Archives

Holiday Hazards: Stress

The World Health Organization has called stress “the health epidemic of the 21st century.” According to the annual StressPulse Survey conducted by employee assistance program (EAP) provider ComPsych Corporation, stress and personal relationship issues are the most common reasons for employee absence, accounting for nearly half (47%) of employee absences—handily beating out medical issues. Given […]

Holiday Hazards: Back and Shoulder Injuries

You may not think of carrying holiday dishes, decorations and gifts as “manual materials handling,” but that’s what it amounts to. The amount of lifting, carrying, hanging, and hauling that your workers do during the holidays may well exceed what they do at other times of the year. All that lifting and carrying puts them […]

Construction machinery

EPA Proposes Clarifications for Construction General Permit

Responding to petitions for review from the National Association of Home Builders and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the EPA is proposing modifications to its 2017 Construction General Permit (CGP). The CGP comprises National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) requirements for construction site operators disturbing 1 or more acres of land or less than 1 acre […]

Amendments to Human Subject Regs Proposed by EPA

The EPA has proposed a set of amendments to regulations governing the protection of human research subjects. These regulations at 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 26 comprise multiple subparts that can be divided into two groups—Subpart A is the Common Rule federal agencies have adopted to ensure the protection of human subjects involved […]

Holiday Hazards: Ice and Snow Removal

It could be a long, cold winter. If your workers have to dig out, can they do it without hurting themselves? Most workers know that shoveling snow and breaking up ice can be exhausting, but they may not be aware of the extent of their risks.

E. Scott Geller

Safety Culture 2019: Call for Speakers!

Safety Culture 2019, which takes place September 18-20 in Denver, is designed to empower employers to create an engaging and effective safety culture in the workplace that will strengthen safety compliance and engagement, reduce risk for accidents and injury, and avoid costly OSHA fines and litigation. We are currently accepting applications for speakers whose expertise […]

Beryllium symbol - Be. Element of the periodic table zoomed with magnifying glass

A Closer Look at OSHA’s Proposed Beryllium Revisions

OSHA’s proposed amendments to its 2017 revised standard to protect workers in general industry exposed to beryllium would not amend the two central parts of that rule—a new permissible exposure limit (PEL) for beryllium of 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) of air averaged over 8 hours and a new short-term exposure limit for beryllium […]

Holiday Hazards: Highway Safety

It was the week before Thanksgiving 2014, and the Hardman family was on their way to a dream family vacation at Disney World in Orlando, when the family’s 16-year-old son, who was driving, briefly nodded off at the wheel. Six of the eight passengers were not wearing seat belts; all six were ejected from the […]