Use the dropdown below to jump to health and safety resources for your desired topic, or scroll to browse topic details.
The Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) has specific requirements for schools management of asbestos-containing materials (ACM).
AHERA requires that schools maintain ACM in good condition. This includes identifying asbestos-containing materials, development of a management plan, reinspections, performing response actions, and recordkeeping requirements.
OSHA uses the term "permit-required confined space" (permit space) to describe a confined space that has one or more of the following characteristics: contains or has the potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere; contains material that has the potential to engulf an entrant; has walls that converge inward or floors that slope downward and taper into a smaller area which could trap or asphyxiate an entrant; or contains any other recognized safety or health hazard, such as unguarded machinery, exposed live wires, or heat stress.
Proper lockout/tagout (LOTO) practices and procedures safeguard workers from hazardous energy releases. OSHA's Lockout/Tagout Fact Sheet describes the practices and procedures necessary to disable machinery or equipment to prevent hazardous energy release. The OSHA standard for The Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout) (29 CFR 1910.147) for general industry outlines measures for controlling different types of hazardous energy. The LOTO standard establishes the employer's responsibility to protect workers from hazardous energy. Employers are also required to train each worker to ensure that they know, understand, and are able to follow the applicable provisions of the hazardous energy control procedures:
OSHA's electrical standards are based on the National Fire Protection Association Standards NFPA 70, National Electric Code, and NFPA 70E, Electrical Safety Requirements for Employee Workplaces. OSHA also has electrical safety standards for the construction industry, in 29 CFR 1926, Subpart K.
Nobody expects an emergency or disaster. Yet emergencies and disasters can strike anyone, anytime, anywhere. Employers should establish effective safety and health management systems and prepare their workers to handle emergencies before they arise.
Employers must set up the workplace to prevent employees from falling off of overhead platforms, elevated work stations or into holes in the floor and walls. OSHA requires that fall protection be provided at elevations of four feet in general industry workplaces, five feet in shipyards, six feet in the construction industry and eight feet in longshoring operations. In addition, OSHA requires that fall protection be provided when working over dangerous equipment and machinery, regardless of the fall distance.
At a minimum, your fire prevention plan must include: A list of all major fire hazards, proper handling and storage procedures for hazardous materials, potential ignition sources and their control, and the type of fire protection equipment necessary to control each major hazard. [29 CFR 1910.39(c)(1)]
Hand and power tools are a common part of our everyday lives and are present in nearly every industry. These tools help us to easily perform tasks that otherwise would be difficult or impossible. However, these simple tools can be hazardous and have the potential for causing severe injuries when used or maintained improperly. Special attention toward hand and power tool safety is necessary in order to reduce or eliminate these hazards.
Employers that have hazardous chemicals in their workplaces are required by OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard (29 CFR 1910.1200) to implement a written hazard communication program. The program must include labels on containers of hazardous chemicals, safety data sheets (SDSs) for hazardous chemicals, and training for workers. Each employer must also describe in a written program how it will meet the requirements of the HCS in each of these areas.
Hot work" means riveting, welding, flame cutting or other fire or spark-producing operation. Hot work in confined spaces. Hot work shall not be performed in a confined space until a designated person has tested the atmosphere and determined that it is not hazardous. Fire protection.
The prevention of another future incident is the purpose of incident investigation, not to lay blame or find who's at fault. The investigation should identify the causes of the incident so that controls can be put in place to prevent the same / similar incident from happening again.
With the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, Congress created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to ensure safe and healthful working conditions for workers by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance.
A MEWP is a mobile machine. It is used to move persons to working positions where they are carrying out work from the work platform, with the intention that persons are getting on and off the work platform only at access positions at ground level or on the chassis. It consists at a minimum of a work platform with controls, an extending structure and a chassis.
Under the OSH Act's General Duty Clause, employers must keep their workplaces free from recognized serious hazards, including ergonomic hazards
Personal protective equipment, commonly referred to as "PPE", is equipment worn to minimize exposure to hazards that cause serious workplace injuries and illnesses. These injuries and illnesses may result from contact with chemical, radiological, physical, electrical, mechanical, or other workplace hazards. Personal protective equipment may include items such as gloves, safety glasses and shoes, earplugs or muffs, hard hats, respirators, or coveralls, vests and full body suits.
In the United States, the Department of Labor regulates workplace safety and has agencies to enforce these standards. The largest and most well-known of these agencies is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The OSH Act of 1970 regulates safety for the majority of private sector employees, and OSHA is the government agency that enforces the act. In addition, OSHA approves state-run safety and health programs that effectively cover state and local government workers in addition to private sector employees
One of the biggest components of workers’ compensation is an effective return-to-work (RTW) program
OSHA's primary standard for slip, trip, and fall hazards is the General Industry Walking-Working Surface standard (29 CFR 1910 Subpart D, which includes §1910.21-30).
Education and training provides employers, managers, supervisors, and workers with: Knowledge and skills needed to do their work safely and avoid creating hazards that could place themselves or others at risk. Awareness and understanding of workplace hazards and how to identify, report, and control them.
Trench collapses, or cave-ins, pose the greatest risk to workers’ lives. When done safely, trenching operations can reduce worker exposure to other potential hazards include falls, falling loads, hazardous atmospheres, and incidents involving mobile equipment. OSHA standards require that employers provide workplaces free of recognized hazards. The employer must comply with the trenching and excavation requirements of 29 CFR 1926.651 and 1926.652 or comparable OSHA-approved state plan requirements.
Safe use of motor vehicles, construction machinery, and equipment requires familiarity with the equipment as well as adherence to the following basic rules:
Transportation incidents and workers struck by vehicles or mobile equipment account for the highest number of fatal work injuries, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Workers such as emergency responders, clean-up, utility, demolition, construction, and others in areas where there are moving vehicles and traffic are exposed to being struck-by moving vehicles. Work zones are used to move traffic in an approved direction and are typically identified by signs, cones, barrels, and barriers
