Facility Safety

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released a report that reviews the early June incident that involved the unintentional exposure of personnel to potentially viable anthrax at the CDC’s Roybal Campus. The report identifies factors found to have contributed to the incident; and highlights actions taken by the agency to address these factors and prevent future incidents.

While a desk or computer workstation might not seem like a risky place in which to spend one’s working hours, there are potential ergonomic hazards you should be aware of, along with ways to avoid them.

The food manufacturing industry includes animal slaughtering as well as the processing and packaging of meat, dairy, fruit, vegetable, grain, seafood, beverages, and bakery products. The industry employs nearly 1.5 million workers.¹ Work in food manufacturing is typically fast-paced and workers can face exposure to hazards such as slips trips and falls, musculoskeletal disorders, and machine-related injuries.²

ISO 45001 is the number given to ISO’s effort to create a standard for an occupational safety and health management system. This project is well underway, but before the status update, let me begin with some background on occupational safety and health management systems.

A company-wide initiative that included management commitment and lots of employee commitment led to a 60 percent decrease in Lost Time Accident Frequency (LTAF)* at UPM, a company involved in reformation of bio and forest industries.

Although improvements in roof control technology have led to a significant decrease in accidents related to roof and rib (wall) falls, such accidents are still a leading cause of injuries in underground coal mines, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).

An OSHA investigation initiated in response to a complaint that employees of TLD Ace Corp. were exposed to falls while removing snow from the plant's roof found additional hazards at the facility.

Repeated visits by OSHA inspectors to a Massachusetts Dollar Tree store found blocked exits and other hazardous conditions in the store’s stockroom – and OSHA says similar hazards have been found at other Dollar Tree stores in the U.S.

A report from a group charged with identifying ways to improve chemical safety and security in the U.S. says that communities with chemical facilities must be much better prepared for incidents than they are at present.

The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (the Accord) has taken note of Reuters’ article of June 24, 2014 titled “Insight – Inspection tensions add to Bangladesh garment industry’s woes."