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A construction worker taking a shortcut by using a telehandler to bridge the gap between the scaffold and the work area. Why would an experienced construction worker knowingly take a dangerous shortcut? Maybe because experience has taught him it works. After all, construction safety shortcuts often make sense to the worker taking them. Consider a worker who has taken the same shortcut 200 times without getting hurt. A safety professional sees 200 exposures to risk. The worke

A damaged ladder shouldn’t be used until it’s properly repaired or replaced. Here’s what OSHA requires—and the practical rule workers and supervisors should follow.

When operations stops owning safety, the Safety Professional becomes the Safety Police. Construction companies have plenty of safety titles. Safety Director. Safety Manager. Safety Professional. Safety Coordinator. Safety Officer. For an executive, the titles matter less than understanding true construction safety roles using three questions: Who owns the risk? Who provides the expertise? Who supports execution in the field? The answer: Management owns it. The Safety Professi

If hearing damage caused workers’ ears to bleed, we’d shut the job down. But because the damage is invisible, we routinely work right through it. Here’s how construction leaders can take hearing loss more seriously.

Example of an injury that may be OSHA recordable depending on the treatment provided and OSHA's recording criteria. How to Determine if an Injury Is OSHA Recordable An injury that must be recorded on the OSHA 300 log is considerd "recordable" if it is: work-related a new injury case and results in any one of the following: death days away from work restricted work or transfer to another job medical treatment beyond first aid or loss of consciousness. What is medical treatment

A Practical Guide for Construction Vice Presidents Can OSHA inspect a construction jobsite without a warrant? Yes—but not always. Let me explain. When OSHA arrives at one of your construction projects, you'll have to make decisions that can affect far more than a single citation. Do you cooperate? Refuse entry? Call your attorney? One wrong decision can disrupt production, strain client relationships, increase insurance costs, damage your company's reputation, and even affec

Construction Worker using PPE as the last line of defense PPE is important, but it should never be the only safety plan. Hard hats, gloves, glasses, respirators, and harnesses help protect you; but they don't remove the hazard. Remember: PPE doesn't eliminate risks like dust, sharp edges, noise, or falls. It only protects what it covers and must fit properly. Worn-out or damaged PPE won't protect you. Some PPE can create new hazards if it limits vision, hearing, or movement.

What Every Construction Company Owner Should Know MIOSHA Inspecting a job site in Michigan The answer is surprisingly simple. OSHA usually ends up on your jobsite for one of two reasons: Something happened. They simply chose your project. "How do your compliance officers decide which construction projects to inspect?" I asked that question to a senior member of MIOSHA during a trade association meeting. Their answer caught me off guard. "Our officers drive around and stop at

Construction wildfire smoke wasn't something I expected to be answering questions about. It caught me off guard too. And what was especially uncomfortable was that I didn't know how to answer it. I couldn't find any OSHA regulations for my State (Michigan). Then a really smart company did something I learned a lot from. They called an emergency safety committee meeting to discuss. As their 3rd party safety professional, I was invited to contribute. We discussed many thing

Workers dismantling a scaffold on construction project Workers need more than just a written safety manual. They need to know: Where it is How to actually find it and more importantly; how to use it This does not happen becasue we "went over it" in orientations, trainings, or meetings. My experience has proved to me that it takes at least 3 practices for a worker to actually have confidence to access a safety manual when under the pressure of an OSHA officer asking them fo

22' excavation, sloped at 63 degrees "This is their fix; really need something back from you. You should go take a look". This was the text I got from one of our West Michigan concrete clients. Their team was exposed to this 22' excavation sloped at 63 degrees. I immediately looked at MIOSHA's excavation table-1 which shows which angle of slope is the maximum needed for the type of soil. In this case, the soils expert was saying it was stiff clay. MIOSHA says stiff clay