1. Paul O’Neill would be voted in as OSHA chief by safety pros in a heartbeat. Or they would like to clone him for every boardroom meeting on safety. He is an inspiration to professionals, with his straight talking passion for safety.
The safety job has matured, and will continue to do so – that was one of the takeaways from last week’s National Safety Congress & Expo, sponsored by the National Safety Council.
For the record, there were 204 exhibitors from foreign countries; 100 of them from China. Most of the rest were from Canada, with a smattering of vendors from India, Malaysia, Pakistan, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Brazil, Portugal, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Bahrain and Argentina.
“You know, a lot of safety managers don’t like that saying, ‘Safety Pays.’ They think it’s cold and heartless, impersonal,” said the PPE vendor from the NSC’s Congress & expo show floor. “But let me tell you, when you get down to it, a lot of businesses look at safety now in terms of dollars and cents.
At a Tuesday session at the 2013 NSC Congress & Expo, former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, OSHA boss Dr. David Michaels, and NIOSH director Dr. John Howard discussed the “future of safety.” Who’s to say what the future holds, right? And predictions about the future are soon forgotten. Here are some of ISHN’s predictions for the future of safety:
The NSC Congress & Expo takes on more of an international flavor each year. As per usual in recent years, you have the “China Village,” a group of dozens of small mostly PPE Chinese suppliers separated by thin white pegboard walls.
OSHA has cited St. Louis Cold Drawn for 26 safety violations after a worker was electrocuted May 15 when he reached into an energized electrical panel box to retrieve work gloves stored in the box at the company's St. Louis steel bar manufacturing facility.
Packaging Corporation of America has history of worker injuries, fatalities
September 12, 2013
A double worker fatality in 2012 and a triple fatality in 2008 did not result in the abatement of hazards at Packaging Corporation of America facilities; seven of the 30 citations issued recently after a worker was injured on the job were for repeat violations.
Focus is on importance of respiratory protection in the workplace
September 5, 2013
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has designated today as “N95 Day” – a reference to the most common particulate filtering facepiece respirator, which filters at least 95% of airborne particles (but is not resistant to oil).
After the structural collapse of a large building, emergency responders and support personnel are often exposed to hazardous agents and conditions. These workers are at high risk of injury and illness at such a site. Described below are common eye hazards and injuries that can occur during these operations and recommendations for protective eye gear, first aid, and steps for preventing eye injuries.
