May 2017 OH&S

May 2017

  • RESPIRATORY PROTECTION: The Status of Current Respirator Regulations and Standards
  • EMERGENCY SHOWERS & EYEWASH: Testing and Inspecting Your Emergency Equipment
  • INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE: A Framework for Hazard Banding
  • INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE/WELDING: Clearing the Air: The Importance of Filter Replacement for Welding Fume Extraction Systems
  • INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE: Air Monitoring for Health and Safety of Industrial Workers
  • AIHCE 2017 PREVIEW: Seizing on Seattle
  • COMBUSTIBLE DUST: What You Don't Know About Combustible Dust, But Should
  • DISASTER PREPAREDNESS: Building Performance in Earthquakes and the U.S. Resiliency Council's Rating System
  • EMERGENCY RESPONSE TRAINING: Three Groups to Consider in Emergency Communication Plans
  • CHEMICAL SAFETY/SDS: Understanding Chemical Safety Following the Final GHS Deadline
  • HEARING PROTECTION: How to Choose the Most Effective Hearing Protection?
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Cover Story

Wholesale adoption of GHS hazard classsification principles will disrupt chemical hazard assessment programs and heighten problems manufacturers and importers will face.

Understanding Chemical Safety Following the Final GHS Deadline

By Glenn D. Trout

Don't view the conclusion of this round of GHS deadlines as the end of the process, but rather the beginning of the new state of HazCom and what OSHA now expects for compliance.


Features

Building Performance in Earthquakes and the U.S. Resiliency Council

Building Performance in Earthquakes and the U.S. Resiliency Council's Rating System

By Ron Mayes, Evan Reis, Alan Klembczyk

The greatest value of a building rating system is one that meshes with economic decisions.


Air Monitoring for Health and Safety of Industrial Workers

By R.C. Naik

Monitoring gas and vapor hazards is necessary to ensure workers' health and to see that the working environment is healthy.


The Washington State Convention Center is located in downtown Seattle and hosts AIHce 2017. (Washington State Convention Center photo)

Seizing on Seattle

By Jerry Laws

The year's biggest U.S industrial hygiene show, AIHce EXP docks in the Emerald City next month.


The Status of Current Respirator Regulations and Standards

By Jeffrey Birkner

OSHA is considering some methods that will speed up the process of fit testing but still ensure that users are properly fitted with a particular respirator.


Wise executives ensure that all potential exposure is properly prepared for, with compliant equipment.

Testing and Inspecting Your Emergency Equipment

By Fred Elliott

Here's what the key eyewash and shower standard, ANSI/ISEA Z358.1-2014, says about weekly tests and annual inspections of the equipment.


Based on its investigations of combustible dust incidents, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board has concluded that they are entirely preventable. (Photo by Andrew Hancock, Huntington Herald-Press, included in CSB

What You Don't Know About Combustible Dust, But Should

By Stephen Watkins

By understanding the risks of this hazard and the regulations surrounding it, you can better equip your facility to prevent "near misses" so they never turn into catastrophic explosions.


A Framework for Hazard Banding

By Jerry Laws

Exposure limits are absent for thousands of chemicals, creating a need for guidance that occupational exposure banding can help to fill, according to the authors of a new guidance document.


The purpose of any fume control system is to help control worker exposure to welding fume. If not maintained properly, the system may not adequately control that exposure. (Lincoln Electric photo)

Clearing the Air: The Importance of Filter Replacement for Welding Fume Extraction Systems

By Jason A. Lange

For as much as you might be tempted to cut costs, filter replacement isn't a good place to do it. Not all replacement filters are alike, even if they are specifically designed to fit your system.


Three Groups to Consider in Emergency Communication Plans

By Karen D. Hamel

Knowing the types of emergencies to expect and what response is expected from each person makes it easier for employees to follow the instructions given by either on-site or external responders.


Having a device that does not fit properly will force workers to remove the protection from their ears, thus exposing them to dangerous levels of noise at various points throughout their work shift. (Cotral Lab, Inc. photo)

How to Choose the Most Effective Hearing Protection?

By Tabatha Cirgenski

Decision makers must consider that in many cases, workers have to wear hearing protection for eight hours.


Departments

In Praise of NSC's Moonshot

By Jerry Laws

I applaud the NSC's chief executive and the council for setting this ambitious goal and keeping it on the front burner at every opportunity.


Measuring Behavioral Integrity of Safety Ownership and Improvement

By Shawn M. Galloway

Where there is no behavioral integrity, trust, relationships, and maturing the culture all suffer. Progress will be at a standstill.


Expanding Leadership Vision

By Robert Pater

In my experience in the realms of Safety performance, Magnifying Vision is the most underutilized of the three types of Visioning.


Artificial Intelligence