Category: Injuries and Illness

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.

Snow blower in winter

Cold Work Hazards Include Frostbite, Hypothermia, and … Carbon Monoxide

Two federal agencies have issued warnings about the hazards of working in cold weather. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reminded employers and workers that frostbite and hypothermia can occur when working in cold, wet, icy, or snowy conditions. And OSHA reminded employers about the carbon monoxide (CO) hazards of using portable […]

Safety documents

Overdoses and Other Causes: More from the CFOI

In yesterday’s EHS Daily Advisor, we took a look at some of the findings from the latest national Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), released on December 18, 2018. Today we’re reviewing some other key findings of the report, including the effect of overdoses and which […]

safety statistics and data

A Deluge of Injury Data from the Department of Labor

The federal government has long tracked both fatal and nonfatal workplace injuries. The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has compiled and released a national Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) since 1992. Today and tomorrow, we’ll review key findings in the latest report.

OSHA Comments on Fatality Decline in BLS Report

As thousands enter the workforce, there were 43 fewer workplace fatalities in 2017 than the previous year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2017 (CFOI) report. The fatal injury rate also decreased from 3.6% in 2016 to 3.5% in 2017.

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 […]

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.

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 […]