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December, 2008
Discipline without Retaliation, Part 1 of 2
Fourteen different federal laws, including the OSHA statute itself, ban companies from taking or threatening unfavorable action against a worker in retaliation for reporting company violations or exercising other legal rights. Canadian OHS laws provide the same basic protections to workers.
By the same token, lodging a safety complaint doesn’t make a worker immune from legitimate [...]
NON-RETALIATION POLICY
Workers are reminded that [company name] is committed to obeying all occupational health and safety laws. Making you feel free to come forward and report hazards is an important part of that commitment.
We have thus adopted the following policy to reassure you that you won’t be fired, demoted, reassigned, disciplined or subject to any other [...]
Status Flux: Handling Change
“You can change anything you want, but you can’t change everything you want.”
—John Rogers, Peter McWilliams
Another year has come and gone. Goodbye 2008; hello 2009. Things change. Stuff happens. What’s fine today is folly tomorrow. Take a moment to consider how computers, cell phones and recent world events have changed our lives. It becomes [...]
Niccolò Machiavelli
Machiavelli is also one of history’s most quotable figures. Some of the things he said ring true, not just for political leadership but organizational management. Here are some quotes that safety professionals might find pertinent, even if they don’t agree with them:
A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.
Before all else, be armed.
Benefits [...]
Niccolò Machiavelli
Okay. I admit it. Calling Machiavelli a hero of workplace safety is a bit of a stretch. But the man that Richard cites above is a character whose life and writings are not without relevance to safety management.
Niccolò Machiavelli was born in what was then the city-state of Florence in 1469. Not much is known [...]
Don’t Blow Off Snowblower Hazards
If you have snow on your driveway, you might want to say a little thank you to the late Arthur Sicard. Who’s Arthur Sicard? He’s the inventor of the snowblower. And while he’s dead now, his legacy lives on. Those fabulous machines eat snow for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Unfortunately, they can also chew you [...]
3 Quick Quotes
New Year’s eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on [...]
Canadian Version
SITUATION
Okay, Canada, it’s your turn. Here’s a version of the above quiz that’s adapted for WHMIS.
A building supply company in Ontario has to keep thousands of MSDS’. Maintaining a paper system has become a hassle. Suppliers are constantly making changes to their MSDS’ and furnishing MSDS’ for new products. And every time the company gets [...]
Can You Provide Computerized Access to an MSDS?
Here are two parallel quizzes about the rules governing computerized access to the MSDS—one for the U.S. audience and the other for Canadians. Good luck, North America.
U.S. VERSION
SITUATION
A liquid chemical transport company keeps an MSDS for each chemical it transports in a large binder at its tank-wash facility. Workers who clean the tanks have [...]
Taking Advantage of Your `Free Shot’ to Fix a Safety Problem
Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
You’ve probably heard that old saying. Maybe close doesn’t count for most people. But for those of us in the world of workplace safety, close does count. A lot. The close I’m talking about is the “close call” or near miss. Let’s talk about why it’s so important [...]
