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Automated snow removal systems for trailers make roadways, loading docks safer

When snow and “ice missiles” blowing off semi-trailers and trucks are added to the equation, the risk factor increases exponentially.




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How fleets can implement green practices without halting operations

By now, most people are aware of just how essential fleets are to our daily lives — we have the pandemic to thank for that. Click-and-collect culture met with the supply chain fiasco of 2022 has compounded the need for fleets to keep the supply and demand chain moving, enable technicians to deliver field services, and transport both the niceties and essentials of modern life.




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How are electric vehicles changing material handling?

Electric vehicles are most commonly advertised as passenger vehicles, designed to help the average commuter reduce their carbon footprint and pay less at the pump. But they're making their way into the commercial sector in the form of heavy equipment electric vehicles. How are EVs changing material handling?




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2022 Top 10 OSHA Violations: Powered Industrial Trucks

The OSHA standard on powered industrial trucks is one of the top 10 most frequently penalized OSHA standards for FY 2022.




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Tricky offshore transportation project brings additional hazards

All work performed in the energy sector presents its own challenges and hazards, but those are amplified offshore.




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How is ‘smart’ concrete revolutionizing construction?

In many contexts, the “smart” prefix refers to giving technologies some form of wireless connectivity. That’s not necessarily the case with smart concrete, which covers a much broader range of materials than it may initially seem.




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10 safety measures that will help protect your utility workers

Who makes sure all of that water and electricity continues to flow so it’s there when we need it? There are a million people working at all hours of the day to make sure these resources are always available. 




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Whisleblower probe finds cargo firm retaliated against seaman who reported safety concerns to US Coast Guard

OSHA ordered the Maersk Line to reinstate the seaman and pay $457,759 in back wages, interest, compensatory damages and $250,000 in punitive damages. 




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Safety on the digital highway: Cybersecurity in freight trucking

As technology plays an ever-greater role in the shipping and logistics industry, bad actors have found new ways to infiltrate every part of a freight company. Here’s how trucking companies can protect themselves against cybercrime.




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What are the best ways to improve work truck ergonomics?

Truck driving ergonomics is an often overlooked part of vehicle safety. Employee comfort and musculoskeletal health deserve attention, too.




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Combilift launches Combi Safe-Lift to address forklift overloading

The new device includes an anti-overload sensor and an alarm to alert operators of potential risks.




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Young people are being overlooked in opioid misuse prevention programs

Researchers at the National Safety Council and the University of Michigan found that about one in 20 adolescents ages 10 to 17 and one in 10 young adults ages 18 to 25 report prescription opioid misuse, based on a new review published in Preventive Medicine. However, effective intervention programs are not in place to address prescription opioid misuse among young people, and NSC and University of Michigan Injury Prevention Center researchers are urgently calling for evidence-based prevention programs to be developed and tested.




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AHA: President’s proposal to eliminate FDA tobacco oversight risks public health

“We strongly oppose the administration’s proposal to create a separate government agency to oversee tobacco products. This unfortunately comes from an administration that has repeatedly placed the needs of the tobacco industry on equal footing with public health.




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Mail-order limb, rerouted nerve, and prosthetic hand grips like the real thing

Doctors met a patient at a surgical center outside Boston to invent a new operation, a way to perform arm amputations that might allow patients to move their prosthetic hands more like real ones. The right arm resting on a blue surgical drape before them came from a cadaver; it’s just the limb, ending at the shoulder. It came from the Anatomy Gifts Registry. Devising a new operation is like re-engineering the anatomy.




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Sitting more is associated with higher heart disease risk in older women

Longer sitting times were associated with higher levels of heart disease risk among overweight and obese post-menopausal women overall, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the open access journal of the American Heart Association.




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Here’s the latest on the coronavirus outbreak

The respiratory disease caused by a novel (new) coronavirus that was first detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China has now been detected in 32 locations internationally, including cases United States. The virus has been named “SARS-CoV-2” and the disease it causes has been named “coronavirus disease 2019” (abbreviated “COVID-19”).




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Acoustic panels reduce the roar at a solids dewatering plant

The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority in Albuquerque, New Mexico operates a 76-million gallons per day (rated capacity) wastewater treatment plant that treats a daily average of five million gallons of sewage from New Mexico’s largest city and its surroundings.




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Slow, steady increase in exercise intensity is best for heart health

For most people, the benefits of aerobic exercise far outweigh the risks, however, extreme endurance exercise – such as participation in marathons and triathlons for people who aren’t accustomed to high-intensity exercise – can raise the risk of sudden cardiac arrest, atrial fibrillation (a heart rhythm disorder) or heart attacks, according to a new Scientific Statement published in the Association’s premier journal Circulation.




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NSC unveils comprehensive plan for presidential candidates to combat opioid misuse

The National Safety Council (NSC), in partnership with more than 50 organizations and companies nationwide, released a comprehensive, inclusive strategy to address opioid misuse that all presidential candidates – regardless of party – should either adopt in full or use to close gaps in existing plans and policies.




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Four tips to prevent & reduce musculoskeletal disorders

No magic pills make musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) disappear, yet risk, human resources and safety departments continue to buy into programs and systems that do not affectively aid in helping employees deemed the “walking wounded.” 




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Health groups join forces to help Americans control blood pressure

In a move toward meeting goals for better cardiovascular health in the United States over the next decade, the American Heart Association (AHA) is joining the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Hypertension Control Roundtable (NHCR)® along with other founding members in a public, private and non-profit collaboration committed to increasing blood pressure control rates to 80% by 2025.




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Health groups urge Supreme Court to uphold Affordable Care Act

Patient and health advocacy groups representing millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions are applauding the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear arguments in the case of Texas v. United States this term. The case is the latest court challenge to the health care law known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The groups filed an amicus brief urging the Court’s swift action and citing the detrimental impacts and uncertainty patients would face were the case left at the lower court level.




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For older adults, more physical activity could mean longer, healthier lives

Two studies demonstrate that older adults may be able to live longer, healthier lives by increasing physical activity that doesn’t have to be strenuous to be effective, according to preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Prevention | Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health Scientific Sessions 2020. The EPI Scientific Sessions, March 3-6 in Phoenix, is a premier global exchange of the latest advances in population-based cardiovascular science for researchers and clinicians.




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Colorectal cancer burden shifting to younger individuals

The burden of colorectal cancer is swiftly shifting to younger individuals as incidence increases in young adults and declines in older age groups, according to Colorectal Cancer Statistics 2020, a publication of the American Cancer Society. A sign of the shift: the median age of diagnosis has dropped from age 72 in 2001-2002 to age 66 during 2015-2016.




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Consider ergonomics to reduce materials handling

Warehouse hazards are often the cause of workplace accidents. Choosing the correct type of storage will greatly reduce the potential hazard in a facility. The correct storage medium will reduce improper lifting, reaching and travel distance to retrieve an item.




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Understanding and reducing effects of stress on your health

Did you know that our body does not discriminate between sources of stress? It simply responds to the stress. So, whether the stress is coming from an actual event, or simply a thought, the body may react in a similar way. Now, in these times when there is so much uncertainty, stress can have a huge impact on our bodies.




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Leaders: A purposeful presence can open up safety dialog

When I coach leaders, I often hear that the image of wallowing stays with them long after I’m gone - even when they don’t feel like wallowing! Ultimately, the thought of wallowing moves their thoughts to intentions, and then, purposeful actions.




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What legacy are you leaving?

We live, we love, we learn, and we leave a legacy.” This profound quotation from Stephen R. Covey has fueled my motivation to keep teaching at Virginia Tech well beyond retirement age and a comfortable pension.




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A story of team defense: What is resilience leadership?

The hard part is getting teams to buy into the team vision to play selfless and trust that if they focus on all the intangibles, the scoring will come and at the end of the game the scoreboard will reflect their efforts.




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Safety directions need to be explicit

With more experience traveling the real world seeing safety programs in action (or inaction) I realized that words matter. They not only communicate, but they can shape the very approach you take to your safety programming. They can get you stuck or they can liberate your safety culture.




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‘Safety culture’ is a messy concept

The term “Safety culture” has become like the term “engagement” in popular management writings. There is no common agreement on the term. We are left with (mis)interpretations of terms like “safety culture,” which lead to haphazard attempts at changing organizations toward improvement.




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How do you assess risks? It hinges on leadership & culture

Not many people walk around throughout their day with a risk assessment in hand. We should, however, always have an informal risk assessment tool in our mind that allows us to perform at least a cursory assessment until we can dig deeper or in a more formal way.




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Leadership gaps & situational awareness

The knowledge gap within utilities, construction, and related industries is more of a growing concern than ever — especially when it comes to serious injuries and exposures. 




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Why is there a shortage of skilled labor?

Whether in mining, construction, fabrication and assembly, equipment installation and repair, or other industries, there is a shortage of skilled tradesmen/ technicians to do essential work.




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Tools for serious injury & fatality prevention

In the last decade or so many organizations have been placing more of a focus on Serious Injury and Fatality prevention (SIF). The theory behind the traditional “Safety Pyramid” (or Heinrich Safety Triangle) says if we reduce incidents at the “base” of the pyramid, it follows we will reduce incidents at the top of the pyramid at an approximately proportional rate. 




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Stop safety dissidents: Authority figures often ignore workforce issues

Since health and safety initiatives and overall health and safety commentary seem to be focused towards frontline workers, Positional Leaders appear to be getting a free pass on the safety train that already left the station a long, long time ago.




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Return to work safely

The topic of “return to work” is certainly front and center. While many organizations have continued to operate during the COVID-19 situation under the definition of essential businesses, there are many who have not — especially consumer facing businesses such as retail businesses, bars and restaurants.




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Changing safety culture via VPP: How one roofing company achieved OSHA recognition

Evans Roofing Company, Inc., with its subsidiaries Charles F. Evans (union) and CFE, Inc. (non-union), is a building envelope contractor licensed in 46 states. Charles F. Evans and CFE, Inc. are the only commercial roofing and wall panel contractors to hold the VPP STAR mobile work force designation.




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Complacency depends on what you’re doing

For all the COVID-19 safety guidelines circulating, some hundreds of pages long, basic best practices are straightforward and known by most Americans. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, recently recounted them in an interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association.




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Women in construction should take advantage of available resources

Women have made amazing strides in many fields and industries throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Unfortunately, there are many others in which it remains a big challenge for a woman to rise to the top — or even, in some cases, to enter the industry at all.




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New Pureflo-supplied air respirators

New Pureflo- Supplied Air Respirators for grinding, welding and painting. Respirators are NIOSH approved with ANSI Head, Eye - Face Protection, along with three welding lens options, optional left front window, QR Suspension, APF of 1000.




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EtQ Software

EtQ is the leading EHS Management software for identifying, mitigating, and preventing high-risk incidents through integration, automation, and collaboration.




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Mirrored safety products for blind spots and problem intersections

Se-Kure Domes and Mirrors is a true Made in America manufacturer of mirrored safety products. Full 360-degree domes from 18” to 60” in diameter, 180 & 90-degree domes are also available.




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A developing story: wearable technology for heat stress monitoring & illness prevention

Workers in many fields – construction, landscaping, oil and gas extraction, emergency response, firefighters among others – toil in high heat stress conditions. These tasks can lead to rapid increases in body temperature that raise the risk of heat-related illnesses.




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VelocityEHS strengthens industrial hygiene product suite with Spiramid acquisition

VelocityEHS, the global leader in cloud-based environment, health, safety (EHS) and sustainability solutions, announced today it has acquired Spiramid, developer of the most advanced and easy-to-use system for managing industrial hygiene (IH). The acquisition adds Spiramid’s occupational safety & health software and unparalleled IH expertise to the most trusted EHS platform in the industry.




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First responders get life-saving sensor readings, video surveillance

It’s a bird, it’s a plane… no, it’s a Squishy Robot, dropped from a helicopter or a drone to transmit crucial environmental data to emergency responders at disaster scenes.




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In-ear exposure monitoring gives real-time hearing protection data

Excessive noise is prevalent across industries. From manufacturing to construction, agriculture to oil and gas, more than 22 million U.S. workers are exposed to hazardous noise each year.1 Wherever unsafe levels of noise exist, employers are responsible for providing hearing protection devices (HPDs).




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Getting there first: Location tags enable fast, urgent response

ISHN recently exchanged an email Q&A with Amanda Alexander, global product manager for Emerson’s Location Awareness System.




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Mobile app identifies safety, work at height, weather exposure risks

Responses provided by Carol Hanover, Field Director, Risk Control, Travelers




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Hearing Protection Fit Testing: How NIOSH revolutionized practices

When loud noises cannot be reduced or eliminated through engineering controls, workers who are exposed to them must use hearing protection devices (HPDs) to conserve their hearing. This notion is not new, nor is the concept that HPDs require fit-testing to be effective.