Risk Management

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Whether managing inventories to ensure that your company is ‘in compliance’ with all applicable laws and regulations, managing onsite chemicals comes with huge environmental, health and safety risks.

In June 2018, OSHA introduced the silica standard so workers exposed to silica-generating tasks would be protected from the hazards of silica and silica dust. Just over a year in, we have seen some companies still failing to comply, others still in the process, and others doing quite well.

Software is radically changing chemical management. But while the growing chemical safety software options available help more businesses keep their workers safe and workplaces compliant, the crowded space also makes it harder for those shopping for a solution to select one that best fits their needs.

Operations that produce dust as a byproduct of their processes rely on an industrial dust collection system to provide clean air to the workplace. However, the dust collection system itself could be a source of danger if it isn’t properly equipped and maintained.

Telling employees to watch their step isn’t enough to eliminate slip, trip and fall injuries in production areas. Like other safety hazards, slip, trip and fall hazards can be identified and in many cases eliminated.

Each year when OSHA reports its most frequently violated standards, the control of hazardous energy, also known as lockout tagout (1910.147) consistently appears high on the list of greatest offenders. In fact, citations for improper lockout tagout procedures ranked fifth on OSHA’s 2018 top 10 most frequently cited standards list, with nearly 3,000 violations.

Homicide as the cause of death in the workplace has risen from ninth in 2015 to fourth in 2018.  OSHA has increasingly invoked the General Duty Clause to require employers to protect workers from workplace violence from bullying to homicides.

Nearly eight years ago, in its Z359.14 Safety Requirements for Self-Retracting Devices standard, ANSI divided self-retracting lifelines (SRLs) into two classes, Class A and Class B. Although it’s been close to a decade, there is still some misunderstanding as to what these classes mean.