Dave Johnson Articles

Annual Grainger Show attracts 12,000

April 5, 2018

Grainger welcomed more than 12,000 attendees in February to its annual Grainger Show at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. “An event like this for Grainger showcases the types of products, solutions, services and expertise we offer customers,” said Deb Oler, Grainger senior vice president and president, North American Sales and Services.

Owens Corning uses visual literacy for hazard recognition

Dave Johnson

March 20, 2018

Owens Corning has a unique safety-centric relationship with an art museum, the Toledo Museum of Art. Toledo is the home to Owens Corning, a $5.2 billion manufacturer of insulation, roofing and fiberglass composites with 17,000 employees in 33 countries.

Escaping step potential hazards: Minimize voltage between the feet

Dave Johnson

March 14, 2018

According to OSHA, a person on the ground is subjected to risk during an electrical fault by attempting to move toward or away from the grounding point. Step potential is the voltage between the feet of a person standing near an energized grounded object.

Fatigue is the enemy of many oil and gas workers

Dave Johnson

March 7, 2018

In the past decade, more than 300 oil and gas workers were killed in highway crashes, the largest cause of fatalities in the industry. Many of these deaths were due in part to oil field exemptions from highway safety rules that allow truckers to work longer hours than drivers in most other industries, according to an article in The New York Times.

Editorial Comments

Safety is a job: Some take it, some leave it…

Dave Johnson

February 23, 2018

Safety is a responsibility. A well-run safety program or safety culture really isn't possible unless management takes on safety as a job, and maintenance and quality and production and shipping and HR and all other departments are prepped to assume their particular responsibilities for safety.

Coming soon: a glove impact standard

ISEA standard will measure reduction of peak impact force

Dave Johnson

February 13, 2018

Currently, there are no hand protection standards for measuring hand impact reduction. Manufacturers are not required to test the impact protection of their gloves, so how do you evaluate and compare impact protection offered by various glove models?

Flash fire risks? Consult NFPA® Standard 2112 for guidance

Dave Johnson

January 22, 2018

If your workers face short-term thermal exposure from fire, you should research the 2018 edition of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA®) 2112 standard.

Survey says: Safety market stable & healthy in 2018

Technology and sustainability are growing in importance

Dave Johnson

January 1, 2018

You should know that your customers are in a healthy, stable position to spend on safety products entering the new year, according to reader research conducted by ISHN magazine in October, 2017.

Survey reports stable EHS budgets, staffs & incomes

Dave Johnson

January 1, 2018

Safety and health professionals (full-timers) and practitioners (part-timers) are in stable, generally positive positions entering the new year, according to reader research conducted by ISHN magazine in October, 2017.

Why can’t we see red flags?

No one likes to listen to a pessimist

Dave Johnson

December 1, 2017

Do your safety and health efforts have a sufficient number of realists – or potential pessimists – who know the truth on the ground, and will call it as they see it to more distant and pre-occupied higher-ups?