Stored Energy: The Hidden Hazard

Everyone knows energy can be dangerous, but sometimes deadly energy sources are hidden in plain sight. Dangerous energy can be stored in many objects, waiting to be unleashed through carelessness, structural fatigue, gravity or other triggers. This training video discusses weighted and elastic stored energy sources found in various workplaces including receiving areas, rail yards, bulk storage sites such as grain bins, maintenance areas, warehouses, and even in the home. This video should be viewed by all employees who work in areas where stored weighted and elastic energy are potential hazards.

By increasing the viewer's awareness of potentially deadly stored energy sources and explaining ways to protect against stored energy disasters this video helps people protect themselves, their co-workers and their family members from injury or death. Just how easily a stored energy death can occur is highlighted through a poignant story about a young man's death in a grain storage bin.

Employees in receiving departments, warehouses, rail yards, grain elevators, maintenance areas

• Stored energy warehouse mishap
• Stored energy explained
• Receiving department stored energy hazards
• Railcar stored energy hazards
• Bulk storage hazards
• Stored energy fatality story
• Warehouse stored energy hazards
• Maintenance area stored energy hazards
• Stored energy hazards around the home
• Conclusion

• Identify examples of stored energy in the workplace
  • Explain potential energy.
  • Explain that the higher an object is from the ground, the greater its stored energy.
  • Define elastic stored energy.
• Avoid stored energy hazards in receiving departments
  • Explain hazards of dock levelers.
  • Describe stored energy hazards of trucks and containers that unload through rear doors.
  • Recognize stored energy hazards of trucks that raise their hopper to unload.
• Avoid stored energy hazards associated with railcars
  • Describe stored energy hazards of car pullers.
  • Explain precautions for opening boxcar sliding doors.
  • State correct procedures when encountering bulkhead doors that jam or are difficult to move.
• Avoid grain bin stored energy hazards
  • Describe the hazards of book shelves, heavy furniture and large TV's.
• Avoid stored energy hazards around the home