ISHN - ISHN Web Exclusives

13 workers rescued from burning rig in Gulf (9/3)

The U.S. Coast Guard and a commercial rescue helicopter transported 13 people from a rig after a nearby oil platform caught fire, Thursday, approximately 90 miles south of Vermillion Bay at 9:19 a.m., according to a U.S. Coast Guard press release.

BP lesson: Stop subsidizing corporate risk (8.10.2010)

The first lesson is that industry and government must both stop managing risk by catastrophe.

Why must any lessons be learned and paradigms changed only after utter catastrophe?

BP rant: Of morons, imbeciles and idiots (7/19)

You gotta love Internet rants… We received this email last week:

Predicting fatalities and life-altering injuries (7/19)

List of factors that can be predictive of fatalities and life-altering injuries; factors that need to be addressed in effective, sustainable fatality/life-altering injuries processes:

Criteria for the best safety and health programs (7/19)

Benchmark your program against these questions. The more affirmative answers, except for the OSHA questions and the question about incentive programs, the most you’re on your way to safety and health excellence.

Coal miner’s father: “MSHA has let us down many times.”

“When an MSHA inspector comes onto a Massey mine property, the code words go out ‘we’ve got a man on the property’.”

Stanley “Goose” Stewart: “I was 300 feet underground the day the explosion occurred.”

“Last July, I told my wife, Mindi, ‘If anything happens to me, get a lawyer and sue the [blankety blank] out of them! That place is a ticking time bomb’.”

Coal miner’s mother-in-law: Daughter devastated by husband’s death

Testimony of Alice Peters presented at House hearing 5.24 on Massey Upper Big Branch mine disaster. “Dean told me many times that he had concerns about the ventilation at the Upper Big Branch mine.”

Peter Sandman on the Gulf oil rig disaster

“Things that have never happened before — and were therefore presumed impossible — happen all the time.”

by Peter Sandman

Oil rig survivor: “I ain’t scared of anything. And I was scared to death.”

His only thought: “I’m fixin’ to die.”

23-year-old roustabout Chris Choy

U.S. industrial safety market: Current trends & future projections

Demand for U.S. industrial safety products is primarily affected by two factors: overall economic activity and employment levels; and OSHA regulatory and enforcement activity.

By Dave Johnson, Editor

Glove certification program aims to ease buyer confusion

“We felt North America needed a system to clearly provide comparable data on the performance level of hand protection products.”

By Dave Johnson

CMSP and MSP certification for the mining industry

Explaining the qualifications and required education

By Harry W Conerly, WSO-CSM, CMSP, DOL-CI
and Terry L Jones, CMSP, DOL-CI

Attention control: Critical for hand protection

Identify attention default habits to see which might potentially contribute to risk of hand injuries. Then strengthen personal attentional control "deficits.”

By Robert Pater

More important than trust alone …

Several years ago, I had the great honor to complete a best-selling safety video with Bobby Bowden, recently retired head football coach of Florida State University.

By David J. Sarkus, MS, CSP

Do we still need occupational exposure limits?

In April, 2009, an esteemed group of industrial hygienists produced the final draft of a paper that posed the question: “Have traditional OELs run their course of usefulness? Or do we still need traditional Occupational Exposure Limits (OELs) to compare with exposures, perform risk assessments and identify control approaches?”

Going for the win-win: reduce injury risks and safety costs with a team approach

Good things happen with safety directors and purchasing directors are on the same page

By Ted Cowie

Germ warfare on the factory floor

Experts wring their hands over the lack of hand-washing and hand-sanitizing seen on many shop floors

By Robert Kravitz

We should expect devotion, dedication, a good work ethic and results

We all expect our fellow employees to adhere to the basic principals of safety which requires a certain level of devotion, a certain level of dedication, a certain work ethic along with expected results.

by Ted Story

The role of the foot in standing and walking

Among other functions foot muscles assist in the return of venous blood and the foot acts as an important shock absorber that protects the entire body from fatigue.

by R. Dan Allen

Step-change leadership

Move safety leadership from good to great.

By Chuck Pettinger

“Green insulation” is not hazard free

On a Saturday afternoon this past May, while pumping a two-part “GREEN” soy- based foam into the attic ceiling of a Cape Cod home renovation, a fireball erupted, taking the hose man’s life.

by Richard Hughes

Control exposure to hazardous energy

Detailed procedures must be created for each piece of machinery that presents a potential hazard.

Current Teaching Theories for the Corporate Trainer

Today’s corporate classroom is a diverse and highly complex learning environment. The trainer must be ready to recognize an employee’s abilities as well as their disabilities.

By Charles P. Howes

“Common Sense” in Safety

We should never assume that “common sense” will keep our people safe. We have to remember the only thing “common” about “common sense” is that it’s not so common.

By Charlie Brumfield, the “Safety Guy”

The No BS Guide to Safety

Yes my friends, the true secret was the perfected art of BS. I learned how to spot it, use it, and milk it for every opportunity.

By a long-serving loss control representative

Evaluating online safety videos

There is no single “magic theory” to train adults

by Dawn Fry and Dr. Georgi Popov

Control exposure to hazardous energy

Treat lockout/tagout as a “way of life”

by Tracie Cady

MSDS compliance on a shoestring budget

A simple spreadsheet works, and works well.

by John Navroth

The Complacency Index: The value of voluntary observations

Wouldn't it be nice if you had an instrument that told you when employees in your organization were growing complacent about safety? What would you pay for a "complacency meter" that allowed you to assess the level of safety awareness? The good news is that many of you with a behavior-based safety process have such a metric already available! That is, those of you with a voluntary process have such a metric.

by Terry McSween, Quality Safety Edge,936-588-1140