As we progress through the current downturn in our economy companies are finding ways to cope with such effects as declining revenues, reduced workforces and tight-to-non-existent credit. With organizations facing new challenges in order to remain afloat and sustainable, many areas of operation have begun to experience some effects. One such area that is critical to an organization’s success but ...
Involving young workers in occupational safety and health (OSH) is a powerful tool to help strengthen workplace safety culture and performance. Getting young people to buy in to the safety culture of a workplace involves engaging them in OSH; empowering them; and giving them a voice that is heard. This E-fact advises how. ...
Not long ago, I spent an extended time in the hospital with my father. As I stayed by his side, I was surprised to see how many potential workplace hazards and possible near-miss injuries hospital employees faced. The staff was looking out for my father’s safety, but I wondered if they were thinking about their own safety as well. We count on physicians, nurses and healthcare assistants to ...
The Bush Administration has not been noted for its environmental or health and safety enforcement zeal. Manufacturing Today readers thus may be surprised to learn of a new effort to prosecute dangerous employers. The new initiative involves a partnership among the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and several Department of ...
Building workplace safety awareness on the job can be an application of two extreme views of managing people. The first would be analogous to the army first sergeant, who might tell his troops, “What I’m about to teach you will save your life, because if you don’t learn it I will kill you!” Or there’s the less threatening approach that employs posters with clever and ...
Your safety culture reflects your organizations collective response to workplace safety and is evident in shared beliefs, behaviours and values your employees exhibit surrounding safety. A solid safety culture is a good indicator that your workplace injury prevention programs are hitting home with your employees, and while this at times can be difficult to measure, Mark Middlesworth, founder of ...
Consistent with OSHA’s Philosophy to increase enforcement activities, they have also increased fines associated with citations. In a memo dated April 22, 2010, OSHA’s Assistant Secretary David Michaels has increased penalties for violations of OSHA regulations. They suggest that fines for serious, repeat and willful violations will increase and the ability of negotiations to reduce ...
Logical and well-implemented safety policies are the foundation of most healthy company safety cultures. In many ways, your policies are what set the rest of your safety activities in motion. From employee training (“Here are the policies you need to follow”), to internal audits (“Are we acting in accordance with our policies?”) to injury reporting (“Were the ...
Workplace health and safety is something that every industry and career path faces in its own way. While our team primarily focuses on issues that impact people who work with chemicals or liquids, like fuel distributors or chemists, we see on the news all too often the impact of lax safety regulations in all sorts of workplaces and industries. We understand that accidents happen sometimes ...
Measuring and monitoring hazardous gases is a critical issue in industrial and workplace safety. Many facilities are especially vulnerable to the effects of an unhealthy indoor environment when fuel-burning vehicles are used indoors. Placing an IAQ monitoring system in buildings and facilities enables immediate identification of IAQ problems, the sources and causes of any problem can be ...
Safety communications can offer an important contribution to workplace safety. In the oil and gas industry, however, safety communications have received very little dedicated attention. There is a wide gap between how safety communications are practised in this industry and extensive research on what communication means for humans in contemporary cultures. This paper explores some of the ...
Employees are most productive in a workplace that is safe, healthy, and in a conducive environment. While it may not be possible to keep workplace injuries and illnesses at zero, it is possible to minimize them, and that is what safety leadership is all about. As a safety leader, you will be expected to identify and control workplace hazards with the goal of achieving safety excellence. This can ...
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration OSHA HazCom violations are ranked among the 10 most frequently cited workplace violations. Violations of the HazCom standard include deficiencies in the written hazard communication program; employee information and training; developing and maintaining safety data sheets; and labeling of containers. These violations can result in ...
Whether we’re talking about safety violations in retail store like Dollar Tree or an unsafe lab environment at an educational institution like UCLA, health and safety violations in the workplace can have disastrous results for any organization. Steep fines, legal fees, and damage to your company’s good reputation are the “best” possible outcomes. These pale in comparison ...
In today's wireless world, there are numerous ways to communicate, yet, we oftentimes overlook, misinterpret or take for granted how important the gift of communication is, especially from our senior leadership team. A real "game changer" for an organization is how effectively the CEO and other senior leaders communicate the importance of workplace excellence initiatives through actions, words ...
An increase in workplace fatalities, like the untimely deaths of a crane operator and construction worker in New York’s lower-east side (May 2008), reinforces the desperate need for workplace safety programs.With thousands of people needlessly dying on the job every year, one can’t help but wonder what’s going wrong. According to Michael Belzer, associate research scientist with the Institute of ...
Over the past ten years or so, stakeholders involved the areas of environment, health, and safety (EHS) have witnessed an explosion of voluntary environmental leadership programs of one form or another. The growth of voluntary programs (along with related new approaches intended to enhance environmental protection and workplace safety) reflects the complexity of EHS issues today, the high ...
Falls are a serious workplace safety concern, and as a safety officer, you are responsible for providing full spectrum fall protection to your employees, from practical training and education to choosing the right fall protection equipment. But there’s more than one type of fall—and there’s different steps you should take for each. Today we’re taking a closer look at the ...
Safety and Health Services is our specialty with a focus on the workplace since our founding in 1978. We can perform audits, safety inspections, industrial hygiene surveys, OSHA compliance, noise surveys, indoor air quality, ventilation, review accident and illness records to minimize workplace illnesses and injuries ensure OSHA compliance and act as expert witness in litigation situations. Our ...
Every year in June we observe National Safety Month. It’s an opportunity for the National Safety Council (NSC) and thousands of other organizations to raise awareness about the importance of reducing injury and death at work, on the roads and in our homes and communities. Each week has a theme, and this week’s was “Stand Ready to Respond,” highlighting the importance of ...