Safety App Of The Week

June 12, 2016 No Comments

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Below is this week’s “Safety App of the Week“.  Every Monday we publish an article that reviews and rates a new workplace safety app.  Our testing is done on Apple iPads and Samsung Galaxy Tab 3s.  We rate each app from ♥ to ♥♥♥♥♥ (♥♥♥♥♥ is the best).  Prior app of the week articles are archived here.

Mold 101: Health & Safety App

Official Description  

“Mold is one of the most widespread hazards that hurricane, flood, and disaster clean-up workers may encounter.  This mobile application was developed by the IUOE National Training Fund to serve as a health and safety resource for workers, volunteers, and homeowners who will participate in clean-up activities to help them understand how to identify and control hazards from mold.  Although mold is the focus here, there are many other common hazards encountered in clean-up efforts.

The guidance in this mobile application is primarily intended for workers, volunteers, and homeowners who engage in small-scale mold clean-up and treatment of flooded or water-damaged homes.  A small-scale project is considered to be 10 square feet or less.  For projects larger than 10 square feet, the U.S. CDC, U.S. EPA, and U.S. HUD all recommend using a qualified mold assessment and remediation specialist.

Topics include:
-What is mold and how to identify it
-Mold remediation health and safety precautions
-Pre-remediation considerations
-Mold remediation work practices, procedures, and methods
-Clean-up procedures

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U45ES006182.  The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.“¹

 

Thumbs Up

• cost is free
• good navigation
• instructions provided
• for people whose job is to remove mold
• beautiful photos and graphics
• works off-line

 

Thumbs Down

• huge section on respirators, yet nothing on “respirator selection”
• small gray text is hard to read
• the section on mold testing does not address “air testing for mold”

 

Overall Rating

• iPad / iPhone  – ♥♥♥
• Android – ♥♥♥
• Overall – of nominal value to industrial hygiene and safety professionals, however would be of value to laborers who actually have to remove mold

1 Quote from Apple iTunes.

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