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.
Safety and health policies that reflect commitment, define expectations, and articulate consequences can make a huge difference in protecting workers. We’ll tell you what it takes to make that happen. Simply defined, an occupational safety and health policy is a plan that details how an organization will manage OSH issues. A good policy is one […]
Yesterday, we talked about selecting respirators, fitting them to employees’ faces, and performing seal checks. Today, we’ll cover fit-testing, inspection, and maintenance, and we’ll tell you about a respirator training program that puts it all together for your workers. OSHA says that all respirators that rely on a mask-to-face seal must be checked with either […]
Because of the potentially serious health effects of airborne contaminants and other hazards, OSHA’s respiratory protection standard (29 CFR 1910.134) establishes rigorous requirements for the safe use of respirators. Respirators protect workers from a host of workplace hazards, including insufficient oxygen, and harmful dust, fog, smoke, mists, gases, vapors, and sprays. Without this essential PPE, […]
Yesterday, we shared some views and suggestions about safety incentive programs gleaned from the EHS Forum on our sister website, Safety.BLR.com. Today, we continue with more of the Forum members’ views on incentive programs, both pro and con. Safety Kaizen “We have a ‘safety kaizen’ monthly competition. Employees compete with other departments using the kaizen […]
If you’re thinking about establishing a safety incentive program, or want to improve an existing one, here are some comments—pro and con—from your colleagues, courtesy of their postings in Safety.BLR.com’s EHS Forum. Safety Bingo “I work for a construction company and we have played Safety Bingo for the last 5 years. Our program is divided up […]
Some employees work directly with electricity and face the greatest risk of shocks, burns, and electrocution. Others may be exposed only indirectly, but they, too, can be injured or killed. That’s why all employees should be trained to understand electrical hazards and take proper precautions. OSHA ranks electrical hazards as among the most dangerous and […]
There are hazards even in the safest workplaces. And one of the best ways to eliminate these dangers is through effective housekeeping. There’s a double payoff for emphasizing housekeeping and general maintenance—they make your workplace safer and more efficient. There are hidden hazards in even the safest-looking workplace. And most of them can be eliminated […]
In some workplaces, good housekeeping tends to fall at the end of the priority list for both management and employees. But that’s a problem because there is a direct correlation between a clean, neat, well-organized workplace and a safe healthy one. Good, safe housekeeping doesn’t just happen. Nor is it something you can do once […]
OSHA requires authorized and affected employees to be properly trained in lockout/tagout requirements and procedures. Do your employees have the knowledge they need to prevent deadly accidents? Here’s a true story excerpted from BLR’s Interactive CD: Lockout/Tagout that dramatically illustrates to employees why lockout/tagout is so important. Laundry Worker Fatally Injured A laundry worker propped […]
Whenever machine maintenance or repairs are performed by a group of employees, you must develop and implement a group energy control procedure that provides the same level of protection as a personal lockout or tagout device. Machine maintenance and repair operations performed by a group of employees are often more complex than similar operations performed […]