It’s no secret that the cost to acquire worker’s compensation insurance is extremely expensive in the United States. Every day, employers deal with these rising costs, as well as the related costs of injury pay. Employers spent approximately $50.8 billion in 2003 on wage payments and medical care for workers hurt on the job, according to Liberty Mutual, a leading global insurer.
On Jan. 16, 2002, two workers were killed and eight others were injured when they inhaled hydrogen sulfide gas leaked from an underground process sewer at the Georgia-Pacific Naheola mill in Pennington, Ala. Among the injured were workers who attempted to assist their colleagues from the deadly cloud. The gas was the product of a sudden, uncontrolled chemical reaction taking place in the sewer as the men worked above.
The writing of this article follows on the heels of a meeting between the author and the chief deputy attorney general of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The purpose of that meeting was to investigate and discuss the circumstances of a fatal Pennsylvania mining accident.
Working a summer job many years ago on a crew of a county road repair department was my first full-time outdoor employment. Flagging for our paving machines and dump trucks that first day was a brutal education, but not because of the pace, the dust, the heat, or the toil. It was rough because I hadn’t known to bring my own jug of water. On Day Two and every work day thereafter, I was much better prepared.
With somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 million people employed, construction is one of the largest industries in the United States. That’s a lot of people to send home safe every day. Construction work sites present a number of potential safety hazards; employers, with increased awareness, are emphasizing safe work habits to reduce injuries.
It was bound to happen. Medical professionals warned about it more than 50 years ago when a surprisingly effective tool for fighting infections first entered into broad use in the 1950s. If we step back a bit more to 1939, when two European scientists used penicillin for the first time on a human patient, it becomes obvious why antibiotics have been so heavily prescribed to fight infections.
It is hard to argue against the importance of the need for eyewashes and showers in the workplace, given the reported injuries to and incident statistics of workers who require medical treatment of some kind. Take eye injuries, for example—there are 800,000 reported eye injuries in the American workforce each year, many of which are caused by exposure to chemical hazards.
Senior managers have become increasingly aware of Safety’s potential returns, well beyond loss reduction. And Safety culture is an especially hot topic among leaders who sense something is missing— that performance could be better.
Two safety tradeshows highlighted May and early June.
First up was the New York Incentive Rewards & Recognition Show, which took place May 7-8. One of this show's biggest incentives each year is its location; another is the chance to experience an all-in-one combination of exhibits, on-floor Power Sessions, and paid seminars focused on the show's theme, "Brands Powering People, People Powering Brands."
Then, returning to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas for the first time since 2005, the National Fire Protection Association's annual World Safety Conference & Exposition will be held June 2-5, 2008, and promises to be the event's largest outing ever.
There’s a battle going on among professionals conducting office ergonomic evaluations, and you may not even be aware of it. Often, one of the hardest things for a professional is to change the way you do things—to change what you recommend to your clients. But this is exactly what we must do when we learn about research with practical applications.
As the business landscape continues to change, safety professionals are faced with rethinking their traditional role. Staying relevant as the organization changes means learning how to leverage your knowledge, skills, and experience in new ways. This article, the second in a series on the changing role of the safety professional, presents the case for transitioning from technical expert to change agent and outlines the core competencies of this new role.
The Occupational Safety & Health Administration, through its Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP), sets high standards for companies. The challenge, and the reward, is to have safe working environments that not only meet government standards, but also exceed them to the point that your company’s safety program can be self-sustaining and become a model for your industry.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released its final rule on emissions from auto refinishing operations. As a result, shops should expect to ramp up the time they spend on recordkeeping and training. The rule affects “area sources” of emissions; that is, those operations whose potential emissions are less than 10 tons a year of a single hazardous air pollutant or 25 tons per year of a combination of pollutants.
What can stop a speeding bullet or bomb fragments, repel fire, and protect the wearer from caustic or toxic substances and even the deadliest of pathogens? Personal Protective Apparel (PPA) can. To me, it is a superhero of safety!
Safety videos have long been popular with trainers, and several companies continue to produce high-quality videos on a wide range of topics. With the popularity of YouTube and greater bandwidth available to millions of Americans, the era of free online videos has arrived -- a tsunami of junk, genius, coarse humor, celebrity and wannabe embarrassment, spin, advertising, and even quality.
The BP US Refineries Independent Safety Review Panel (“Baker Panel”) and the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board both recommended improved industry-wide process safety metrics in their final reports dealing with the 2005 explosion at the BP Texas City, Texas, refinery. This has also been a subject of frequent discussions among process safety organizations such as the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS), as well as magazine articles and other forums.
For the better part of 30 years, I have been involved in a variety of nuclearrelated projects. This is what I know: For the most part, if you give the craft accurate drawings, the tools they need to perform their work, and clear direction, they will perform for you every time. If your staff has a well-defined scope, open communication, and management support, they will perform, as well. If you are doing all of these things and still find project success elusive, what’s missing? I have found that management credibility in regard to safety is the key.