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Yesterday, we talked about design requirements for emergency exit routes. Today, we review OSHA’s emergency exit maintenance, safeguarding, and operational requirements. OSHA standards require emergency exit routes to be maintained in safe and fully operational condition at all times. This means you must: Keep exit routes free of explosive or highly flammable furnishings and other […]
Stating that they wish to ensure regulatory continuity and certainty, the Trump EPA and Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) have issued another proposal in their campaign to eliminate the Obama administration’s June 2015 final rule defining the Clean Water Act (CWA) term, waters of the United States (WOTUS rule). The current proposal would delay the […]
Yesterday, we looked at how the 3M® Abrasive Systems Division in Alexandria, Virginia, took a closer look at its hearing conservation program to better characterize worker exposures. It was a first step in reclassifying the “hearing conservation areas” in the plant so that only workers who had actual hazardous exposures would be subject to annual […]
Here’s the Problem About 700 U.S. cities, concentrated in the Northeast, the Great Lakes region, and the Pacific Northwest, have combined sewer systems (CSSs). CSSs link sanitary sewers and stormwater conveyances to outfalls to surface water bodies. When the weather is dry or moderately wet, the CSS carries both urban street runoff and sanitary sewage […]
Protecting workers in cold weather takes specific steps. OSHA has provided a list. And America’s eye doctors have added to it. Unless your workplace is located in places like California, Florida, or (“Dream on!”) Hawaii, you and your workers have to deal with winter. And following a pattern of extreme weather in recent years, what […]
Making sure employees lift safely and avoid back injuries is an ongoing process. Good training supplemented by frequent feedback is a winning combination. Let’s say there’s this workplace that is experiencing a high rate of back injuries. The safety manager knows that most of the injuries are a result of unsafe lifting. The company has […]
In a recent memorandum for regional administrators, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced its decision to delay enforcement of the beryllium standards for general industry, shipyards, and construction until May 11, 2018.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently agreed to stay its mandate, or order, to require that farms with continuous air releases of hazardous substances—as defined by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA)—file initial notifications of those releases to the […]
How you handle yourself during an OSHA inspection—and how you answer the inspector’s questions—can have a big impact on the outcome. OSHA inspectors may suggest that they are just trying to “get the facts,” but every question they ask is designed to get the evidence they need. You should always be on your toes and […]