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.

In any industrial setting, health and safety is everything. If you can’t keep workers protected and convince them that they are safe on the job, things are likely to fall apart quickly. Of course, putting together a plan for industrial hygiene and safety is easier said than done. There are a lot of factors to consider that are sometimes easy to overlook.

Job hazards get a lot of attention in the safety world. Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act’s General Duty Clause, an employer is legally obligated to provide a workplace reasonably free of recognized hazards.

Of all the activities a safety professional engages in, dealing with confined spaces can be one of the most stressful and challenging, especially for those who are new to the safety profession or those whose experiences in the field haven’t required much interaction with confined spaces. What most safety professionals do know, regardless of experience level, is that when not managed properly, confined spaces can be deadly.

As a safety manager, you strive for effective leadership in everything you do. That’s great news for your employees – after all, a strong organizational culture often begins with standout leadership.

When a company experiences an incident, especially if the incident was severe or particularly damaging, it’s natural for leadership to want to provide a quick response to show the workforce they’re involved and doing something.

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.

Regardless of how much workplace safety training an organization has in place for employees, there remains some element of risk because there is simply no way to control for every possible outcome.

Appropriate signage is sometimes one of the most overlooked aspects of creating a safe work environment. It sounds simple enough, but too many employers don’t fully recognize the impact they can have and their importance to workers. After all, you can never do too much to promote a safe workplace culture.

Sometimes, safety is something incorporated into your office work, like personal protective equipment. Other times, safety is built into the very foundations.