Best Practices


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Best Practices

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Best Practices—General
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Safety management: Check your training program against Cal/OSHA's recommended best practices
December 2012
Training is a vital part of your safety program. It's a required part of your Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP), it may be required by specific standards that apply to your workplace, and it can provide a natural environment for communication between management and employees about safety and health issues. . . . more »

Online exclusive: Audit planning checklist
COCA Online Exclusive September 2012
The idea of some audits, like one by the IRS, might make your blood run cold. But when it comes to safety and health, an audit is a proactive tool that tells you if your program is achieving the desired results. . . . more »

Trainer's Handbook: It's a Gas! Protect Workers from Fumigation Hazards
September 2010
Fumigation is a method of controlling pests by using airborne pesticides. The pests can include insects on crops, termites and bedbugs inside buildings, and pests in other enclosed spaces such as ships and railcars. . . . more »

Trainer's Handbook: 'Green' Dry Cleaning Comes with Risks to Workers; How to Avoid Ergonomic, Chemical, and Burn Hazards
August 2010
It has been a tough summer for dry cleaners. In July, the next stage of California's environmentally motivated phase-out of perchloroethylene (PERC), a chemical used extensively by dry cleaners, went into effect. Dry cleaners must retire PERC-based machines once they reach the age of 15 years, and PERC use must be entirely phased out by 2023. . . . more »

Best Practices: That's Entertainment? Addressing Common Hazards In the Entertainment Industry
August 2010
There was no audience in the MGM Grand's Hollywood Theater in Las Vegas on May 20, 2009; Tom Jones had recently finished his run. Stagehands were tearing down his set, some of them balancing precariously on a catwalk as they clipped their safety harnesses onto a horizontal lifeline and then crossed a 33-inch gap above a false ceiling on a narrow rigging plank with no guardrails. . . . more »

Featured Resource: Improve Indoor Air Quality by Inspecting Your HVAC: A Checklist
August 2010
Is the air in your workplace making workers sick? If so, one easy fix is to make sure that your HVAC system is clean and properly maintained. . . . more »

Sample Forklift Attachment and Modification Policy
COCA Online Exclusive July 2010
Adding attachments to or modifying the lifting apparatus on a forklift can create hazards if not done with care. Under this company's policy, the following must be done if any attachment is added to a forklift or modification made to the lifting apparatus: . . . more »

Bulletin: Online Exclusive: Sample Forklift Attachment and Modification Policy
July 2010
Adding attachments to or modifying the lifting apparatus on a forklift often increases the machinery's usefulness, but it can also create hazards if not done with . . . more »

Safe California Workplaces: Multiple Strategies Help Caliber Collision Centers Create a Roadmap to a Safer Workplace
February 2009
What makes a workplace a safety star? We set on the path to find out with the Employer Resource Institute's 2008 Safe California Workplaces Award contest. As we discovered, the keys include a "safety first" culture and both seeking and implementing good ideas from a variety of sources. Our 2008 grand-prize winner is Irvine-based Caliber Collision Centers. Here's an up-close look at Caliber's winning strategies. . . . more »

Ergonomics: Lean Manufacturing, Part 1; When More Efficiency Leads to Aching Backs
August 2008
Over the last decade, many manufacturers have embraced "lean manufacturing," a strategy to eliminate wasted time, motion, and storage by streamlining production, altering production processes, and paring back warehousing. These changes often show up in the bottom line at . . . more »

Injury Prevention: Animal Handling; Don't Let the Bear Get You
August 2008
Rocky the grizzly bear was a star. The 5-year-old, 7 1/2-foot-tall grizzly had most recently appeared in the Will Ferrell movie "Semi-Pro." So when Randy Miller and his cousin Stephen Miller, both experienced animal handlers, were working with Rocky and a third trainer at the Predators . . . more »

Trainer's Handbook: Confined Spaces; A Basic Refresher for All Workers
August 2008
Workers whose jobs may never require them to enter a confined space need to know what one is so that they'll know to avoid its deadly hazards. A worker who thinks he or she can clear a jam in a process vessel by climbing into it, or a worker who thinks that it would only take a . . . more »

Electrical Safety: Flexible Cords and Cables; Be Inflexible About Safety
July 2008
Sometimes you need an electrical cord that bends a little. Maybe it's because you have to use your power drill or saw in many different locations during the workday. Maybe it's because a piece of machinery . . . more »

Injury Prevention: Not Just in the Trenches; Beware of Unstable Hillside Collapses
July 2008
On June 12, 2007, an employee of Watsonville-based Granite Construction was checking the grade of a hillside when it collapsed, crushing and fatally injuring him. In October 2007, a day laborer . . . more »

Fire Safety: Could Your Business Survive a Wildfire?
June 2008
The 2007 wildfire season was devastating for Southern California. Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes, more than 2,000 houses were destroyed, more than half a million acres burned across seven counties, and more than 3,000 businesses were directly . . . more »

Best Practices: When One Man's Home Is Another Man's Workplace, Part 4; Construction, Repair, and Maintenance Workers
May 2008
A crew for The House Doctor, a home improvement contractor, was working in a Long Beach home when an electric lamp fell onto an employee. Part of the worker's body was touching a water puddle, and the worker was electrocuted. CPR . . . more »

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