The topic of worker heat exposure has made headlines across the country in recent years. In January of this year, OSHA leveled a fine of $149,664 for violations of the General Duty Clause in response to the 2018 death of a California Postal Worker.
In creating an AR/FR PPE program, you should dedicate a fair amount of time researching, selecting and sourcing quality garments to protect your employees. Time is spent on the front end to make sure that the proper garment is designed in order to comply with industry standards and provide acceptable wearer comfort.
To borrow a phrase from the Wizard of Oz, we in the safety industry are “not in Kansas anymore.” Those old familiar spreadsheets, processes, and equipment that got us to where we are today, are not going to get us where we’re going.
Injuries to two employees in two separate incidents have resulted in OSHA citations against a Mobile, Alabama packaging manufacturer.
One of the workers at the ProAmpac facility suffered a severe hand injury after being caught in a piece of equipment. Another employee sustained a finger laceration when struck by moving machine parts.
The role physical activity plays in heat-related illness, this year’s “Dirty Dozen,” and a giant coffee chain finds that it has to protect its workers from dangerous objects left behind by drug users. These were among the occupational safety and health stories featured this week on ISHN.com.
Cal/OSHA has issued more than $300,000 in serious citations to two employers after a temporary worker lost two fingers cleaning machinery at a food manufacturing facility in Los Angeles. The worker was cleaning a dough rolling machine when his left hand was partially pulled into the moving rollers and two of his fingers were amputated.
Just in time for Workers Memorial Day, April 28, the AFL-CIO has released its annual report, “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect.” Among the figures in this year’s comprehensive look at the state of safety and health protections for America’s workers:
in 2017, 5,147 workers lost their lives on the job as a result of traumatic injuries, according to fatality data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) is calling on the EPA to review its existing Hydrofluoric Acid (HF) study to determine the effectiveness of existing regulations as well as the viability of utilizing inherently safer alkylation technologies in petroleum refineries.
In a letter sent to the EPA, the CSB notes that in the last four years, the agency has investigated two refinery incidents where an explosion elevated the threat of a release of HF.
The most important machine design step is ensuring operator safety. During the design process, hazards are often identified that can be removed, but when a hazard cannot be removed, then various levels of safeguarding must be provided. These typically take the form of machine access guarding and point-of-operation guarding.
Starbucks is installing needle-disposal boxes in bathrooms at its locations in dozens of U.S. markets, due to employee concerns about sharps injuries from hypodermic needles left by drug-using customers. According to Business Insider, two employees of the giant coffee chain were stuck with hypodermic needles in 2018 at a store in Eugene, Oregon. OSHA investigated and fined Starbucks $3,100.