The Access Industry Forum (AIF) has introduced a dedicated work at height information helpline for DIOHAS, the Designer’s Initiative on Health & Safety, whose members include professionals from the major architectural practices, other construction disciplines and the Health & Safety Executive (HSE). 

OSHA defines a willful violation as “one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.” Of the 21 healthy and safety violations earned by Smithville Manufacturing Co. in Ohio recently, only one was willful – but it was the one related to the traumatic amputation of a worker’s finger by an unguarded press machine.

From climate change to a statute of limitations on OSHA citations to cleaning jobs and asthma, here are the week’s top OEHS-related stories as featured on ISHN.com:

OSHA has cited Komatsu America Corp. in Peoria, Ill. with four safety violations, including two repeat, after a worker at the company’s truck manufacturing plant was injured while testing hydraulic cylinders for leakage.

There’s no doubt about it: fogging of safety goggles can be a dangerous nuisance. A study in Accident Analysis & Prevention magazine* researched the factors influencing workers’ use of safety eyewear. A group of men and women in the construction, manufacturing, service/maintenance, and healthcare industries were asked what factors determine their personal decision whether to wear their safety glasses or goggles.

A recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court means that employers “should not accept an OSHA citation alleging violations more than six months old,” according to two lawyers who specialize in occupational safety and health law.

If you’ve made even the most cursory read of my articles and blogs you probably already know that I don’t hold much stock in Behavior Based Safety (BBS).  I believe that except for the odd statistical outlier nut-job, nobody WANTS to get hurt and unless they were designed by the Marquis De Sade you processes aren’t intended to hurt people.