We often see this slogan prominently displayed at businesses throughout the country. Safety First is a bold statement, one that, on the face of it, seems appropriate for any organization. After all, what is more important than the safety of your empl...

OSHA's  29CFR 1904.1  requires all employers with more than 10 employees to keep a record of workplace injuries and illnesses.  All employers are required to complete this recordkeeping unless they have 10 or fewer employees during all...

Head and face injuries are common among skiers and riders. When high rates of speed are factored in, those injuries can be significant. Did you know: In 2012, “67 percent of skiers and snowboarders now wear helmets.” NSAA Helmet...

OSHA defines a filtering facepiece (dust mask) as “a negative pressure particulate respirator with a filter as an integral part of the facepiece or with the entire facepiece composed of the filtering medium.” A filtering facepiece, e.g. N...

Violence in the workplace has become the second leading cause of all work related fatalities.  Consider this: One-sixth of violent crimes occur in the workplace. There are about 2 million incidents a year and 780 deaths in 2011. Guns are i...

The previous two housekeeping ergo blogs covered the risk factors of force, frequency, and posture in housekeeping tasks and their relationship to work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD’s). Ergonomic risks are most effectively addressed b...

The last housekeeping blog identified force, frequency, and posture as key risk factors that play important roles in increasing or decreasing the potential for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). To prevent WMSD’s it is important to...

As a child you were probably reminded constantly to wash your hands before coming to the dinner table. You might have grumbled on doing so with hunger pangs driving you to rush the process—a quick lather, rinse, and wipe on the hand towel, good...

After a heavy rainstorm, you discover four inches of water in your office, or finished basement, and have no idea what to do – or even where to start. The first and most important thing is: don’t panic. In part one of this series, I will ...

It seems that folks are always asking questions about federal law concerning their truck, van, pickup, dump truck, or tractor trailer. There is a trailer load of regulations and guidelines from DOT, but also from OSHA, FMCSA, NHTSA, NTSB, and probabl...