While business owners and consumers closely watch how the new more readily transmittable variant of COVID-19 develops, the occupational environmental health and safety (OEHS) profession is urging business owners, schools and other organizations to continue implementing practical science-based guidelines developed by AIHA.
The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP), the world’s oldest professional safety organization, is urging employers to be more active in adopting voluntary national consensus standards and implementing safety and health management systems in response to newly released fatality data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The National Safety Council is alarmed to see a 2% rise in total worker deaths – 5,333 fatal workplace injuries in 2019 compared to 5,250 in 2018 – according to data released on Wednesday, December 16 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, infections began spreading at the JBS USA beef processing plant in Grand Island, Nebraska, the area’s largest employer with 3,500 workers.
OSHA’s recent enforcement activity serves as a reminder to employers across all industries of the obligation to record work-related COVID-19-related infections, hospitalizations and fatalities. An employer’s failure to comply with OSHA’s recordkeeping and reporting requirements could result in significant penalties.
Covid-19 has a silver lining. This is an opportune time to demonstrate your skills to move “beyond OSHA” for those that see advantages in this direction.
What a year 2020 has been! As 2021 begins, it will be interesting to see how a promising COVID-19 vaccine becomes reality and discover what the new presidential administration will mean for OSHA.