workers often must travel down rugged logging roads in early morning hours to get to remote areas before beginning their workday. Photo: © Copyright, Meryl Schenker	Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Histology technician Lindsay Jones prepares tissue samples so they can be embedded in paraffin, sectioned and stained for researchers and pathologists. Her lab at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center processes some 500 samples every month. The transparent hood over her work surface is designed to ventilate fumes rising from the formaldehyde-based solution used to preserve samples. Lindsay also wears gloves, a lab coat and eye protection to protect her from getting any of the solution on her skin or in her eyes. Biotechnology is one of the fastest growing industries in Washington State. Photo: © Copyright, Meryl Schenker
May	June
Ocean Gold Seafoods, Westport Luis Merino examines freshly caught fish to ensure both heads and tails have been removed by processing machinery before it moves down the line. To protect him from falling objects, he wears a protective “bump cap” his employer requires all workers to wear. Required waterproof gloves and rain gear protect him from the chill and wet. Earplugs protect his hearing from the din of the machinery while rubber boots help him prevent slipping on the wet, sometimes slick surfaces of the plant. Photo: © Copyright, Meryl Schenker	Looker & Associates, Inc., Puyallup Pipe layer Jon Daniels installs underground sewer pipe for Looker & Associates, Inc., a contractor with the city of Tumwater. Jon is working within the protective confines of a “trench box,” a huge steel box that prevents the walls of deep, excavated trenches from collapsing and burying workers in soil. Cave-ins of unprotected trenches can suffocate or crush a worker, due to the massive weight of the soil, which can be 2,000-3,000 pounds per cubic yard. L&I safety regulations require employers to protect workers with trench boxes or use other safe methods that prevent trench collapse. Photo: © Copyright, Meryl Schenker
July	August
Zirkle Fruit Company, Selah Along with her many coworkers, Eva Solorzano picks out split, damaged or small cherries from the conveyor belt. The remaining “fancy grade” cherries will be shipped out to grocery stores and fruit stands, where, in most cases, they arrive within 24 hours of picking. Zirkle has taken steps to reduce injuries and discomfort by covering the floors with skid-proof material that eases leg and foot fatigue. Workers may not lift anything over ten pounds, to reduce back strain risk. The width of the conveyor belt has been reduced to help prevent shoulder and arm strain from repetitive reaching. Propane forklifts were replaced with electric to eliminate the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. Eva wears safety glasses and gloves to protect her from the mildly chlorinated rinse water. Photo: © Copyright, Meryl Schenker	Quadrant Homes, Mt. Vernon Pedro Vargas uses a harness and rope to make sure he is safe while rolling out tarpaper on the roof of a new Quadrant home at Skagit Highlands. The rope is attached to an anchor at the rooftop. L&I safety regulations require employers to provide a fall restraint system to protect workers from deadly falls. Construction workers, especially in roofing and framing, face risks of falling from rooftops, skylights, scaffolding, floor openings and ladders. Pedro is also wearing a hard hat, safety glasses, leather gloves, sturdy denim pants and leather shoes to protect him from other hazards such as nail guns or falling objects. Photo: © Copyright, Meryl Schenker
September	October
Sun Haven Farms, Prosser Maria Cervantes and her twin daughters, Cynthia and Cindy, work the onion harvest in the cool, morning hours to avoid central Washington’s blistering late summer heat. After bunching the onions into neat bundles, the girls hand them to Maria, who bags them after cutting the green tops off with her knife. Agricultural work has the third highest injury and illness rate in Washington. Hazards include heat exposure, heavy lifting, frequent bending and stooping, tractors and other machinery. Harvesting bulbs is one of the few jobs that 12- and 13-year-old youths are permitted to do in Washington. Maria brought her daughters to the harvest this year so they would appreciate the difficulty of this work and continue to do well in school. Photo: © Copyright, Meryl Schenker	D&L Foundry, Moses Lake Chad Ettenhofer removes impurities with a long, metal tool from the 10,000 pounds of melting scrap metal that will be used to produce manhole covers. After adding carbon to the 2,000-degree mixture, it will be poured into molds and cooled. Chad’s employer provides him with special foundry shoes and toe guards that insulate his feet from extreme heat and prevent molten metal from lodging in the shoe eyelets or tongues. His gloves and protective suit are designed to insulate his hands, lower arms and body from the high heat and molten metals. His Class B hard hat and face shield protect him from flying or falling objects – and from electrical hazards. The hat provides him with high-voltage shock and burn protection for up to 20,000 volts. Photo: © Copyright, Meryl Schenker
November	December
Jack-in-the-Box, Redmond José Gonzales uses deep-fat fryers to cook fries and onion rings at a Jack-in-the-Box quick-service restaurant. He lifts the fryer basket from the 365-degree oil and flips the contents into a holding bin to keep them hot for customers. Lacerations and burns are the most common injuries in the quick-service industry, followed by slips and falls. Jack-in-the-Box requires employees to wear shoes with slip-resistant soles. Employees are trained to recognize and clean up spills immediately. Because retail businesses open late at night have a greater risk of robbery and assault, the company trains its employees in methods to prevent workplace violence. Additionally, Washington State regulation requires an adult to be present after 8 p.m. Photo: © Copyright, Meryl Schenker	St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute, Spokane David Jacques, a physical therapy assistant at the St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute, uses a patient lift to move patient, Bonni Newton, from her bed to a wheelchair. The patient-lift equipment protects David from the risk of back and shoulder injuries caused by manually lifting and repositioning patients. These types of injuries have reached near- epidemic levels among patient-care workers. Recovery may require prolonged and expensive rehabilitation. Even after recovering from their injuries, workers may never be able to do patient care again—an alarming concern in an industry with a shortage of health-care workers. Photo: © Copyright, Meryl Schenker