ACGIH® announced today that its Members approved an amendment to the organization’s Bylaws. An overwhelming 95% of eligible voting members voted to approve the amendment. The amended Bylaws will take effect January 1, 2019.
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), an industry group representing 1,000+ manufacturers, has petitioned Cal/OSHA about making changes to a rule governing the use of highly automated agricultural equipment. The AEM says the regulation, as drafted, would negate many of the benefits of highly automated agricultural equipment and autonomous agricultural equipment.
A construction worker was killed at a Brooklyn, New York worksite on the day before Thanksgiving by a piece of sheet metal that fell from an unapproved forklift.
News sources say 44-year-old Over Paredes of Newark, New Jersey was working on the roof of a six-story condo development when a manual forklift that was hoisting part of a metal-framed wall topped onto its side, releasing the metal.
Just by putting “Congo miners” in the title here will have most readers flipping to the next page. I learned this lesson years ago writing an article about workplace safety, or the lack thereof, in China. “Why did you write this article?” asked a reader. “I don’t read ISHN for articles about China.” Another reader opined: “Everybody knows nobody values life in a country like China.”
A Pennsylvania metal parts manufacturer thought it already had an “exceptional” safety program when it reached out to a government program for assistance. Brockway-based Phoenix Sintered Metals, LLC, a family-owned manufacturer of sintered (compacted and formed without liquefaction) metal parts, is “committed to continuous improvement,” according to the company.
Twenty-five years ago, as a young safety professional, I struggled to find a set of leadership practices I could call my own. In 1996, I wrote about many of the leadership practices I was already using but found more clearly established in Servant Leadership (Sarkus, 1996).
Errors made in the design of a 174-foot-long pedestrian bridge in Miami contributed to the fatal collapse of the structure on March 15, 2018, according to an investigative update issued today by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The bridge was intended to let Florida International University students cross safely over a busy highway.
A federal jury last week ruled that the company who hired workers to clean up a coal ash spill in Tennessee failed to protect them from the hazards involved. The ruling clears the way for workers affected by the highly toxic substance to seek damages from Jacobs Engineering, the company tasked with cleaning up a massive coal ash spill at the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Kingston Fossil Plant.
Was it drugs or alcohol? A medical emergency? Federal officials aren’t saying, but an air traffic controller at the Las Vegas tower had to be removed from her position last week after she began slurring her words and giving incoherent commands to pilots – then stopped talking altogether.
A tricky thing, disciplining employees. Every safety pro has a story about discipline:“I had to terminate a woman in 1987 because her body odor was so repulsive, affecting other workers (and her boss… me),” says a pro who requested anonymity. “I remember progressive discipline... You bet I asked the HR manager for assistance.”