Nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses among private industry employers in 2008 occurred at a rate of 3.9 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers, down from 4.2 cases in 2007, according a report by the Department of Labor’s the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In 2008, there were 3.7 million nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses reported, down from 4 [...]
Source: EHS Today & the National Safety Council
Barriers to Selling Safety
Phil La Duke (Director of Performance Improvement at O/E Learning) outlined the following common roadblocks to selling safety to company leadership:
- No budget. According to La Duke, this is one of the biggest barriers to selling safety. Even more, the budget often is an excuse for company leadership who really don’t want to address safety; they use it to push safety professionals away.
- Safety is perceived as discretionary spending. “Sometimes, [safety] is discretionary spending, something it’s not. We have to do know the difference,” La Duke said.
- Safety is viewed as an overhead cost. Company operations or leadership sometimes assume people inevitably are going to get hurt, and they therefore accept those injuries as an overhead cost.
- Safety is seen as important but not urgent. While La Duke said it is extremely rare to hear company leadership say that safety is not important, they might not view safety as urgent or as the most important concern.
- The “We might get lucky” attitude. Company operations may hope things proceed normally without any accidents happening – a dangerous strategy that relies on luck.
- The company’s recent safety performance has artificially improved. Sometimes, safety performance appears to improve for little or no reason. When that happens, company leadership might question why it’s important to focus on safety.
Keys to Selling Safety
La Duke explained how EHS professionals can overcome those barriers and present safety in a way that ensures it gets attention, no matter what the current economic climate. The bottom line is to meet company leadership’s needs and to show how safety fits it with the organization’s goals and success.
Continue reading Selling Safety in a Tough Economy
The U.S. Department of Transportation recently held the first meeting for its newly formed safety council, which includes representatives from the agency’s 10 operating administrations.
The department previously had no formal process for the administrations to share safety data, best practices and strategies. The council is charged with further enhancing all administrations’ safety focus and boosting the [...]
"Where Are My Keys?"
The top violations are up almost 30% from 2008 and include the following:
1. Scaffolding – 9,093 violations
Scaffold accidents most often result from the planking or support giving way,
or from the employee slipping or being struck by a falling object.
2. Fall Protection – 6,771 violations
Any time a worker is at a height of four feet or more, the worker is at risk
and needs to be protected. Fall protection must be provided at four feet in
general industry, five feet in maritime and six feet in construction.
3. Hazard Communication – 6,378 violations
Chemical manufacturers and importers are required to evaluate the hazards of
the chemicals they produce or import, and prepare labels and safety data
sheets to convey the hazard information to their downstream customers.
4. Respiratory Protection – 3,803 violations
Respirators protect workers against insufficient oxygen environments, harmful
dusts, fogs, smokes, mists, gases, vapors and sprays. These hazards may cause
cancer, lung impairment, other diseases or death.
5. Lockout-Tag out – 3,321 violations
“Lockout-Tag out” refers to specific practices and procedures to safeguard
employees from the unexpected startup of machinery and equipment, or the
release of hazardous energy during service or maintenance activities.
Continue reading Top 10 OSHA Safety Violations for 2009
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Effective September 30, 2009, OSHA has begun a new National Emphasis Program (NEP) for inspecting the accuracy
of the Occupational Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting Requirements for low rate establishments in selected industries.
OSHA postulates the most likely places where under-recorded injuries and illnesses may exist
would be low rate establishments operating in historically high rate industries. The NEP will
pilot test OSHA’s ability to effectively target establishments to identify under-recording of
occupational injuries and illnesses.
This NEP is one component of OSHA’s effort to address the issue of inaccurate recording of
occupational injuries and illnesses. In addition to this NEP, OSHA will address the issue through
comprehensive training of its compliance staff to identify and correct violations of the
recordkeeping regulation. OSHA will also develop other enforcement and quality assurance
programs to address the recordkeeping issue in establishments and industries outside the scope of
this NEP (e.g., the construction industry, Partnerships, VPP and SHARP establishments).
Industries included have a DART (days away, restrictions and transfers – based on the 200,000 hour benchmark) rate of 5.7 to 8.1 and include:
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OSHA notified over 13,500 employers in April 2009 regarding their higher than average injury and illness rates. OSHA stated that the letter was an attempt to make the employers aware of their rates and to encourage them to work to lower the rates and improve their overall health and safety via:
hiring an outside safety and [...]
