For many years now, falls have been the leading cause of death on construction sites.  From small, residential projects to large commercial structures, people continue to add to the fatal fall statistic – regardless of the focus placed on this epidemic.  Sometimes this is the result of...

California OSHA code (Cal-OSHA) is notorious for being more stringent across the board on their requirements than federal OSHA. Their fall protection requirements are no different. Because of this, we here at Simplified are constantly asked, "This says it meets OSHA, but what about Cal-OSHA?"...

Would you like to exit this roof hatch without a railing? This picture is not a fake. It was sent to us by one of our customers. It is a shame to say it, but sometimes safety is not the number one priority when a building is being designed and constructed. Whoever installed this roof hatch...

Industrial Ergonomics: What Is It and Why Should I Be Concerned?

Ergonomics is defined as the study of people’s efficiency in their working environment, but in the world of health and safety, it tends to denote fitting a job or a task to a person. This is done for many reasons: comfort,...

The warehouse environment is full of hazards.  One of the many hazards that plant managers need to be aware of is protecting walking workers from workers operating material handling equipment such as pickers and forklifts.

We worked with one of our customers to provide a solution that offered a...

Updated on December 3, 2019

When selecting a rooftop railing, you will be burdened with several non-negotiable requirements. Fortunately, KeeGuard non-penetrating roof railing offers many features that cover all concerns.

A roof’s purpose is to keep the...

In the last article, we discussed the first level of control when it comes to protecting employees from recognized hazards: elimination or substitution.  The concept, while possibly difficult to implement, was simple to understand.  Unfortunately, this second step, engineering...

Let’s be honest: not everybody has the personality to be a trainer. It’s easy to hand somebody some information and say, “Here, go teach this to your workers.” They might be able to rattle off that information to their audience, but can they do it in such a way that their...

Some of the safest people on the job do some of the most foolish things at home.  It seems that safety takes on a whole new meaning when you’re at home because, well, nobody is making you pay attention to it.  OSHA has no jurisdiction over what you do in – or on –  your own...

Safety is a big issue on construction sites. The ways in which serious accidents can occur are countless, thanks to the nature of construction. Federal OSHA’s statistics show that of the roughly 4,600 fatal work-related accidents in the U.S. in 2011, the most recent year for which data...

When it comes to safety, it may seem like a no-brainer that those who have OSHA to guide them would not become complacent. However, for those who work in the construction or warehousing fields, it does not work like that.

Workers need regular reminders about safety so that accidents do...

Sometimes, when questions seem like they should have obvious answers, we need to dig a little deeper to make sure we’re not making assumptions. When it comes to what OSHA considers a hole in the roof, it would be easy to say, “A hole is a hole.” I mean, we all know what holes look...

When the conversation turns to fall protection, railings, skylight screens, horizontal lifelines, and mobile anchor points are often discussed , but what about vertical lifelines?  We tend to not hear as much about this solution, yet there are many situations in which a vertical lifeline...

On November 24, 2008, a new federal regulation, 23CFR634, went into effect...

The following safety huddle lists the OSHA standards that regulate and define the specifications for warning line systems in construction fall protection. Refer to 29 CFR 1926.502(f) for more details. Remember, workplace safety is everyeverybody's responsibility.

Definition: warning line...

IBC is the law and should not be taken lightly.

International Building Code (IBC) is,

"…a model code that provides minimum requirements to safeguard the public health, safety and general welfare of the occupants of new and existing buildings and structures."

In short, IBC...

Perhaps you decided to read this because you thought, "Of course not!  Everyone knows that is a crazy dangerous, not to mention non-productive." However, studies show that walking and texting are pretty much akin to walking blindfolded.

Researchers at Stony...

Sometimes when working on older buildings or on buildings where the architects kindly left out the fall protection anchors, a non-penetrating anchor system is needed. Enter Kee Anchor. Kee Anchor is a non-penetrating dead weight fall protection anchor that uses weight and resistance to safety...

Pedestrians are some of the most vulnerable employees in a warehouse setting simply because (as we’ve stated in some of our recent articles) in a physical battle between man vs. machine, the machine is going to win…especially when that machine is a rolling piece of equipment weighing...

Safety training isn’t just a good idea; OSHA regulations require that your personnel be trained. Often, it is argued that training is unnecessary because the employee in question had many years of experience with the given work. Years of experience will mean that they most likely know how to...

Falls from height are still a primary killer when it comes to workplace fatalities. The rooftop is the most common area where general industry employees are exposed to a fall hazard. Roof access is not necessarily an everyday part of someone's job, so its easier to ignore the safety...

A man named Joe, who worked for the same roofing company for 25 years, fell through the skylight pictured above to his death. He was not wearing any fall protection and the skylight was not protected in any way. On average 16 people die at work every day in the United States. That number is...