Complaining of working conditions that allegedly include hazardous equipment and chemical exposure, Walmart employees filed a formal ethics complaint this week with the company’s corporate executives in Los Angeles.
Profound changes continue to unfold in the American workforce as Baby Boomers—Americans born between 1945 and 1964—swell the ranks of our workplaces. This has led many employers to fear the possibilities of negative impacts associated with this demographic trend.
Workers who erect and maintain wind turbines can be exposed to fall hazards. Wind turbines vary in height, but can be more than 100 feet tall. Exposure to high winds may make work at high elevations even more hazardous. OSHA has different fall protection requirements for construction (installation of towers) and general industry (maintenance).
With a new state bill that raises the height for fall protection requirements, Arizona is pitting itself against the federal government – and the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) is urging OSHA to enforce federal fall hazard standards.
Concrete contractors cited with egregious willful violations
July 25, 2012
OSHA has cited four New Jersey contractors working on a 20-story building in Jersey City for exposing workers to fall hazards following a December 2011 inspection during which inspectors observed employees working on the fourth floor without personal fall protection or fall protection systems.
Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis earlier this year announced a new campaign led by OSHA to prevent deadly falls in the construction industry. The awareness campaign will provide employers and workers with life-saving information and educational materials about working safely from ladders, scaffolds and roofs. In 2010, more than 10,000 construction workers were injured as a result of falling while working from heights, and another 255 workers were killed.
OSHA has issued a request that construction companies ensure their employees working above 6 feet have the proper equipment to protect themselves from falls on the job. OSHA has opened investigations following four unrelated construction accidentsin New Jersey.
While some employers view the aging U.S. workforce with concern, others take a more positive approach and have implemented policies and practices that support a more competitive, sustainable and safer workforce, regardless of its overall age.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 is one of the surviving monuments of the era of progressive social legislation (extending from the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s) during which Congress enacted the nation’s foundational health, safety and environmental laws.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Total Worker Health™ (TWH™) Program this week published an article emphasizing the link between employer support for work and family balance and the reduction of safety health risks, recognizing employees’ need for quality and flexible childcare, particularly during the summer months.