Ergonomics

Now that many of us are in the chilling depths of winter, it’s important to remember how working in cold environments impacts workers and employees, especially those of older age.   Hypothermia is a medical emergency that occurs when the body’s temperature reaches below 95° F (35° C), caused by prolonged exposure to very cold temperatures. […]

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are one of the most prevalent and costly safety and health issues in workplaces today. Beyond the financial ramifications of failing to address MSD risk in the workplace, the toll it takes on productivity, employee injury recovery time and employee well-being cannot be understated.   To address this concern in their state, […]

Continuing our rundown of OSHA’s Top 10 List of Most Frequently Cited Standards for 2023, we’ve reached number four, OSHA’s Scaffolding Standard.  Working at heights is serious business. The safety risks are higher…quite literally. That’s why the OSHA Scaffolding Standard is such a technically detailed regulation.   OSHA defines a scaffold as, “an elevated, temporary work […]

Many companies around the world are required by laws and regulatory requirements, including those in their operating permits, to track and report on their waste management and environmental impacts to air and water. The act of identifying and managing these regulatory requirements is known as environmental compliance. If you’re an environmental, health, and safety (EHS) […]

By Kelly Wernette-Leff, MS, AT, ATC Employees in the industrial and manufacturing industries today are expected to easily handle the fast-paced and demanding work while balancing a safety-first mindset. Truthfully, that’s a big ask of employees as they work a busy shift, and many employees end up developing musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) from repetitive tasks, awkward […]

By Amanda Morton, VelocityEHS Consultant The hierarchy of controls is the framework that safety professionals use to determine the most effective improvements to reduce exposure to hazards in the workplace. Exposures include chemical hazards, physical hazards, biological hazards, and musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) risk factors such as heavy lifting and repetitive motion (OSHA). One of the […]

More and more organizations are realizing that they need an ergonomics program to help keep employees safe and healthy from musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), but many of them struggle to develop a strong, effective ergonomics process that can be sustained over time. In some cases, this means a process that never really gets off the ground; […]

Manual material handling (MMH) is one of the most prevalent types of work performed across industries. It involves the spatial manipulation of objects (raw materials, product, etc.) and is a basic form of work that requires minimal qualifications or experience.   MMH Tasks Expose Workers to All Primary MSD Risk Factors MMH requires the body to […]

We recently published a case study sharing the story of how Corning, one of the world’s leading innovators in material science, achieved its best-ever safety record in 2022. Corning took a three-step approach to safety and health, through employee respect and engagement, visual management, and a leadership-supported strategy. In order to achieve this, Corning implemented […]