Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
It could happen at any minute. An OSHA compliance officer arrives for a visit and your program and people are under the microscope. Are your written programs in order? Do your employees’ practices reflect the training you work so hard to provide? Was the complaint, injury, or statistic that brought the officer in the door […]
Although OSHA does issue frequent citations under the General Duty Clause (GDC), it cannot cite all hazards that are not covered by a specific standard. There are specific criteria that a hazard has to meet in order to be citable under the GDC. Keep reading to find out what conditions must be satisfied before OSHA […]
One section of the OSH Act that seems to bewilder employers and employees alike is Section 5, known as the General Duty Clause (GDC). It’s very brief, but it has considerable significance among OSHA’s means of enforcing compliance—and, for that matter, can be useful to employees seeking relief from what they consider unsafe work. The […]
Temporary workers are a high-risk group for serious injuries and illnesses. One way to help ensure that they don’t fall through the cracks between the leasing agency’s safety program and the host employer’s safety program is for both employers to implement an effective I2P2 program. Yesterday, we looked at the regulatory requirements that cover I2P2 […]
Sometimes, two heads are better than one. It ought to be that way with temporary workers, who have essentially two employers, both of whom are supposed to be looking out for their safety. But in practice, miscommunication and poorly defined responsibilities lead to gaps in worker training, hazard identification, and supervision that have served to […]
In October 2014, a worker at Portland Specialty Bakery in Portland, Oregon, was trying to clear jammed dough from a bagel-making machine. The worker placed a piece of dough over the machine’s safety sensor, lifted the guard, and reached into the machine for the jammed dough. His hand was caught and crushed. The same bakery […]
Manuel Aquino, 70 years old, had worked for Art’s Equipment Rental in Sharonville, Ohio, for 13 years. His job duties included keeping the equipment clean, so on March 3, Aquino was pressure-washing a front-end loader in his employer’s yard. Something went wrong, and Aquino was crushed between the bucket on the loader and the body […]
Today’s Advisor reports on OSHA’s new safety and health training program for the public sector. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) jurisdiction doesn’t extend to the public sector, but that doesn’t mean the agency is neglecting the safety and health of state and local government employees. Late in 2013, OSHA launched a new certificate […]
This question deserves a thoughtful response because active shooters and other active assailants present clear and present danger for workplaces across the United States as evidenced by the frequency and severity of recent attacks both here and abroad. Consider the following: There were 19 identified active assailant events in 2014 and over 40% of those […]
In 2011, California School Teacher Carlie Charlesworth divorced her husband. Because he had a history of violence, the court granted Charlesworth a restraining order against her ex-husband, Martin Charlesworth. Despite the restraining order, in January 2013, Martin Charlesworth showed up in the parking lot of Holy Trinity School in El Cajon, prompting a school lockdown […]