Effectively labeling your distribution center with safety signage can prevent injuries and is an OSHA demand. Not only can it prevent or at least minimize injury to personnel, it can minimize downtime and workers’ compensation claims and fines. Making your facility injury free starts with a safety inspection and evaluation of all operations, equipment and … Read more
If there is an accident in your workplace, it can result in damaged products, hospitalization costs, and perhaps some lost productivity while the aftermath is cleaned up. But once everybody is back to work, that’s the end of it, right? Wrong! The truth is that even a single workplace accident can cost businesses an astronomical … Read more
At some point or another in their careers, just about everybody has worked at a place where most of their co-workers just didn’t seem to care much about what happens. Inaccurate or damaged orders may have been shipped without being double checked. Safety standards may have been ignored or glossed over. And “looking the other way” … Read more
The thing about power lines is that they are everywhere. Rural areas, urban areas, suburbs, you name it. No matter where you are working, look up and there are bound to be overhead power lines. Touching an electrical line can result in instant electrocution, causing serious injury or even death. In fact, about 119 people … Read more
Falls killed 350 construction workers in 2015, making it the leading cause of death in the construction industry. More than one out of every three fatal falls were from heights of 15 feet or less. And one in four deadly falls were from ladders. These are just some of the statistics to be highlighted during … Read more
Throw water on a grease fire and it will get bigger. Use a fire hose on an electrical fire and you could put everybody in the vicinity in danger of an electrical shock. Knowing how to extinguish different types of workplace fires does more than just cut down on property damage. It also could prevent … Read more
As any business owner can tell you, workplaces can be hazardous to employees. Every year, more than $50 billion is spent on worker disability claims. The saddest part is that most workplace injuries can be easily avoided if a few simple changes are made. Identifying risks within the workplace and making corrections, retraining workers to … Read more
While the biggest construction contractors often have teams of safety and health specialists on staff to help identify and eliminate safety hazards, smaller-scale contractors who make up the majority of construction businesses are generally on their own. Until now, that is. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently issued a new guide designed to … Read more
Every fall, thousands of farms begin the process of harvesting millions of tons of corn, wheat, oats, barley, soybeans and other agricultural products. It’s an annual tradition that has been the backbone of the US agricultural industry since the country began. But working with grain has its risks and every year agricultural workers are injured … Read more
In Part I of my series describing OSHA’s regulation 1910.178 on Powered Industrial Trucks, I covered the responsibilities of the warehouse manager, program administrator, supervisors, and employees pertaining to the safe use of powered industrial trucks. In this article, Part II of the series, I will discuss what OSHA expects warehouses to do concerning training … Read more
