Black Friday. Although that name hasn’t always evoked strong and immediate passions in millions of Americans, it certainly has in recent years, and progressively so. Wikipedia is not a source readily consulted by serious researchers on weighty topics, but there is arguably little harm done in turning to it for a quick study on…
David Michaels, the Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, notes that, given his agency’s limited resources, it would take OSHA investigators about a century to conduct safety inspections at all the nation’s workplaces. Here’s some of the math related to that assessment: 2,400 inspectors tasked with oversight of approximately…
Nine Ohio business and government entities across the state have been awarded money under the state’s Safety-Intervention Grant Program, with the nearly $260,000 provided them being allotted to safety enhancements at their respective workplaces. The program is administered by the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation pursuant to money made available by taxpayers. Steve Buehrer,…
Tomorrow’s manufacturing work environment in Ohio and elsewhere across the country will look quite different from what it does today. As noted in a recent report on the subject, managers of industrial worksites will “be proactive in employing new strategies and proven tactics to reduce injury triggers in the workplace.” Given the statistical certainty…
Saying that “it continues to dismiss a culture of safety as a priority,” an official from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced fines against national retailer Home Depot for multiple safety infractions observed at one Ohio store. That store, in Reynoldsburg, was cited recently for eight safety violations and assessed a fine of…
The question posed in this blog title is being earnestly debated by advocates on both sides of the argument. On-the-job injuries noted by the federal government have dropped discernibly over the past 10 years, but not everyone in Ohio and elsewhere with a close interest in workplace safety believes that the downward spike is…
Stories that regularly surface in Ohio media outlets regarding work-related injuries make it manifestly clear that all manner of on-the-job injuries occur in industries across the state, and in high numbers. Notwithstanding that reality, it is difficult to note exactly where Ohio resides vis a vis other states in the rate of workplace accidents…
One realm that often seems to be de-emphasized when it comes to talk of workplace accidents and employees’ on-the-job injuries is the agricultural industry. Understandably, stories that center upon workers’ falls, electrical and burn injuries, scaffolding accidents, excavation-related injuries and related harms often surface in the construction industry. Likewise, worker injuries that occur in…
The Occupational Safety and Health Act was enacted by Congress in 1970. Its objective over the past 40-plus years has been to promote workplace safety in Ohio and all other states by providing for training, conducting inspections that identify safety hazards, recognizing both exemplary and safety-lagging enterprises, and enforcing standards though fines and an…
The Occupational Safety Health Administration (OSHA) is the nation’s watchdog safety agency overseeing businesses and industries across the country. Charged by a congressional mandate to promote workers’ safety in Ohio and every other state through safety inspections, guidance to employers, safety rules and regulations, and punitive enforcement when necessary, OSHA has both fans and…