About Greg Enright

Greg Enright is a veteran Canadian journalist, writer, editor and content marketing professional. He has written extensively on technology, finance and EHS and Quality issues.

Building a Safer Tomorrow: Challenges and Solutions in Construction Site Safety

Graphic of two construction workers reviewing construction safety software on a tablet

On the afternoon of August 24, 2020, a construction worker employed by an electrical contractor was preparing to install a new power line between two utility poles at a Tennessee construction site. The worker threw the guide twine, pulled the cable toward the next pole, but it arched higher than intended and contacted the distribution power lines. Flowing through those lines were 2,700 volts of electric current, which traveled down the guide twine to the worker, who was electrocuted.

Just a few weeks earlier a UK construction worker was crushed underneath concrete after a partial wall and roof collapsed during demolition work on a site. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

Sadly, this kind of day is often the rule rather than the exception in the construction industry, both in the U.S. and around the world, with workers routinely suffering fatal and life-altering injuries while working to build the … Read more...

The Hidden Benefits of Document Control Software

There are a multitude of hidden benefits that an organization can enjoy when document management becomes a part of their operations.

A knock on the door from an OSHA or FDA official is usually enough to send the average EHS manager into at least a mild panic. That sound usually means a dreaded regulatory inspection is upon them, bringing with it nightmarish visions of hefty fines, shutdown orders or costly reputational damages to the organization. 

Some of these managers, however, tend to accept the predicament with considerably more calm and confidence than others. That’s because they know that when their uninvited guests inevitably ask to see documented proof that procedures were properly followed and regulations were adhered to, they will be able to produce that documentation in a quick and efficient manner. 

They will be able to do so because they will have been using document control software as part … Read more...

Post-Brexit, Britain Faces an Altered Health & Safety Landscape

The big change resulting from Brexit is that the British government is no longer accountable to any external authority or body when formulating and implementing health protection policy.

On January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom officially left the European Union in a move that has popularly come to be known as “Brexit” (‘Britain’ + ‘Exit’). The nation’s departure ended 47 years of formal association with its European neighbors since joining what was called the European Communities in 1973. It brought with it significant uncertainty about what would change from both political and economic perspectives and the impacts it would have on all sectors of the economy.

On the health and safety front, though, many observers felt that the impacts of the pullout would be minimal, said Kevin Bampton, CEO of the British Occupational Hygiene Society. Bampton made his remarks during the recent Health & Safety Matters virtual conference … Read more...

Staying Focused Key Step to ESG Reporting Success: Panel

 key step in the ESG process is creating a core document, often referred to as a corporate sustainability report, that encapsulates a company’s overall mission around ESG and how they intend to meet their goals.
A key step in the ESG process is creating a core document, often referred to as a corporate sustainability report, that encapsulates a company’s overall mission around ESG and how they intend to meet their goals.

It’s tough to surf through business news or visit a company’s website without coming across a mention of ESG – Environmental, Social & Governance. The term refers to a firm’s collective efforts to conduct business in ways that benefit the environment and ensure social equality within its workplaces. Increasingly, stakeholders are basing their opinions and investment choices on how well companies are performing in these areas.

Getting ESG right is, quite simply, now a corporate imperative.

The challenge for firms to not only improve their ESG outcomes but also to communicate their progress to an incredibly attentive public can be monumental, particularly for those just starting out on their ESG measurement and reporting … Read more...

Protecting Your Most Valuable Asset: Best Practices for Reducing Worker Injuries and Illnesses

Training is one thing employers can do to protect their most valuable asset – their workers – and ensure these individuals return home every day just as healthy as when they arrived.

When researchers in Ireland set out to document the experiences of workers across a variety of industries who had suffered on-the-job injuries, they ended up with 20 different stories. Their final report included first-person descriptions of what happened before, during, and after their subjects’ individual incidents.

Each is a fascinating case study of not only their personal traumas, but also the overall financial toll the incidents took on themselves and their employers.

One manufacturing plant worker, for instance, was clearing a blockage in a machine when another employee switched it on, causing two large blades to activate. The affected worker, Hugh O’Carroll, lost the tops of his index and middle finger on his left hand as a result.… Read more...

Construction Industry Is Using Technology, Training and Regulations to Build a Safer Future


Cutting-edge technology is increasingly being deployed on construction sites to create greater awareness for workers of the potentially hazardous circumstances surrounding them.

There are many industries that involve a significant amount of danger for those who earn their livings within them: transportation, health care, emergency services and manufacturing, to name just a few of the riskier ones. None, however, are more dangerous than the construction sector. Year after year, the numbers bear this stark reality out. According to OSHA, about one in five worker deaths (1,061) in private industry in calendar year 2019 occurred in construction. For the past nine years, the most-commonly cited OSHA standard is Fall Protection, Construction.

Among the various causes of death in construction are four that occur frequently enough to warrant their own collective moniker: “The Fatal Four.” This includes falls, which accounted for 36 percent of U.S. construction deaths in 2019; struck by … Read more...

OSHA to Ramp Up COVID-19 Enforcement Under Biden: Law Firm

OSHA COVID-19 Rules

Under the new Joe Biden administration, OSHA will take a more aggressive approach to regulation enforcement and will quickly step up measures to combat the effects of COVID-19 in the workplace, according to a health and safety-focused law firm.

Lawyers at Conn Maciel Carey made these and other OSHA-related predictions in a webinar that took stock of the agency’s recent past under the outgoing Donald Trump Republicans and looked ahead to what 2021 will look like under Biden’s Democrats.

During the pandemic, OSHA’s enforcement efforts have tended to concentrate on a select few types of citations, asserted partner Kate McMahon. These have largely been healthcare-oriented, with less emphasis on manufacturing-related wrongdoing. Biden’s OSHA will broaden that scope, both by industry and by citation type, using a few well-known methods at its disposal, she said.

“The general duty clause is an available tool that we think the Biden administration may use … Read more...

Why it’s critical to get Lockout/Tagout right

The Lockout/Tagout (Control of Hazardous Energy) standard is one of the most frequently cited standards of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA). For this reason and many others, says Eric Conn, Chair, OSHA/Workplace Safety Practice Group at Conn Maciel Carey LLP, companies should make compliance with the standard an area of focus. The firm, which specializes in OSHA-related matters, sees Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) consistently appearing in the top five on OSHA’s list of most frequently-cited standards.

A lockout/tagout on a pipe

“OSHA is paying a lot of attention to it,” Conn said during a recent webinar devoted to the topic.

“It’s known as the low-hanging fruit. When OSHA is in your facility, no matter what it is that caused them to be there, [LOTO] is something they can find and cite rather easily, and they do.”

The LOTO standard is designed to protect workers from hazardous energy and moving mechanical parts while they are … Read more...