July 2018 OH&S

July 2018

  • FALL PROTECTION: The Importance of Testing and Meeting Fall Protection Standards
  • FALL PROTECTION: Falls: The Battle with Gravity Can Be Costly
  • SLIP & FALL: Preventative Maintenance Tasks That Help Prevent Slips, Trips, and Falls
  • HAZMAT: Hydrogen Fueling Safety
  • HAZMAT: Pre-Incident Planning for Hazmat Emergencies
  • RESPIRATORY PROTECTION: Respirable Crystalline Silica: Regulations and Considerations
  • RESPIRATORY PROTECTION: Seven Respiratory Hazards Every Safety Manager Should Understand
  • EMERGENCY SHOWERS & EYEWASH: Prime Drivers for Emergency Showers & Eyewashes
  • GHS/SDS: Using Chemical Management Software to Improve Communications and Prevent Incidents
  • HEAD PROTECTION: Avoiding Hazards
  • DRUG TESTING: The Far-Reaching, Positive Impact of Workplace Drug Testing
  • CONSTRUCTION SAFETY: Five Questions Every Safety Manager Should Ask When Choosing High-Vis Apparel
  • CONSTRUCTION SAFETY: Facing the Future: How Innovating Software is Changing the Face of EHS Systems
  • CONSTRUCTION SAFETY: Creating a Culture of Safety
  • CONSTRUCTION SAFETY: Three Questions to Ensure Continuous Improvement of Your Incident Reduction Strategy
  • EMERGENCY RESPONSE: Updating the NORA Public Safety Agenda
  • FACILITY SAFETY: Damage-Free Sign Labels for Industrial Use
  • FACILITY SAFETY: Fleet and Operator Management Systems: A Valuable Tool in Your Forklift Safety Kit
  • ROBOTICS: A Simplified Method for Determining Residual Risk in RIA TR R15.306-2016
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Cover Story

Managing an OSHA-compliant respiratory program today means understanding the risk of toxic substances and environments that are not only more prevalent for many workers, but very dangerous should they not be adequately protected. (Grainger photo)

Seven Respiratory Hazards Every Safety Manager Should Understand

By Sally J. Smart

Different equipment protects against different risks. Ensure your equipment matches the risk.


Features

Prime Drivers for Emergency Showers & Eyewashes

By Imants Stiebris

While showers and eyewashes can't prevent exposure to hazardous materials, they can certainly minimize the effects when exposure to injurious corrosive materials happens.


Facility managers and safety officers or engineers will want signs compliant with OSHA 1910.145 (Specifications for Accident Prevention Signs and Tags) and ANSI Z535.4 (Product Safety Signs and Labels).

Damage-Free Sign Labels for Industrial Use

By Tina Huff

Sign labels that can be printed with laser or ink jet printers in minutes and removed cleanly from most surfaces serve to notify, instruct, and even protect personnel in just about every area in a facility


Even though the hydrogen fueling process is much like fueling a gasoline-powered vehicle, it still will challenge the safety professional to work outside of a controlled workplace setting. (Airgas photo)

Hydrogen Fueling Safety

By Kathleen Hiltner

Hydrogen safety utilizes the same safety concepts as other flammables and cryogenics. Though it’s been around forever, we have only begun to understand its potential.


A Simplified Method for Determining Residual Risk in RIA TR R15.306-2016

By Gary J. Garrahan

The combination of initial risk and risk reduction measures fixes the residual risk, thus simplifying the determination of residual risk and avoiding errors.


Most do not realize that slips and falls from the same surface are great risks.

Falls: The Battle with Gravity Can Be Costly

By Melissa Black

Falls impact more than the individual, so do what is prudent to reduce falls in your world and continue to educate yourself.


Some jobs, such as surveying, call for specific styles of high-visibility apparel. If you are specifying products for surveyors, a selection of safety vests that are optimized with mic tabs, pen slots, and other features designed especially for them will be welcome. (West Chester Protective Gear photo)

Five Questions Every Safety Manager Should Ask When Choosing High-Vis Apparel

By Audrey Ronis-Tobin

Choosing the right high-visibility clothing for the job per the ANSI standard is a good first step to preventing injuries on a work site. But workers must use the garments and care for them.


Creating a Culture of Safety

By Lauren Tosti

Keeping safety top of mind is embedded within today's construction organizations and starts with strong leadership.


By June 1, 2016, OSHA expects all employers to be fully compliant with GHS adoption.

Using Chemical Management Software to Improve Communications and Prevent Incidents

By John Kincaid

Knowing exactly what employees are assigned to do can help break down any communication barriers.


The proposed PEL of 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air as an eight-hour time weighted average is half of the current PEL for quartz, the most common form of crystalline silica, in general industry and far below the now-obsolete PELs for crystalline silica applied to construction and shipyards.

Respirable Crystalline Silica: Regulations and Considerations

By Greg Zigulis

OSHA requires that engineering controls be used to achieve necessary exposure reductions unless infeasible; organizations may not simply issue respirators and "be done with" their attempts to lower exposures.


The data NIOSH researchers developed show that firefighters in turnout gear do not fit well in today

Updating the NORA Public Safety Agenda

By Jerry Laws

Cardiovascular disease, cancer, and chronic diseases are the first recommendation because stress is such a big factor affecting public safety workers' health.


Preventative maintenance schedules also can be applied to procedures that help prevent slip, trip, and fall injuries. (New Pig photo)

Preventative Maintenance Tasks That Help Prevent Slips, Trips, and Falls

By Karen D. Hamel

Most of these preventative maintenance techniques can be rolled into routine good housekeeping plans. Others can be incorporated into regular and periodic safety inspections.


New head protection models that offer a see-through visor on the bill of a hard hat is one way of allowing workers to see the hazards that may be lurking above them. (Bullard photo)

Avoiding Hazards

By Stacey Simmons

I have heard so many stories from workers who have credited wearing a hard hat with saving their lives.


Treating marijuana the same as alcohol is impossible for several reasons. There are no measurements for marijuana impairment that relate across the board to how we understand alcohol impairment.

The Far-Reaching, Positive Impact of Workplace Drug Testing

By Scott Howell

Given that the United States represents 5 percent of the world's population and consumes 60 percent of the world's supply of illicit drugs, drug testing can be seen as an investment against the cost of low productivity.


The CSB

Pre-Incident Planning for Hazmat Emergencies

By Jerry Laws

One of the CSB's recommendations to FEMA following the explosion in West, Texas, was to fund training for fire departments on pre-incident planning for fires at facilities storing fertilizer grade ammonium nitrate.


Northgate Markets used the InfoLink® Fleet Management System to ensure operators were properly completing and documenting shift inspections and also to monitor lift truck impacts. (Crown Equipment photo)

Fleet and Operator Management Systems: A Valuable Tool in Your Forklift Safety Toolkit

By Maria Schwieterman

It's not just about the quality of the training, but also the accessibility of the training.


Given an appropriate tool, the employee is far more likely to record an incident or near miss, particularly when the relevant training and supporting processes are put in place. (SHE Software photo)

Facing the Future: How Innovative Software is Changing the Face of EHS Systems

By Matthew Elson

Empowering employees to take responsibility and to get on board with the safety journey is a proven method of increasing engagement levels.


The summer construction season means workers and safety managers must be prepared for heat stress, falls, puncture and crushing injuries, and noise exposures.

Three Questions to Ensure Continuous Improvement of Your Incident Reduction Strategy

By Grace Herrera

An observation program is a critical process that will provide the data to identify what and where risks are occurring.


Make a thorough assessment of all fall hazards, including sides and edges, hoist areas, and skylights. (MSA photo)

The Importance of Testing and Meeting Fall Protection Standards

By Anne Osbourn

Although ANSI standards are voluntary, they represent the consensus of industry experts and frequently provide more detailed product performance guidelines.


Departments

Where Should NIOSH Focus Its Robotics Research?

By Jerry Laws

Work by NIOSH's new Center for Occupational Robotics Research certainly bears watching as the use of robotics rapidly increases in U.S. industries.


Lifting Leadership

By Robert Pater

I urge leaders to do a "restraining forces audit," assessing what is blocking improvements in higher level Safety performance and culture.


A Timeline of Safety Progress: Aligning Others and Minimizing Change Resistors

By Shawn M. Galloway, Charles J. Douros

This template can help you communicate your company story throughout your organization.


Artificial Intelligence