One of the toughest calls I receive as the owner of a public relations agency specializing in the home services industry is from a plumbing or mechanical business owner asking for my help after they find themselves, or their business, in the middle of a crisis.

Let me clue you in on a poorly kept secret: Traditional advertising is expensive. I know, this isn’t exactly shocking. Depending on your market, a month-long rental of a billboard could cost five figures. A week’s worth of 15-second radio ads can run up to $8,000 — and that doesn’t include the cost of producing them. And television? Forget it.

I was wondering about boiler chemicals and how many contractors (if any) were using them on brand-new systems. Do we need them? 

Have you ever had one of those times when you’re trying to figure out some problem and then suddenly the solution comes to you as if by magic? 

In 1885, when you could still buy a milk cow for $29.70, Albert Butz, a Swiss immigrant living in St. Paul, Minnesota, invented what he called the damper-flapper. He patented it the following year. The flapper opened a damper that allowed outside air to enter a coal-fired home furnace. This increased the oxygen in the furnace and made the fire burn hotter. When the temperature rose to a desired point, the damper closed.

It was one of those days at HeatingHelp.com when the old guys had the floor. One of the regulars, a retired (and understandably crotchety) fella from Canada had this to say:

Over the years, I've had many homeowners read my books and then write to tell me they knew more about their system than the contractors that came to their houses. This was particularly true when it came to steam heating.

Not long ago, Ray asked the Wallies who post daily on The Wall at HeatingHelp.com what advice they would give someone just starting out in this business. Here’s some of what they had to say. There’s a lot of street-smart experience here.

Nondairy milk may have begun as a lactose-free alternative for vegans or nondairy eaters, but the rise in popularity can be attributed to much more than being a must-have swap. The options are endless: almond milk, soy milk, hemp milk, rice milk, and more.

Cannabidiol (CBD) has been recently covered in the media, and you may have even seen it as an add-in booster to your post-workout smoothie or morning coffee. What exactly is CBD? Why is it suddenly so popular?

Obese teenagers can have certain brain differences from their thinner peers -- changes that might signal damage from inflammation, a new, preliminary study suggests.

People distracted by their cellphones are tripping, falling and hurting their heads and necks more often, with such injuries increasing “steeply” over a 20-year period, a new analysis has found.

This is a voluntary consensus standard. It uses recognized management system principles in order to be compatible with quality and environmental management system standards such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001.

What’s that one worksite habit that really grinds your gears? Every safety pro has one pet peeve they hate to see but can’t seem to eliminate. Bad safety habits happen on every job site, but breaking those habits isn’t as easy as slapping workers on the wrist or offering them rewards.

More than two million workers in the construction industry have been exposed to silica in the workplace. Short of a complete double lung transplant, silicosis is both a chronic and incurable condition.

Whether you agree or not with the increasing ESG scrutiny on companies, your business and bottom line are in jeopardy if you are not as attentive to ESG as you are ensuring your workers and contractors are safe.

The ticket shop for A+A 2023 is now open! Secure your tickets now and be part of an unforgettable trade fair experience. Discover the latest innovations, make valuable contacts with decision-makers from the industry and immerse yourself in exciting specialist lectures and workshops.

On dangerous or risky job sites, and within certain environments, personal protective equipment (PPE) must be worn at all times. It makes perfect sense, because the gear is designed specifically to mitigate severe or fatal accidents. Helmets, for example, protect the head from falling objects, overhead fixtures, and much more.

Safety doesn’t stop just because it’s hot outside. As temperatures start to rise, it’s time to invest in summer-friendly workwear.

ISEA's $5,00 scholarship is awarded annually to a student in an accredited college or university, pursuing a degree in occupational safety, industrial hygiene or a related field. Deadline is Nov. 1.

This strategy increases the value of each square foot with customizable racks, but do the pros outweigh the cons?

Many facilities do not follow best practices when inspecting and maintaining machinery, leading to unnoticed and unmanaged hazards.

Learn about the different types of confined space rescue procedures and why it is important to develop an effective confined space rescue plan.

The dangers of working in the heat and its adverse impacts are “predictable and largely preventable,” according to the WHO.

To reduce the number of delays in a project, you should build reliable processes that facilitate the completion of projects on time and in order. 

There are several safety myths around lone worker safety that can harm the wellbeing of those performing their jobs alone.

Crystalline silica is one of the most common elements on the planet, just behind oxygen. About 2.3 million workers are exposed to it in their workplace. It’s about 100 times smaller than sand and can be found on construction sites in building materials such as concrete, block, stone, sand, and mortar.

Like many of the readers of this article, for more than 25 years now I have been working with and struggling with sales leads.

We always hear the call from management, “We need more sales!” The call from the marketing team: “Sales needs to do better with the leads, they don’t close enough.” The sales team complaining that “these leads from marketing are horrible.” Same story, new year.

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. 

Effective winterizing strategies can protect your equipment from corrosion damage during cold seasons.

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.

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.

Sleeping well, long enough and having regular bedtimes, in addition to meeting the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Life’s Simple 7 (LS7) guidelines, may help reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular diseases.

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.

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.

Expectations drive both the leader and follower. Various forms of research suggest that when leaders have higher types of expectations for their followers, those followers often live up to the expectations.

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.

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.

With more than 500 exhibitors showing their products and services at the ASSE Professional Development Conference & Exposition, it’s not a bad idea to plan your itinerary in advance, so you won’t miss something you really want to see.

If you're headed to the Safety 2014 Conference & Expo in Orlando June 8-11, make sure you stop by the ISHN booth to vote on the top, most innovative EHS products in the second annual ASSE Attendee Choice Awards.

Depending on where you live, you may encounter severe weather if you must be on U.S. roadways this week, whether you're driving for work or traveling to and from the homes of loved ones. Forecasters are predicting multiple storms from coast to coast, with conditions worsening as we get closer to Thanksgiving. Some 55 million travelers are expected to travel 50 miles or more from their homes for the holiday, according to AAA. That’ll make it the second-highest Thanksgiving travel volume since AAA began tracking in 2000.

Area monitoring is frequently used as a temporary solution to help keep workers safe in industrial facilities where mid-term deployment occurs as well as for confined space entry and far-working locations such as oil and gas platforms.

Modern day portable gas detectors are quite reliable and accurate. For enhanced worker safety and to be fully compliant there is a little known concept called bump testing. Bump tests are crucial when it comes to protecting your workers from hazardous gases and other air-borne toxins.

Advance the OEHS profession by sharing your knowledge on the latest research and best practices. 

World-class blind adventurer Erick Weihenmayer motivated several thousand safety and health pros during the opening session of the 2024 NSC Safety Congress. 

How humans and other animals detect odors is an intriguing topic. Each OHS pro should understand the basics of how to interpret chemical exposures.

Covid-19 interrupted and disrupted many concepts in health science plans. Now is the time for NIOSH to get back on track.

The EEOC published proposed regulations to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act on 08/11/2023. Read this article for answers to your questions. 

Mold is everywhere, but few people outside the science community understand it.