It’s strange to think how many months have passed since the coronavirus pandemic began. And yet, the pandemic soldiers on, and so do workplaces. If anything, workplaces have risen to the challenge of the pandemic, instituting new safety protocols to protect workers and customers.

As an EHS professional, many of your safety responsibilities circle back to the same basic question: who and what does health and safety legislation protect?

The U.S. Department of Labor, the biggest enforcer of workplace health & safety laws in the U.S., administers more than 180 laws covering the activities of 150 million workers and 10 million workplaces across the country. After all, there are a lot of dangers that workers face on the job.

It’s one thing to say your company has a good track record when it comes to workplace safety but how can you prove it? Using OSHA safety metrics is one of the standard ways that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration evaluates companies on their safety record.

Going to work can be really stressful but it shouldn’t be made more stressful by dangerous working conditions. While some basic health and safety measures are regulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration or OSHA, those may be considered the bare minimum, and they may not address all the risks present at a particular company.

We spend a great deal of time focused on occupational health and safety regulation in the U.S. But if you’re one of the many businesses caught in the flow of globalization, chances are you have more than just U.S. safety laws to comply with.

The OSHA Technical Manual is a reference for use by OSHA’s Compliance Safety and Health Officers (CSHOs), also known informally as OSHA inspectors. Updated regularly, it contains information about identifying, evaluating, and minimizing health and safety hazards that CSHOs may see when conducting inspections.

Warehouses see a constant ebb and flow of goods, and from a logistical standpoint, it’s a constant balancing act. But this balancing act becomes even harder when you introduce temperature concerns into the equation.

Nowadays, the Department of Labor looms large in occupational health and safety.

Post-incident drug testing has its place in a safety program, but only when it’s managed properly and fairly—and when it’s done for the right reasons.