Death on a movie set, a nanotechnology research update and prison time for a roofing contractor after an employee’s fatal fall. These were among the top occupational safety and health stories featured on ISHN.com this week.
RMS Utilities Inc. is facing $92,819 in penalties after OSHA found that the Colorado company:
failed to protect employees from cave-in hazards
failed to keep the spoil pile at least two feet back from the edge of the excavation, and f
allowed employees to work beneath an excavator bucket...
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October 11, 2019
In today’s busy warehouses and other industrial facilities, what might seem like small events can add up to big impacts on efficiency, productivity and safety.
A door activates, but no one goes through. A forklift collision is narrowly avoided at a busy intersection. A loading dock sits empty, while a full trailer waits to be unloaded.
A collision earlier this year involving two trains owned by the same company resulted in minor injuries to both engineers and the derailment of one locomotive and more than two dozen railcars.
The National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) preliminary report into the incident reveals that a westbound CSX Transportation (CSX) freight train collided with an eastbound CSX freight train near Carey, Ohio at 5:08 a.m. on August. 12.
OSHA has formed a national alliance with the National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA), and Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) to protect the safety and health of workers in the solid waste industry.
During the two-year agreement, the Alliance will address transportation hazards, including backovers and distracted driving; slips, trips, and falls; musculoskeletal injuries; heat and cold stress; and needle stick and other hazards.
It’s mid-shift, and your workplace is humming with activity. Suddenly, a fire breaks out. It’s relatively small – at least for the moment. Employee safety is your first priority, of course. Ordering an immediate evacuation is the obvious action to take.
Or is it?
Safety professionals in a wide range of industries are well aware of the importance of personal protective equipment (PPE).
When it comes to protecting eyes and faces, the employer or safety manager must assess the workplace and determine if there are hazards present that that necessitate the use PPE by workers. [29 CFR 1910.132(d)]
The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) has created a new opportunity for emerging occupational safety and health professionals to advance their careers while getting involved in the world’s oldest professional safety organization. Applications are now being accepted for the 2020 Emerging Professional Award, which will recognize five next-generation safety leaders and place them into a yearlong professional development program.
OSHA has implemented an OSHA Weighting System (OWS) for inspections that it says will focus enforcement activities on “critical and strategic areas.”
Under the current enforcement weighting system, OSHA weights certain inspections based on the time taken to complete the inspection or, in some cases, the impact of the inspection on workplace safety and health.
Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are materials that are intentionally produced to have at least one primary dimension less than 100 nanometers. These materials have new or unique properties different from those of larger forms of the same material, making them desirable for specific product applications.