Category Archives: Industry Trends and Insights

Enhanced Compliance: OSHA’s 2024 Updates to 300 and 301 Forms for Accurate Safety Reporting

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Two EHS professionals considering health and safety data

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has amended the regulation 29 CFR part 1904 for occupational injury and illness record keeping. Under the amended regulation, organizations in certain industries with more than 100 employees must now electronically submit Form 300-Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses and Form 301-Injury and Illness Incident Reporting once a year. This rule becomes effective on January 1, 2024. 

Organizations will also be required to submit the company name when submitting Form 300 and Form 301 data. OSHA intends to publish some of the data on its public website, as it believes the information will promote informed decision making for employers, workers and customers relating to the organization’s safety record. OSHA believes this approach will provide incentive for organizations to increase their efforts to reduce injuries and illnesses. It is important to note that OSHA will not post information that could reasonably identify individuals … Read more...

The Problem is Real: Why Slips, Trips and Falls Continue to Cause Serious Workplace Incidents

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May 1-5, 2023, is the National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction. This is a voluntary event that encourages employers to stand down from work and discuss workplace hazards relating to trips, falls or other job safety concerns.

In this three-part series dedicated to walking-working surfaces, 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.

Pedestrian Safety in the Workplace

Pedestrian safety is not an issue to be overlooked. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that on average, slips, trips and falls cause nearly 700 fatalities per year. OSHA reports that as many as 30,000 forklift accidents occur in the United States annually and close to 20 percent of those accidents involve a pedestrian being struck by the forklift. Of these forklift … Read more...

Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries: One U.S. Worker Died Every 101 Minutes in 2021

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In 2021, 5,190 workers suffered fatal work injuries, equating to one worker death in the U.S. every 101 minutes.

In 2021, there were 5,190 work-related deaths in the United States, a. 8.9 percent increase from 2020. The fatal work injury rate was 3.6 fatalities per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers, up from 3.4 per 100,000 FTE in 2020 and up from the 2019 pre-pandemic rate of 3.5. The 3.6 fatal occupational injury rate in 2021 represents the highest annual rate since 2016.  

The increase of nearly 9 percent in fatal work injuries “serves as call to action for OSHA, employers and other stakeholders to redouble our collective efforts to make our nation’s workplaces safer,” the U.S. Department of Labor’s Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker.

“In 2021, 5,190 workers suffered fatal work injuries, equating to one worker death in the U.S. every 101 minutes, including 653 Black … Read more...

Why Human Error Isn’t to Blame: Understanding Variability in EHS Systems 

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Scapegoating workers and accepting the limitations of human judgement does nothing to reduce injury and fatality rates or to improve the efficiency of the EHS management system.

When we say that human error was responsible for an incident, it’s tempting to be comforted by the idea that one person’s poor judgement was to blame. If that person was doing something they shouldn’t have been doing, that seems to be a fairly obvious root cause that couldn’t be anticipated and doesn’t reflect the overall integrity of the management system, leadership or workplace. “Humans will always make mistakes,” we might tell ourselves, “and you can’t make a system foolproof when humans are involved.”  

Yet scapegoating workers and accepting the limitations of human judgement does nothing to reduce injury and fatality rates or to improve the efficiency of the EHS management system. People operate within the constraints provided by the culture and management … Read more...

ESG’s Growing Importance Will Draw Upon EHS Leadership

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Survey results show intrinsic links between the two practices of ESG and EHS with both areas sharing many common concerns and similar objectives.

The role played by environment, health and safety (EHS) in the development and execution of environmental social and governance (ESG) strategies may depend on who you ask.

A recent Safety + Health Magazine webinar highlighted 2022 research from Vance and Bourne conducted on behalf of Intelex and shed light on how EHS and ESG leadership professionals are dealing with their evolving mutual challenges. The resulting report – Big Ambitions. Complex Data. Limited Visibility – analyzes a survey of 450 professionals who occupy EHS and ESG leadership roles in North American public and private organizations representing 17 business sectors. 

Survey results show intrinsic links between the two practices with both areas sharing many common concerns and similar objectives. During the webinar it was revealed that a vast majority … Read more...

Research Reveals Collection and Quality as Top EHS and ESG Data Challenges

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Organizations are challenged in their efforts to gather EHS and ESG data and poor data quality hinders their ability to improve EHS and ESG performance.

The ability to collect data and be assured it is of high-quality are essential to environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) reporting and compliance success, according to speakers at a webinar outlining recent North American ESG and environment, health and safety (EHS) research.

Traditional and ad hoc ways of collecting ESG and EHS data are not enough, according to one speaker. Virginia Hoekenga, deputy director for the National Association for Environmental Managers (NAEM), says companies must move from Excel [spreadsheets] and paper approaches to systemic and holistic management of ESG and EHS using information technology and digital systems.  

Hoekenga was speaking during a presentation of 2022 research from Vance and Bourne conducted on behalf of Intelex that explores how EHS and ESG professionals are … Read more...

New Research Shows EHS, ESG Compliance and Reporting Key Differentiators for Today’s Businesses

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Research from Intelex Technologies shows that EHS and ESG oversight and reporting are critical for helping companies attract workers, preserve their reputation and meet regulatory requirements.

The vast majority of environmental, health and safety (EHS) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) professionals believe that a higher level of EHS and ESG maturity in their organizations can drive new business, attract the best workers, and overcome regulatory compliance hurdles, according to findings released today from Intelex Technologies’ “Big Ambitions. Complex Data. Limited Visibility.” report.

Intelex, a leading global provider of cloud-based environmental, health and safety (EHS) management software, commissioned an independent market research firm to survey more than 450 EHS and ESG professionals across industries in both the United States and Canada on critical factors impacting their businesses. The survey, conducted in June 2022, showed that both health and safety and environmental oversight and compliance remain key concerns for today’s professionals.… Read more...

ESG Reporting is a Critical Skillset for your EHS Teams 

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ESG reporting is gaining more attention from regulators and standards bodies. Once voluntary, there is an influx of mandatory regulations across many countries.
ESG reporting is gaining much more attention from regulators and standards bodies. Once mainly voluntary, now there is an influx of mandatory regulations across many countries.

Commitment to ESG issues is high across organizations. It is driven by various internal drivers such as the desire to create a positive impact for the planet and society, avoid negative publicity, attract customers and better talent, etc. ESG reporting acts as a tool to provide evidence of a company’s activities and performance on the issues it has committed to work on.  

ESG reporting has become more sophisticated and formal than it was a few years ago. The reporting landscape is evolving rapidly. While it once consisted primarily of voluntary and intent-driven disclosures, there has been a recent influx of mandatory disclosure requirements to increase transparency of ESG data for better decision making. 

ESG Reporting: From Early Days to Today 

Looking back at the … Read more...

Musculoskeletal Disorders Cost Private Industry $17 Billion per Year, Are Leading Cause of Disability

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Prevention is possible for usculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), the most common cause of disability, involuntary retirement and limitations to gainful employment.
In 2020, NSC reported the private sector experienced more than 247,000 MSD injuries resulting in days away from work.

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are the most common cause of disability, involuntary retirement and limitations to gainful employment, according to the National Safety Council (NSC) Recognizing the need to address this prevalent workplace safety concern, the NSC released a new white paper: Preventing Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders: A Systematic Review of Current Interventions and Future Research Directions.

Published through its MSD Solutions Lab initiative, the report discusses the various interventions used to prevent and reduce the impact of these injuries on the job.

In 2020, NSC reported the private sector experienced more than 247,000 MSD injuries resulting in days away from work. Aside from the human toll and cost for workers themselves, MSDs in the private sector cost businesses nearly $17 billion a year, according to the Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index. The MSD Solutions … Read more...

EHS Software and Technologies Help Businesses Keep Pace with Transforming Work

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The speed and the pace of work is creating new challenges and opportunities for health and safety in the massive volumes of data that can be captured by EHS management systems and how it can be used to improve performance.

Technology is the driving force behind workplace transformations and will be the engine powering environmental health and safety or EHS management to ensure it keeps pace with the ever-changing and increased speed of work.

An article in the Houston Chronicle (CHRON) reports that technology’s impact on work has exponentially increased the rate of production and speed at which business occurs, adding that, “technology in the workplace has helped workers become more efficient than ever before. What used to take hours now can take minutes.”

The World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Risks Report says 73 percent of executives predict significant industry disruption in the next three years due to technological changes, … Read more...