Knowing how to work safely in and around confined spaces, and knowing how to comply with the OSHA regulations for confined spaces, begins with knowing what a confined space is.

Read below to learn the three simple criteria for a confined space.

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No employer wants to get hit with a penalty from OSHA. And that’s even more true since 2016, when OSHA increased those penalties significantly (and OSHA adjusted those penalties for inflation as recently as January 2, 2018).

The best reason to not run afoul of OSHA and get into citations and penalties is because OSHA compliance contributes to better health and safety at work.

But, if fear of a penalty is another reason to comply, we’ve got the necessary information for you below.

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If you’re new to occupational safety and health, and/or new to OSHA, even the most basic things can be unfamiliar or confusing.

And that’s why we’ve created our OSHA Basics blog series–to help you get a foothold on some of these important topics.

In this article, we’re going to introduce to you the OSHA Field Operations Manual.

We’ve got a list of other OSHA Basics articles on different topics at the bottom of this article for you as well. Plus, because OSHA Inspectors use the Field Operations Manual during OSHA Workplace Inspections, we’ve included a free GUIDE TO OSHA INSPECTIONS for you at the bottom of this article.

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Ever heard about industrial hygiene without really knowing what it is or what an industrial hygienist does?

Well fear no more, friend, because we’ve teamed up with a real-life industrial hygienist to explain it all to us.

In this interview, Morgan Bliss, an industrial hygienist and an Assistant Professor in the Safety Management Department at Central Washington University, is kind enough to walk us through a comprehensive introduction to the field. So get ready to learn everything you ever wanted to know about IH! Not only that, Morgan:

• Prepared her own PowerPoint presentation to walk us through this discussion–you’ll see her slides below
• Included her own original artwork in that PowerPoint–you’ll see Morgan’s IH-themed drawings below too

We’ve got a recorded video of the discussion below. If you’d prefer to read instead of listen, we’ve also typed up a transcript, so just click MORE in that case.

Also, remember that Morgan will be coming back to discuss the hierarchy of controls in a second interview soon.

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Our OSHA Basics series of articles explains basic, fundamental, and important topics related to OSHA and OSHA compliance.

In this OSHA Basics article, we’re going to explain to you what “incorporation by reference” means. Incorporation by reference is also sometimes known by the acronym IBR.

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If you’ve had your ear to the ground for the past 10-15 years, you’ll know there’s been a bit of a seismic shift in occupational safety and health that involves a movement toward risk management, safety management systems, and systems thinking.

We wanted to learn more and pull together a nice introduction to all this, so who better to talk with than Pam Walaski? Chances are good you already know Pam by name and by her work, but if not, we encourage you to check out this article, to follow her on social media, and to catch her giving at presentation at an ASSP conference or elsewhere, as she’s a great source of information on this.

So, let’s get started. Many, many thanks to Pam for her time and insights. Also, a quick head’s-up that since we published this webinar/interview, Pam has also completed a second interview with us that focuses on 5 Easy Steps for Implementing Risk-Based Safety Approaches.

We’ve got an audio recording of the discussion immediately below. If you’d prefer to read, we also created a transcript–just click MORE for that. Also, there’s a free guide to risk management for occupational safety and health management at the bottom of this article for you. 🙂

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If your career is related to occupational safety and health, there’s a good chance you’ve heard about the new ISO 45001 Global Standard for Safety and Health Management.

If you need to get up to speed on ISO 45001, we’re happy to announce we’ve got just the ticket for you: two interviews with Chris Ward, who played a big role in developing and publicizing the ISO 45001 standard.

In this interview, the first of two, Chris will give us an introduction to ISO 45001, answer some basic questions, and give us links to some resources for more information. In the second interview, to follow soon, Chris will share with us some tips for implementing ISO 45001.

We’d like to thank Chris for his work on the standard and for the time and knowledge he shared with us below. And on a side note, please feel free to download our free 10 Steps to Starting with Safety Management infographic.

And with that, let’s get learning more about ISO 45001.

You can watch the recorded video of the discussion below. If you’d prefer to read, we’ve typed up a transcript for you too–just click the MORE button for that.

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In this part of our OSHA Basics series of article, we’re going to quickly explain to you what OSHA’s 1910 standards for general industry and 1926 standards for construction are.

If this sounds like something you’d like clarification on, continue reading.

And know that this is just one article in a series of OSHA Basics articles we’ve been writing that cover basic OSHA concepts such as the General Duty Clause, Incorporation by Reference, and more. We’ve got links for other articles in this series at the bottom of this blog.

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