Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Yesterday, we described a court case in which an employer’s training program saved the day in a legal wrangle over a workers’ comp claim. Today, we examine another case that turned largely on the effectiveness of a training program. When a painting company got a contract to paint a highway bridge, scaffolds were suspended from […]
Your training programs make the difference between safe workers and injured workers. They can also protect you from liability. Here’s a case in point. "Brendan" worked for a chemical company for 30 years before he was injured. A mechanic, Brendan was hurt when he and another employee tried to replace three broken drive belts on […]
It’s not only unsafe conditions that cause workplace slips, trips, and falls, says one safety expert, but also human factors, which your safety team as well as frontline supervisors need to take into account. Human factors can play a major role in workplace slips, trips, and falls, according to Chris Miranda, founder of Mac Safety, […]
Here are some of the federal laws you should consider when storing hazardous substances: —Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), more commonly referred to as Superfund, was designed to help clean up inactive hazardous waste sites. It was modified to also require private industries to disclose to their communities and neighbors what hazardous […]
Examples of lamps that have a hazardous component include: Fluorescent tubes and bulbs and high-intensity discharge lamps Neon and mercury vapor lamps High-pressure sodium and metal halide lamps Despairing ever getting your employees trained? It isn’t easy to fit it in—schedule-wise or budget-wise—but now there’s the Environmental Compliance Library from Employee Training Center. Train all […]
Handling Batteries Safely Although containment for “dry” batteries would seem simple, improper or “rough” handling can damage the casing and cause leakage of the contents. Teach your workers to know how to ensure that the casing of each individual battery cell is not breached and remains intact and closed. They should know to report any […]
In terms of SPCC regulations, are there any broader or stricter views of the definition, for example, of navigable waterway? The definition of “navigable waterways” has not been expressly addressed in the new rule revisions. EPA has always held a very broad definition of what navigable waterways meant. I’ve seen very few facilities that could […]
Under the new rules (the amendments passed in 2010), what are the excess volume requirements for secondary containment? Under the new rules, there was a lot of debate about this in past versions of SPCC rules and past SPCC enforcements. Basically, the rule says you must have secondary containment equal to the amount of oil […]
by Michael D. Lawrence, Summit Safety Technologies Today’s guest author, Michael Lawrence, is principal of Summit Safety Technologies, based in Long Beach, California. Lawrence is a safety manager, technical trainer, and instructional designer, and has been training adult workers and safety professionals for many years. Each year in the United Sates, falls consistently account for […]
In addition to training your workers to take general workplace security steps, you can also inform them of the types of violence more likely to occur in your workplace so that they can be more specifically on the lookout for such occurrences—and be prepared to deal with them. According to the National Institute for Occupational […]