There has certainly been cause for concern among safety officers lately that incidents on the worksite seem to have increasing odds of inducing serious injuries or fatalities compared to incidents 10 to 15 to 20 years ago. Safety officers were under a lot of pressure and stress to try to minimize the incidents in the [...]
As a safety officer, you have been paying attention to the trends in workplace safety over the last 20 to 30 years. The good news in many areas is that overall incident and injury rates have been steadily dropping over this time, thanks to vigilant efforts by safety officers, C-suites across many industries, and better [...]
Certainly we can all get behind the concept of conserving workers' hearing when on the job site. After all, none of our supervisors would want to raise their voices or talk more slowly in order for a worker to hear us - especially if that worker is only in his 20s or 30s. Hearing loss, [...]
If the shoe fits. If the glove does not fit, you must acquit. There is an awful lot of talk about things fitting or not fitting right. "The economic plan does not fit with reality." "He was a hard worker, but he didn't fit into our company culture." A good fit and comfort level seem [...]
When it comes to noise safety and hearing on construction sites, there seems to be a bit of a gap between the theory of protecting workers' hearing and the reality of the workers actually being safe. [Image courtesy of Flickr user darkbuffet via a Creative Commons license] Hearing protection devices, or HPDs, can be [...]
Safety can be a sensory phenomenon just as much as a physical or mental one. Take a couple of the most-used senses on a worksite - sight and hearing. As safety professionals, we are always on the lookout for ways to protect workers' eyesight. But as noise seems to be everywhere (except in a church [...]
Changing a culture is never an easy process. Especially when thsoe who perpetuate the culture are still in their positions of influence. But if you are one of those influencers and you are considering a change in culture, especially when it comes to worker safety, you could have a tremendous impact in accelerating the learning [...]
When it comes to safety, Robert Pater could be considered a culture warrior. If that name seems familiar, it is probably because you have read his articles in Professional Safety magazine in recent months, or you have read my insightful summaries of his articles in this blog in the past. (Maybe I'm kidding about the insightful [...]
Would you go jogging if you didn't have jogging shoes? Would you go jogging if you did have jogging shoes? Would you go jogging if you thought you did not have jogging shoes, but no one told you they were in your closet? [Image courtesy of Flickr user Kullez via a Creative Commons license] [...]
There is a reason that it's called the Sooner State. It is said it is better sooner rather than later. No one encourages procrastination. [Image courtesy of Flickr user USFSWmidwest via a Creative Commons license] Providing worker safety education to future workers can be vital to keeping young workers safe in workplaces. NIOSH has [...]
