Falls are still the number one killer as well as the number one source of injuries in the construction trade. To change this, several organizations including NIOSH, OSHA, CPWR as well as state and private sectro have partnered and created a website. http://stopconstructionfalls.com/ is a "Campaign to Prevent Falls in Construction". Their goal is to prevent fatalities and injuries through a 3-pronged approach:

1. Plan

2.…

It's Spring Time to Prevent Lyme Disease

May is National Lyme Disease Awareness Month

When you're outside this spring and summer, prevent tick bites and reduce your risk of Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases by following these tips.

Though Lyme disease cases have been reported in nearly every state,…

According to a new study publishes on Prevent Blindness America's website, women are much more susceptible to vision loss, including blindness than are men. This is mainly attributed to longevity (women generally have a longer life expectancy than men) but also to hormonal factors. In fact, studies done by Prevent…

Wildfire Awareness Week Apr 9-13, 2012

Wildfire Safety Tips - Are You Prepared?

Every year across our Nation, some homes survive while many others do not after a major wildfire. Those that survive almost always do so because their owners had prepared for the eventuality of fire, which is an inescapable force of nature in fire-prone wild land areas. Said in…

Look at the photo above. In his left hand, he has a “Life Member” certificate and in his right hand he has a small statuette, much like an Oscar or something, cast of bronze.

Why did this guy do to receive these awards? Quite simply he wore his harness and wore it right when he took a fall. For it, DBI/SALA not only gave him a new fall protection harness to replace the one that he took a…

Most people who have no experience, and some who do, don’t ever think of concrete as something that can cause severe burns. Think again. As these photos demonstrate, concrete can cause serious skin burns and yet very often those who work with concrete wear no protective gear whatsoever, exposing themselves to serious health issues related to the high alkaline content of concrete.…

If you've got fall protection equipment it is imperative that the equipment be inspected each and every time you use it to make sure it isn't damaged and that it will perform well if and when it needs to.

In order to make the process as painless as possible, as well as to have adequate record-keeping, having a checklist form is usually the best way to go.

I've put together the three following checklist forms that you can download and print out to walk you through this…

You see it every day, that black diesel exhaust piping out of the trucks going down the road. And there's plenty that you never do see. Diesel powers a good percentage of heavy equipment, buses, trucks, earth-movers, etc...

Interestingly enough, considering all the vehicle emissions testing and EPA standards, there presently is no federal occupational health standard for diesel,…

Prevent Dog Bites Before They Happen

Every year, more than 4.7 million Americans are bitten by dogs, with more than half of all victims younger than age 14.…

OSHA published their final rules today of the Federal Register that revise regulations governing whistleblower complaints. The act protects employees of publicly traded companies and their subsidiaries, and of certain other employers, from retaliation for reporting mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, securities fraud, violations of SEC rules or regulations, or violations of any provision of federal law relating to fraud against shareholders. OSHA is requesting public comment on the interim…

Yesterday, OSHA unveiled it's top 10 most cited violations of 2011 during a live presentation at the NSC stating that falls are still the leading cause of death in construction. Fall Protection peaked this year at #1 with 7,139 citations issued.

For more information and the complete top 10 list, please visit: http://ehstoday.com/standards/osha/OSHA-top-10-citations-0202/

As part of Tampa Bay Habitat for Humanity’s accelerated build event for Breast Cancer Awareness Month called the “Suzie Q Blitz Build”, HUGSafety’s Fall Protection Guardrail System was used to help expedite the building process by…

OSHA’s implementation of the new fall protection standards have left many contractors wondering if creating a new safety strategy that involves the purchasing of fall arrest or guardrail safety systems can negatively impact their business by being too costly.

Regarding this issue, Bill Moore of Legacy Contracting Solutions had this to say when interviewed by the Palm Beach, FL. Post: “We’re getting beaten by people who say they don’t care about the rules.” Mr. Moore explains…

Anyone working in residential construction has, by now, been made fully aware of the new mandate to OSHA inspectors to enforce the new fall protection standard. We've blogged about this new standard a few times in the past months.

While residential construction workers may feel like it's a pain to have to jump through all these hoops in order to be compliant, especially if they've been doing what they've been doing for many years with no problems, they have to realize that the numbers…

Miller Fall Protection, one of the leaders in fall protection, has come out with a manual entitled "Statement of Best Practices of Personal Fall Protection Systems for Aerial Work Platform Equipment". Here's what they have to say about this document:

Rental businesses, manufacturers, associations, educators, regulators, users and operators have joined forces to produce a Statement of Best Practices…

By Jack Cameron

I will be honest. I have never been crazy about climbing on ladders. I cannot really trace it back to any particularly traumatizing event or anything. I suppose it is just that bit of me that knows I have fallen before and if I fell from a ladder, it could be very bad. If I deconstruct it, I know that I do not actually mind being on the ladder and once I have gotten to…

Skin Cancer Awareness and Prevention

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. The two most common types of skin cancer—basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas—are highly curable. However, melanoma, the third most common skin cancer, is more dangerous. About 65%–90% of melanomas are caused…

     In an article entitled “OSHA’s win is safety’s loss”, author and NRCA executive vice president Bill Good feels as though the new OSHA residential safety directive will cause more problems for the contractors and have a negative impact on the workers that are supposed to benefit from this change.

     He has met with numerous residential contractors and says that only a few of them actually use guardrails. In fact, many he claims have never even used a safety net. He then…