Category: Special Topics in Safety Management

Safety is a process, and as such, needs to be managed. This section offers resources to create a viable safety program, sell it to senior management, train supervisors and employees in using it, and then track and report your progress. Look also for ways to advance your own skills in these areas, both for your current job, and those that follow.

Free Special Report: 50 Tips for More Effective Safety Training

Realizing the Benefits of Safety Plans

Written safety plans are often the foundation of an organization’s safety program – spelling out safety goals, identifying hazards and controls, outlining standards and training, documenting procedures, specifying roles and responsibilities, and establishing lines and methods of communication and feedback. There are many regulations for which OSHA felt it necessary to require a written safety […]

Infographic: Lone Worker Safety

Typically, lone workers are those who work by themselves or in an environment where help is not readily available in the event of injury, illness, or an emergency. Here’s what you need to know about lone worker safety.

NIOSH Observing Road Work Zone ‘Stand-Down’

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and its partners will observe a National Work Zone Awareness Week from April 15 to April 19 focused on the safety of road construction workers, Director John Howard announced March 4 in the institute’s eNews newsletter. The event aims to encourage safe driving through highway work […]

Georgia Contractor Facing $308K OSHA Fine for Trench Collapse

Macon, Georgia, plumbing contractor Pyles Plumbing and Utility Contractors Inc. faces $308,125 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) penalties following a fatal trench collapse that claimed the life of a 20-year-old worker and hospitalized another, the agency announced February 29. OSHA investigators learned that on August 10, 2023, two employees were installing sewer-line piping […]

Back to Basics: Lone Worker Safety

Back to Basics is a weekly feature that highlights important but possibly overlooked information that any EHS professional should know. This week, we examine how to protect lone workers. If you have workers working alone or in remote areas, you need to ensure that they’re safe on the job. Lone workers include people who don’t work […]

Infographic: Active Shooter Response

Here’s what you need to know about the two most common responses to active shooter situations: Run, Hide, Fight and ALICE.

Responding to an Active Shooter in the Workplace

The mass shooting spree from earlier this month that took place near the end of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory parade is a tragic reminder that an active shooter situation can happen anywhere. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines an active shooter as someone “actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people […]

ASSP Publishes Standard Addressing Heat Stress in Construction

The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) has published the first national voluntary consensus standard addressing heat stress for workers in construction and demolition operations. “This new industry consensus standard is an important development because there is no federal regulation focused on heat stress,” said ASSP President Jim Thornton, CSP, CIH, FASSP, FAIHA, in a […]

Back to Basics: Silica Hazards, Compliance, and Enforcement

Back to Basics is a weekly feature that highlights important but possibly overlooked information that any EHS professional should know. This week, we examine silica hazards and compliance with related OSHA standards. Silica shows up in materials like sand, stone, concrete, and mortar and is used to make artificial stone, bricks, ceramics, glass, and pottery. Respirable […]

Massachusetts Roofer Facing $306K OSHA Fine for Repeat Violations

A Framingham, Massachusetts, roofing contractor with a history of fall-related safety violations is facing $306,229 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines for again exposing employees to potentially fatal falls, OSHA announced February 21. The agency cited Brothers Construction Services Inc., which also operates as Brothers Construction and Roofing and Brothers Roofing, with eight […]