Some rules to follow during safety visits
- There are certain protocols to follow when a safety compliance officer visits the workplace.
- Try to be polite and do not attempt to hide anything from the inspector or evade any questions.
- However, employers do not need to volunteer information or over-share in an attempt to comply with the inspector’s work.
- When an inspector is completing the walk-around part of the inspection, be sure to stick with them the entire time.
OSHA Fines Mattress Retailer
- Oregon OSHA fined Mattress Megastore in Hillsboro more than $66,000 for multiple workplace safety violations.
- The infractions include willfully exposing employees to serious injury or death from potential traffic accidents.
- The penalties followed an inspection launched by the division in response to a confidentially filed complaint.
- The inspection reportedly found the employer repeatedly and knowingly exposed employees to potential traffic accidents by requiring them to operate a one-ton box delivery truck that was unsafe.
Employers must develop a training program
- The Kentucky Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission suggest employers with more than eight workers must develop bloodborne pathogen training programs.
- The standard has generally applied only to employees in the healthcare industry or to employees with first-aid responsibilities as an express job duty.
- Under Kentucky law, all employers with eight or more employees in the state are required to train employees in first aid and make adequate first-aid supplies readily available.
- Kentucky OSH has taken the position that a first aid–trained employee has a sufficient likelihood of “occupational exposure.”
Virtual safety summit
- The American Society of Safety Professionals will host a free, virtual summit on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
- Attendees will learn how DEI concepts relate to safety in the occupational safety and health industry.
- Comprised of sessions and discussions, the summit will also address how attendees can increase inclusiveness in their workplace safety cultures.
- The virtual summit will take place on Jan. 26, 2023, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT.