Every so often as I walk down the halls of the BLS headquarters building in Washington, D.C., I notice a few drips of coffee or water on our otherwise shiny floors. My first reaction is to stoop down and wipe up the spill, or to grab one of the handy “caution” signs we have around the building, to avoid a slip or fall.
One of the big challenges for safety managers when it comes to managing slips, trips and falls is to identify and place critical control and accident prevention measures into working environments.
Each year, food service businesses report that slips, trips, and falls are some of the most common causes of worker injury leading to time away from work. However, employers and workers can avoid slip, trips, and falls by keeping floors clean and dry, fixing flooring defects, using properly designed stairs and handrails, and, as a new study finds, by wearing slip-resistant shoes.
People tasked with saving lives found their own lives endangered by infectious disease because their employer failed to protect them, according to OSHA. Agency inspectors determined that employees of Lifefleet, a North Lima, Ohio medical transport company were exposed to blood and other bodily fluids which can cause serious diseases such as hepatitis and HIV.
One way to help prevent slips, trips and falls is to make sure shoe covers provide as much traction and slip resistance as possible. Kimtech Pure A8 Unitrax Shoe Covers from Kimberly-Clark Professional do this by delivering four times more grip than competitive products.
With winter evidently nowhere near being over in much of the United States, winter hazards – like slippery roads and surfaces --remain a concern. OSHA offers tips for employers on how to control hazards at workplaces impacted by winter weather.
The MAGNATTACK™ Magnetic Mat controls the transfer of ferrous metal into sensitive areas, such as production rooms and offices. Strong RE80™ rare earth magnets are utilized in the 35” x 27” mat that features a lift-off top mat to release the metal fragments, allowing for easy cleaning and removal of collected metals.
The maturity and evolution of the EHS profession (going beyond the traditional compliance mindset) is evident in the most serious hazards pros say they will contend with in 2015, according to ISHN’s 2015 EHS State of the Nation subscriber survey.