Environmental Health and Safety - Articles - Page 148

What does the future hold for careers in safety and health?

July 1, 2019

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article ran on the ISHN website back on May 20, 2000. We thought it would be interesting to present it to you today, some nineteen years later, as a means of comparing the occupational safety and health profession today with the way it was perceived by the people in it nearly two decades ago. Additional note: We've changed the name of the American Society of Safety Engineers to its current moniker, American Society of Safety Professionals, in order to avoid confusion.

Confined Spaces: Airborne dust & particulates accumulate quickly

These hazardous materials require close exposure monitoring

Kevin Chase

July 1, 2019

Broadly speaking, a confined space is an area that is large enough for a worker to enter and do work, but that is difficult to get in and out of easily, and not designed or intended for regular occupancy.

A NIOSH Science Blog post

Law enforcement officers’ health effects from exposure to opioids

Two case investigations

Sophia K. Chiu

June 28, 2019

There is uncertainty surrounding law enforcement officers’ exposure to and health effects from opioids encountered while at work protecting the public. Over the past several years, the media have reported instances of opioid exposures and health effects among first responders and other public service workers across the U.S.

Georgia manufacturer exposes workers to hazmat, struck-by hazards

June 27, 2019

OSHA has cited Woodgrain Millwork Co. – operating as Woodgrain Distribution Inc. – for exposing employees to chemical and struck-by hazards at the company’s distribution facility in Lawrenceville, Georgia. The company faces $125,466 in penalties. The agency cited the wood molding, window, and door distributor for failing to provide employees with eye, face, and hand protection to prevent exposure to chemical injuries, and provide a functioning eyewash station for employees handling corrosive chemicals.

increase self-motivated employee behavior

How can we increase self-motivated behavior?

When no one is watching

E. Scott Geller

June 25, 2019

We do what we do to obtain, avoid, or escape certain consequences. Consequences we work to obtain are termed "positive reinforcers." Consequences we attempt to avoid are "negative reinforcers."

Age, income affect workplace health program participation levels

June 25, 2019

A new study by researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found that close to 47% of workers have access to workplace health promotion programs, and among those with access, only 58% of workers take advantage of them. The study was recently published in the American Journal of Health Promotion.

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Skylights - will we ever solve the problem?

J. Nigel Ellis, Ph.D., P.E., CSP, CPE

June 24, 2019

Why do so many workers and building occupants die from falling through plastic skylights? Why do we have a BLS.gov line item on falling through skylights, average about 16-20/year work deaths in the USA through 2017?

Workers at risk for measles

June 24, 2019

The rise of measles cases overall in the U.S. has been widely reported on and includes, this year alone, outbreaks in California, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington. Although the disease was thought to be eradicated in the United States at the start of the 21st century, a resurgence has occurred in recent years, attributed in part to a resistance to vaccinations that stems from a study linking vaccinations to autism which has since been discredited.

What are new view applications?

Organizations step back and take a broader view

Jim Howe

June 24, 2019

The New View is fundamentally the application of systems thinking to workplace health and safety. It considers safety an emergent property of the system. So what does that jargon mean? Instead of focusing on an individual thing, the organization steps back and takes a broader view.

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The Importance of Three-Point Control

J. Nigel Ellis, Ph.D., P.E., CSP, CPE

June 24, 2019

Falls from an elevation are a leading cause of death amongst contraction workers, and one third of those falls are from ladders. However, some of these fatalities could be prevented simply with the implementation of the three-point control technique.