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ACGIH® and its renowned Industrial Ventilation Committee present a popular continuing education course this spring. Fundamentals in Industrial Ventilation & Practical Applications of Useful Equations will be held April 15, 2019 at the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Cincinnati-Blue Ash in Cincinnati, Ohio. Register early and save!

Standard 1910.1020 “Access to employee exposure and medical records” is the most important and far-reaching of OSHA’s regulations. When the standard became effective more than two decades ago, it could not have envisioned the explosive growth of global chemical exposure information.

Each day approximately 150 people — more than 54,000 a year — die unnecessarily from work-related injuries and illnesses. Many more suffer nonfatal injuries and illnesses. As part of the American Industrial Hygiene Association's continuing efforts to address these problems, today it has released its first-ever Public Policy Agenda.

The FBI reported 30 active shooter incidents in 2017, the highest number ever recorded in a one-year period. With nearly half (42%) of incidents between 2000 and 2017 taking place at businesses or areas of commerce, and the majority of them ending before law enforcement arrived, it’s critical that employers are prepared for the unthinkable.

This occupational safety and health standard is intended to address comprehensively the issue of classifying the potential hazards of chemicals, and communicating information concerning hazards and appropriate protective measures to employees, and to preempt any legislative or regulatory enactments of a state, or political subdivision of a state, pertaining to this subject.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries reported 54 fatalities in 2009 from scaffold staging. In a BLS study, 72 percent of workers injured in scaffold accidents said either the planking or support gave way, slipping, or being struck by a falling object. All can be controlled by compliance with OSHA standards.

The new year is a time to think about how to make your plant floor safer, more productive and cost effective. But that takes more than just basic machine maintenance. What about taking a fresh look at one of your biggest investments: your staff's knowledge of machine safeguarding?

Workers servicing or maintaining machines or equipment may be seriously injured or killed if hazardous energy is not properly controlled. Injuries resulting from the failure to control hazardous energy during maintenance activities can be serious or fatal. Injuries may include electrocution, burns, crushing, cutting, lacerating, amputating, or fracturing body parts.