Regulations & Compliance

By Blake McGowan, CPE Demonstrating the value of your ergonomics initiative and calculating the return on investment (ROI) for specific engineering improvements have become common requests for many safety professionals. Unfortunately, many of us struggle to even begin to justify improvements, let alone choose a meaningful calculator to demonstrate the benefits of improving workplace conditions. […]

OSHA unveiled a new tool today to help companies determine if employee injuries and illnesses are recordable or not. Called the OSHA Recordkeeping Advisor, it is powered by elaws®, interactive e-tools provided by the Department of Labor that provide information about federal employment laws. Essentially, the OSHA Recordkeeping Advisor is an optimized injury and illness […]

As an ergonomist, one of the most common questions I get asked is how to select the right casters and wheels for a specific job. Something as simple as the wrong wheel on a cart may turn into a source of high ergonomic risk exposure to the operator. Therefore, proper caster selection is essential. Here […]

OSHA announced today that it will be surveying 19,000 employers nationwide about their safety practices in order to guide future rules, compliance and outreach efforts. Called the Baseline Survey of Safety and Health Practices, the survey will be used to support OSHA’s implementation of I2P2, the Injury and Illness Prevention Programs Standard. You can read […]

OSHA is planning on publishing a final rule in August that will align the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) with the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). It’s not clear what affect (if any) that alignment will have on the NFPA and HMIS chemical hazard rating and labeling systems. One issue of […]

Staying compliant with OSHA and the EPA can be difficult and maddening. Still, the complexity of agency regulations and the opaque manner in which rules are sometimes published and enforced are not a reliable defense when it comes to compliance violations. Organizations must take responsibility for understanding the rules and regulations under which they operate. […]

OSHA announced a significant change in the level of fall protection required for residential construction workers, emphasizing the need to protect residential roofers. By withdrawing a 1995 special directive that allowed residential builders to bypass fall protection requirements, these same builders must now comply with OSHA Standard 29 CFR 1926.501(b)(13). Assistant Secretary of Labor for […]

Fire safety is an important consideration 24/7, 365 days year; nevertheless, the winter months and the holiday season warrant special considerations. As Christmas trees dry, space heaters come out of closets, extension cords and lights overwhelm electrical outlets and candles seemingly multiply overnight, fire hazards are everywhere. Luckily, there are a few simple rules we […]

VelocityEHS hosted a recent Webinar on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals  (GHS) and the participants had a number of great questions. Considering how we’re all in this together, we wanted to share a few of the questions and answers with you. Is the red border around the pictograms required? Is […]

Sorting through OSHA recordkeeping rules to decide if an employee’s injury or illness is recordable or non-recordable can be one of the trickiest aspects of a safety manager’s job. Some recordkeeping questions are tougher than others. Below are 5 questions we’ve been asked multiple times by safety professionals attending our presentation on OSHA’s Recordkeeping Standard […]