Workplace Compliance

Another state will soon allow workers to keep guns in their vehicles’ locked trunks and glove compartments in companies’ parking lots.

In an opinion piece in the Northwest Indiana Times, lawyer James Jorgensen says the new law could adversely affect employers and the workplace.

The mantra of this OSHA Administration is “The Sheriff is Back”. Many changes in policy and enforcement have taken place already with an aggressive path for the future.

I certainly was not one to “fudge” the OSHA 300 log in my days at a manufacturing plant, but it seems that these games had been going on for many years with some companies.

OSHA recently announced that the Agency will place increased focus on the four leading causes of workplace fatalities, which are falls, electrocutions, caught in or between, and struck by.

“Introduction to OSHA,” a new training component emphasizing workers’ rights, is required content in every OSHA 10- and 30-hour Outreach Training Program class.

Since the new OSHA administration took over early last year, there has been a huge shift toward stronger enforcement. More staff has been added. Policies have been changed. Fines have been higher. And, talk has been tough.

NFPA 70E requires employers to calculate the flash protection boundaries in their workplace. This is the area near and around energized parts in which employees must wear protection when working due to the risk of an arc flash. Arc ratings are values that indicate the performance of a garment within this flash protection boundary.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, in an effort to address urgent safety problems facing Americans in the workplace, is implementing a new Severe Violator Enforcement Program and increasing civil penalty amounts.