Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Modern safety management goes beyond covering traditional workplace accidents to now being equally concerned with illnesses caused on and even off the job. This section will explain what you need to know to avoid both injuries and illnesses, and to track your progress in reaching this goal.
Free Special REport: Does Your PPE Program Meet OSHA’s Requirements?
The 2018–2019 flu season is fully upon us and, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), may continue well beyond the beginning of spring 2019. February is typically the peak month (by a large margin) in the flu season. This can be a high-risk period for workers in healthcare facilities where sick people […]
In October 2018, researchers associated with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued a study showing that between 2007 and 2014, almost 140,000 workers in the state reported carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) workers’ compensation claims. This adds up to 6.3 claims per 10,000 full-time equivalent workers. While that figure by itself may not appear […]
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been making headlines lately, most of them referring to the decrease in life expectancy in the U.S. due to suicide and drug overdose. The National Safety Council (NSC) found in the numbers another disturbing trend that is of concern to EHS professionals—a rise in […]
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) wants to know why only 35% of active coal miners are participating in NIOSH’s voluntary Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program (CWHSP). The CWHSP offers miners free health screenings, including chest X-rays and spirometry examinations, which help detect dust-induced interstitial lung disease (black lung or coal workers’ […]
More people are surviving cancer, but cancer is occurring in more people (one factor associated with longer life spans). The most recent data compiled by the National Cancer Institute, which was released in April 2018, show that from 2006 to 2015 cancer death rates decreased by 1.8 percent among men and 1.4 percent among women. […]
OSHA has ordered Springfield Terminal Railway Inc. to compensate an employee who faced an investigative hearing with possible disciplinary action or termination for reporting an on-the-job injury at its facility in Andover, Massachusetts. OSHA ordered the company to pay the employee $10,000 in compensatory damages, $75,000 in punitive damages, and attorney’s fees.
Question: I’m attempting to determine if an employee claim of musculoskeletal disorder for both right and left wrists actually was caused by the workplace workstation as claimed by the employee. The condition resulted in medical operations to both wrists. When does this incident become an OSHA recordable injury, and are the days away from work […]
Affecting about 48 million people in the United States, hearing loss is one of the most common disabilities among American workers. The effects of hearing loss on the workforce can be far-reaching, resulting in lost productivity, lower wages, and increased safety risks.
October is National Protect Your Hearing Month! In workplaces where noise levels exceed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) action level of 85 A-weighted decibels (dBA) as a time-weighted average, employers must put a hearing conservation program in place. In addition to reducing noise levels and noise exposures, selecting appropriate hearing protection, audiometric testing, […]
Despite a 2014 OSHA rule that strengthened provisions that require employers to inform OSHA about work-related fatalities and serious injuries and illnesses, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that OSHA’s data on these incidents are deficient as is its assurance that employers abated the hazards that contributed to the incidents.