Over the years I have met a number of interesting people. One of my favorites is a person whom I consider to be a Canadian National Treasure, retired Major General Lewis MacKenzie.

An editorial in the New York Times last week praised the work of federal prosecutors in West Virginia for their pursuit of justice in their investigation into the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine tragedy. Those prosecutors deserve the praise. However, the editorial misses an important point.

You probably have heard a saying that goes something like “If you are safe, it is not by accident.”  The world of inspirational posters continues to be an industry that papers our facility walls with good looking, feel good platitudes that have no real, positive impact on safety.

On Saturday, May 18, 2013, David Michaels PhD, MPH, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, gave the commencement address at the George Washington University School of Public Health.

Dr. Nigel Ellis will present on "American worker handhold fall arrest at heights using Three Point Control." This presentation is based on 10 years of work and a Ph.D. thesis by Justin Young, University of Michigan (now Dr. Young is at Kettering University MI). The results, says Dr. Ellis, “are surprising and question current OSHA trigger heights.”

A warm Friday in August and I am enjoying the privilege of visiting EPCOT at Walt Disney World in Florida. One of my favorite things to see is the "American Adventure." One person in our party has an electric convenience vehicle, ECV, so we enter through the special assistance lane to the back row of the auditorium.

With a little fanfare, OSHA announced August 23 a proposed rule that would reduce exposure to silica. The proposed rule, encompassing nearly 800 pages, would reduce the exposure limit to silica to 50 micrograms of respirable crystalline silica per cubic meter, half of what is currently in place.