Category: Special Topics in Safety Management

Safety is a process, and as such, needs to be managed. This section offers resources to create a viable safety program, sell it to senior management, train supervisors and employees in using it, and then track and report your progress. Look also for ways to advance your own skills in these areas, both for your current job, and those that follow.

Free Special Report: 50 Tips for More Effective Safety Training

Safety Incentive Programs: A Blended Approach

Yesterday, we reported the views of a safety expert who is concerned that safety incentives may motivate some workers to hide safety problems. Today, we present the views of another expert who believes that with the right approach incentives can work. “To say that incentives don’t work is hogwash,” says Bill Sims, president of Bill […]

Incentives: Savvy Strategy or Poor Plan?

You’ve seen them, used them, or maybe even rejected them. For decades businesses have encouraged safe behavior with incentives. But are they a benefit or a liability? Ball caps, jackets, logoed merchandise, pizza, points, gift cards, and discounts… the list goes on. Whatever the reward, the idea is generally this—employers give workers something in exchange […]

10 Tips for Encouraging PPE Compliance

Yesterday, we reviewed reasons for PPE noncompliance and a few tips for encouraging compliance. Today, we offer 10 additional tips for encouraging employee compliance. 1.    Establish and consistently enforce a policy requiring the use of assigned PPE. Make sure all employees are aware of the rules and the consequences of noncompliance (that is, in addition […]

PPE Noncompliance: A Serious Threat to Safety and Health PPE

A recent survey from Kimberly-Clark Professional reveals that many employees aren’t wearing required PPE. How about your workers? Are you sure they’re always wearing assigned PPE? 1.    Establish and consistently enforce a policy requiring the use of assigned PPE. Make sure all employees are aware of the rules and the consequences of noncompliance (that is, […]

Workers’ Comp Fraud Investigations: What to Look For

Although most employees on workers’ comp follow their rehabilitation programs conscientiously, a few workers fabricate symptoms, cancel therapy appointments, and are insincere about getting off compensation and back on the job. The costs of workers’ comp fraud fall not only on employers, but also on the malingerer’s fellow employees. They are often the one’s who […]

What You Need to Know About the Workers’ Comp and FMLA, ADA, and HIPAA

Workers’ compensation laws are state statues. But there is still be interplay between workers’ comp and federal employment laws like FMLA, ADA, and HIPAA. Workers’ Comp and FMLA Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations provide that leave taken pursuant to a workers’ comp claim would be considered FMLA leave for a serious health […]

How to Improve IAQ

As an employer, what should you be doing to improve workplace IAQ? OSHA recommends a management approach. The same systematic means you use to address other safety and health issues (i.e. management commitment, hazard identification and control programs, training, employee involvement, and program audits) will also work with indoor air quality problems. According to OSHA, […]

Smart Safety Managers Have a Good IAQ

There’s no OSHA standard for it. And for the most part, you can’t see it or touch it. But the potential risks are significant. We’re talking about indoor air quality (IAQ). IAQ refers to the quality of the air inside buildings as represented by concentrations of pollutants and thermal conditions like temperature and humidity. These […]

Open Wide and Say ‘Safety’

If it’s time for an employee safety attitude checkup, you don’t need to send your workers to the doctor. You can make your own diagnosis with a safety attitude survey. Safety is largely about actions. But it’s also about attitude. You can observe actions objectively. But it’s harder to see into employees’ heads and hearts […]

Three Good Reasons to Emphasize Lockout/Tagout Rules

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 […]