PPE stats, the NJ citation, and safe companies

What’s going on in EHS this week? Find out with Safety at the Frontline!

Tune in on Mondays to get the latest safety news with Frontline’s podcast. We’re covering the top EHS news, along with some quick and useful tips, so you can stay safe and keep rocking on the frontlines.

Safety professionals struggle with PPE

If you had to take a wild guess, out of 10 EHS professionals, how many of them do you think would say they often struggle with getting employees to use PPE?

Well JJ Keller conducted the research and found that over eight in 10 respondents said they struggle “often” with getting employees to use PPE. That’s 83 percent of professionals they interviewed, whereas 8 percent said it happens “sometimes.”

What’s even more interesting is the reason behind employees not wearing PPE. Which, I hate to say this out loud 72% said “they just don’t want to wear it,” according to the report.

Half of the people interviewed said they think PPE isn’t necessary, and the same number of people also said that PPE makes their job harder.

Other reasons employees don’t wear PPE, according to those surveyed, include not knowing they had to at 21 percent and not having PPE that fits at 14 percent.

NJ contractors cited for working too close to power lines

On to the next news, New Jersey contractors were cited for exposing employees to potentially lethal dangers by allowing them to work near energized power lines at a Paterson worksite.

Back in April 2022, the local power utility alerted OSHA about workers constructing a five-story apartment building too close to nearby power lines. After arriving at the site, OSHA inspectors found employees at risk of electrocution as they worked from a metal scaffold within five feet of high-voltage power lines.

OSHA informed the project’s developer and two subcontractors of the dangers and told them work must not continue. The agency subsequently posted an Imminent Danger Notice in English and Spanish to warn workers at the site about the extreme danger.

Example companies for safety

Last news of the week, we wanted to announce all the companies that have been selected by EHS Today as America’s safest companies of 2022. We’ve briefly talked about it before, but we want to emphasize the good examples more than the bad and this is a great opportunity to do so. The safest companies of 2022 are:

• Ballard Marine Construction,
• GFL Environmental Services USA Inc.,
• Hunter Site Services,
• Lauger Companies Inc.,
• Lindblad Construction,
• MetroPower,
• Russell Marine LLC,
• Sani-Matic Inc., and
• Tri-City Electric Co.

Congrats to every single one of them.