Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Some spaces are not designed for continuous human occupancy. Manholes, crawl spaces, tanks, and other confined spaces can be difficult to get into and even more difficult to get out of. Once inside these spaces, workers may face life-threatening hazards that include toxic substances, electrocutions, explosions, and asphyxiation. For more than twenty years, employers have […]
Healthcare workers aren’t the only workers at risk from infectious diseases on the job. Outdoor workers must also be aware of potentially infectious pathogens—as one Kansas farmer discovered too late, in spring 2014, after he picked up a deadly tickborne disease that was later found to be a previously unknown virus. Here are some infectious […]
After a large-scale disaster, workers often work longer shifts and more consecutive shifts than they would typically work. The fatigue and stress that may arise from strenuous work schedules can be compounded by the physical and environmental conditions in the affected area after a disaster: nonexistent, damaged, or limited critical infrastructure (roads/traffic signals, utility lines, […]
In March 2015, OSHA cited Dollar General Corp. for four repeated safety violations found in a December 2014 inspection of a Dollar General store in Atlanta, GA. Dollar General stores have been inspected more than 70 times since 2009—and many of those inspections have identified the same hazards over and over again. The most recent […]
One section of the OSH Act that seems to bewilder employers and employees alike is Section 5, known as the General Duty Clause (GDC). It’s very brief, but it has considerable significance among OSHA’s means of enforcing compliance—and, for that matter, can be useful to employees seeking relief from what they consider unsafe work. The […]
Sometimes, two heads are better than one. It ought to be that way with temporary workers, who have essentially two employers, both of whom are supposed to be looking out for their safety. But in practice, miscommunication and poorly defined responsibilities lead to gaps in worker training, hazard identification, and supervision that have served to […]
Today’s Advisor reports on OSHA’s new safety and health training program for the public sector. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) jurisdiction doesn’t extend to the public sector, but that doesn’t mean the agency is neglecting the safety and health of state and local government employees. Late in 2013, OSHA launched a new certificate […]
The earliest recorded disaster involving ammonium nitrate (AN) occurred on April 16, 1947, in Texas City, Texas. A transport vessel loaded with 2,600 tons of AN caught fire; when the fire spread to the sealed storage hold, the transport exploded, killing 581 people—including all but one member of the Texas City Fire Department. We’ve known […]
Use the information in today’s Advisor to help you plan your safety training program. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) provides much assistance to businesses of all sizes to help them set up and manage effective safety programs. That assistance includes training programs, which you can learn more about here www.osha.gov/dte/index.html. In addition, check […]
On January 5, OSHA announced the renewal of an alliance with the Laser Institute of America (LIA) to protect workers from exposure to beam and nonbeam lasers in industrial, construction, medical, and research workplaces. The word “laser” stands for “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.” Lasers are cavities that are filled with crystal, liquid, […]