Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Here’s a nightmare scenario for any environment, health, and safety (EHS) manager: A project manager at a California construction site where an unsupported excavation caved in and killed a worker is going to jail. Let’s take a look at what happened and how the death and the jail sentence could have been avoided.
OSHA’s Alliance Program Construction Roundtable is a forum for employers to share information and address challenges. Participants represent organizations in OSHA’s construction alliance program. In a recent blog post, Dr. John W. Mroszczyk provided an update on the work of the group and shared statistics about ongoing challenges the industry faces.
The New York City Council recently passed legislation that significantly increases training that will be required for construction workers in the City. With new regulations from federal OSHA unlikely in the near future, your state or local government may be looking around for ideas to improve worker protections. Let’s take a look at the new […]
OSHA has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to extend employers’ responsibility to ensure crane operator certification to November 10, 2018. In September 2014, OSHA extended implementation of a final rule for crane operator certification requirements for three years. The rule also extended an employer’s responsibility to ensure that individuals are competent to operate a […]
OSHA announced that it will exclude monorail hoists from the requirements of the cranes and derricks in construction standards as long as employers meet other agency requirements.
Just a month after a worker died while working in an unprotected trench, OSHA inspectors found another employee of the same Missouri plumbing contractor working in an unprotected trench at another jobsite. OSHA inspectors found that, in both cases, the contractor failed to provide basic safeguards to prevent trench collapse and did not train employees […]
We know falls in the workplace are preventable and yet falls remain the leading cause of death in construction. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), more than 300,000 workers in the United States sustained nonfatal injuries from slips, trips, and falls in 2015. Fatalities caused by falls from heights in construction accounted for […]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently issued the 2017 Construction General Permit (CGP) for stormwater discharges under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program, replacing the 2012 permit. Under this new permit, you may now be exposed to liability for someone else’s noncompliance if you are a builder or developer on a site […]
In keeping with current trends in regulatory enforcement, Cal/OSHA has cited both a general contractor and a subcontractor for a confined space incident that led to a worker’s death in October 2016.
Deaths from falls are preventable. That’s the bottom-line message of OSHA’s Fourth Annual National Fall Prevention Stand-Down, taking place May 8–12. Join employers across the country in raising awareness that could lead to improved practices and fewer incidents.