Environmental Health and Safety

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Industry 4.0 has arrived, which means machine shop owners and managers of large manufacturing concerns are all looking at their options for bringing about their own transformation. But what functionality does smart factory equipment really offer? And what types of equipment are worth the price of adoption?

Whether managing inventories to ensure that your company is ‘in compliance’ with all applicable laws and regulations, managing onsite chemicals comes with huge environmental, health and safety risks.

In June 2018, OSHA introduced the silica standard so workers exposed to silica-generating tasks would be protected from the hazards of silica and silica dust. Just over a year in, we have seen some companies still failing to comply, others still in the process, and others doing quite well.

Software is radically changing chemical management. But while the growing chemical safety software options available help more businesses keep their workers safe and workplaces compliant, the crowded space also makes it harder for those shopping for a solution to select one that best fits their needs.

Each year when OSHA reports its most frequently violated standards, the control of hazardous energy, also known as lockout tagout (1910.147) consistently appears high on the list of greatest offenders. In fact, citations for improper lockout tagout procedures ranked fifth on OSHA’s 2018 top 10 most frequently cited standards list, with nearly 3,000 violations.

Our safety programs, if they exist at all, tend to focus on participation and completion, rather than transformation. To be fair, the chief obstacle stems from a preponderance of wrong assumptions and dangerous misconceptions. Identifying some of these (see below) may help us as safety professionals become more effective in our mission.

Homicide as the cause of death in the workplace has risen from ninth in 2015 to fourth in 2018.  OSHA has increasingly invoked the General Duty Clause to require employers to protect workers from workplace violence from bullying to homicides.