Columns | ISHN

Missed opportunities: How the fight against COVID-19 became a stalemate

November 8, 2021

Unfortunately, with many having actively protested exposure prevention protocols since the emergency of the COVID-19 virus and many actively protesting vaccinations, methods to counter the virus are being bypassed by a large percentage of the population; in turn, this is enabling the possibility for COVID-19 to linger and/or return.

Post-incident substance abuse policies do not defy OSHA guidelines

Randy DeVaul

November 8, 2021

An effective substance abuse testing program safeguards your employees and workplace against injuries and illnesses, or other incidents caused by substance abuse or misuse.

Editorial

OSHA seeks public input to gather diverse perspectives and expertise

Benita Mehta

November 1, 2021

Together with a Biden-Harris administration interagency effort, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings on Oct. 27, 2021.

Best Practices

Vapor: An argument for the defense

Dan Markiewicz, MS, CIH, CSP, CHMM

November 1, 2021

Among the properties of chemicals such as molecular weight, solubility, reactivity, pH and such, vapor pressure (VP) is the most important property for worker health considerations.

Return-to-work policies should be a critical element in your workers’ compensation program

Randy DeVaul

October 20, 2021

There are basic concepts about workers’ compensation that everyone within an organization should know so that everyone works together toward getting the injured employee and the company back to 100% or, at least, to pre-injury status.

OSHA begins heat safety initiative, plans to hire compliance officers

Benita Mehta

October 20, 2021

OSHA is implementing an enforcement initiative on heat-related hazards, developing a National Emphasis Program on heat inspections, and launching a rulemaking process to develop a workplace heat standard.

Best Practices

OHS expert witnesses in demand with new forms of litigation due to workplace injury disputes

Dan Markiewicz, MS, CIH, CSP, CHMM

October 18, 2021

In the earliest days of OHS, disputes of who was responsible for the payment of a workplace injury or illness was settled by litigation. Every US state eventually passed workers’ compensation insurance law to establish a no-fault system where responsibility for injury/illness payment nearly always falls upon the employer.

Centralized data collection elevates risk prevention

EHS data collection: Overcoming cultural barriers

Angelo Cianfrocco

September 23, 2021

In a recent poll we asked EHS professionals: what is your biggest barrier to collecting accurate EHS data? The clear winner was “cultural barriers to data entry” followed by “training of data collectors” which received 39% and 30% of the vote respectively. Culture is a word that is commonly used in the EHS industry and building a safety culture is often a focus of EHS professionals.

How to comprehensively review your safety measures with a three-phase approach

Randy DeVaul

September 1, 2021

Performance Safety can be defined as an on-going review of processes, procedures, and practices through observation, workplace examinations, and task analysis.

Editorial Comments

Heat exposure has killed hundreds of U.S. workers — it’s time to do something about it

Benita Mehta

September 1, 2021

As brutal heat continues this summer, a report published in August by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) says outdoor workers in the United States could face four times as many days with hazardous heat by mid-century if action isn't taken to reduce greenhouse gas pollution.

This webinar will provide attendees information and demographics on the profession and what can be done to make every effort to ensure young OEHS professionals are learning about what we do to continue our “mission” – working with management at all levels to ensure that a safe and healthy work environment is provided and maintained.