Safety is a priority for organizations, but improvements in industrial worker safety over the last 50 years have stalled.
Even with innovations in safety technology, the workforce continues to be at risk of falls, injury, and other occupational hazards. There is an urgent need for organizations to understand the gaps in safety procedures and adopt tools and systems that can safeguard the health and well-being of workers.
In part two of our four-part series on OSHA’s top 10 violations in 2021, we will focus on the next three violations – fall protection – training requirements, lockout/tagout, and hazard communication – and methods of addressing these through innovative safety technologies.
Fall Protection – Training Requirements
Keeping a workforce trained and compliant to both company and OSHA requirements surrounding any given safety standard is difficult. This standard specifically addresses the training requirements for employers surrounding fall protection, which itself appears at the top of the list.
It is the responsibility of an organization that all employees who have might be exposed to fall hazards have training programs, materials, and competent trainers provided. It is also the organization’s responsibility to ensure the workers comply with their training.
New technologies around training, especially safety training, make ensuring continual compliance with and training around safety standards far easier – both on the organization and the worker. AI can recognize unsafe behaviors and suggest micro-trainings and other tools to create a safety-based mindset. Preventing accidents and serious violations.
Lockout/Tagout (LOTO)
LOTO is critical to any organization’s energy control program. Although procedures and types of equipment vary across companies, certain common points can be addressed. Easy-to-follow LOTO processes that are OSHA compliant save lives, bring security to workplaces and prevent incidents from happening.
Using technology to establish controlled access to certain zones, such as geofencing and digitized LOTO procedures, enables organizations to protect people, and reduces risk to assets and communities. Advanced solutions such as these ensure that only authorized personnel enter certain areas, track authorized personnel in those controlled areas ensuring safety, and can send alerts to personnel as needed.
Hazard Communication
Hazard communication covers the communication of chemicals – both produced in the workplace and imported – and their hazards to workers. Including safe storage, written warnings and cautions (such as labels, infographics, etc.), and any training needed to comply with OSHA standards.
Maintaining safety data sheets and effective information on any hazardous chemicals in the workplace are responsibilities of the managing company or organization.
Advanced safety databases, environmental monitoring, worker condition monitoring, and proximity detection can enhance worker compliance and enforce OSHA hazard communication standards. Behavior-based training programs and technologies can also augment current training capabilities and keep workers safe.
Building a Safe and Healthy Future
Organizations are under growing pressure to have proper safety standards in place and ensure the safety and well-being of their workforce.
Despite the technological and safety innovations occurring every year, OSHA’s top 10 serve as a reminder to remain vigilant about worker safety and health. To carefully assess existing safety standards, identify areas that need prioritization and improvement, and implement the right safety procedures, tools, and approaches to build a safe and healthy future.
In the next part of this series, we will tackle the next three in OSHA’s list: scaffolding, ladders, and respiratory protection.
About Guardhat
Guardhat is pioneering end-to-end connected worker safety solutions for industrial workers. We offer cutting-edge, wearable technology; a proprietary connected worker platform – unrivaled in its ability to ingest, manage and analyze unstructured data; easy to deploy monitoring and reporting software; and a growing system of partner integrations.
Guardhat enables companies to monitor worker location, health, and work environment to shorten reaction time and help proactively solve safety challenges. We hold 15 patents in real-time location systems, wearable solution design, and connected worker software. If you are interested in our connected safety solutions – including situational awareness, environmental and biometric monitoring, multi-modal communication, RTLS, Covid-19, and other advanced technology solutions – contact us to arrange a demo.
