IN corporate America, we are obsessed with productivity, reduced costs, and the "bottom line." Add to this all the concerns about safety and ergonomics, and you have the makings of a colossal headache. In fact, in some cases, I think the obsession with productivity has gone a little too far, even taking a step backward.
A good workplace safety policy begins and ends with the employee. It makes sense for the employer to establish a solid safety policy, but it is always up to the employees to adhere to the regulations before they come into work for their shifts. It's not a question of comfort or convenience--it's literally a matter of life and limb.
ADOPTION of the OSHA Hearing Conservation Amendment (29 CFR 1910.95) in the early 1980s changed forever the way employers protect workers from noise. Instead of a single focus on noise reduction to prevent hearing loss, employers were permitted to substitute the hearing conservation paradigm we know today.
SINCE the 9/11 attacks, there have been many media reports on "Dirty Bombs." The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Department of Homeland Security have fact sheets regarding Dirty Bombs on their Web sites.
SO, you've made the decision to use multimedia as part of your overall training strategy. You can take the low-cost route and purchase generic off-the-shelf products, or you can expend more of your training budget on your own development.
IN the occupational health arena, shoe programs are at the core of many safety and health issues. Besides the "steel toe" issues, there are electrical conditions requiring conductive and/or ESD shoes. Also, sole slip resistance is most important and even critical within select environments.
SAFETY directors and responsible managers have been creating safety programs for decades. So why is safety still such a difficult problem to manage in today's workplaces? One answer is that all of the safety programs in the world won't work unless those responsible for a particular task or risk control procedure do what they are supposed to do.
SLIPS, trips, and falls to the same level are a leading cause of workplace injury and death. According to the National Safety Council, more than 300,000 injuries and 1,500 deaths each year result from slip, trip, and fall accidents. The average cost for each accident is about $6,700 in lost compensation and medical costs.
IN the realm of personal protective equipment, protective gloves offer the first line of defense against an array of hazards. Most often, they are used to protect the hands against scrapes, cuts, chemical, biological, and electrical hazards--with the goal of avoiding or limiting damage to the fingers, hands, wrists, and lower arms. In some instances, the correct hand protection also helps to guard against death.
MANY articles in safety magazines address the subject of confined space rescue, so everyone should be familiar with 1910.146 (d)(9). It states that a company entering permit-required confined spaces must: "Develop and implement procedures for summoning rescue and emergency services, for rescuing entrants from permit spaces . . . ."
FOR many years, it has been recognized that turnout gear needs to be maintained in order for the firefighter to receive full benefit from the standards under which the gear was manufactured. Maintenance is required for both safety and economic reasons.
THIS article is intended to provide a brief overview of water supplies for fire protection and standpipe systems. It is not a code compliance article. For detailed requirements, check with your local authority having jurisdiction (AHJ).
EACH year, $12.5 trillion of merchandise is traded worldwide, using more than 200 million intermodal containers. Ninety percent of these shipments are between seaports.1 Unsecured freight represents a global security threat, both in terms of potentially lost merchandise value and the crippling of the global trading economy.