OSHA Smackdown: $1.4 million in Fines to CES

One January 4th OSHA issued citations against Chemical & Environmental Services LLC, a Houston-based waste management and transportation services company for a series of incidents dating back to December 2008 involving several fatalities at the company’s Griggs Road and Port Arthur facilities.

Clean Room Spill Control Options

A clean room presents a particular type of spill control issue that also ties in to the need to protect the environment in question from external contaminants. Quite simply, the floor of a clean room, whether the room is used to put together computer components or perform lab work with biological organisms or chemicals needs to be protected in order to maintain the integrity of the workspace.

Procedures For Safe Aerosol Can Disposal

If your industry makes regular use of aerosol cans, then you know just how much of a hassle it can be to find storage space for all of your empties until it is time to take them to the local hazardous waste disposal site. Even if you do have a dumpster or storage room dedicated to aerosol cans, you might be nervous about the idea of stockpiling an item that is well known to be a risk for accidental explosion.

OSHA Secretary Lays Out Five Green Reform Principles

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently participated in a special workshop organized by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) on the subject of ‘Going Green.’ More specifically, the emphasis of the meeting was on the idea that new government initiatives surround the creation of environmentally-friendly or ‘green’ jobs also offered an opportunity for OSHA to get in on the ground floor of a brand new industry and ensure that employee safety is built in from the bottom up.

OSHA Provides Guidance for EMS Workers and HazMat

Most workers who are routinely exposed to hazardous substances during the course of their jobs receive the type of training necessary to help protect themselves from the negative effects associated with accidental exposure or improper procedures.  However, there is another class of workers who are only occasionally foisted into situations where they may come into [...]

Top 10 OSHA Standard Violations 2009

When viewed from the inside over a long period of time, it can be difficult for risk managers to remain objective about evaluating new hazards that may have presented themselves in the workplace, or to notice dangers that have always been present but which have yet to come to the fore. It is always helpful to approach the task of worker safety from a fresh perspective from time to time in order to pick up on issues that may not have been apparent from a previous viewpoint.

Air Quality In Enclosed Spaces – Tips For Dealing With Low Oxygen Environments

Working in enclosed spaces can bring a host of unseen hazards to the table that most workers might not think about in the course of their day to day activities. In particular, welders and metal workers are vulnerable to finding themselves in situations where their lives are on the line despite no visible indication of danger.

University Campus Safety – A Broad Mandate

University campuses face unique challenges when it comes to occupational safety, primarily due to the fact that such a wide range of different activities occur on their grounds. While specialized industries may be able to effectively train their employees on the procedures necessary to ensure a hazard-free environment, university workers often face a number of challenging environments during the course of a single day’s work. It is hard to think of another sector of the economy where maintenance workers and other administrative staff could encounter sporting events, chemical storage and transportation issues, high voltage electricity and heavy vehicular traffic all within the confines of a single facility.

Acetylene Storage – New Regulations

A substantial part of creating a safe environment for workers involves minimizing the chances that an employee’s surroundings will in some way contribute to or increase the risk of an accident occurring. Risk managers must frequently engage in the evaluation of a facility’s design, particularly if it is often reconfigured in order to accommodate new projects, or if employees are often asked to move around the building or complex and perform their particular jobs in changing circumstances.

Compressed Gas Cylinders – A Question of Respect

Compressed gas is a fixture at many job sites, but it is also an element which can pose a several potential hazard in terms of worker health and safety. As a result, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has imposed many layers of clear regulations and guidelines designed to help protect those who work with compressed gases from the dangers that surround their use.

Next Page »