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.

Check Your Respiratory Protection Compliance

How’s your respiratory protection compliance? Last year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) allowed inspectors to exercise enforcement discretion, especially in enforcing the agency’s annual fit-testing requirement, in response to respirator shortages. All those discretion directives have since been withdrawn. The time is now to check all components of your written respiratory protection program, […]

10 Ways to Kick Start Your Safety and Health Program

As part of its Safe + Sound campaign, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) shared a variety of resources aimed at helping businesses put together safety and health programs. According to OSHA’s page devoted to the topic, safety and health programs help businesses do the following: Prevent workplace injuries and illnesses Improve compliance with […]

Making the Most of Behavior-Based Safety Data

When it comes to improving safety performance, behavior-based safety (BBS) programs can be useful and effective. BBS (sometimes called safety observations) is a method of avoiding human error and improving workplace safety by observing and analyzing employees’ behavior while they work. BBS helps determine why at-risk behavior occurs on the job and the steps necessary […]

Making Sense of Washington’s New Health Emergency Labor Standards Act

Washington State has adopted the Health Emergency Labor Standards Act (HELSA), a sweeping worker protection bill passed by the state legislature. The Act amends the state’s workers’ compensation and industrial health and safety statutes to provide automatic protections for certain workers and to impose new notification and reporting requirements on employers in the event of a public […]

EHS On Tap: E74 Crossing Over With Radio Free Tenacity

On episode 74 of EHS On Tap, we’ve got a special crossover episode with Al Buczkowski and Allie Thunstrom, who host Ergodyne’s Radio Free Tenacity podcast. We talk a bit about their podcast and then present Episode 5 of Radio Free Tenacity, which focuses on fall prevention. Al Buczkowski is Senior Marketing Communications Manager at […]

Are Off-Site Injuries Covered by Workers’ Comp in Oklahoma? It Depends

Over the years we’ve seen a steady stream of cases involving employees who filed workers’ compensation claims after being injured away from the employer’s premises. Sometimes it was difficult to determine whether the off-site injury was compensable. Changes to Oklahoma’s laws sought to clarify the question, and two recent cases provide more answers.  Driving to […]

Nevada Employers Must Compensate Employees Who Get COVID-19 Shots

The Nevada Legislature recently passed Senate Bill (SB) 209 requiring employers to give employees paid time off (PTO) to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. Here’s how the new law works and what you will need to know.  Key Facts About New Nevada Law  Who’s covered. SB 209 applies to all private employers with 50 or more employees in Nevada. It doesn’t apply […]

AIHA Releases Revised COVID-19 Guidelines

The AIHA (formerly the American Industrial Hygiene Association) announced the release of revised Back to Work Safety (BTWS) Guidelines. Updates to the revised guidelines include alignment with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) new recommendations regarding vaccinated individuals; the hierarchy of health and safety controls; and references to current scientific evidence indicating that […]

Heat, Humidity, and Five Other Factors That Contribute to Heat Stress

Heat-related hazards injured 2,061 and killed 884 people in 2019, according to the National Safety Council. As responsible employers recognize and develop policies or plans to reduce risk to employees who must work in hot and humid conditions, more than just heat and humidity need to be considered. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), […]

Machinery robots

Ask the Expert: Running Equipment Without Employees On Site

In our latest installment of Ask the Expert, brought to you by the team of industry experts at EHS Hero®, we look at a recent question from a subscriber asking about running equipment without employees on site. See what the experts had to say. Q: What are the requirements for running equipment without employees in […]