Occupational Safety

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This is the time of year when OSHA announces their top ten citations of the past fiscal year.  There are few changes in this top- ten list year after year.  Even though the list is of the complete standard’s name, it is usually only one or two sections of a standard that repeatedly makes this list. 

Why should you be concerned about electrical hazards? Electricity has long been recognized as a serious workplace hazard, exposing employees to electric shock, electrocution, burns, fires, and explosions. In 1999, for example, 278 workers died from electrocutions at work, accounting for almost 5 percent of all on-the-job fatalities that year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

United Ethanol LLC has been cited for 15 health and safety violations by OSHA after a worker was fatally engulfed in corn inside a grain storage bin on April 19 at the company’s Milton, Wisc. ethanol manufacturing facility.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) released the latest edition of its U.S. Firefighter Injury Report, highlighting data on injuries sustained by firefighters on duty that was collected from fire departments responding to the 2012 National Fire Experience Survey.

Nearly 3.0 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses were reported by private industry employers in 2012, resulting in an incidence rate of 3.4 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers, according to estimates from the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

New rulemaking from OSHA was the week’s top EHS-related story. In other news: shocking differences between U.S. and U.K. occupational fatality rates and the CSB gives high marks to the NFPA’s new gas process safety standard.

OSHA’s effort to protect temporary workers got some input recently from a coalition of workplace safety groups, worker centers and public health professionals, who presented agency chief Dr. David Michaels with recommendations during a recent forum in Boston devoted to the subject.

Next week’s iSHN Virtual Safety Expo, a free online EHS convention, will be chock full of exhibits, presentations from industry experts and networking opportunities. Here are a few tips to help you maximize your experience:

I learned about “I’m concerned about your safety” as a non-confrontational way to approach a safety and health concern at a safety and health meeting I was at last week.

OSHA today issued a proposed rule to improve workplace safety and health through improved tracking of workplace injuries and illnesses. The announcement follows the Bureau of Labor Statistics' release of its annual Occupational Injuries and Illnesses report, which estimates that three million workers were injured on the job in 2012.