Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Weather emergencies and other natural disasters can strike any workplace, often with little warning. If you and your employees are not adequately prepared for these events, the potential for a catastrophe is heightened. On the other hand, when you’ve anticipated emergency needs and prepared your employees to deal effectively with the most difficult situations, the […]
Because earthquakes can occur at any time of year and happen suddenly, without much if any time for advance preparation, having and practicing a plan is key to helping your workers stay safe. To raise awareness, OSHA has launched a new Earthquake Preparedness and Response page. According to OSHA, most earthquake-related injuries result from collapsing […]
Train employees to follow these basic safety rules for working with and around conveyors: Keep conveyors clean at all times. Know the capacity of the conveyor system to prevent overloading. Inspect conveyors on a regular basis, and do not operate if they need repairs or are missing a guard. Never remove guards or other protective […]
Although the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) does not provide much specific direction concerning safe stacking and storage, 29 CFR 1910.176(b) of the material-handling standard does generally require secure workplace storage of materials. The regulation states: “Storage of material shall not create a hazard. Bags, containers, bundles, etc., stored in tiers shall be stacked, […]
Gamification can help engage learners in training and help them retain information, complete training, and keep their skills current, says Steve Sims, chief design officer for Badgeville and founder of its Behavior Lab. “Gamification” is the application of technology through games and other mechanisms to “tap into motivation and get people to do things,” he […]
Trainers might inadvertently send the wrong message based on their “hand behaviors” (i.e., how they hold their hands and what they do with them during training), says Guila Muir, a trainer of trainers, facilitators, and presenters and author of Instructional Design that Soars: Shaping What You Know into Classes that Inspire (www.guilamuir.com/kite-book). “The good news […]
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) provides heat illness prevention training to employers throughout the state. DOSH has also published the training program, in both English and Spanish, on the agency’s heat illness prevention website at www.dir.ca.gov/DOSH/HeatIllnessInfo.html. The training program covers what DOSH considers to be the essential components of its heat […]
In 2005, a dozen California workers died of heat illness—a toll that resulted in the promulgation of the nation’s first heat illness prevention regulation. In 2009, California/OSHA conducted more than 3,400 inspections at worksites considered “high risk” for heat illness. The agency shut down 16 worksites that posed an imminent heat hazard and issued nearly […]
With roughly one-in-four employers recruiting entry-level workers from the pool of current and former interns, it is more important than ever for college and university students and recent graduates to perform well in these employment proving grounds, says a press release from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Inc. Unfortunately, many of those involved in summer internship […]
Do you have more older workers on the job these days? If you answered “yes,” it’s not surprising. The American population is aging, and so is the nation’s workforce. Consider these statistics: The proportion of the U.S. population of people aged 65 and older is projected to increase from 12.4 percent in 2000 to 19.6 […]