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OSHA announced its preliminary Top 10 most frequently cited workplace safety standards for fiscal year 2021 in October. OSHA publishes this list to alert employers about these commonly cited standards so they can take steps to find and fix recognized hazards addressed in these and other standards before OSHA shows up. Fall Protection (1926.501) remainsRead more

US employers with 100 or more employees have until January 4 to ensure their workforces are fully vaccinated, after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published its emergency temporary standard (ETS) for coronavirus in the workplace. Under this standard, employers must develop, implement and enforce a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, unless they adopt aRead more

OSHA is urging employers in the construction industry to participate in a weeklong safety stand-down to raise awareness about suicide prevention. In 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that men working in construction have one of the highest suicide rates compared to other industries. Their rate of suicide is about four times higher thanRead more

A number of key US organisations and safety experts are urging government agency leaders to clarify what the new CDC guidance for fully vaccinated people means for all workplaces. Eight leading organisations, collectively representing approximately 1 million union workers and experts in safety, have sent a letter to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) andRead more

OSHA has launched a national program to protect high-risk workers from coronavirus, as well as focusing on employers that retaliate against workers with safety concerns. The national emphasis program (NEP) concentrates enforcement efforts on companies that put the largest number of workers at serious risk of contracting the coronavirus. The program also prioritises employers thatRead more

USA: OSHA has issued significantly stronger worker safety guidance to help employers and workers implement a coronavirus prevention program and better identify risks which could lead to exposure and contraction. Protecting Workers: Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace provides updated guidance and recommendations, and outlines existing safety and health standards.Read more

In a reversal, OSHA has altered its enforcement policy for recordable cases of COVID-19, adding that it will increase workplace inspections as economies reopen in states throughout the country. The US regulator says that throughout the course of the pandemic, understanding about the transmission and prevention of infection has improved. As such, OSHA has issuedRead more

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has released a popular and timely new video for employers and workers on how to properly wear and remove a respirator in seven steps. For workers who may need to use respirators to protect themselves from coronavirus exposure, a properly worn respirator can help reduce the wearer’sRead more

USA: OSHA has announced changes to its enforcement weighting system and it says it will now consider a number of factors when considering the impact of a workplace safety inspection. Under the current enforcement weighting system initiated in 2015, OSHA weights certain inspections based on the time taken to complete the inspection or, in someRead more

The National Safety Council (NSC) and OSHA have announced the preliminary Top 10 most frequently cited workplace safety violations for the fiscal year 2019 – and it appears U.S. companies are failing to address the same hazards year-on-year. Remarkably, Fall Protection – General Requirements (1926.501) tops the list for the ninth consecutive year. NSC PresidentRead more