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?
Yesterday, we covered some key controls for preventing workplace slips, trips, and falls. Today, we continue with additional measures to consider when developing an effective fall prevention plan. Falls from heights, such as employees falling into pits and other openings or through wall or floor openings or holes, can result in serious injuries. Every year […]
Slips, trips, and falls account for more than 20% of lost work time incidents in the United States every year. That’s a figure that underscores the need for a good, effective fall prevention plan. OSHA says that slips, trips, and falls account for the majority of general industry accidents. That adds up to a lot […]
Two recent fatalities highlight the risk of entanglements involving hazardous equipment. No one knows for certain why Michael Smith was trying to go up the down escalator at the Powell Street BART station in San Francisco on April 19, just as no one knows what caused him to fall. But once his hair and clothing […]
Three fatality reports from NIOSH illustrate the importance of emphasizing lockout/tagout rules. Reason 1 A 25-year-old worker at a concrete pipe manufacturing facility died from injuries received while cleaning a ribbon-type concrete mixer. The victim’s daily tasks included cleaning out the concrete mixer at the end of the shift. The clean-out procedure was to shut […]
Machine guards are critical to the safety not only of machine operators but also of employees who work around machines. Here’s a case in point. As in yesterday’s Advisor, this case comes from BLR’s outstanding OSHA Accident Case Studies. An employee was sweeping the floor around a machine in operation. Please note that written work […]
Read about an actual accident, investigated by OSHA, which had real-life implications for a worker, his co-worker, and the employer. Here’s a safety incident, investigated by OSHA and analyzed in BLR’s OSHA Accident Case Studies, which illustrates the danger of poorly trained employees. It also provides you with the perfect training tool to make sure […]
What are the most common types of injuries and why do they occur? Learn the facts behind back injuries. The most common types of back injuries are: Strain. A strain happens when you overuse or overstretch your back muscles. This often happens to people who try to do too much when their backs are not […]
Exercise is an important part of back safety. Even moderate amounts of exercise can help prevent painful back injuries at the workplace and at home. When you think about back safety, think about back conditioning. Back conditioning is easy to do and will help to strengthen employees’ backs as well as improve flexibility. Strength and […]
A key issue currently on NIOSH’s agenda is the health and safety implications of an aging workforce. With Baby Boomers now into their sixties, U.S. business is faced with 77 to 80 million people getting toward the end of their working careers. Are all these older workers a burden or benefit to employers? It’s a […]
Like OSHA, NIOSH celebrates its 40 birthday this year. What has NIOSH accomplished, and how has it helped improve safety? We asked its director John Howard. The mission of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is “to generate new knowledge in the field of occupational safety and health and to transfer that […]