Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Modern safety management goes beyond covering traditional workplace accidents to now being equally concerned with illnesses caused on and even off the job. This section will explain what you need to know to avoid both injuries and illnesses, and to track your progress in reaching this goal.
Conn-Selmer Inc., an Eastlake, Ohio, musical instrument manufacturer, is facing $273,447 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) penalties for three repeat and three serious violations, the agency announced January 24. On July 14, 2023, a worker suffered a fingertip amputation while setting up a machine die inside a press used to manufacture sousaphones. Investigators […]
Last week, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited Illinois and Ohio manufacturers with lockout/tagout and machine guarding violations. Both employers are facing six-figure penalties. An Itasca, Illinois, custom manufacturer faces $298,453 in penalties for one willful and 13 serious violations—all involving required machine safety procedures—following the agency’s investigation under its National Emphasis Program […]
When you investigate safety and health incidents, do you also investigate near misses? Here’s what you need to know about near-miss reporting and how it can be used to improve safety systems, hazard control, risk reduction, and to educate employees.
Larger organizations—ones that have more than 1,000 employees—are generally more effective at mitigating musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) risk, according to a new report compiled by the National Safety Council (NSC). On January 10, the NSC announced the release of its first “MSD Solutions Index Pledge Community Report,” surveying 52 organizations that joined the NSC’s MSD Pledge. The […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Region 2 office has launched a regional emphasis program (REP) to reduce worker fatalities and injuries in the tree and landscape services industries in New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the agency announced January 11. The new REP includes two elements: “We want […]
Back to Basics is a weekly feature that highlights important but possibly overlooked information that any EHS professional should know. This week, we examine near-miss reporting. Incident investigation often focuses on finding the causes of adverse safety events, but it’s also a good idea to investigate near-miss incidents (also known as “close calls”). Near misses […]
Are you prepared for winter workplace hazards caused by cold temperatures and seasonal precipitation like freezing rain, hail, or snow? Here’s what you need to know about winter hazards and how to take precautions to prevent injury to outdoor workers.
Wisconsin sawmill Tigerton Lumber Co. faces $283,608 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) penalties after a follow-up inspection, the agency announced January 9. The company was added to OSHA’s Severe Violators Enforcement Program (SVEP) in 2019 after an agency investigation into how an employee suffered fatal injuries in 2018. Employers in the SVEP are subject to […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) continues to carry out inspections and issue citations to employers that expose workers to hazardous conditions. We’ve summarized some of the key enforcement cases from the past few months for a look at where OSHA is focusing its efforts. Corn milling company fined $1.8 million OSHA entered into […]
Nebraska Beef Ltd. of Omaha, Nebraska, faces $274,569 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) penalties following the agency’s investigation into an amputation injury, OSHA announced January 5. The agency cited Nebraska Beef with two willful and 11 serious safety and health violations. OSHA investigators determined that a worker’s fingertip got caught in a forklift attachment […]