Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
The hazards of diacetyl and related flavorings are increasingly of concern to employers across the food-processing industry. Although there is no federal standard or permissible exposure limit for diacetyl yet, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has weighed in with recommended strategies for controlling worker exposures. If your workers are exposed to […]
Your workers have completed their medical evaluations and have been fit-tested; they know how to don and doff their respirators, how to keep them clean, and when to replace them. But do your workers know how their personal choices can impact safety when they’re wearing a respirator? Or do they just think they know? Workers […]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and a number of states and organizations are calling on businesses to take part in efforts to develop, buy, and use greener products. Today we will review some of these efforts. Do you need a particulate respirator, a gas/vapor respirator, or a […]
September is National Preparedness Month. This month, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is encouraging businesses and individuals to make a plan for staying safe during different types of emergencies. Today we’ll look at FEMA’s recommendations for facing a power outage. When the power’s out, your business and your workers may face hazards that they […]
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 […]
Small business fuels the American economy. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) defines a “small business” as an independent company with fewer than 500 employees. According to the SBA, there are about 28 million such companies, which represent about 49 percent of private sector employment. Being a small business shouldn’t keep you from thinking big […]
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 […]
On just his second day on the job, a 28-year-old man working on a machine to forge parts lost a fingertip in a November 2014 incident. Investigators said it could have been prevented if his employer had trained the man to properly operate the upsetter machine and if the machine had proper safety mechanisms. The […]
Are you ready for the new safety data sheets (SDS)? Writing for Safety.BLR.com®, Safety Editor Emily Clark has everything you need to know about the recently passed deadline and its implications. June 1, 2015, marked an important deadline in the 4-year phase-in period for OSHA’s revisions to its hazard communication standard. Effective that date, chemical […]
Protecting workers from the heat is a critical issue during the hot months of July and August—so critical that OSHA is ramping up its awareness and enforcement efforts around heat illness prevention this year. Ideally, employers are supposed to prevent workers from suffering heat illness in the first place, but what happens after a worker […]