Blog

OSHA plays a vital role in ensuring the safety of workers across the nation. Are you up-to-speed on their latest fall protection changes? Here's the facts.

The post Staying Informed on OSHA’s Fall Protection Changes appeared first on Dakota Safety.

The leading cause of occupational injuries and fatalities is falls. In fact, within the past decade, it is the #1 OSHA-violated standard, resulting in workplace tragedies, costing businesses a substantial amount of money and damaging their reputations.

Perhaps it is fair to say that one of the most dangerous work environments is industrial spaces, including factories, warehouses, and manufacturing plants. Such settings create numerous opportunities for tripping, slipping, and falling from greasy floors and damaged steps to clutter and uneven walking surfaces. 

Building and maintaining a safe workplace should be an ongoing process for all employers, not simply a list of things that can be checked off once and forgotten. Because safety is a serious matter of life or death, fostering a successful, proactive safety culture requires the utmost commitment and dedication from every member within an organization.

Since OSHA regulations change constantly, it is important to evaluate your company’s safety protocols. As we welcome the new year, now is the time to determine how you can effectively assess your safety plan to ensure a happy, injury-free workplace for your workers.      

Though working in warehouses and distribution centers might look like an easy, straightforward task to visitors, it involves many factors that require careful planning and efficient operations. While most companies tend to focus their safety efforts on construction sites and transport vehicles, warehouse safety is often neglected.

Yet the key to optimizing productivity, cost savings, and ensuring a smooth supply chain flow requires serious dedication to warehouse safety. There is always danger when working with shelves, pallets, and boxes. Read on to learn more about best practices for enabling a happy, injury-free working environment for your warehouse employees.

When it comes to workplace safety, it’s critical for construction companies to look at what could happen instead of what is (or isn’t) currently happening. Incidents can take place at any time and can happen to anyone. You must not take signs of potential danger lightly. A small crack on the wall or a rusty handle bar might be all it takes to cause a major workplace hazard.

Retail workers perform a wide array of tasks in a typical day that demand both physical and mental energy. It may seem that most of the retail industry is part of a low-risk environment. However, falls can occur in any type of situation; more than 1 million workers’ comp claims are filed each year.

Falls are a significant cause of serious injuries. In most cases, the failure to use any kind of fall protection equipment has led to many unfortunate tragedies.

One small mistake can kill. Many people think that as long as they spend a lot of money on fall protection, they’re doing the right thing. The truth is fall protection doesn’t only involve planning, training, and appropriate use of personal protective equipment; it also includes regular inspections and proper maintenance.

For your own safety and the safety of others, it’s important to know the basic types of fall protection and what works best for each situation and your budget. Understanding the concept of fall protection correctly will safeguard you from falls as well as minimize potential damage and losses resulting from possible incidents.

Falls are one of the leading causes of accidental deaths in America. A 2011 study by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that more than 30,000 people died from falls that year. While falls may affect anyone, they are particularly dangerous in the workplace. Each year, more than 1 million workers’ comp claims are filed and falls account for nearly 40% of all construction deaths.

Here, we hope to educate you about the most common fall situations and provide simple guidelines to help you prevent fall-related injuries and deaths. It’s important to remember that this is just a starting point. If you have any further questions, refer to the OSHA website for more information.

At Dakota Safety, we believe in the power of fall protection guardrails. But, we also admit passive fall protection isn’t always applicable to every situation. For construction sites, roofing tasks, or sites that need guardrails removed, an active fall protection solution is required, like a safety harness. That being said, a harness is only as good as its anchor point.

Anchorage points are your connection point to a solid structure. Required by OSHA standard 1910.66, each worker’s personal fall arrest system must have a reliable point of attachment for lifelines, lanyards, or deceleration devices. Anchor points can be beneficial if your work site is temporary or your workers need to cover lots of ground.