Resolution #1: Less Focus On Preaching More On Teaching. Awareness campaigns are important for the unaware. But most workers who ultimately get hurt do so knowing something they know is dangerous, or at very least that they suspected COULD be dangerous. Too many awareness campaigns make safety professionals feel good about themselves but come off as smug and condescending to workers.
The time of reflection on the old year is over. With the brand new year we look to the future with an eye on improving our selves and our impact on the world. For this new year, let’s consider some personal resolutions that focus on behaviors you, an EHS pro, could adopt to increase your effectiveness in helping build your team’s safety culture:
OSHA's updated General Industry Digest – a booklet that summarizes General Industry safety and health standards to help employers, supervisors, workers, health and safety committee members, and safety and health personnel learn about OSHA standards in the workplace – is now available. The digest includes updated information on revisions to General Industry standards since the digest was last published in 2001.
Chinese workplace safety and health officials last month hosted the first U.S.-China Workplace Safety and Health Dialogue in Beijing. The historic conference brought together officials from China’s State Administration of Work Safety to exchange ideas and information about protecting workers on both sides of the Pacific. Dr. Michaels presented an overview of workplace safety and health standards and compliance assistance in the United States.
At ASSE’s Professional Development Conference for the past several years there has been a session entitled Executive Safety Summit. A panel of CEOs or senior managers and a moderator discuss their views of safety. Good stuff. Near the end of the session is the most important question: What are your recommendations for the safety professionals in attendance here today? The above title was one answer.
A contractor working at Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear power plants has been found guilty of falsifying safety records in order to collect more than $2.5 million in safety bonuses.
NIOSH has released “Rig Check,” a collection of 35 inspection forms designed to be used by rig workers during the inspection of tools and equipment on oil and gas rigs. The monthly inspection forms cover emergency response, electrical safety, fall protection, stairways and walkways, lines and slings, tools, hoses, chemical hazards, ladders and platforms, and other equipment used on oil and gas rigs.
New report on fatality reveals dangers faced by temp workers
December 21, 2012
A worker cleaning a Raani Corp.chemical tank in llinois last year was burned over 80 percent of his body when by a 185-degree solution of water and citric acid – and his supervisor refused to call 911. Carlos Centeno arrived at Loyola Hospital Burn Center 98 minutes later – after having first been driven to a local occupational health clinic by a co-worker. He died of his injuries three weeks later.
A government watchdog group says that anti-regulation lawmakers used procedural hurdles and attacks on science to block new federal laws standards in 2012 - and that they're likely to continue that strategy in the coming year. "Both efforts are likely to re-emerge next year,” predicts OMB Watch, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization that monitors actions by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Being prepared can help travelers avoid dangerous situations in winter, says the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), which is passing along some travel safety tips from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that are especially useful this season.