Equipment that monitors noise and can help reduce occupational expose to it and a device for preventing contact with pinch points were this week’s top products of the week.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is expanding its highly successful weather camera safety program to Colorado. The FAA has entered into a cost-reimbursement agreement with the State of Colorado Division of Aeronautics to install weather cameras on 13 Automated Weather Observing Systems (AWOS) in mountainous areas, beginning in the spring of 2020.

Distracted driving occurs any time you take your eyes off the road, hands off the wheel, and mind off your primary task: driving safely. Any non-driving activity you engage in is a potential distraction and increases your risk of being involved in a motor vehicle crash.

A discussion in a recent workshop caused me to reflect on the relationship between our work in Visual Literacy and how it integrates with established practices defined by the Hierarchy of Controls. It is critical that through Visual Literacy we improve our ability to see the hazards that can easily disappear into the background.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is calling for a comprehensive effort to improve aviation safety in Alaska, a region with a higher accident rate than the rest of the country. The NTSB issued a safety recommendation to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) seeking the formation of a safety-focused working group to better review, prioritize and integrate Alaska’s unique aviation safety needs into the FAA’s safety enhancement process.

Warehouses are home to all sorts of technology and machinery, but their most valuable occupant is also perhaps the most vulnerable: human employees. When it comes to ensuring the safety of warehouse workers, shortcuts aren't an option. Warehousing has a higher fatal injury rate than the national average across all industries.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released of $562 million in grants for highway safety programs to Offices of Highway Safety in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, United States territories, and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. “These highway safety grants will help save lives by addressing impaired driving, promoting seat belt use, improving pedestrian and bicyclist safety and funding other important traffic safety efforts,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao.

Human error - unsafe work procedures, maintenance mistakes, and mishandling tools, wires, and metal covers; Negligent preventive maintenance - not checking for loose termination, allowing dust and debris build-up (critical in medium voltages and higher), and not testing stored energy (e.g., spring-operated bolted pressure switches); and

The cutting, shaping, drilling, milling, and grinding operations that take place in the wood manufacturing and processing industries make it an inherently high hazard industry, with employees potentially exposed to injuries caused by equipment and illnesses from inhaling wood dust and particles.