Articles by Dave Johnson

fatal & non-fatal electrical injuries

NFPA studies fatal & non-fatal electrical injuries

Lessons learned the hard way
Davejohnson
Dave Johnson
October 4, 2018
Nearly three workers die every week (as calculated over a five-year period) from exposure to electricity – a total of 739 deaths during that period. One-fifth of the victims were self-employed. Most fatalities (417) were caused by direct exposure to electricity, such as touching a live wire.
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OSHA Recordkeeping
Extended Online Edition

OSHA recordkeeping often has little to do with reality

A better way of keeping score
Davejohnson
Dave Johnson
September 6, 2018
Dan Petersen, one of the great thinkers in the history of occupational safety, in a 2005 book, “Measurement of Safety Performance,” tore apart the traditional barometers of safety performance, the OSHA total case incident rate, total lost-workday cases, fatalities and other measures.
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CSB video Blocked In

NFPA 70E 2018 breaks new boundaries

Assessing risks, preventing errors, building a culture
Davejohnson
Dave Johnson
August 3, 2018

The 2018 edition of NFPA 70E®, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace®, addresses issues that should be put into practice at any workplace. New voluntary requirements and guidance cover risk assessment, the hierarchy of controls, human error, job safety planning, management systems, work performance and workplace culture.


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OSHA safety professionals

Is OSHA at its nadir?

The agency has been silent for far too long
Davejohnson
Dave Johnson
August 3, 2018
Is OSHA more irrelevant than ever? Many top OSHA officials, careerists, are working in an “acting” or interim basis: the agency’s career deputy assistant secretary position; the head of whistleblower protection; the director of training; and four of the ten agency regional administrators.
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OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping standard

Going public with your injury rates

Pros debate whether transparency helps or harms reputations
Davejohnson
Dave Johnson
August 1, 2018
If you work in safety in a high-hazard industry, would you be worried if your company injury and illness data sat on OSHA’s website to be accessed by the public? Would you fear publicizing the data could damage your company’s reputation?
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Rixio Medina, new ASSE/ASSP president

Q&A with new ASSE/ASSP president

Rixio Medina oversees transition to the organization’s new name
Davejohnson
Dave Johnson
June 26, 2018

ISHN editor Dave Johnson sat down with Rixio Medina, new president of ASSE/ASSP who is overseeing the transition of the organization's new name.


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ways to simplify safety and improve performance

Ways to simplify safety & improve performance

Stop blaming & keep learning
Davejohnson
Dave Johnson
June 25, 2018
If you have an accident, a failure, the easiest thing to do is look whose hand was on the lever. If that is where your root cause analysis stops, that’s a huge mistake,” says Brian Fielkow, JD, CEO of Jetco Delivery, a Houston-based trucking company with more than 100 flatbed and heavy haul trucks.
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