Safety Tips
9 ways to keep workers safe during peak mosquito season
Mosquito-borne diseases kill more people than any other illness. Their bites can infect victims with diseases like malaria, dengue and yellow fever. In the U.S, encephalitis (EEE) and West Nile Virus (WNV) are the major diseases caused by different species of mosquitoes. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) nearly 300-1500 cases of […]
Safety awards: a high-five program that changed a company
Not all safety incentive programs need to be expensive or complicated. At Rocky Mountain Masonry, a daily high-five routine has helped educate and inspire workers, earning the company the 2013 Charles A. Cain Safety Award. The award was presented by the Utah’s Workers Compensation Fund (WCF) for innovative safety practices. The workers also meet for five minutes […]
Less safety culture, more work accidents
Does your company have a safety program, safety culture or safety climate? If you’re not sure, that could have a direct and damaging impact on your health. The relationship between safety culture and work accidents: According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, “Developing strong safety cultures has the single greatest impact on accident reduction […]
Heat safety: A universal issue that requires an individual approach
This is the time of year when we start to hear about heat emergencies, and the need to keep hydrated and cool, especially if you work outdoors in the sun. A combination of high temperatures, high humidity and physical exertion can raise the body’s temperature to a point that it can’t be cooled by […]
A comprehensive guide on PPE
What Is PPE? (Personal Protective Equipment Defined) Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is any clothing, device, or substance specifically designed to protect workers from risks of injury or illness in the workplace. PPE serves as the last line of defense in the hierarchy of controls, used when engineering controls, administrative controls, and substitution cannot fully eliminate […]
Welding fumes increase risk of hearing loss
Welders are routinely exposed to arc flashes, intense heat, and blinding light, putting them at risk for vision loss and burns. However, recent findings show that welders are also at a high risk for hearing loss. While an obvious reason seems to be their noisy work environment, prolonged exposure to welding fumes could also be […]
Where to look for asbestos in older homes
During the peak of asbestos use in the United States, nearly every building was constructed with asbestos products. Almost every pre-1980 home was built with these hazardous materials, including shingles, insulation and tiles. Many of those same products remain in place today, where they pose exposure risks to current contract workers who are hired to […]
Promote forklift safety with stencils: a how-to guide
It’s a testament to the care and thoughtfulness with which many do their jobs that there aren’t more forklift fatalities each year—but that doesn’t mean accidents don’t happen. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), someone is killed about every three days in a forklift-related incident. To lower that figure and […]
Safety wallet cards: a pocket reference for safe work practices
For many industries, a small slip in safety can mean serious injury or cost. As such, it becomes important that stringent safety measures are practiced and company safety policies are followed to the letter. Employee training helps achieve that, but it’s difficult for even experts to retain all the details of safety procedures. Safety […]
How many safety violations can you see in this photo? #HazardSpotting
New York is a busy, bustling city, and sometimes when you stop to smell the roses, you catch sight of some disturbing thorns. One recent morning walk in my quiet residential neighborhood of Brooklyn brought me across the following perilous scene. My first thought was for my own safety; I was walking on that side […]