In an October 11, 2020 News Release, The US Department of Labor announced that OSHA had proposed penalties in excess of $900,000.00 in Coronavirus pandemic-related violations from the start of the pandemic through October 1, 2020. OSHA had cited over sixty establishments for violations for failure to: Implement a written respiratory protection program Provide a […]

Working from home, telecommuting, is a perk for employees and has significant benefits to the employer. However, with these benefits come additional risks. One such risk is injuries to workers that are ergonomic in nature. Is the employee’s home office the kitchen table or the breakfast nook or a kitchen island or a lap desk […]

The Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) has recently released a free COVID-19 Exposure Planning Tool that (from their website) “…takes you step-by-step through developing a plan to protect employees and prevent the spread of COVID-19 on the job site. Steps include what to consider when conducting a job hazard analysis for COVID-19, selecting […]

The National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction is this week, September 14-18, 2020. Started in 2012 to raise awareness about falls from heights as the leading cause of injuries and fatalities in construction. The alarming, yet not unexpected, statistic is that the number of fall-related fatalities are coming disproportionately from small residential construction […]

In this time of change due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, there have been many operational changes in every industry. One of the things that changed significantly has been how training has been delivered regardless of the topic or the audience. In the recent past, training was, primarily, conducted in-person, both the Instructor and students. Now, […]

Let me tell you a personal story about heat stress. A couple of weeks ago, I made plans to remove the stove pipe from the roof and living room as we no longer had the wood stove for which the stove pipe was installed when the house was built about 20 years ago. The living […]

It is said that “hindsight is 20/20”. The smart thing to do is to take the lessons learned and apply them to future events. In the case of COVID-19, what have we learned? Consider these two questions: How should we have handled the initial COVID-19 outbreak? How should we handle the recurrence of a COVID-19 […]