As we wind down 2015 and look ahead to 2016, I have written in this space before about how this is a great time to look back over the year that was, take lessons from what happened and work to be stronger and better as we look forward to make goals for the year to [...]
Is it a false sense of security? It is a feeling of invincibility? Is it just not thinking? Or is it not knowing enough? Whether you are working as a welder, combat soldier, construction worker, firefighter or a chef in a kitchen that uses open flame, you can understand the value of wearing flame-resistant clothing. [...]
Sometimes just as soon as you wonder what people at OSHA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency do with their free time ... Boom, they remind you what they're doing all along. Every once in a while, as you all know (at least, those of you loyal readers of this little corner of the Interwebs), [...]
As we are in the last month of the year 2015 (already!), this is usually a good time for many people and companies to look over the past year and start to look ahead to the new year and make either resolutions or to at least address possible changes to the way things have been [...]
As safety officers, we really do work very hard to try to mitigate incidents at our worksites. We generally understand that every incident is a liability and injury risk for our company and our workers. Especially for those of us who have lived the last couple generations with the Heinrich Triangle. [Image courtesy of [...]
We all know that no two incidents are alike, but we can agree that there can be a general context to every incident that at least makes them similar in terms of the safety protocols that could have prevented the incident, or those which did not address what happened in an adequate way. Heinrich postulated [...]
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 [...]
