Green construction, or building energy-efficient and sustainable structures, is in high demand. The push for more green buildings has led to construction workers using energy-efficient materials, like spray polyurethane foam insulation (spray foam). This material forms a continuous barrier on walls and corners, preventing moisture from getting inside of structures through cracks and seams.
An employee of a Florida roofing company was not wearing fall protection when he plunged to his death at a Maitland worksite.
That’s the determination of an OSHA investigation, which found multiple fall-protection violations being committed by the man’s employee, Kasper Roofing & Construction.
Drilling into concrete can be dusty, loud, and physically exhausting. It also can expose workers to silica dust from sand and rock, which can damage the lungs if inhaled. Drilling also exposes workers to hand vibration and noise at levels well above recommended limits. Now, two NIOSH-funded studies through CPWR–The Center for Construction Research and Training and the University of California at Berkeley have identified ways to reduce these hazards.
The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) has two key questions since the publication of ANSI/ASSP A10.28-2018, Safety Requirements for Work Platforms Suspended from Cranes or Derricks, which applies to platforms that companies suspend from the load lines of cranes or derricks.
Veterinarians face a hazmat risk when treating animal patients, truck stops don’t offer healthy options to truckers and OSHA says it’s going after worksites with high injury and illness rates. These were among the occupational safety and health stories featured on ISHN.com this week.
Annually, thousands of construction supervisors take the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 30-hour outreach-training program to learn how to identify and control occupational hazards. However, until recently it did not include content on leadership.
An employee at the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) in Austin, Texas, was injured after being ejected from a forklift. OSHA cited the postal service for failing to ensure that forklift operators obeyed traffic regulations. The postal service was also cited for exposing employees to tripping hazards, and failing to label electrical panels and breakers.
With powerful machinery and heavy-duty tasks, construction sites are some of the noisiest places. Not only is the industry filled with loud sounds, it is also filled with noise-induced hazards. There are over 30 million construction workers who are exposed to prolonged noise on a daily basis.
OSHA has cited a Pennsylvania contractor for health and safety violations following an electrical accident on April 12, 2018 that killed one worker and injured two others.
News sources said a crew employed by Pipe Contracting LLC was repairing the sewer system when a machine the workers were using touched a 23,000-volt high-tension line.
Researchers evaluated work-related injuries involving a hand or fingers and associated costs among a cohort of 24,830 union carpenters in the state of Washington between 1989 and 2008. Hand injuries accounted for 21.1% of reported injuries and 9.5% of paid lost-time injuries.