 The Wall Street Journal has written an article based upon findings of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) indicating a rise in the occurrences of black lung in miners. Based upon the findings of NIOSH, approximately 9% of miners with 25+ years of experience were positive for black lung in 2005 and 2006, which represents a doubling of the percentage of those with black lung in the 1990′s. Black lung is serious health and safety issue in mines, even more so than mine accidents, with more than 10,000 dead since 2000, versus less than 400 from mine accidents.
New monitoring equipment may be potentially introduced by MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration) to allow real-time, continuous monitoring of an employee’s dust exposure, versus the standard 8-hour periodic exposure monitoring. The real-time monitoring would also take into account longer work shifts, which is quite common in the mining industry.
For more information on black lung, NIOSH has produced a video entitled, Faces of Black Lung
View Part 2 after the break:
Continue reading Black Lung Cases on the Rise
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has begun publishing weekly summaries on fatalities and catastrophes (multiple people injured) in the workplace. Per OSHA regulations, employers must report this data to OSHA within eight hours of an event occurring. The result of more “open government” within the Obama administration and better access of information [...]
 Source: CHEMTREC.com Homepage
CHEMTREC (Chemical Transportation Emergency Center) was established in 1971 by the chemical industry as a public service hotline for emergency responders, such as fire fighters and law enforcement, to obtain information and assistance for emergency incidents involving chemicals and hazardous materials.
Registration with CHEMTREC helps assist shippers of hazardous materials to comply with the U.S. Department of Transportation hazardous materials regulation 49 CFR § 172.604, which requires hazmat shippers to provide a 24-hour emergency telephone number on shipping documents for use in the event of an emergency involving hazardous materials.
What is CHEMTREC, view an overview video HERE.
CHEMTREC services include a broad range of critical resources that can help emergency responders mitigate incidents involving hazardous materials, such as:
- A round-the-clock communications center staffed by trained and experienced emergency specialists;
- Immediate access to thousands of chemical product specialists and hazardous materials experts through CHEMTREC’s database of over 30,000 manufacturers, shippers, carriers, public organizations and private resources;
- A state-of-the-art telecommunications system that supports the virtual emergency response team, seamlessly linking on-scene responders with chemical experts, transportation companies, medical experts, and clean-up efforts;
- An expansive electronic library of over 4 million Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS); Continue reading CHEMTREC: Are You Connected?
Bill learns the importance of using PPE… the HARD WAY!
 Black Friday's Crowds With Black Friday looming, OSHA has recently issued a fact sheet on crowd control at retail sales events.
Last year a worker was trampled to death while a mob of shoppers rushed through the doors of a large store to take advantage of an after Thanksgiving Day “Black Friday” sales event. The store was not using the kind of crowd control measures recommended in OSHA’s fact sheet.
“Crowd-related injuries during special retail sales and promotional events have increased during recent years,” said acting Assistant Secretary for OSHA Jordan Barab. “Many of these incidents could be prevented, and this fact sheet provides retail employers with guidelines for avoiding injuries during the holiday shopping season.”
The fact sheet provides employers with recommended elements for crowd control plans. Plans should include having trained security personnel or police officers on site, setting up barricades or rope lines for pedestrians and crowd control well in advance of customers arriving at the store, making sure that barricades are set up so that the customers’ line does not start right at the entrance of the store, preparing an emergency plan that addresses potential dangers, and having security personnel or customer service representatives explain approach and entrance procedures to the arriving public.
Click after the break to download a copy of the fact sheet
Continue reading Black Friday is Near: OSHA Issues Fact Sheet on Crowd Control
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Source: Omron STI’s website
Omron STI’s “Gotcha Stick” Safe Distance Scale accurately tests the allowable barrier opening size, based on the distance from the point-of operation as determined by OSHA data. This three-segment stick features English measurements on one side, and Metric measurements on the other. Guarding machinery by means of hard (fixed) barriers [...]
(Be sure to check out OHShub.com’s Occupational Health & Safety Professional Salary Survey here for detailed salary information provided by professionals like you!)
The Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP), the certification board for those looking to complete or maintain their CSP designation, recently released the results of their 2009 Salary [...]
Often used in conjunction with ISO 14001 (Environmental Management System) OHSAS 18001 2007 is a voluntary occupational health and safety management standard that was developed by the OHSAS Project Group and sets the criteria for health and safety management requirements for various health and safety programs. The goal of [...]
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed $87,430,000 in propose penalties against BP Products North America, Inc. for 709 alleged failures to comply with the 2005 settlement agreement and citations, and violations of safety and health standards identified during the agency’s inspection of the corporation’s refinery in Texas [...]
The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) has launched a free e-course (approximately 30 minutes in length) entitled the Business Case for Health & Safety. The course (i.e. information session) can be viewed at anytime.
(HERE is a direct link to the course in English)
The goal of the Business Case [...]
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