OSHA has just published a new booklet that outlines safe procedures for emergency responders who may face fires and explosions caused by combustible dust. "Firefighting Precautions at Facilities with Combustible Dust"describes how combustible dust explosions occur and uses historic incidents to illustrate how firefighting operations can prevent combustible dust explosions.
As workers, workplace safety activists and others gather in ceremonies around the country to commemorate Workers Memorial Day today, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka blasted business groups for blocking what he says are much-needed safeguards.
Theme this year: toxic chemical exposure in the workplace
April 28, 2014
Today is Workers’ Memorial Day, on which individuals who have died on the job are honored in ceremonies all over the country. At the U.S. Department of Labor headquarters in Washington, D.C., Secretary Perez, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels and Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health Joseph A. Main will deliver remarks focusing on the hazards of toxic chemical exposure in the workplace – this year’s theme.
Workers Memorial Day, April 28, reminds us that every death, injury, or illness on the job represents a human tragedy. Behind each statistic is the loss of a loved one’s life, the diminution or loss of a father’s or mother’s ability to provide for family needs, or a medical crisis that can have lifelong consequences.
Before you blame the worker, or even the PPE itself for some workplace incident, consider that the worker may be sleep deprived. Often, when a worker is confronted for violating a policy, he or she will shrug and say, “I forgot.” Many safety professionals are realizing that human errors, behavioral drift and even recklessness can be traced to a growing threat to workplace safety –a lack of sleep.
Just in time for Workers' Memorial Day (April 28), the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) has released its annual report on preventable deaths in the U.S. workplace.
The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) is proud to announce Stefan Bright as the winner of the 2014 Triangle Award for Heroic Dedication for his role in establishing a field manual, training and standards that reduced fatalities among professional window washers by 30 percent over the last two decades.
Repetitive tasks exist in most workplaces and wherever they’re present, so too is a frustrating safety risk. It seems like the more we perform a particular task, the better we should be at it. I guess that is true for the first few times we do a task, but then our human minds have a tendency to wander.
The bigwigs came from as far away as Denmark when hundreds of Wheelabrator 200 employees and guests gathered together last month to mark a special event: one million hours without a lost time incident.