Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Slips, trips, and falls are among the most common workplace accidents, and they cause a lot of very costly—and painful—injuries every year. Are you doing all you can to prevent them? Everyone reading this has certainly slipped, tripped, or fallen at least once. More likely, you’ve had several falls during your lifetime. Fortunately, many such […]
How much noise is too much before it hurts workers’ hearing? Our Safety Training Tips editor looks at the data. According to OSHA, workers run the risk of hearing loss if they are exposed to an average of more than 85 decibels (dB) over an 8-hour workday. OSHA takes excessive noise seriously, and its regulation […]
Universal precautions are essential to preventing the spread of bloodborne infections such as HIV and HBV (hepatitis B). Are your employees familiar with the concept and the practice? “Universal precautions” means treating all blood and bodily fluids as if they are infectious—whether or not you think they really are. It doesn’t matter if it’s your […]
Imagine that a worker is badly injured on the job and is bleeding heavily. When taken to the hospital, the employee is pumped full of blood. Only it isn’t real blood; it’s an artificial substitute. Currently, this scenario is more science fiction than science. But the possibility of someday being able to manufacture artificial blood […]
Washington, D.C., is full of new faces and new initiatives. What are the implications for occupational safety and health of all these changes? Who stands to gain and whose agenda will be shoved to the back burner for the next 3½ years? There is no shortage of opinion about what the Obama administration will ultimately […]
September is Farm Safety and Health Month, and our Safety Training Tips editor says that while you may think of farming as peaceful, bucolic work, it is actually one of the most dangerous jobs in the United States. Farm work injuries affect all demographics. Many seniors, women, and teens work on family farms and are […]
Employers across the country are being hit with big penalties for safety and health violations all the time. Make sure you have the safety resources and information you need to stay in compliance and keep your company’s name out of the headlines. OSHA assesses penalties on the basis of: Gravity of the alleged violation Size […]
You hope you never get an OSHA citation. But should that day ever come, you need to be prepared for what happens next—the "abatement" process. If OSHA cites your workplace for violations, you must follow prescribed abatement procedures in a timely manner. There are five key steps. 1. Correct. Hazards found during an OSHA inspection […]
Electrical accidents cause countless injuries and claim the lives of hundreds of Americans each year. Injuries could be minimized and many lives saved if proper rescue techniques were used. When an electrical accident occurs, the victim may be incapable of moving or releasing the electrical conductor because of the effect of something called “muscle clamping.” […]
Almost 3 million workers in the United States are at risk every day from uncontrolled energy when servicing equipment. There are roughly 3,600 disabling injuries and 4,000 nondisabling electrical contact injuries every year. Electrical hazards include electrocution, electric shock, burns, and falls. Electric shock occurs in one of three ways. Individuals, while in contact with […]