The November newsletter from FDRsafety contains important information for employers who use contractors on their worksite. OSHA enforcement is increasing enforcement against companies for exposure of contractor employees to unsafe conditions. A court ruling earlier this year affirmed OSHA’s ability …
OSHA has released its preliminary list of the top 10 safety violations it has assessed in 2009 and at the head of the list are scaffolding problems (9,093 violations so far), fall protection (8,771 violations) and hazard communications (6,378 violations). …
OSHA is getting ready to abandon its proposal to use Threshold Limit Values (TLVs) as its standard for exposure limits to chemicals. OSHA recently decided to maintain its mandatory permissible exposure limits (PELs), rather than switch to the TLVs, designed …
OSHA has announced the list of industries that will be targeted under its one-year program that will intensively ramp up recordkeeping enforcement. The program concentrates on industries with traditionally high accident rates. Within those industries, companies that have reported low …
There has been a lot of attention given to the increased emphasis on enforcement by the “New OSHA,” but companies need not panic – thoughtful planning can prepare your company well for an OSHA inspection. Here are five key steps …
My colleague Fred Rine, founder and CEO of FDRsafety, spent nearly 20 years running the safety departments at Roadway Express and FedEx and is an expert on fleet safety programs. In an article in the upcoming issue of Occupational Health …
One of the leading causes of deaths and serious injuries in American industry is falls from heights. OSHA’s regulations for general industry employers haven’t changed since OSHA started enforcing its standards in 1971. The general industry fall protection rules I …
Bob Sands posted a question that may be on other readers’ minds about my earlier blog entry on OSHA’s new emphasis on recordkeeping. Is the collection of real-time accident evidence/documentation (photos, video, audio etc.) a detriment or benefit to a …
As detailed in other entries on this blog, a bill introduced by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) would have a huge impact on occupational safety law, broadening the scope of those covered and increasing penalties, among other things. The …
Proposed changes to the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which I wrote about in an earlier post, are quite far-reaching. Besides expanding coverage of the act to all federal and state government employees and some local government workers, it would …