OSHA has formed a national alliance with the National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA), and Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) to protect the safety and health of workers in the solid waste industry. During the two-year agreement, the Alliance will address transportation hazards, including backovers and distracted driving; slips, trips, and falls; musculoskeletal injuries; heat and cold stress; and needle stick and other hazards.

It’s mid-shift, and your workplace is humming with activity. Suddenly, a fire breaks out. It’s relatively small – at least for the moment. Employee safety is your first priority, of course. Ordering an immediate evacuation is the obvious action to take. Or is it?

Safety professionals in a wide range of industries are well aware of the importance of personal protective equipment (PPE). When it comes to protecting eyes and faces, the employer or safety manager must assess the workplace and determine if there are hazards present that that necessitate the use PPE by workers. [29 CFR 1910.132(d)]

The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) has created a new opportunity for emerging occupational safety and health professionals to advance their careers while getting involved in the world’s oldest professional safety organization. Applications are now being accepted for the 2020 Emerging Professional Award, which will recognize five next-generation safety leaders and place them into a yearlong professional development program.

OSHA has implemented an OSHA Weighting System (OWS) for inspections that it says will focus enforcement activities on “critical and strategic areas.” Under the current enforcement weighting system, OSHA weights certain inspections based on the time taken to complete the inspection or, in some cases, the impact of the inspection on workplace safety and health.

Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are materials that are intentionally produced to have at least one primary dimension less than 100 nanometers. These materials have new or unique properties different from those of larger forms of the same material, making them desirable for specific product applications.

About 2.8 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses were reported by private industry employers in 2017. That’s over 100,000,000 production days lost due to work-related injuries. Because of this, safety training is a very important part of the onboarding process for a new hire - especially for those working in an environment with many machines or hazardous materials.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released details about a deadly gas pipeline rupture that occurred in August in Lincoln County, Kentucky. The rupture in the 30-inch-diameter natural gas transmission pipeline, which was owned and operated by Enbridge Inc., released about 66 million cubic feet of natural gas - which ignited.

An Ohio county court has sentenced Jim Coon – a roofing contractor based in Akron, Ohio – to prison after he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of a 39-year-old employee who fell from a three-story roof while working without required fall protection in November 2017.