Industrial Safety & Health Top Stories

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A 55-year-old carman fell more than 12 feet to the ground after his aerial lift collapsed. The worker had been standing on an elevated platform to install a canopy on a railcar, but the platform could not support his weight.

The EPA is revising the 1992 Agricultural Worker Protection Standard to strengthen protections for the nation’s two million agricultural employees who work on farms, forests, nurseries and greenhouses. The agency says the revisions will afford farmworkers similar health protections that are already afforded to workers in other industries.

Terry Mathis, founder and CEO of ProAct Safety, asked for a call to action Monday, saying every safety program needs branding, which creates buy-in. He compared safety programs to sports teams and other visually recognizable brands such as Nike and Coca-Cola, which all have distinct logos.

At NSC on Monday, speaker Sam Smolik, SVP America Manufacturing and Refining Operations at LyondellBasell, offered some management advice he has learned over 40 years in the manufacturing business. He said he started at LyondellBasell when the company wasn’t in the best shape, but they have worked really hard to get where they are today.

Do your employees know the real cost of an injury, asked Rodney Grieve of BRANTA Worldwide. During a Learning Lab Monday at NSC he offered tips on how to defend profits and protect your employees while proving value, gaining cooperation and saving lives. Grieve discussed commonly-used language in the profession and said the words we use connote different behavior, sometimes in a negative light.

Install smoke alarms throughout your house or facility. That’s the primary message of the National Fire Prevention Association’s (NFPA) Fire Prevention Week, which takes place Oct. 4-10.

A study of work-related injuries involving a hand or fingers among union carpenters in Washington state, 1989 to 2008, found that hand injuries accounted for 21.1% of reported injuries and 9.5% of paid lost-time injuries.

One of the compelling conversations at NSC Monday was about how to better engage workers and speaker Aaron Walsh, who came up with an initiative called Immersive Education, suggested failure as an option.

One in 10 (10.2 percent) pregnant women in the United States ages 18 to 44 years reports drinking alcohol in the past 30 days. In addition, 3.1 percent of pregnant women report binge drinking – defined as 4 or more alcoholic beverages on one occasion.

Terry Mathis, founder and CEO of ProAct Safety, asked for a call to action Monday, saying every safety program needs branding, which creates buy-in. He compared safety programs to sports teams and other visually recognizable brands such as Nike and Coca-Cola, which all have distinct logos.