Category: Special Topics in Safety Management

Safety is a process, and as such, needs to be managed. This section offers resources to create a viable safety program, sell it to senior management, train supervisors and employees in using it, and then track and report your progress. Look also for ways to advance your own skills in these areas, both for your current job, and those that follow.

Free Special Report: 50 Tips for More Effective Safety Training

A Look at the EPA’s Audit Policy and Self-Disclosure

On March 26, 2020, the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance (OECA) issued a temporary enforcement discretionary policy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Generally, the policy states that “regulated entities should make every effort to comply with their environmental compliance obligations,” but the EPA does not expect to seek penalties for violations of routine compliance […]

EHS auditing

How EHS Audits Add Organizational Value and Build Better Safety Cultures

A systematic evaluation of your environment, health, and safety (EHS) program is not merely important to ensure compliance—it is an important facet of building a strong culture of safety. Don’t let consciousness of EHS slip, and don’t wait for incidents to happen before you check and inspect!

Masks and workplace safety

Three Key Questions for Motivating Facemask Use and Other Critical Safety Behaviors

Building an ideal safety culture requires a focus on a variety of factors, including Leadership, Systems, Behaviors, Employee Engagement, Internal Person Factors, and Conditions. Therefore, protecting ourselves and others in an optimal way has always required a variety of interventions. This has never been more true than during these times of COVID-19.

Virginia state flag on a facemask

Virginia Is First State to Adopt Emergency COVID-19 Standard

In a break with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Virginia became the first state to adopt an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Virginia’s COVID-19 ETS applies to every employer in the state, unlike California’s Airborne Transmissible Disease (ATD) standard, which only applies to correctional facilities, funeral homes and […]

California and COVID-19

Cal/OSHA Urges Employers to Follow Its COVID-19 Guidance

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) urged the state’s employers to carefully review and follow the agency’s guidelines on protecting employees from COVID-19 infections. An expanded statewide order on indoor closures was issued July 13 by California’s Statewide Public Health Officer and Director of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). The […]

Motor vehicle accident

NIOSH Releases New Strategic Plan for Motor Vehicle Safety

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) released its 2020-2029 strategic plan for its Center for Motor Vehicle Safety (CMVS). The plan implements priorities from the institute-wide strategic plan for fiscal years 2019-2023 with input from other sources.

Workplace masks and distancing

COVID-19: Keep Your Workforce Safe and Healthy During the Pandemic

There is no federal emergency temporary standard for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) exposures, and guidance from federal and state officials seems to change daily. There are a lot of decisions to make and a lot of boxes to check, with incomplete information.

EHS manager, calculations, experience modification, management, data

Is Your Organization Getting the Message? How to Get Safety Program Buy-In

When it comes to communicating your safety goals to an entire organization, do you know how to “tip your message”? This idea of the tipping point, defined by author Malcolm Gladwell as “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point,” can be hugely beneficial when initiating safety culture within your organization. This idea […]

Facemask in heat, summer work

Summer Hazards—Including COVID-19—Are in Full Swing

Employers now must address a host of summer workplace hazards while continuing to protect workers in an ongoing pandemic. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a respiratory illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, is widespread in most U.S. communities and considered a workplace hazard.

Drive Safe

NIOSH Reveals Keys for Improving Driver, Fleet Safety

Corporate fleet safety management practices like driver training, fatigue risk management, in-vehicle monitoring systems (IVMSs), and strong mobile phone policies can reduce the number and severity of motor vehicle crashes, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found in recently published research.