The first major snow storm this year in the mid-Atlantic area rang in 57,000 calls from stranded AAA customers. In cold, wintry weather, even a minor car problem like a flat tire can be deadly serious, or at least miserable to deal with, unless you'r...

Recently, I had the opportunity to provide back safety and core awareness training at two locations of the same healthcare organization.   The two locations were operated by two individual administrators and directors of nursing. The administra...

Rod Stanley, Director of Construction Operations for MEMIC Loss Control, called recently to alert me of the first carbon monoxide claim of the winter.  Three workers were loading trucks inside a warehouse in early December. Outside temperatures ...

My colleague and good friend Stewart Hall, a Safety Management Consultant at MEMIC, sent along some great points on Personal Protective Equipment the other day and I thought it was important to share them. Evaluating personal protective equipment (PP...

Henry Reynolds, who works at MEMIC as a safety management consultant, recently told me a story that is a reminder about the importance of machine guarding. And why it’s smart to resist the temptation to cut corners. “I recently had an ac...

With the college semester beginning, eagerness is in the air as students begin applying for the ever-important internship for the upcoming summer. An internship is almost like a rite of passage in the collegiate world, something the student covets. ...

When you put on an annual gathering for over 30 years, you’re definitely doing something right. The Safety Council of Northern New England is presenting its 38th Annual NH Conference so it's fair to say they've got it down pat. Taking...

I received a message recently from fellow MEMIC Safety Management Consultant, Greg LaRochelle. Greg’s note touches on the human side of employee health and safety. You may have seen the term ‘safety culture’ on this blog several ti...

After we recently wrote about safety culture and consciousness, it occurred to me that not everyone really knows what we mean when we say “culture based safety.” With all the talk of buy-in, it is difficult to ask employees for it if you ...

Last time, we talked about the ways in which having a safer culture can help reduce injuries. But what is a safety culture? The culture of a workplace (or of any place) is its unspoken characteristics. Anthropologists might define culture as "the sum...