A few weeks ago, I was talking to a local earthwork contractor about how his business was doing this year. He said it was okay but his biggest problem was a new worker who was sometimes causing him to pull his hair out. After a little while, it was...

Changes are on the horizon for any who work in and around confined spaces, such as tanks, storage bins and pipelines. OSHA already has held the requisite public hearings, as is the case when changes are proposed for standards and enactment is likely ...

Over the years, MEMIC’s construction industry safety specialists have inspected many jobs with numerous subcontractors on a single site. Now and again, some of the subs complain that the general contractor picks on them for "little safety things."

One of my fellow Mainers had a favorite saying about safety meeting subjects. He'd say, "If you can't come up with a topic, grab a ladder and cover what's written on the side."

If you are reading this, odds are there is probably a computer screen involved. And you may be one of the 400,000 U.S. workers that lost an average of 8 days away from work due to a musculoskeletal injury in 2004, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of La...

Although it's been around for quite some time, violence in the workplace seems to be appearing more often in the news.

I got an e-mail from my boss recently sharing a Maine client’s request for information regarding drug testing. Specifically, about drug and alcohol testing as part of their accident investigation process: “Do you know, or can you point me in the righ...

The quality of the air we breathe at work has obvious ramifications linked to our health. Although this includes both outdoor and indoor environments, I want to talk about the indoor ones today.

Here is a morbid anxiety that sometimes can kick in on a construction site: Fear of being buried alive.

Every summer the warm weather brings out the roadwork crews. Although reduced speeds and stop and go driving can be frustrating for drivers—commercial and public alike—it is necessary to maintain the infrastructure.