April 2020 | ISHN Magazine

Among the articles in the April 2020 issue of ISHN Magazine, we get some expert advice on how to strengthen safety by emphasizing equipment reliability, discuss the methods that really work to identify hazards, consider ergonomic options in the materials handling industry, and much more.

Strengthen safety by emphasizing equipment reliability

Keep the Gears Moving

Dave Johnson

April 1, 2020

Frankly I’m puzzled why others don’t see the parallels between world-class manufacturing and reliability and maintainability and worker safety,” says Phil LaDuke, who taught reliability and maintainability for one of the Big Three auto companies before moving into safety consulting.

Rethinking Traditional Safety, Part 5

How we lose safety judgment & skill development

Larry Wilson

April 1, 2020

Since mind not on task is bound to happen if you know how to do something well, there is much more “leverage” or efficiency in getting people to put more effort than they are currently making (none) into improving their safety-related habits.

Heat illness more dangerous, easier to prevent than you think

Hot jobs, high risk

M.B. Sutherland

March 31, 2020

We sat down recently to talk to Dr. Douglas J. Casa, CEO of the University of Connecticut-based Korey Stringer Institute (KSI). The mission of the KSI is to provide research, education, advocacy and consultation to maximize performance, optimize safety and prevent sudden death for the athlete, warfighter and laborer.

Identifying workplace hazards

What methods really work?

Doug Pontsler

April 1, 2020

Seeking safety excellence, we focus on creating a safe working environment by identifying the hazards that exist in our environment -- and how we interact with those hazards as individuals.

Future Focus: Innovation abounds in industrial eye protection

Christopher Young

April 1, 2020

Workplace eye injuries from mechanical or chemical means have increased due to the rise of industrialization globally. The two most common reasons behind such injuries are either the workers were not wearing eye protection or they had worn wrong eye protection at the time of the accident.

Don’t get bogged down in complex EHS software

Keep it simple

Glenn Trout

April 1, 2020

The larger your workforce, the harder it is to keep everyone on the same page and ensure the health and safety of your employees. That’s why so many companies today turn to EHS software to centralize and standardize the management of their people and critical EHS tasks.

Consider ergonomics to reduce materials handling

Craig Moberg

April 1, 2020

Warehouse hazards are often the cause of workplace accidents. Choosing the correct type of storage will greatly reduce the potential hazard in a facility. The correct storage medium will reduce improper lifting, reaching and travel distance to retrieve an item.

Stay proactive in your workplace with hazard signs, alarms, and signals

Alerts on display

Mark H. Stromme

April 1, 2020

Workplaces can sometimes be dangerous and that’s why OSHA requires employers to alert employees to hazards that they could encounter. A proactive way to provide this protection is to use the necessary signage, alarms, and signals to alert workers to these hazards.

Types of welding processes have distinct differences

Wide world of hot work

Megan R. Nichols

April 1, 2020

The act of joining together two different pieces of metal is nothing new. Over the past few centuries, however, new industrial techniques have yielded a variety of different types of welding that can create stronger bonds and expand the kinds of material that can be joined together.

For your health & wellness: Sleeping habits

Better sleep habits may help reduce heart disease risk, aid in weight loss

April 1, 2020

Sleeping well, long enough and having regular bedtimes, in addition to meeting the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Life’s Simple 7 (LS7) guidelines, may help reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular diseases.

Digital Edition Exclusive

What you need to know about coronavirus

What are the symptoms of coronavirus, and how is it treated?

April 1, 2020

What exactly are the symptoms of coronavirus, anyway? Is it deadly? How worried should I be? The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says little is known about the virus, but it still has some tentative answers.

Digital Edition Exclusive

Hydration benefits: Why water is the essence of good health

April 1, 2020

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition recommends drinking up to 3 liters of fluid a day. Water is vital for all cell function. It helps your brain to produce hormones and neurotransmitters, supports the lubrication of joints, keeps your skin cool through sweating or respiration, and your body to excrete waste.

Digital Edition Exclusive

Get your hands on the right safety gloves

Safety gloves, correctly sized and engineered with the correct materials, defend workers from virtually any type of hazard

Carrie Halle

April 1, 2020

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, injuries to hands accounted for nearly 25 percent of all lost-time industrial injuries - a total of 110,000 annually. Seventy percent of those injuries resulted when an employee was not wearing safety gloves, while the other 30 percent of hand injuries occurred while an employee was wearing the wrong kind of gloves.

Editor's Letter

Survivors of a fatality can struggle for answers

Dave Johnson

April 1, 2020

. Gene Hobbs was working for the Meade County Road Department, raking along the edge of a road shortly after noon, when he was run over by a dump truck backing up, killing him upon impact, on December 13, 2016.

Best Practices

The toughest job in safety? It could be cleaning up toxic messes

Dan Markiewicz, MS, CIH, CSP, CHMM

April 1, 2020

The OSHA standards below require employers to certify training. Which requires “A written certificate shall be given to each person so certified”?

Closing Time

Does punishment work? Absolutely, but probably not

Putting up a fight

Timothy Ludwig Ph.D.

April 1, 2020

Invited to do a workshop for a very large international corporation, I went out to a dinner where I sat next to the “grand poohbah” vice president in charge of all things quality and safety. He leaned over to me and said:

Training

IEEE 1584: What to know about your next arc flash analysis

Complex calculations

Chris Guffey

April 1, 2020

Any organization utilizing electrical assets in their production environments or facilities will be aware of NFPA 70E, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace. This standard is what OSHA uses when assessing companies’ adherence to certain safety standards. However, NFPA 70E is further informed by the standard 1584-2018, which is developed by the IEEE.

Ingredients for the best jobs: What makes good jobs better?

Dr John Kello

April 1, 2020

Do you have a great job in EHS? What is a great job? Excellent, enriched jobs have the following characteristics:

Safety Technology

ISEA work group begins the process

A standard for connected worker issues?

Dave Johnson

April 1, 2020

ISEA – the International Safety Equipment Association – is moving forward with a connected worker task group of member companies -- all safety equipment manufacturers -- to decide what actions are needed to ensure and advance safety in the broad, rapidly expanding field of connected worker devices.