Category: Personnel Safety

Workplace masks and distancing

How to Bring Office Workers Back Safely

With offices across the country slowly reopening, workers are returning to a changed landscape with new procedures and office norms. This means that companies must review their emergency preparedness plans and adapt them to the realities of the pandemic.

COVID-19 coronavirus

Addressing SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Exposure Risk Using Engineering Controls

Due to increasing COVID-19 case counts across many states, public health officials are recommending source control measures to reduce disease transmission, including mandatory mask use in public places. Unfortunately, these measures rely upon the user’s effective compliance, both in work and in social settings. Growing evidence suggests that aerosols may play a part in the […]

EHS on Tap: E59 Mental Health and Workplace Violence in the Age of COVID-19

Among the many health and safety concerns related to COVID-19 is the challenge posed to all of our collective mental health. Our current situation has put a strain on all of us to some extent, and with mental health challenges come a concern about potential workplace violence. It’s important for environment, health, and safety professionals […]

Anxiety, depression

Read the Transcript of our Conversation with JP Guilbault of Navigate360

As the COVID-19 pandemic wears on, EHS professionals need to remain aware of the collective strain workers in their organization might be feeling, as long-term mental health challenges could create the potential for workplace violence. As it’s important for environment, health, and safety professionals to be prepared for any such threats to their businesses, and […]

Virginia state flag on a facemask

Virginia Is First State to Adopt Emergency COVID-19 Standard

In a break with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Virginia became the first state to adopt an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Virginia’s COVID-19 ETS applies to every employer in the state, unlike California’s Airborne Transmissible Disease (ATD) standard, which only applies to correctional facilities, funeral homes and […]

California and COVID-19

Cal/OSHA Urges Employers to Follow Its COVID-19 Guidance

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) urged the state’s employers to carefully review and follow the agency’s guidelines on protecting employees from COVID-19 infections. An expanded statewide order on indoor closures was issued July 13 by California’s Statewide Public Health Officer and Director of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). The […]

Motor vehicle accident

NIOSH Releases New Strategic Plan for Motor Vehicle Safety

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) released its 2020-2029 strategic plan for its Center for Motor Vehicle Safety (CMVS). The plan implements priorities from the institute-wide strategic plan for fiscal years 2019-2023 with input from other sources.

Workplace masks and distancing

COVID-19: Keep Your Workforce Safe and Healthy During the Pandemic

There is no federal emergency temporary standard for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) exposures, and guidance from federal and state officials seems to change daily. There are a lot of decisions to make and a lot of boxes to check, with incomplete information.

Facemask in heat, summer work

Summer Hazards—Including COVID-19—Are in Full Swing

Employers now must address a host of summer workplace hazards while continuing to protect workers in an ongoing pandemic. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a respiratory illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, is widespread in most U.S. communities and considered a workplace hazard.

Drive Safe

NIOSH Reveals Keys for Improving Driver, Fleet Safety

Corporate fleet safety management practices like driver training, fatigue risk management, in-vehicle monitoring systems (IVMSs), and strong mobile phone policies can reduce the number and severity of motor vehicle crashes, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found in recently published research.