Practical Facilities Tips, News & Advice.
During a recent panel discussion, “Managing PCBs in Buildings: Renovations, Transactions, Demolition, and More” at the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) Energy & Environment Conference on May 18, 2018, in Farmington, Connecticut, the discussants tackled the question of whether to test or not to test for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The panel, comprised of three attorneys […]
Remember the parable of the blind men and the elephant? Each individual formed an false conclusion about what an elephant is based on the limited information they gathered. The man touching the elephant’s tail concluded that an elephant is like a rope, while the man touching its tusk believed that the elephant was more like […]
A hazard assessment is one of the most important tools for preventing injuries, illnesses, and fatalities at your facility. They help analyze potential situations to determine the risks they pose, and provide your (or your tenant’s) security team with the data to decide how best to contain and control those risks. Unfortunately, one increasingly common […]
November 19, 2018, is a key date for facility managers with existing outdoor fixed ladders that extend more than 24 feet (ft) above a lower level. Ladders that were in place prior to that date must be equipped with at least one type of fall protection device that will prevent workers from falling. Ladders erected […]
Flushmate, a developer and manufacturer of “Pressure-Assisted” flushing devices for toilets has issued a massive, voluntary recall for approximately 1.4 million of its Flushmate II 501-B systems. According to the recall notice, the affected 501-B units are at risk of bursting near the weld seam, which would release the internal pressure of the device. In […]
At the 2018 National Safety Council (NSC) Congress & Expo, Dr. David Michaels, the former head of OSHA and a professor of environmental and occupational health at the George Washington University School of Public Health, copresented a session with Colin Duncan, CEO of Soteris Group, in which the pair discussed the ongoing need for empirical […]
In a presentation at the 2018 National Safety Council Congress & Expo in Houston, Texas, Patrick Kapust, deputy director of OSHA’s Directorate of Enforcement Programs, announced the list of the agency’s top 10 violations for fiscal year (FY) 2018 to a standing-room-only crowd of safety professionals. While the list—particularly its top half—is largely familiar from […]
At the opening of the 2018 National Safety Council (NSC) Congress and Expo in Houston, Texas, the NSC unveiled a memorial to the opioid epidemic that both commemorates victims and emphasizes the role employers can play in combating the crisis.
Are you procrastinating on assessing the risk of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at your facility? Don’t hold off until a regulator (or worse, legal action) forces your hand! A “wait and see” approach could result in potential damages to your brand and investor relations.
An OSHA standard directed at mitigating workplace violence in healthcare facilities is not looming on the horizon, but not because OSHA is unaware of the main provisions such a standard would include. As it currently stands, it is not uncommon for OSHA to issue citations against healthcare employers whose employees are attacked, harmed, threatened, or […]