The OSH Act of 1970 requires the Secretary of Labor to produce regulations that require employers in certain industries to keep records of occupational deaths, injuries, and illnesses. The records are used for several purposes. Injury and illness statistics are used by OSHA. OSHA collects data through the OSHA Data Initiative (ODI) to help direct […]
A Written Workplace Safety Program is a management approach for identifying, analyzing, and controlling workplace safety and health issues. This includes developing systematic policies, and practices in creating and maintaining a safe and healthy working environment. The implementation of a written safety plan is a proven and effective method for reducing the number of accidents […]
Not all work environments are the classic 4 walls work environment, many employees work on the road traveling, work from home, or in other special situations, how do these unique work situations effect recordability of injuries? Work Environments While Traveling Work in the interest of the employer. Injuries and illnesses that occur while an employee […]
The universal waste regulations at 40 CFR 273 are less burdensome alternatives to the RCRA requirements of 40 CFR 260–270 that apply to regular hazardous waste. Part of US EPA’s reason for creating universal waste rules was that small and conditionally exempt (now called “very small”) generators create a high volume of universal waste. Without […]
There is a preoccupation in most industries for measuring safety using the frequency or severity of lost time accidents and incidents. Regrettably, there is only a very tenuous link between safety in the workplace and the number of lost time accidents. The reasons for this are many and varied but it is becoming fairly obvious […]
You’ve probably heard the famous quote from General Eisenhower about plans being useless but planning essential. It’s as valid today as it was when IKE first used it but maybe we should ask, “If plans are so useless, why do we bother writing them?” Part of the problem is how we use plans. To many […]
Have you ever wished your workplace safety meetings were more interesting, more engaging, more productive, and more rewarding? Perhaps you desire to improve your work force’s knowledge of office safety or general ethics of safety at work- but you just run out of ideas on how best to do this. Then you need not bother […]
The first stage in improving the level of safety in your workplace is to assess exactly where you are. This is your starting point. Then, you have to recognize the culture that exists in your organization and the factors that have created it. The culture is the sum of the experience, history, belief system, work […]
Setting out to modify or change the safety culture in a workplace is a daunting task. Working against you is the custom, practice and habits that have been built up over the years. However, this is not your biggest challenge. The biggest challenge lies in the belief system that occupies everybody’s mind. Again, this has […]
The direct and indirect accident costs represent the “benefits” (money saved) if we adopt the recommended actions. The benefits are realized because we will not have to pay the costs over the foreseeable future. To help estimate direct and indirect costs, you can use OSHA’s Safety Pays software. This is an excellent software tool that […]