In the effort to protect and promote the health and safety of employees, perhaps no issue is potentially more complex and challenging than that of employee “presenteeism.” Generally defined as a loss of personal productivity resulting from health-related issues, presenteeism can run the gamut, from simple exhaustion on Monday morning following a busy weekend to constant pain and discomfort stemming from a chronic medical condition.
With many states legalizing marijuana, the cannabis industry has seen a boom in business. However, as with any industry, employers and workers who grow cannabis need to be equipped with the proper protective equipment while doing their job. In its May 2017 issue, The Synergist magazine explores the topic of personal protective equipment (PPE) for workers in this emerging industry.
A once-cozy relationship between unions and OSHA under the Obama administration has cooled –at least for now. Continuing its promise to roll back OSHA rules influenced by the Obama administration, the Trump administration has leveraged OSHA to withdraw one of its so-called pro-union rules.
An auto insulation manufacturer in suburban Toledo faces $569,463 in proposed penalties after an OSHA investigation following a report that a machine amputated a 46-year-old worker's right hand, wrist and part of his forearm.
One of the main challenges of running an agency like OSHA is ensuring that a mid-20th century law adequately assures worker safety and health under 21st century working conditions. The economy and structure of work is very different than it was in 1970 when the Occupational Safety and Health Act was passed: for example, there far fewer unionized workplaces and far more “temporary” workers.
In the first three months of 2017, five miners died in accidents that occurred when they were working alone on mine property. To raise awareness of the potential dangers in doing so, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has launched an initiative to focus on the hazards miners may encounter when they work in areas away from others.
A contract worker was seriously injured when a trolley struck and crushed him inside the Wal-Mart Distribution Center in Brundidge, Ala. OSHA cited Wal-Mart and the worker’s employer, Swisslog Logistics Inc., for serious and willful violations for exposing workers to caught-between, struck-by and crushing hazards and for failing to implement lockout/tagout procedures.
A Texas measure that would encourage school districts and educators to include workplace health and safety training information in the curricula of grades 7-12 schoolkids got a boost from AIHA President Steven E. Lacey, PhD, CIH, CSP, who traveled to the state to testify in support of the bill at a House Public Education Committee hearing.
The U.S. Senate yesterday confirmed Alexander Acosta as Labor Secretary on a 60-38 vote.
Acosta has served on the National Labor Relations Board and has been a federal assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice and a U.S. attorney in Florida.
Recognizing that the future of American manufacturing lies with today's youth, Rockford Systems, LLC today launched its "Selfie for Safety" campaign to help raise student awareness of the importance of machine safeguarding and to help fund the upgrading of safety equipment in the machine shops of several high schools in Rockford, Illinois, where the company's headquarters is located.
