Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
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.
A University of Vermont–hosted safety site has published what it calls the “Fatal 5″—the primary causes of LO/TO-preventable injuries. Make sure these hazards aren’t present in your workplace. OSHA requires you to train employees to prevent lockout/tagout (LO/TO) accidents in the workplace. Have you explained how to avoid the "Fatal 5" to your employees? 1 […]
When you can’t prevent an accident, you have to investigate so that you can prevent the next accident. Most workplace safety and health programs follow the same basic route for preventing job accidents: Inspections Hazard analysis Correction of known hazards Establishment of safety rules and procedures Employee training and education There is, of course, another […]
Every safety professional’s ultimate goal is zero accidents. Here are 10 steps that can help you achieve this critical objective. Arriving at zero accidents isn’t easy, but these 10 steps will take you a good part of the way there: 1. Make sure everyone is committed to safety. Everyone in your organization, from top […]
About 75 percent of people who abuse drugs or alcohol are employed. And, according to OSHA, "When they arrive for work, they don’t leave their problems at the door." The most effective drug-free workplace programs have five components. Although efforts can be effective without all five, OSHA suggests that all five should be explored when […]
Since almost any employee giving first aid on the job could be exposed to bloodborne pathogens (BBPs), compliance with OSHA’s bloodborne pathogens standard affects more workplaces than many people think. If you have employees covered by OSHA’s bloodborne pathogens standard (see yesterday’s Advisor), OSHA says that you must have a written exposure control plan that […]
Got questions about OSHA’s bloodborne pathogens standard? You might find answers among these questions OSHA gets asked most often. Q. Who is covered by the standard? A. The standard (29 CFR 1910.1030) applies to all employees who have occupational exposure to blood or other potentially infectious materials. Occupational exposure is defined as "reasonably anticipated skin, […]
Yesterday, we presented PPE essentials 1 and 2 for compliance with OSHA’s PPE standards. Today, we conclude with essentials 3 and 4, and a review of a BLR product that covers PPE from head to toe. (As a reminder, PPE essential 1 is hazard analysis and essential 2 is equipment selection.) PPE Essential 3. Employee […]
Your PPE program should be reviewed periodically to make sure it still meets your needs as well as OSHA requirements. When you review, look for the four essentials described in the Advisor today and tomorrow. OSHA requires the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to reduce employee exposure to hazards when engineering and administrative controls […]
For more and more workplaces the cure for the upward spiral of employee ill health and healthcare costs is workplace wellness. The benefits can be significant. For years, worksite health promotion was one of those ideas that employers talked about in a "How could it hurt?" kind of way. But these days, the business case […]
Read about the three winners of the Wellness Council of America’s 2009 Well Workplace Gold Award. Although their programs differ, these employers share a solid commitment to and belief in the value of workplace wellness initiatives. The Milwaukee Public School System pays more than $200 million a year to provide free health insurance for employees, […]