Safety+Health

Despite advances in technology, injuries and deaths from backing vehicles continue to occur. With federal regulation no longer on the horizon, experts say employers need to implement best practices to keep workers safe.

As a new year begins, Safety+Health offers data to help paint a picture of the current safety landscape.

“Parking lots are an afterthought to a lot of people,” one National Safety Council expert says. They also are part of an employer’s premises for OSHA injury-recording purposes.

“If confirmed, I will work very hard every day side by side with the best safety professionals at America’s ultimate safety department,” the FedEx executive said during a Dec. 5 hearing before the Senate Help, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Critics of the recently introduced Workflex in the 21st Century Act say the bill would “create an off-ramp for employers to evade state and local laws,” while supporters say it “gives employers more certainty and predictability over their leave practices.”

“I used to be horrible at taking advice,” says veteran safety pro turned professional speaker Richard Hawk, who shares tips to help you avoid reacting defensively to creative criticism.

“The new year can bring additional short-duration or evolving work projects and, with them, a heap of unique obstacles to safety,” says Jim Spigener from DEKRA Insight, who shares “a better way to increase the behavioral reliability” at these worksites.

Mitchell Jacobs from United Airlines discusses the four methods of communication the company uses to “win hearts and minds with messages that are meaningful globally and delivered effectively” to its 90,000 workers worldwide.

Which violation is making its first appearance on OSHA’s list of most-cited violations? Safety+Health presents the data on OSHA’s “Top 10” for fiscal year 2017. Also: A Q&A with Patrick Kapust, deputy director of the agency’s Directorate of Enforcement Programs.

As outdoor temperatures plummet, employers and employees alike can take steps to help prevent injuries and illnesses when workers have to brave the elements to get the job done.