January 2016 OHS

January 2016

  • FOOT PROTECTION: If the Shoe Fits . . .
  • FOOT PROTECTION: Footwear That Goes the Extra Mile
  • FALL PROTECTION: Workers Not Always Using Their Fall Protection Equipment?
  • DISASTER PREPAREDNESS: Prepare for the Worst and Then Be Ready When It Happens
  • INCENTIVES: Taking the Work Out of Rewards and Recognition: Using Wellness, Safety, and Performance Incentives
  • INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE/CHEMICAL SAFETY: Four Steps to GHS Compliance
  • PROTECTIVE APPAREL: Informed Workers Are Safer Workers: Science Is the Key to FR Technology
  • YEAR IN REVIEW: Taking Stock of 2015
  • OIL & GAS SAFETY: Solving Employee Transportation Issues
  • OIL & GAS SAFETY: Comfort is the Key to FR Clothing Compliance
  • EMERGENCY EYEWASH & SHOWERS: Gearing Up for the Race Against Time
  • CONSTRUCTION SAFETY: Training By the Book
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Cover Story

If highly corrosive chemicals are used, the drench shower or eyewash should be placed immediately adjacent to the hazard. (Bradley Corp. photo)

Gearing Up for the Race Against Time

By Ryan Pfund

Is your emergency equipment up to the task?


Features

By June 1, 2016, OSHA expects all employers to be fully compliant with GHS adoption.

Four Steps to GHS Compliance

By Nick Recht

The GHS compliance date of Dec. 1, 2015, has passed. Are you in compliance?


Companies often send out an all-staff email if bad weather is predicted, but would employees really know what to do in a serious emergency, be it related to nature or man-made?

Prepare for the Worst and Then Be Ready When It Happens

By Jason Gargala

In many cases, businesses can't prevent a lot of the disasters that may potentially strike, but there's little excuse not to be ready when they do.


The key to ensuring success is participation. Your guidance team can help you determine encouraging and fun ways to keep the program goals top of mind and provide ideas on how to reward participation.

Taking the Work Out of Rewards and Recognition: Using Wellness, Safety, and Performance Incentives

By Steve Spence

Rewarding employees along the way to reaching their ultimate goal encourages long-term engagement.


"There is a strong public safety interest in ensuring that testing moves forward and that NHTSA has access to all test data," NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said.

Taking Stock of 2015

By Matt Holden, Jerry Laws

One of the year's most significant enforcement developments occurred late in the year, in November: President Obama signed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015.


The OSHA construction standards require retraining when hazards change or it is apparent the worker has not retained the necessary proficiency.

Training By the Book

By Jerry Laws

Reading through the training requirements in OSHA’s construction standards highlights their common elements.


Ankle guards should be another box to put on the checklist when choosing appropriate footwear. (D30® photo)

Footwear That Goes the Extra Mile

By Nick Poulson

Assessing the credibility of a brand is just as important as looking at the durability of the product.


Having the right percentage mix and orientation of hydrophilic and hydrophobic within an FR fabric, combined with engineered breathability, is both the art and the science used to create high-performance next-to-skin clothing. (Polartec photo)

Comfort is the Key to FR Clothing Compliance

By Michael Batson

Employees should look professional in their work uniforms with clothing choices that offer the trifecta of good fit, good function, and that offer modern fashion so workers want to wear their FR clothing.


In advance of one storm approaching the Gulf of Mexico, Pemex prepared to evacuate 15,000 workers.

Solving Employee Transportation Issues

By Franc Jeffrey

In the oil & gas industry, the ability to move your workers around safely may be the most important commodity.


In the protective toe footwear industry, there are several delivery models to choose from. The most common are utilizing a local store, web ordering, and shoemobile.

If the Shoe Fits . . . .

By Sally J. Smart

Footwear certified as meeting ASTM F2413-11 must first meet the requirements of impact resistance and compression resistance. Then the requirements of additional sections can be met.


What matters most to the end user is the final product

Informed Workers Are Safer Workers: Science Is the Key to FR Technology

By Jennifer Hopf

End users and wearers of flame-resistant garments should research FR fabrics and manufacturers to make sure they specify those fabrics from reputable suppliers that will meet their unique needs.


Departments

Key Ingredients: What Makes a Safety Strategy Effective

By Shawn M. Galloway

Organizations that tend to outperform others do so with highly engaged employees who feel like they are in the know regarding the company strategy and their evolving role within it.


No Strain Safety

By Robert Pater

We've worked in this field for three decades and have seen numerous organizations with dramatic soft-tissue injury risks have been able to realize up to 80 percent reductions in such injuries.


'360 Strategy' Tackles Heroin, Rx Drug Abuse

By Jerry Laws

"This three-sided strategy . . . could be a model for many other communities," said Gary Tuggle, DEA Special Agent in Charge for the Philadelphia Division.


Artificial Intelligence