Free hazard communication webinar to be offered by American Staffing Association Feb. 28

Through its alliance with OSHA, the American Staffing Association will host a free webinar Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. ET on “Communicating with Workers about Hazardous Materials.” The webinar will focus on how OSHA can help staffing firms and host employers better understand their responsibilities for ensuring the safety of temporary workers. During this webinar, OSHA Senior Industrial Hygienist Sven Rundman will discuss the hazard communication standard, and responsibilities for providing hazard communication information and training. For more information and to register, visit the webinar website.

Ladder safety is focus of national outreach campaign

Falls from ladders are preventable, and yet they account for about 20,000 injuries and 300 deaths each year. On March 2, agency staff will discuss lessons from the field during a safety symposium hosted by the OSHA Education Center at the University of Texas, Arlington. The safety discussion, from 9 to 11:30 a.m., will also be live-streamed and can be viewed online. The event is organized in conjunction with the American Ladder Institute’s declaration of March as Ladder Safety Month. OSHA area directors Jack Rector and Basil Singh will share stories of ladder-related tragedies they have witnessed, along with ways those incidents could have been prevented. Ladder safety will also be an important component of OSHA’s annual National Safety Stand-Down set for May 8 through 12.

OSHA's free On-site Consultation Program helped more than 27,000 employers create safer workplaces in 2016

Last year, 27,385 small and mid-sized U.S. businesses took advantage of OSHA's free and confidential On-site Consultation Program to remove workplace hazards and better protect their workers. The program primarily benefits small and mid-sized businesses – 57% of those helped last year had fewer than 26 employees. Priority is given to high-hazard industries, with more than half of all visits going to construction or manufacturing sites. In 2016, consultants identified and helped employers eliminate more than 140,000 total hazards, protecting an estimated 3.3 million workers from possible injury, illness or death.