Tag: BLR

Safety and the Small Business: Resources for Small Businesses

Small businesses accounted for more than 60 percent of net new jobs created between 1993 and mid-2013 in the United States. In recent years, very small firms—those in the 20- to 499-employee category—have led job creation. But they face compliance challenges. Here are some resources that can help small businesses play up. The primary challenge […]

Stay Small—Tips for Managing Universal Waste

If you have hazardous waste at your facility, you are a generator of hazardous waste. If you decide to manage some of it as universal waste, you are automatically a universal waste handler by virtue of being a generator of universal waste. Generated universal waste is not counted in a generator’s hazardous waste quantity if […]

Tips for Linking Safety Performance to Business Value

Are the benefits of your safety program functions and performance undervalued because of communication barriers? Are you effectively measuring the performance of your program—and communicating that performance to managers in language they can understand? Keep reading for tips on how to use the tools of business managers and the format and language of the organization’s […]

Don’t Rush to Get that Waste Off Your Site

Problem # 1: Have you crossed the line to hazmat offeror? You’re a hazardous waste generator and you have hired a hazardous waste transporter to pick up your waste and haul it off. You’ve checked everything off your Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) checklist and you’re ready for the waste to be out of […]

Tips for Selling Safety to Top Management

You’ve got an ambitious agenda for moving your safety process forward. You’ve done the research, and you know your ideas are sound. Now how do you communicate the value of your agenda to decision makers who hold the purse strings? Keep reading for the strategies you need to succeed. You became a safety professional because […]

IVAN: Big Brother Really Is Watching You

An environmental monitoring system called IVAN (Identifying Violations Affecting Neighborhoods) is an environmental justice tool available to folks in California communities for reporting environmental concerns. What is IVAN? The partnership among local, state, and federal agencies and community groups, which started in 2009, has been implemented in the Wilmington area of Los Angeles, the Imperial […]

Employer in Seattle Fined over $400K for Health and Safety Violations

Once again, a major health and safety violation has cost a company hundreds of thousands of dollars. In this case, a marine terminal operator in Seattle has been found to have multiple serious health and safety violations and is facing more than $400,000 in fines. Labor & Industries (L&I) recently cited the marine terminal operator […]

Take Steps to Prevent Arc Flash

Whenever workers are working on or near exposed live electrical conductors operating at 50 volts or more, they are at risk of arc flash—a potentially explosive release of electrical energy through the air that can cause serious injury or death. Here’s how you can prevent arc flash incidents and injuries. Make a Plan Employers should […]

Hand Protection: When are Work Gloves a Bad Idea?

Carpenter Severiano Barajas was pushing wood through a jointer on May 7, 2012, when the piece he was cutting became stuck. Barajas wiggled the piece back and forth, trying to work it free. While he was doing so, the glove he was wearing on his left hand caught on the jointer’s blade, became entangled, and […]

Hand Protection: Can Gloves Prevent Vibration Injury?

Have you ever used a string trimmer to trim the edges of your yard? How about using a chainsaw to clean up dead tree limbs after a storm? Maybe you’ve used a power sander to refinish the floors in your home. After each of these activities, you might have experienced tingling and numbness in your […]