Well OK, maybe I am being a little dramatic with the headline. But the point is that protective gear is something that cannot be taken lightly and is not a one-size- or one-type-fits-all scenario. Not only do you need the right type or protective gear for the hazardous situation you're in, but you also have [...]
Road, meet rubber. Now that you have given some real thought to your machinery and equipment at your work site and the risks to workers from that equipment not being properly shut down, you may now be thinking hard about actually putting in a lockout program in your workplace. It might seem expensive in time [...]
One of the big challenges in safety is the inanimate machine, not the unpredictable animating physical asset called a human being. While a human's specific actions may be unpredictable, as safety officers we can safely predict that their actions will be unpredictable. And we can predict generally how a machine is going to act when [...]
If you are looking for a reason to have a lockout program on your job site, you likely will find no better advocate for such a thing than Kina Repp. If you even want to know what a lockout program is and how to implement one, Kina Repp is also a good source. [Image [...]
Relative to car travel, traveling by airplane is a much safer mode of carrying passengers from one place to another (and is often faster, once you take away the long lines in security and the long wait at the gate before boarding). There is almost nowhere in the world that can't be accessed by plane [...]
There may be some out there who still think workplace health nd safety is an expense instead of an investment, and when I or other safety officers try to sell the investment point, there are probably some who think we are just carping along to maintain our jobs by trying to paint the importance of [...]
Many of you loyal readers know that recently I spent a couple of blog posts talking about musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and their impact on time-loss injuries and workplace safety, especially in the construction trades. However, MSDs are certainly not confined only to construction worksites. These kinds of strains, sprains, loss of mobility and pain or soreness [...]
As you well know, I try very hard to keep up on all the latest in occupational health and safety in North America, as I need to in order to do what I do so well. And yes, I have made a commitment lately to share with you, my loyal readers, at least some of [...]
Uniforms have their purpose. There is certainly a reason why many industries and businesses require uniforms at work, not the least of which is to show that the company is fashion-forward. I know. Hard for me to write that with a straight face. But maybe you know why some industries have uniforms and some don't. [...]
When it comes to safety on farms, Alberta hasn't necessarily been an outlier. It is only in the sense of safety regulations and laws that the province has been the black sheep of Canada. The Alberta provincial legislature put the end to that recently with Bill 6. Bill 6 closes the worker-safety loophole in Alberta, [...]
