A Safety Stand-Down is a voluntary event for employers to talk directly to employees about safety.
How to conduct a Safety Stand-Down
Companies can conduct a Safety Stand-Down by taking a break to have a toolbox talk or another safety activity such as conducting safety equipment inspections, developing rescue plans, or discussing job specific hazards.
Over the last four years, OSHA’s National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction has grown to include events in 50 states and internationally (more than 150 public events in the US. alone).
Strong wind gusts may have been a factor in a fall that killed a Houston-area construction worker last week, according to the Star-Telegram. The April 13 incident occurred at the Hurst Conference Center and claimed the life of an employee working for a roofing contractor.
Being cited seven times in the past five years for safety violations apparently has not made an impression on Jose A. Serrato. The independent roofing contractor based in Marietta, Georgia has again been cited by OSHA for exposing his workers to fall hazards – this time at a worksite in Birmingham. Current proposed penalties total $133,604.
During Women’s History Month, NIOSH will highlight several female researchers and their contributions to NIOSH and America’s workers.
Christine M. Branche, Ph.D., is the Director of the NIOSH Office of Construction Safety and Health. Dr. Branche began her career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1996 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer in the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. In 2007, Dr. Branche joined NIOSH.
OSHA has cited a Palatine, Illinois-based contractor for multiple safety violations after agency inspectors observed employees exposed to fall hazards on half a dozen Chicago-area residential roofing projects between August and November 2017. The company faces $281,286 in proposed penalties.
OSHA’s FY 2019 budget request reflects an emphasis on compliance assistance, an increase in enforcement and the elimination of a longstanding safety and health training grant program – a move sure to draw the hire of some in the occupational safety community.
The agency says its request for $549,033,000 for FY 2019 will allow it beef up its VPP initiative and restore 24 of the 33 compliance assistance positions that were lost in a five-year-long budget crunch.
With the buildup to the fast-approaching construction season comes a renewed awareness of the hazards faced by construction crews, along with interest in the education, training and technology needed to help mitigate them.
Last Tuesday was a bad day in New York City’s construction industry. According to news sources, two workers at fell to their deaths at two different construction projects in the city. 33-year-old Ju Cong Wu fell nine stories down an elevator shaft at a hotel development in the Flatiron District.
ClickSafety, the leading provider of online safety and health training for the construction, general and mining industries, has released its updated California OSHA 10-hour Construction training. Established in California nearly two decades ago, ClickSafety pioneered California-specific OSHA training designed to help keep workers safe, while earning the OSHA 10-hour card.
