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.
It may not be fun or easy to fire unsafe workers, but you can’t let them ruin your organization’s safety culture—or bottom line. Call him “Joe.” Joe is the guy who just won’t follow the rules, either because he is too macho or too cool to wear his personal protective equipment (PPE), he doesn’t have […]
As winter approaches and temperatures drop, you may be faced with the question of whether to allow the use of portable space heaters in the colder areas of your workplace. So, should you?
More and more often, accident victims are suing the employers of people who cause accidents while talking on cell phones. Today we look at a classic case—and what it means for your organization. (The following information, courtesy of the OSHA Required Training for Supervisors monthly newsletter, is based on a real case.) Valerie Walker used […]
Yesterday we reviewed the initial steps for setting up a job hazard analysis (JHA) program in your workplace. Today we’ll look at how to identify hazards associated with specific job activities, and at an upcoming audio conference on effective JHA strategies. In performing JHA, you need to break down jobs into their component activities and […]
Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) can reveal job-related dangers not immediately apparent to the untrained eye. Here are some tips for implementing an effective JHA program. Some workplace hazards, such as a grease spot on the floor or a piece of pipe protruding from a shelf at eye level, are so obvious that even an inexperienced […]
Yesterday we explored employers’ legal and moral obligations to minimize workplace violence. Today we’ll look at ways to prevent violence that can occur as employees arrive at or leave work, and at other ways to safeguard employees during the riskiest parts of their workday—the trips from home and back. BLR’s 7-Minute Safety Trainer recommends that […]
Everyone knows that violence in the workplace is a serious safety and health issue. The most extreme manifestation of workplace violence—homicide—was the third-leading cause of fatal occupational injury in this country last year. Today we look at what OSHA and others say you should do to safeguard your workers. There are no specific OSHA standards […]
Forklifts certainly look safe enough, with those sturdy rollover cages surrounding the driver’s area. But those same cages can prove deadly if drivers don’t follow safety procedures; in particular, wearing their seat belts. The National Traumatic Occupational Fatalities (NTOF) surveillance system found that of the 1,021 forklift-related deaths between 1980 and 1994, 22 percent were […]
Forklifts are the workhorses of many warehouses, and both employers and forklift operators must do their parts to ensure their safe operation. The forklift is one of a variety of industrial trucks powered by electric motors or internal combustion engines, and it is probably the most widely used in general industry. Requirements for both employers […]
Yesterday we looked at the case for using incentives to bolster safety in the workplace. Today we look at arguments against safety- incentive programs, and at the foundation of workplace safety—safety attitude. The OSHA Compliance Advisor, a twice-monthly newsletter produced by BLR, took a comprehensive look at the cases for and against safety incentive programs. […]