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Workplace Safety Blogs


By Peter Renton



Let’s face it, a printing plant can be a dangerous place to work. We work with large and powerful machines that need a high level of training to operate. But it is easy to take plant safety for granted until there is an accident – and if you work in this industry long enough you will probably see accidents happen. Most accidents can be prevented with a rigorous focus on safety. Following is a review of blogs that will help you maintain this focus on workplace safety.

OSHA Underground (http://oshaunderground.blogspot.com/)
OSHA Underground is a workplace safety blog run by OSHA (the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration) employees who post anonymously to protect their jobs. It seems to be the work of frustrated OSHA workers who are vocal about diminishing OSHA resources and a lack of leadership. Having said that, it can provide some very useful information to anyone interested in safety. Recent posts dealt with the lack of record keeping for on the job injuries, the hazards of construction sites, combustible dust explosions, and fire protection standards. This is quite an active blog, and one of the most widely read blogs in the industry. If you want to hear an OSHA insider’s view of safety issues, this is the blog to read.

Workers Comp Insider (http://www.workerscompinsider.com/)
This is the corporate blog of Lynch Ryan, a management consulting firm specializing in workers compensation cost control. It is the longest running blog on workplace safety, having started way back in 2003. Topics covered include risk management, workplace safety, injuries, and of course workers compensation insurance. This blog is updated several times a week with articles by a number of different authors – all employees of Lynch Ryan. Recent posts discussed workers stuck in elevators, the American health care system, workplace injury fraud, as well as a weekly round up of recent safety and workers comp news.

The Safety Blog – I am Wright.com (http://www.iamwright.com/)

David Wright is a safety director (he won’t divulge where he works) and OSHA-authorized trainer with over 15 years experience in the safety industry. He calls himself the Safety Geek and you can tell he has a lot of passion for safety. He covers topics such as fire safety, vice safety, working near power lines, excavation safety, and fall protection. Each post provides practical advice on how to create a safety plan to avoid injuries. He also covers workplace accidents and provides commentary on how to avoid that particular accident.

The Safe Workplace Blog (http://www.safe-workplace.com/safety-blog/)



This blog “covers safety related news with a focus on how safety, or a lack of safety, impacts employers, employees and their families.” It is the corporate blog of a company called Graphic Products Inc., a supplier of industrial, school, and commercial labelers and sign printers. There is definitely a focus here on OSHA and OSHA compliance issues with many examples given of poor safety practices at manufacturing and construction companies. Recent posts discussed an OSHA citation at a freight company, commentary on congressional hearings on safety, and a study of budget cuts at OSHA: In 1980 there were three OSHA staff members for every 100,000 US workers, today the number is 1.5.

Safety Culture Blog (http://emeetingplace.com/safetyblog/)



This new blog is the safety blog of eMeetingplace.com, the web site of James Roughton, an author of several books on workplace safety.  The focus here is on management and in particular the importance of management in creating a safety culture. Recent posts have discussed the importance of making safety a core part of a company’s value system (more than just a priority), the measurement of safety performance, and changing behavior of employees.

If you prefer to listen to topics like this instead of reading blogs on your computer, you can subscribe to what is called a podcast. I will be covering podcasts in a future column, but I just wanted to mention briefly an excellent podcast available on workplace safety. It is called Safety Culture Excellence (http://safetyculture.podbean.com/) and it is an audio series focusing on workplace safety from consulting firm ProAct Safety.

Peter Renton is the founder of Lightning Labels, Inc., an all-digital label printer in Denver, CO, USA. He is also the co-author of the company’s blog at blog.lightninglabels.com.