It’s Summer and I Have Nothing to Wear: Personal Protective Equipment and Summer Dress Codes

Summer is here, and so is the sun. That means many people will try to stay cool while working and many businesses relax dress codes to allow for shorts and sandals. But workplace hazards do not take a summer vacation, and the hot weather also brings its own dangers. A previous blog post addressed steps employers could take to prevent heat illness. Not only should employers implement heat illness prevention programs, but they must continue to make sure workers wear their personal protective equipment (PPE)…
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How to get Management to “Buy In” for Safety

To get the attention of CEO’s and upper level management, one must focus the conversation on the company’s bottom line. Often times, discussions of workplace safety involve conversations about increased expenses and red tape. However, the struggle to promote the need for additional workplace safety can be made easier if the conversation is focused on terms that CEO’s and management understand and are excited to implement. CEO’s and upper level management “relate to dollars and cents. They don’t relate to incident rates,” says Terry Hart,…
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OSHA’s Recommended Practices For Safety And Health Programs In Construction: A Step-By-Step Approach To Implementing A Safety And Health Program

OSHA publishes a set of recommended practices for safety and health programs to help employers establish a methodical approach to improving safety and health in their workplaces. OSHA’s Recommended Practices for Safety and Health Programs in Construction (Construction Practices) has been updated to account for changes since the document was first published – over 30 years ago – taking into consideration, greater technology and more diversity among workers. The focus of the Construction Practices is on finding and fixing hazards before they can cause injury…
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OSHA Delays Enforcement of Anti-Retaliation Provision Until December 1

OSHA has decided once again to postpone enforcement of the anti-retaliation provision contained in its new injury and illness tracking rule until December 1 in order to allow a federal court time to review a motion challenging the provision. OSHA initially intended to implement the provision on August 10, 2016. At that time, the roll-out was delayed to allow time for outreach to the community the rule affects. The final rule advocates an employee’s right to freely report injuries and illnesses without fear of employer…
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OSHA’s New Reporting Rule Dabbles With Behavioral Economics to Incentivize Workplace Safety

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a new rule that applies behavioral economics to incentivize workplace safety. The new rule requires electronic submission of workplace injury and illness reports in order to better inform workers, employers and the general public about workplace hazards. OSHA representatives remark that such a policy can be analogized to restaurant grading based on sanitation whereby restaurants must comply with kitchen cleanliness guidelines or suffer public disclosure of violations. Similarly, employers must make workplace safety a…
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Deadly Incident Shows Importance of Addressing OSHA Citations Regarding Process Safety Management

OSHA recently investigated a DuPont facility after four workers were killed by the release of a lethal gas. OSHA cited DuPont for 11 safety violations and fined them $99,000. Nine of these violations were classified as “serious” (OSHA defines a serious violation as when the workplace hazard could cause an accident or illness that would most likely result in death or serious physical harm), while one was a repeat violation. A DuPont worker was overcome by the release of methyl mercaptan gas after she opened…
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Upstream Oil, Gas Hazards Added to OSHA Severe Violator Program as “High-Emphasis Hazards”

According to a recently issued OSHA memorandum, over twenty years’ worth of statistics show that upstream oil and gas production operations are plagued by fatalities at a rate five to eight times greater than the national average. Based on these alarming statistics, OSHA implemented a new policy under its Severe Violator Enforcement Program (“SVEP”) captured by Instruction CPL 02-00-149 Section XI, which endeavors to curb industry fatalities. The memorandum concerning this new SVEP Section was quietly issued to field officials and attorneys at a recent…
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OSHA Related News for April

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