Among the articles in the October 2018 issue of ISHN Magazine, we have a list of ways to inspire improved employee safety habits with safety incentive programs, some perspective on OSHA compliance, and much more.
How would you feel working as the head of safety and health for one of the world’s most scrutinized companies? Your CEO is one of the most talked-about executives in the world. How many CEOs make the cover of Rolling Stone?
Employees have come to expect to be rewarded for a variety of professional achievements or practices, including safety and industrial hygiene. In fact, 79 percent of employees want rewards programs, and 73 percent think rewards encourage engagement, according to research.
Although U.S. OSHA updated its occupational silica standard in 2016 for the first time in 45 years, relatively few countries have followed suit. Aside from a handful of European countries, some Canadian Provinces and Mexico, most other countries do not have as stringent of a standard as the current U.S. Permissible Exposure Limit of 0.05 mg/m^3.
Behavior-based coaching is essential for any mission to keep people safe. It’s human nature to get distracted or complacent on the job, and to deviate from performing the prescribed safe operating procedure (SOP).
Within industries there are multiple hazards that require multiple types of hand protection. That’s one of the key findings of the 2017 PPE Hand Protection CLEAReport from Clear Seas Research, which took a deep dive into the factors that influence hand protection purchasing decisions.
The study, by Clear Seas Research, was conducted to understand the PPE hearing market by identifying brand usage, exploring important attributes of brand selection for PPE and identifying purchase process trends.
While protecting against a hazard is your first and most obvious concern when choosing protective clothing, it might be just as important to consider the environment. If workers are uncomfortable, they can be tempted to cut corners on safety.
With more options than ever before, safety footwear is anything but a one-size-fits-all purchase. As you evaluate your footwear program, there are many things to think about, such as job-site hazards, seasonal weather exposure and material durability.
When OSHA revised the walking-working surface standard in 2016, part of the goal was to make the general industry standard more consistent with existing construction standards.
When turnaround season comes to your facility, managers and turnaround personnel face a big dilemma: How do you successfully and safely complete the turnaround on a tight schedule?
OSHA’s hazard communication standard requires employers with hazardous chemicals in the workplace to implement a formal hazard communication program that includes processes for managing and maintaining safety data sheets, container labels, chemical inventory lists, a written HCS plan, and employee training on OSHA’s standard specific to the employer’s work environment.
From the oil industry to mining, agriculture to research, any working environment that puts employees in close proximity to occupational hazards such as potentially harmful chemicals must make workplace safety a priority. The food processing and packing industries are no exception.
Workers who use hand and/or power tools can expose themselves and co-workers to personal injuries and illnesses such as: lacerations, crushes, burns, amputations; fractures and musculoskeletal disorders; skin and pulmonary illnesses; sight and hearing damage; and electrical shocks.
From R&D specialists to the disposal crew, products and projects often require a village of workers onsite. While some of these workers may be part of your organization, successful businesses often require third-party contractors to better manage resources and deliver quality results.
Establishing a safe workplace requires more than PPE and policy. Training and performance management are critical, but only go so far, and all the visual cues, scrolling monitors and pithy slogans in the world won’t make your workplace sustainably safe and healthy.
Corrie discusses Safety I, Safety II, and Safety III. Safety I is the current practice—injury prevention. It is slowly evolving into Safety II, which emphasizes human performance and systems controls. Safety III holds out the promise of reinventing the profession.
Perhaps you read about the NIOSH study published in late August that found construction workers die of drug overdoses (not while on the job) at a rate six times higher than the general work population. Heroin was the main killer, followed by prescription opioids.
An OSHA health compliance officer (an industrial hygienist -- IH) recently put me in an ethical dilemma. While conducting “side-by-side” air sampling as the employer’s representative during an OSHA inspection, I observed that the OSHA IH was not sampling for asbestos correctly.
Process safety management (PSM) is a term that is most frequently used in highly hazardous industries like oil refining, gas processing and chemical manufacturing. However, PSM could apply to any industry where people are working in and around any hazardous equipment or environment.
In his mega-popular book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell centers his thesis on the claim that experts come to the point where “they just know.” They develop intuition, based on diligent practice. So experts get the answer without having to go through a step-by-step process of analysis.
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.
Cross contamination is a serious challenge for food processing facilities that manufacture both allergen-free and gluten-free products and those for general consumption. Everything in the facility must be free from contaminants to ensure the safety of these food products.
The term “Safety culture” has become like the term “engagement” in popular management writings. There is no common agreement on the term. We are left with (mis)interpretations of terms like “safety culture,” which lead to haphazard attempts at changing organizations toward improvement.