Infographic: Five Rules for Tools
Print and post this inforgraphic.
Print and post this inforgraphic.
A NIOSH study has found a high rate of work-related injury and death in the motor vehicle towing industry. Workers in this field may assist individuals in emergency situations that present risks to the worker, such as traffic incidents requiring work on the side of highways or busy roads.

In work areas where the exact location is unknown, work cannot begin until the power lines have been positively and unmistakably de-energized and grounded. In this case a worker lost his life when the jackhammer he was using hit an underground power line.
Here are three briefs on outdoor workers who died on the job. Three different incidents (one that you may never have heard of or realized it was even a hazard) with one common thread – working outdoors.
Here are 10 great tips for first-time supervisors from Sharlyn Lauby’s blog HR Bartender. Psst, here’s a secret – these tips are also great for any supervisor.
Guidelines: This checklist applies to hand and portable power tools [...]

Use this inspection checklist from Harvard EH&S before using hand or power tools.

Use this checklist to help workers choose the best tool for the job and reduce the risk of ergonomic injuries.

The most critical actions to take to help prevent heat-related illness at each risk level.
Heat and humidity, either courtesy of mother nature or from man-made equipment and environments are hard on workers. Working in hot environments can easily fatigue workers and quickly lead to serious heat-related illness if not properly managed.
Using the wrong tool or using a tool incorrectly can cause debilitating ergonomic injuries. An increased risk of injury occurs when workers are frequently exposed to awkward postures, contact pressure, or a pinch grip. Over time, exposure to awkward postures or harmful contact pressures can contribute to an injury. Hand tools that fit a worker’s hands and the job they are doing can reduce the risk of injury. Here are 11 tips for hand tool selection to share with your employees.
Remember these five tips when working outdoors.

Use the following checklists to prepare for hot weather and to make sure all precautions are in place.
During the servicing and maintenance of machines and equipment, the unexpected startup or release of stored energy can result in serious injury or death. Injuries may include electrocution, burns, crushing, cutting, lacerating, amputating, or fracturing body parts. It’s estimated more than 120 deaths and over 50,000 injuries are prevented each year due to following proper lockout/tagout procedures.
Humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air. High humidity makes people feel hotter than they would on a drier day. This is because the perspiration that cools us down cannot evaporate as quickly in moist, saturated air. To better describe how hot it feels in such circumstances, Canadian meteorologists developed the Humidex, a parameter that combines temperature and humidity in order to reflect the perceived temperature.

Lack of LOTO procedures leads to worker’s death. A 46-year-old male employee was fatally injured when he was crushed by the upper ram of a rubber mixer.

Companies have a duty to protect workers both while using equipment and machinery for their intended purpose and when repairing and maintaining that equipment. The primary way of fulfilling that duty is through what’s called “lockout,” which is when a equipment has been turned off and rendered inoperable with the use of a lock.

Safety devices like barrier guards that are designed to keep workers away from operating machinery don’t do much good when machines are shut down for maintenance and repairs. The danger is that the machinery will start up while being serviced and crush, electrocute, burn and/or amputate the limbs of workers performing the servicing operations. These incidents are typically caused by the inadvertent and unforeseen release of energy left in the system. That’s why OHS laws require you not only to turn off the machine but ensure it’s isolated from its energy source before servicing it. The way to do this is by implementing what’s called a lockout/tagout (LOTO) program.
Safety meetings work best if the whole crew actively participates. This makes it more interesting and more likely that people will remember the information you’ve given them. Here are six ways to encourage everyone to get involved.

A 39-year-old male employee was fatally injured when he fell approximately 24 feet to the sidewalk below. On the day of the incident the victim, an Iron Worker, was installing metal roof panels on a pre-fabricated metal building.

From 1980 to 2017, the number of individuals over the age of 60 doubled to roughly 900 million. This segment of the world’s population will double again by 2050 to nearly 2 billion, according to the 2017 World Population Prospects report by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat. Risk professionals can prepare their organizations for the coming changes and opportunities of an older workforce with the following strategies.

Unintentional falls are the most common form of injury across the country: every day last year, falls resulted in almost 1,800 reported emergency department visits and 417 hospital admissions, says a new report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). In the U.S. in 2017, fatal falls were at their highest level in the 26-year history of the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) accounting for 887 (17 percent) worker deaths.

This checklist is designed to assist with inspection of the body harness and its attachments for wear, defects or damage. Inspection of fall protection equipment is a regulated requirement to be done before each use as well as once a year.

Out of the five dimensions of High Performing Teams (see model), Mutual Respect and Camaraderie is one of the most critical factors contributing to the leader’s success, according to our research. Essentially, this dimension asks: does the team leader demonstrate respect and genuineness, and hold people accountable to a high level of collaboration?
A well-developed and implemented fall protection plan for working at heights will keep workers safe. Here are eight components of a well-developed fall protection plan.