On Thursday, June 22, Dr. Tim Ludwig drew an audience of 500 attendees at ASSE’s Safety 2017 to his presentation on stopping the ever-popular blame game as a safety practice and instead striving for a better understanding of human behavior.

What would the 4th of July be without fireworks? The nation’s favorite summertime holiday is celebrated with fireworks ranging from sparklers for the kids to spectacular pyrotechnics displays for entire communities. Those shows can involve considerable hazards for those responsible for making sure they go off without a hitch.

New midsize SUV ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show that headlights are improving when it comes to visibility, but many still need to do a better job of lighting the road ahead while limiting bothersome glare.

Some of the sessions taking place this week have been dubbed “Super Sessions” due to their focus on key issues in the safety industry. One such Super Session Tuesday morning took place on the expo floor and spoke of the dangers of complacency.

Workers who must perform tasks in close proximity to traffic and using heavy machinery face obvious dangers, such as speeding, distracted or impaired drivers and loud traffic noise that may mask the approach of work vehicles.

Approximately 4,000 construction workers are about to be a little bit safer, due to a partnership formed recently between the Georgia Institute of Technology Onsite Safety and Health Consultation Program, Holder Construction Co., Associated General Contractors of Georgia Inc. and OSHA.

In the first case study, an electrician was working on a circuit breaker panel that he thought was deenergized. After completing the work, the electrician was closing one of the enclosure doors when an arc flash occurred.

A journeyman electrician and an electrical helper were at a worksite to install a new three-phase run of wire between an existing energized 480-volt circuit breaker panel and a new piece of machinery. During the process, the journeyman electrician attempted to install a missing bolt from a breaker mount on an energized 480-volt bus bar.

Arc flash generally refers to the dangerous exposure to thermal energy released by an arcing fault on an electrical power system. In recent years, arc flash hazards have become a prominent safety issue in many industries.

First there was the National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction. Now, contractors are being asked to stop work at their trenching operations in order to raise awareness of trenching and excavation hazards.