Slips, Trips and Falls Prevention: Using the Hierarchy of Controls and Continuous Improvement

Fall protection has been OSHA’s most frequently cited safety and health standard for 13 consecutive years. In 2023 alone there were 7,271 violations. These seemingly innocuous incidents can lead to serious injuries, impacting both the well-being of workers and the operational efficiency of organizations. To address this critical issue, organizations must adopt a proactive approach, leveraging strategies such as the Hierarchy of Controls and embracing continuous improvement methodologies.

In this three-part series dedicated to fall prevention strategies, Scott Gaddis—Vice President, Global Practice Leader, Safety and Health at Intelex Technologies, ULC—provides his expert insight into the risks associated with pedestrian safety in the workplace and what employers need to do to mitigate them. Part I looks at common types of slips, trips and falls and how they occur. Part II discusses how risk assessment can help prevent slips and trips in the first place. Part III below examines how the hierarchy … Read more...

How Risk Management Can Prevent Slips, Trips and Falls

Graphic of a frontline worker putting away a cable that could trip someone in the workplace

Fall protection solutions are essential to keep workers safe and ensure productivity. In 2020, the National Safety Council reported 127,680 work-related injuries that required days away from work. These are preventable injuries that are emotionally and financially debilitating for workers, and result in a financial loss for organizations and the wider economy.

In Part I of this series, Scott Gaddis, looks at how falls on the same level happen in the workplace and the impact they can have on workers. In Part II here, Scott examines the role of risk assessments in helping to prevent slips, trips and falls. Part III examines how hierarchy of controls can contribute to continuous safety improvement in fall prevention.

Risk Assessment to Prevent Falls on the Same Level

The objective of risk assessment and analysis is to understand the level of risk associated with the hazards found in the work environment as well as … Read more...

ESG Reporting and EHS Management at Day 2 of the Intelex User Conference 

Day Two of the Intelex User Conference in Nashville on Nov. 4 continued the discussions about the current state of EHS management, the growing role of ESG reporting and how best to support the frontline worker.

With experts from various industries in every breakout session, the discussions were rich with insights into how Intelex and its partners can continue to foster the innovation customers need to keep workers safe on the job and create a sustainable future for everyone. 

Managing an OSHA Inspection

When an incident happens in the workplace, an OSHA inspection frequently follows. 60 percent of inspections take place in construction, manufacturing, retail and health care, while almost 40 percent of all OSHA inspections are at organizations with fewer than nine employees.  

While your organization and OSHA both have the goal of keeping workers safe and ensuring the continuous improvement of the safety management system, it’s important to … Read more...

Great Ideas to Ignite Your Organization’s EHS Passion

Seasoned safety pros and newly-appointed novices can benefit from these great tips for becoming a better EHS leader.

William Gibson, a safety specialist for Ohio-based Del-Co Water Company Inc., admits he’s far from being the most seasoned environment, health and safety (EHS) professional. But he is passionate about people and a keen observer who has taken the best ideas from safety veterans he’s encountered and applied those learnings to his own professional journey.

Gibson says he stepped out of his comfort zone to become a safety manager in 2017 when his company called out for someone to manage safety for the growing organization. During a recent presentation at the EHS Today Safety Leadership Conference, he shared many of the great lessons learned during his relatively short five-year career as an EHS professional and outlined what he believes are the building blocks of a great safety program and the key elements … Read more...

What is Incident Management in Safety? (And How Does It help Your OSHA Recordkeeping?)

Incident management, the process of identifying, documenting, responding to and eliminating workplace injuries and illnesses, is a fundamental obligation for many employers. An important aspect of incident management in safety is OSHA recordkeeping and determining what incidents should be tracked and what data needs to be collected and reported to regulators can be confusing.

Say you reported to your manager that you had a headache. You’re not sure what caused it and are given three acetaminophen capsules. Is this considered a first-aid case by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) or is it a recordable injury incident that must be tracked? What if you were only given one capsule? Is it still first aid or should it be recorded by your incident management system? 

An employee goes on one day of light duty at work. Is that a recordable? What if it lasts two days? A worker sprains an ankle … Read more...

More Work and More Tech Needed to Take EHS to the Next Level of Success

The COVID-19 pandemic placed EHS in the spotlight and has tasked professionals to do more than ever in managing risks within and outside of traditional workspace confines.

The future of environment, health and safety will see the need for more technology adoption by organizations as EHS professionals take on much greater workloads and a role in total worker wellness largely due to the outfall of COVID-19.  

These were among the key observations and topics of discussion during the first day of the Verdantix virtual summit on Innovating for Sustainable Operations that focused on EHS and operations.

Next Level for EHS

During a session titled, Taking EHS to the Next Level of Success, presenters considered how the responsibilities and workloads of EHS professionals have been impacted as hybrid and remote working becomes more popular. 

Verdantix CEO David Metcalfe said the COVID-19 pandemic placed EHS in the spotlight and has tasked … Read more...

EHS Software Solves a Need for Speed for This Construction Company

Moss searched for a safety management system and settled on the Intelex Health and Safety Management platform to organize all the data it had been collecting.
Moss went searching for a health and safety management system and settled on the Intelex Health and Safety Management platform to bring all its data from various processes into a centralized database, including incident reporting, inspections, behavioral-based observations, recorded near misses, good catches and even safety suggestions.

Fast growing companies often find themselves needing a high-performance approach to environmental health and safety (EHS).

Take the case of Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based construction company Moss & Associates, whose vice president of environmental health and safety, Scott Gerard, recently told the story of his company’s business growth. During a presentation at the 2021 EHS Today Safety Leadership Conference, Gerard said Moss started out as a company of 300 people some 17 years ago and has today become an organization of more than 3,000 employees with expectations to reach 6,000 this year.

But high growth often moves too quickly past other corporate capabilities. In … Read more...

Amy McNaughton: Building Safety Culture, Keeping Communication Open

The theme for International Women’s Day 2020 is: #EachforEqual. Women are encouraged to “actively choose to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions, improve situations and celebrate women’s achievements.”

Amy McNaughton was chosen to be profiled for Intelex Technologies International Women’s Day 2020 coverage because she spent 10 years at the start of her career working on the front lines of occupational safety and health and she brings that knowledge and expertise to her work at Intelex Technologies.

Amy McNaughton has worked at Intelex for just over four years and is a Senior Product Consultant. She not only assists clients but also trains and coaches internal employees on working in the industry.  Amy came to work at Intelex following years of working the field for consulting firms and exploration and operational mining companies. She spent 10 years at the start of her career working on the front line of health and safety Read more...

Suspended Loads and Respecting the Fall Zone

In almost every industry, a load of some kind is being lifted, manipulated, lowered or carried in a way that poses risk to workers. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that there are more than 50,000 “struck by falling object” recordable injuries every year in the United States. That’s one injury every 10 minutes caused by a dropped object in the workplace.

Graphic of a frontline worker falling in the workplace

 

Understanding the Fall Zone

The fall zone as defined by OSHA is “the area including, but not limited to, the area directly beneath the load in which it is reasonably foreseeable that partially or completely suspended materials could fall in the event of an accident.” OSHA goes on to state that standing under a suspended load is prohibited and that “while the operator is not moving a suspended load, no employee must be within the fall zone, except for employees (who are): engaged in hooking, unhooking or … Read more...

Keeping Workers Safe Is the Golden Rule for This Canadian Mining Company

A rooted culture of caring runs deep within Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. – a Canadian-based gold producer with operations in Canada, Finland and Mexico.

Louise Grondin, Agnico Eagle’s senior Vice-President of Environment, Sustainable Development and People, says worker safety is paramount and her company wants every employee to be responsible for their own and others’ safety. To that end, it’s important for everyone to play a part in the effort to declare all events and situations that may put workers at risk. The goal is to eliminate any potential harm.

A graphic of a series of frontline workers working at a gold mine

“It’s not a game to … Read more...