There's been lots of talk lately about safety culture. How setting your sights on cultural change may be the A-1 approach for engaging the clutch of safer and more productive performance, especially during these beleaguered times.
RMPs contain information assessing plans in place to prevent and respond to accidental releases of hazardous substances from facilities and must be updated at least every five years.
In the first of this series of articles (March 2009, pages 66-67), we explored the difference between primary and secondary prevention strategies of employee injuries. As we stated, the dramatic reduction of employee injuries in the past 15 years demonstrates the employer's success in preventing an injury from occurring. However, when an injury does occur, the cost of that injury continues to spiral upward. We find ourselves in an environment where the frequency of injuries is down, but severity is up.
In the 10 years since the American Industrial Hygiene Association and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists last held their annual conference and exposition in Toronto, the world has changed—often dramatically, more often subtly. One subtle change is that American attendees of AIHce 1999 did not have to carry their passports just to return home from the event, as they will for AIHce 2009, which convenes at the Toronto Convention Centre May 30 through June 4.
Manager Carlos Mondragon, who heads Dimension Data Mexico, explains here how the company's Mexico City office is coping with flu-related disruptions while striving to keep its employees well and informed.
The groups have scheduled five live Webcasts throughout the day--10 a.m. to 6 p.m.--on May 6, which is Occupational Safety and Health Professional day.
Though written with avian flu in mind, the guidebook will help workplaces prepare for the swine flu already affecting several countries. The organization is making it available free.
Inspectors identified other hazards including locked exits, obstructed exit access, and an unmarked exit; lack of welding screens and personal protective equipment for welders; untrained forklift operators; excess carbon monoxide levels from forklifts; and numerous electrical safety deficiencies including exposed live electrical parts.
The Department of Labor have announced a $627,961 grant to assist approximately 87 workers affected by the sudden closure of Wood Structures Inc. headquartered in Biddeford, Maine, with a manufacturing facility in Saco, Maine.
Author and pediatric neurosurgeon Benjamin S. Carson, Sr., M.D., of Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes will be the conference's keynote speaker. He will be joined by a cadre of other experts making presentations at the event, June 7-11.
The Department of Labor today announced a $1,520,633 grant to assist approximately 300 workers affected by the closure of MPC Computers LLC in Nampa, Idaho
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued a document on best practices to avoid discrimination against workers with caregiving responsibilities, and held a public meeting to discuss the importance of policies that protect caregivers in an economic downturn on April 22.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will hold a public meeting today at 10 a.m. EDT to address best practices to avoid discrimination against workers with caregiving responsibilities. The meeting, at agency headquarters, 131 M Street, N.E., is open for public observation of the commission's deliberations, in accordance with the Sunshine Act.
Panelists invited to the April 22 meeting--which is open for public observation--will address the importance of caregiver-friendly workplace policies in economic hard times.
The Department of Labor recently announced a $271,075 grant to assist approximately 75 workers affected by the closure of GE Lighting located in Willoughby, Ohio.
A federal judge has ordered a Southern California cleaning service and its owners to pay $227,791 in post-judgment interest plus $2,400 in daily fines for failing to follow a 2007 order to pay nearly $3.5 million in back wages plus more than $1 million in liquidated damages to 385 workers.
The multi-year study of 10 organizations employing more than 150,000 workers indicates that employers who focus only on medical and pharmacy costs in creating employee health strategies may misidentify the health conditions that most impact the productivity of their employees -- while underestimating the impact of other factors.
"This order reaffirms both the right of drivers to refuse to operate vehicles when they reasonably believe it is unsafe and the Labor Department's commitment to taking the necessary steps to protect that right," said Ken Nishiyama Atha, OSHA's regional administrator in San Francisco.
SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment released the manual, number 48 in its Treatment Improvement Protocol series.