IT'S a fact: 10-14 percent of the U.S. workforce abuses drugs.1 That's 10-14 percent of workers in any company, so if you think drug abuse doesn't affect your place of employment, you're probably wrong. Research also shows 65 percent of all on-the-job accidents can be linked to drug use. While these findings might surprise safety managers and CEOs, what's more surprising is that few corporations have programs in place to mitigate the problem.
FOR 30 years or more, industry and government managers have relied on injury statistics to rate the performance of safety programs and forecast the cost of worker's compensation insurance. While metrics such as Incident Rate and Lost Time Days are accurate measures of what has happened in the past, they are trailing indicators, do little to ferret out the cause of most accidents, and are of little use in understanding how well-trained, experienced machine operators manage to put their hands between immoveable objects and unstoppable blades.
AN accident is an unwanted event that is never scheduled or planned. Many factors contribute to accidents' occurrence; significant losses and even bodily injury can result following each incident. These basic facts are well understood, yet accidents continue to occur, property damage accumulates, work schedules remain interrupted, and injuries reduce personal income.
CHEMICALS and a bustling workplace can lead to a lethal combination. Keeping track of what is being used, how it is being used, and the disastrous effects that may occur if it is used incorrectly can seem overwhelming. Chemical hazard communication is a difficult topic to manage, but there is hope out there.
IMAGINE being an employee in a workplace and going about your duties as you would on a daily basis . . . and an arc flash occurs. There is an explosive pressure wave and fire breaks out. Radiant heat is projected. Dangerous chemicals can be produced. And the damage is serious to fatal.
THERE has been a great deal of publicity, significant legislative activity, and recent case law on the authorized use of medical marijuana during the past few years that must be taken into consideration in workplace drug testing programs.
THE lockout/tagout standard--29 CFR 1910.147--is arguably the best OSHA standard ever written. For the price of a lock and tag, employees can be confident they are protected from the sudden release of hazardous energy while performing maintenance, cleaning, or servicing activities on equipment.
THE United States may never be the target of a large-scale bioterror attack, but homeland security officials continue to urge vigilance and preparedness. Every facility manager can take a number of simple steps to improve a building's preparedness for such an attack, and many of these steps include improvements to the facility's HVAC system.
THE evolution of automated doors during the past 40 years has provided real benefits to industrial customers. The ongoing changeover from slow, rigid doors to high-speed doors has brought about tremendous strides in the areas of increased productivity and energy savings.
LOCKOUT/TAGOUT procedures specify the steps electricians must follow to remove power from an electrical circuit or panel and to lock out and tag the panel or circuit so no one can re-energize it while work is in progress. An increasing number of specialty contractors, ranging from health inspectors to thermographers, must work around electrical panels and exposed circuits.
For their own safety, these contractors and anyone else who may be exposed to li
LIKE a lot of us, the people who routinely cut open boxes in stores, restaurants, warehouses, and health care facilities are creatures of habit. Many of them don't welcome a new cutting tool.
TRUE, the construction industry's disabling injury rate is steadily declining, but there is still room for improvement. Providing a safe work environment is the right thing to do and requires focusing on and developing practical safety program elements to address the causes of disabling injury.
THIS paper considers the different safety risks present in modern foodservice, the impact of these risks on stakeholders of foodservice, and suggests an evaluation protocol called SARA, safety analysis risk assessment. Personal safety is one of the most basic concerns of the human species.
THE United States Postal Service has dramatically reduced job-related injuries and illnesses by bringing management, unions, and employees together to identify potential hazards and health risks and develop programs to eliminate them.
SLIPS and falls are a leading cause of unintentional injury in the United States. National Safety Council statistics noted in 2003 that 14,200 deaths from the previous year were caused by falls from one level to another or falls on the same level--the leading non-vehicular cause of death in public places.
ABOUT a year ago, on April 13, 2004, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing revisions to the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs.
A driver for a messenger service is injured in a company car in a traffic accident on his way to work.
WHEN most companies consider the high cost of health care, their immediate thoughts generally focus in on medical insurance premiums. However, it's those often subtler, sneakier expenses that tend to drive up an organization's health-related cost of doing business.
OVER-the-counter medications can be "the right stuff" for colds, allergies, first aid, fevers, headaches, and pain in general. They're relatively inexpensive and readily available--all too readily, considering the ease and potential risks of ordering and refilling via online sources.
FOR some years now, there has been a debate over whether it is safer to leave a portable oxy-fuel welding and cutting unit in a constant state of readiness for use, or whether the unit should be disassembled when it will not be used for "X" period of time.