Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Some spaces are not designed for continuous human occupancy. Manholes, crawl spaces, tanks, and other confined spaces can be difficult to get into and even more difficult to get out of. Once inside these spaces, workers may face life-threatening hazards that include toxic substances, electrocutions, explosions, and asphyxiation. For more than twenty years, employers have […]
Ever hear of the “industrial athlete”? The concept is that employees, like athletes, perform better when they are properly trained and fit for duty. Proponents say that the right training leads to fewer injuries, quicker return to work, and reduced costs. Keep reading to decide whether your workplace would benefit from an on-site athletic trainer. […]
Overexertion, slips, trips, and falls cause 60 percent of lost-time occupational injuries in the United States and cost employers over $30 billion in direct workers’ compensation costs in 2013. One strategy you can use to control these costly injuries is an effective worksite stretching program. The aging workforce is one factor that increases the likelihood […]
It could have been the last day of work ever for 51-year-old Anthony Ryecroft. The maintenance fitter, who worked at a steel mill in Cumbria, England, was repairing a roll-up door in his employer’s warehouse when it fell. Ryecroft was struck on the head, and he and a coworker both suffered badly broken legs in […]
In October 2009, the General Accounting Office issued a scathing report criticizing OSHA for undercounting work-related injuries and illnesses. As a result of that report and other factors, OSHA has stepped up enforcement of its injury and illness recordkeeping and reporting requirements. Because of this increased emphasis, employers need to take extra care in determining […]
Wellness programs are proliferating under the Affordable Care Act, which increased the available incentive and penalty options for employers. And, they look like a win-win—workers win, because the company funds the initiative that improves their health status. Employers win, because healthier employees are happier, more productive, and less likely to suffer injuries and illnesses. Unfortunately, […]
In March 2015, OSHA cited Dollar General Corp. for four repeated safety violations found in a December 2014 inspection of a Dollar General store in Atlanta, GA. Dollar General stores have been inspected more than 70 times since 2009—and many of those inspections have identified the same hazards over and over again. The most recent […]
Shortly after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a woman named Connie Knight began making the rounds of the Southeast Asian fishing communities in coastal Louisiana. She claimed to be a high-ranking OSHA hazardous waste safety instructor and inspector, and she showed off federal identification cards to prove it. She promised trainees that she could […]
Under the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Marshall v. Barlow’s, Inc., employers have a constitutional right to demand that OSHA obtain a warrant before initiating an inspection. Such a warrant must be based on probable cause—that is, a reasonable basis for the selection of the facility. If OSHA, when faced with a request, fails to […]
Today, many OSHA inspections are triggered by employee complaints. That’s just one of the reasons wise employers should respond promptly to employee concerns and, ideally, resolve them so that a worker doesn’t need to go to OSHA for redress. Here’s how OSHA responds when an employee complains and what conditions can trigger an inspection. Complaint […]