IT'S every facility manager's worst nightmare: plant failures, workers injured on the job, or a pending lawsuit over facility safety. Do you have an organized and accurate documentation process to prove you have taken the appropriate preventive measures for safety compliance and equipment maintenance?
A variety of field instrumentation is in wide use today by environmental engineers and consultants. Questions often arise regarding the theory of operation of various types of instruments and what is the proper or "best" application at a particular field site.
HOW should you go about establishing or revising a respiratory protection program for a small or medium-size business? Many managers and newly appointed safety administrators who call us looking for advice seem overwhelmed at the prospect of wading through reams of government documents and possibly misinterpreting the regulations or selecting the wrong equipment.
EACH year, thousands of people in the United States are blinded from work-related eye injuries that proper use of eye and face protection could prevent, OSHA says.
ON Dec. 11, 2002, four defendants, Ronald Brentson, Frank Hopf, Jr., Equilon Pipeline Company, LLC, and Olympic Pipeline Company pleaded guilty in federal court to committing a federal crime--the failure to keep records documenting that employees of the companies received training required by regulations promulgated pursuant to the Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act (HLPSA).
AN estimated 58 people lose their life each week as a result of electric shock. In an electrical system, the grounding system is the primary protection against electrical shock hazards. It provides a low-resistance pathway to ground to protect against electrical faults.
OXYGEN deficiencies, explosive atmospheres, and exposure to toxic gases and vapors injure or kill hundreds of workers every year during confined space entry procedures.
BEEP Beep Beep . . . beep beep beep. These are often the sounds first responders hear from their radios as they try and communicate with one another during an emergency. In most cases, these personnel are in high-risk situations, surrounded by smoke and fire, hordes of people, or the risk of chemical or biological exposure.
IT'S a good idea to monitor OSHA's Standard Interpretations site on a regular basis. You can easily find the site by clicking on the "interpretations" link right from OSHA's www.osha.gov homepage.
SINCE it first rose to popularity in the early 1990s, behavior-based safety (BBS) has become an established and widely respected tool for safety improvement. While not without its critics, BBS has clearly had its successes.
PEOPLE's reaction to being hit with cold water has been used in comedy routines for as long as anyone can remember. Providing it's not you being doused, it can be really funny. But cold water, when used in emergency showers and eyewashes, is no joke.
HAS your organization hit a plateau in safety? Are you looking for ways to improve the safe performance of your people? Performance Safety provides effective solutions with optimal participation from your employees.
OSHA's 29 CFR 1904 took effect in January 2003. It make hearing loss is recordable if it meets these criteria
HOW often do we as health and safety professionals ask ourselves, "I wonder if there is a psychosocial component to these indoor air quality complaints?" In fact, environmental health & safety professionals are not qualified to make judgment calls regarding the psychological basis of reported or displayed symptoms among employees.
"WHAT is a smoke detector?" Such a question would draw raised eyebrows and possibly snickers in an average gathering of office employees. "What is an AED?" Unless you're in the business, a techie, a safety director, an EMS responder, or a medical professional, you may have no idea the initials AED stand for automated external defibrillator.
THROUGHOUT industry, from chemical and petrochemical processing to wastewater utilities and pulp and paper mills, workplaces have the potential to be exposed to toxic gases, combustible gases and vapors, and oxygen deficiency.
IN the open, sandy desert of a foreign country or in the confines of a maintenance work area, Master Sergeant Chad Lingerfelt strives to operate a safe work environment. As a ground safety manager for the U.S. Air Force, Lingerfelt supervises personnel who dismantle, clean, and reassemble aircraft all over the world.