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In a recent news release, OSHA announced the development of a series of compliance assistance resources to help keep workers safe from trenching and excavation hazards. OSHA’s goal is to increase awareness of trenching hazards in construction, educate job creators and workers on safe cave-in prevention solutions, and decrease the number of trench collapses. These […]
A provision in the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (Farm Bill), which passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in June 2018, would provide a definition that clarifies that retail facilities that receive more than half of their income from direct sales to end users or consumers, including farmers and ranchers, are exempt from […]
Does your safety program effectively protect workers when they are exposed to moving machine parts and hazardous energy? The machine guarding and lockout/tagout (LOTO) standards are consistently on the list of the top 10 most frequently cited OSHA standards—read on for a Q&A on the basics, as well as an opportunity to join our live […]
Beginning October 1, 2018, OSHA launched a regional emphasis program (REP) focused on reducing employee exposure to fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate (FGAN) and agricultural anhydrous ammonium. The REP will be effective in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Despite a 2014 OSHA rule that strengthened provisions that require employers to inform OSHA about work-related fatalities and serious injuries and illnesses, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that OSHA’s data on these incidents are deficient as is its assurance that employers abated the hazards that contributed to the incidents.
The latest trend in safety for construction workers may have been established by a New York City (NYC) law signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio in October 2017. Local Law 196 established new training requirements for employees at certain construction jobsites. The requirement—a minimum number of hours of training on specific safety subjects for workers […]
Question: Does OSHA require that we train aerial lift operators on a specific frequency?
You may have wondered why OSHA and OSHA-authorized states refer to occurrences in which workers are injured or killed as incidents, not accidents. The main reason is that, by the dictionary definition, an accident is an “unexpected or unforeseen” incident that usually results in injury or damage. To take an extreme example, an airplane that […]
In a recent press release, OSHA urges emergency crews in the areas affected by Hurricane Florence to be aware of hazards from flooding, power loss, structural damage, fallen trees, and storm debris. The release also provides helpful reminders and resources for affected employers and their workers.
OSHA has many worker protection standards, and it is not uncommon to find two or more standards addressing the same hazards in different ways. In such cases, which standard must an employer comply with?