Workplace safety signs are regulated by OSH) under standard 1910.145 (Specifications for accident prevention signs and tags). The safety sign elements outlined in standard 1910.145 are determined and legally enforced by OSHA, meaning failure to include any one of them in your safety signage could land you a citation come inspection day.

If your facility has confined spaces on site, it is critically important that you evaluate those spaces to determine if you need to have a permit-required confined space program. 

According to OSHA, businesses spend almost $1 billion per week on costs related to occupational injuries and illnesses. “In today's business environment,” according to OSHA, “these costs can be the difference between operating in the black and running in the red.”

Crystalline silica is one of the most common elements on the planet, just behind oxygen. About 2.3 million workers are exposed to it in their workplace. It’s about 100 times smaller than sand and can be found on construction sites in building materials such as concrete, block, stone, sand, and mortar.

OSHA estimates some two million construction employees are exposed to respirable crystalline silica in more than 600,000 workplaces across the country. To comply, companies need to follow multiple steps that aren’t always as easy as they might seem.

Machine guarding once again made OSHA’s top ten list of most-frequently violated standards for fiscal year 2019. Coming in at number eight, OSHA’s machine guarding standard 1910.212 was cited for violations 1,743 times in 2019, compared to 1,972 citations in 2018.

We sat down with Matthew Elson, CEO of SHE Softwares to discuss implementing safety programs, and a positive safety culture for workers. Below are excerpts from that conversation.

Although many employees typically provide some or all of their own work attire, it is the employer who will be issued a citation if a worker who is exposed to electric arc or flame hazards is not wearing flame-resistant (FR) clothing.

Most times something bad doesn’t happen when we cut corners, so it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that we are working “safe enough.” We need to focus our attention on being good instead of lucky.