More than ever before, companies need to place a heavy emphasis on occupational health and safety management. Not only is the safety of their employees at stake but the financial ramifications of safety lapses can be serious.

When it comes to occupational safety and health (OSH), so much of it boils down to education.

In the first part of this three-part series on confined spaces we introduced you to some of the grim statistics for confined spaces, talked about the numerous standards and provided two tools to help make understanding the standards a bit easier.

We can all agree that employee health and safety should be the top priority of every company. In that sense, every employee plays a role in keeping themselves and everyone else safe. Of course, for professionals who work in human resource development, safety is just one of many responsibilities that fall on their shoulders.

We can all agree that workplace safety can be a daunting challenge. Thus, it’s something that should be tackled one step at a time. The worst thing you can do is try to get too far ahead of yourself. Instead, focus on tasks you can accomplish today that can create a safer work environment for your employees.

Every business in the manufacturing industry should be familiar with NFPA 70E. It provides the basis for electrical safety and fire prevention inside the workplace. Needless to say, it’s a critical part of workplace safety, which also means that it contains a lot of rules and regulations that must be followed. Otherwise, companies can get into trouble with OSHA while also putting the health and safety of employees at risk.

More than a million workers participated in OSHA’s 10-hour training in each of the last two years, with most completing the construction industry training. This and similar programs are available to workers who want to learn more about basic health and safety topics as part of OSHA’s formal outreach efforts. While there’s a 30-hour program that covers more in-depth knowledge, the shorter program is intended to cover introductory concepts.

Many of our posts deal directly or indirectly with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) the U.S. agency within the Department of Labor which is responsible for occupational health and safety. But for companies that operate broadly in North America, OSHA may not be your only concern, and OSHA resources may not apply to every employee.

By now, we can all agree that smoking cigarettes, even e-cigarettes, is a bad habit that most people would be wise to cut out. Nevertheless, many people continue to do it, and most can’t always go a full day at work without lighting up. Naturally, this creates a quandary for employers in all industries.

While companies have been very busy trying to keep up with all of the changes and new COVID-19 related legislation such as the expansion of FML regulations to include the Families First Coronavirus Response Act or FFCRA, OSHA has been busy investigating the huge influx of COVID related whistleblower complaints.