worker health and safety

The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) Dirty Dozen list

AIHA declares September Worker Health and Safety Month

AIHA will emphasize a specific worker health and safety theme every week throughout September

September 1, 2023

AIHA will emphasize a specific worker health and safety theme every week throughout September.

Best Practices

How to interpret the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

PWFA: Historic and inevitable

Dan Markiewicz MS, CIH, CSP, RMP

March 15, 2023

The federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) was signed into law on December 29, 2022 and becomes effective in June. Here’s a detailed look at what this means.

Editorial Comments

Report uncovers extreme stress facing industrial workers

Demanding roles taking tolls on workers’ mental health and bodies

Benita Mehta

November 16, 2022

A new report conducted by a third-party research firm reveals that the demands of transport workers, as defined by warehousing, transport, manufacturing and construction, are having significant negative impacts not only on industrial workers’ bodies, but also their mental and emotional wellbeing.

Cover Story

8 steps to a winning heat safety plan

Together, 30 experts create actionable solutions to reduce injuries

M.B. Sutherland

July 12, 2022

The internet is full of outdated, incomplete, and even wrongheaded advice, and the news is full of dire predictions that the world is getting hotter and heat illness is getting more frequent. So what’s a concerned safety manager to do?

Preventing workplace violence

“Vast underreporting” is a major obstacle

Dave Johnson

April 19, 2022

Anger is on the rise across U.S. society. The Covid-19 pandemic is an obvious contributing factor. A 2020 global study found healthcare professionals were roughly 50 percent more likely than other community members to be harassed, bullied or hurt as a result of the pandemic.

Extreme heat affects workers in many ways, both long- and short-term

John Heniff

April 14, 2022

Dripping beads of sweat and getting a sunburn aren’t the only signs you’ve been spending too much time in the sun. New research shows the effects of heat and humidity are more far-reaching and affect more body systems than we realized.

How to comprehensively review your safety measures with a three-phase approach

Randy DeVaul

September 1, 2021

Performance Safety can be defined as an on-going review of processes, procedures, and practices through observation, workplace examinations, and task analysis.

Are long work hours unhealthy? The issue is more complex than it initially appears

Dan Markiewicz MS, CIH, CSP, RMP

August 25, 2021

Long working hours are now considered by the WHO/ILO to be the occupational risk factor with the largest attributable disease burden. WHO/ILO advise, “Protecting and promoting occupational and workers’ safety and health requires interventions to reduce hazardous long working hours.”

Best Practices

Can PWFA transform how OHS is practiced?

Pregnant workers bill could be enacted this year

Dan Markiewicz MS, CIH, CSP, RMP

April 27, 2021

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (H.R. 1065, February 2021) is being fast-tracked into federal law. The bill has wide bipartisan support. President Biden campaigned on the law’s passage.

PPE designed to help workers stay productive year-round

Keep your Cool

M.B. Sutherland

September 1, 2020

Summer may be officially over, but for many of us, the heat’s still on! In fact, just this July, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a La Niña Watch. That means it’s likely that much of the country may see above average or significantly above average temperatures well into fall.