Practical Facilities Tips, News & Advice.
The effort to curtail the impact of influenza just got a shot in the arm with a research award from a division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) to a company that’s testing a machine learning model to improve flu forecasts based on data gathered from wearable devices.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is easing its COVID-19 recommendations for fully vaccinated workplaces, but the agency is still advising employers to take steps to protect any unvaccinated workers. On June 10, OSHA announced updated guidance along with new rules for frontline healthcare employers. The latest word from OSHA reflects new guidance from the Centers […]
The COVID-19 outbreak is at top of mind for facility managers nationwide. Keep up with the current number of cases in your state with our recently updated interactive map, updated twice a week by our sister publication, the EHS Daily Advisor—read on for how this map has evolved over the past year, plus additional resources […]
You may not think of carrying holiday dishes, decorations and gifts as “manual materials handling,” but that’s what it amounts to. The amount of lifting, carrying, hanging, and hauling that your workers do during the holidays may well exceed what they do at other times of the year. All that lifting and carrying puts them […]
As we move toward sharing space at work again, employers often ask us: how can we support our baby-feeding employees? The answer: employers who establish breastfeeding-supportive climates offer comprehensive plans that include policy, procedure, culture of belonging, access to experts, encouragement, community and facilities. In this piece, we’ll examine facilities and identify ways to elevate […]
Emergencies in the healthcare service industry—natural disasters, infrastructure failures, or cyberattacks—can occur at any moment. To navigate these disruptions, organizations rely on emergency management (EM) plans. A powerful yet often underutilized tool in these plans is your computerized maintenance management software (CMMS). A CMMS can help facilities create comprehensive emergency plans (including ensuring the plan […]
Fewer workers are dying from hazards where the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has focused its enforcement resources. Preliminary agency data show a decrease in fatalities the agency is mandated to investigate, including significant reductions in fatal injuries from trench collapses and falls, two of the leading causes of death among construction industry workers. […]
What have OSHA’s compliance officers been up to lately? Take a look at some of the more significant enforcement cases from the past several months to find out. From the usual suspects like fall hazards and excavations to some less typical cases, recent enforcement activity illustrates the importance of a strong safety and health program […]
Did you know that products to sanitize, disinfect, and sterilize surfaces are considered pesticides and are regulated by the EPA under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)?
“Is the waste my facility produces hazardous?” This is a question common to generators of wastes in all industries. The answer to this question is essential, as it’s at the heart of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulations for handlers of hazardous waste. Generators as well as facility managers and/or owners of treatment, […]