Recently I was asked by the HR Director at a growing company, “at what point are we large enough to need a full-time, in-house, safety manager?”  This is a great question that I have been asked before, but unfortunately there is no easy black and white answer. One needs to...

Under certain circumstances in the USA, your company may not be responsible to pay workers compensation benefits to an employee who was injured on the job.   These special circumstances vary from state to state, but generally these exceptions include: Work related injuries caused by a dangerous or defective machine,...

  Inadequate lighting contributes to many on-the-job accidents.   One study shows that “accidents can be reduced about 20% by improving lighting conditions”.  But how do you know if you have enough lighting for a specific task or area? Before conducting your first lighting survey you will want to review the fundamentals...

When my dad was young,  80% of workers in the United States worked on a farm.   Back then, when an industry hired a new employee they could assume that the new employee already knew allot about machinery,  electricity,  chemicals , heavy vehicles, working at heights, equipment maintenance, and confined spaces because of their...

A new study in the Journal of Injury Prevention  looks at the dangers of “distracted walking”.   Crossing a busy intersection while texting or talking on a smart-phone can be deadly.  Texters are four times more likely to disregard traffic lights.  Pedestrians talking on a phone are likely to forget...

Click here to create your own customized safety sign!   Choose from 64 different templates.  You can make your own “Danger”, “Caution” and “Warning” signs that say exactly what you want! I like to print them on 8.5 x 11 inch glossy premium photo paper using my desktop inkjet printer .  They look great,...

Recently I sent a survey out to hundreds of safety professionals asking “Where’s the best place within an organization for the safety function to report?”.  Over 80% of the responses fit into one of the below two categories:                                              1.  REPORT TO THE TOP PERSON When I first started out I reported to the HR director,...