Category: Special Topics in Safety Management

Safety is a process, and as such, needs to be managed. This section offers resources to create a viable safety program, sell it to senior management, train supervisors and employees in using it, and then track and report your progress. Look also for ways to advance your own skills in these areas, both for your current job, and those that follow.

Safely Reopening During a Pandemic: A Q&A with Eric Glass, Senior Risk and Safety Advisor for Building Life and Safety Technologies at UL

For many years, the role of environment, health, and safety (EHS) managers was mainly behind the scenes. For EHS managers, simply developing and overseeing their organization’s safety programs reduced risk, but COVID-19 has changed the stakes, with risks played out center stage. Eric Glass, senior risk and safety advisor at UL, a leading global safety […]

Safety Manager

Behavior-Based Safety: Key Concepts and Benefits

Environment, health, and safety (EHS) managers are always looking for ways that they can mitigate risk, take preventive action against potential hazards and incidents, and improve their company’s overall safety culture. Behavior-based safety (BBS) is an effective tool that can be put to use in achieving all of these goals.

Cloud-based safety management technology

Highlights from NIOSH’s Recent Research

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) provided scientific input incorporated into recent federal regulations on truck drivers’ hours of service, the institute reported in an update on its Center for Motor Vehicle Safety (CMVS) program. The CMVS also contributed scientific input to the federal strategy on automated vehicles.

Anxiety, depression

COVID-19-Related Mental Health Strain Likely to Increase Workplace Violence

No one is immune from the pandemic, but there are parts of our society that are experiencing greater loss and impact than others. One of the most dangerous effects is also one that is the hardest to identify—that of ideation, often fueled by feelings of injustice, a lack of control, and extreme depression and anxiety.

Surgical masks

OSHA Issues Guidance on Cloth Face Coverings, Surgical Masks, Respirators

Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, employers have struggled to understand the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) position on cloth face coverings and surgical masks, specifically whether the agency requires or recommends their use and whether they constitute personal protective equipment (PPE).

Disinfectant cleaning

NIOSH Compiles Disinfectant Safety, Health Hazard Info Amid COVID-19

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently collected safety and health information on cleaners and disinfectants that employers can use in their hazard communication programs. The NIOSH material includes a table of health hazards and protective measures for chemicals used as disinfectants.

Nighttime Farm Work

California Adopts New Standard for Nighttime Farm Work

On June 24, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) announced the adoption of new workplace safety standards to protect agricultural employees who work at night. The new standards to protect agricultural workers who harvest, operate vehicles, and perform other work between sunset and sunrise are the first lighting standards in the nation.

Reopening

Industry Group Examines the Challenges of Reopening During COVID-19

The Massachusetts High Technology Council, a regional industry group, recently examined issues involved in reopening businesses and asking employees to return to work in the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. A new report in the New England Journal of Medicine summarized their conclusions.

Reopening

OSHA Issues Compliance Guidance Regarding Reopening Amid COVID-19

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) identified six standards in addition to the General Duty Clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) that apply to businesses reopening as shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders begin lifting. The standards for personal protective equipment (PPE), 29 CFR §1910.132; respiratory protection, §1910.134; sanitation, §1910.141; hazard communication, […]

Future of safety work

What Safety Challenges Does the Future of Work Hold?

Before the World Health Organization declared a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on March 11, workplace safety and health professionals already were looking at a future that included new technologies, nontraditional work arrangements, an aging and multigenerational workforce, impairment brought on by medical or recreational cannabis use, and workplace suicides and opioid overdoses.