Episode 207: Assessing Respiratory Hazards and Risks During Disasters
Release Date: 07/17/2024
Episode 223: Building Trust -- Protecting Employees' Mental Health
OH&S SafetyPod
Increasing attention is being placed on workers’ mental health, as well as their physical health, but how do safety managers approach this challenge? Sean Egan, the Deputy Director of Labor for the State of Michigan, joins the OH&S Safety Pod to discuss Michigan’s groundbreaking workplace mental health initiative. Launched through the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO), the program aims to help businesses reduce stress, burnout, and stigma in high-risk, high-pressure industries like construction. Drawing from both policy expertise and lived experience, Egan explains how...
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Episode 222: AIHA Launches Heat Stress AP 2.0
OH&S SafetyPod
Larry Sloan, CEO of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), joins the OH&S Safety Pod to discuss the evolving risks of heat stress and how AIHA’s newly updated Heat Stress App is helping organizations protect workers in both indoor and outdoor environments. The app uses live weather data and user inputs to calculate wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), delivering personalized risk levels and clear, practical guidance. With multilingual support and a user-friendly interface, it empowers frontline workers, supervisors, and safety leaders to make smarter heat-related decisions....
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Episode 221: The ISF and Moving Beyond Compliance
OH&S SafetyPod
Jennifer McNelly, CAE, CEO of the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP), discusses the Intersociety Forum (ISF) and a recent report calling for a shift in how safety is embedded in business strategy. Representing nearly 30 safety and health organizations, the ISF advocates moving beyond legal compliance toward risk-based, proactive safety management systems. Jennifer explores why compliance alone hasn’t lowered fatality rates and how industry consensus standards, predictive data insights, and integrated safety strategies can drive better outcomes—not just for workers, but for...
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Episode 220: The Importance of Safety Assessments
OH&S SafetyPod
In this episode, Nick Brown, Senior Director of Ansell Services, explores why safety assessments are a foundational part of proactive hazard identification and facility safety. Every worksite presents its own risks, and Nick shares how a tailored, systematic approach to safety assessments helps EHS professionals identify hazards, ensure compliance with OSHA and industry standards, and take meaningful action. The discussion also highlights best practices for walkthroughs, common pitfalls to avoid, and how digital tools are helping organizations make smarter safety and PPE decisions. ...
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Episode 219: The Strategic Edge of Safety Staffing
OH&S SafetyPod
In this episode, Ethan Fight, Executive Director of Operations at Medcor Safety, joins the podcast to explore how strategic safety staffing can give high-risk industries such as construction a competitive advantage. Drawing on his 12 years of experience managing safety professionals across more than 100 construction accounts, Ethan shares insights into how investing in the right safety talent can reduce incidents, lower costs, and improve overall operational efficiency. The conversation covers how companies can approach staffing amid today’s competitive labor market, the pros and cons of...
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Episode 218: The Future of OSHA
OH&S SafetyPod
Is the future of OSHA at risk? Samuel Pond, founding and managing partner of Pond Lehocky Giordano, joins the SafetyPod to discuss the future of OSHA under shifting political tides. With more than 30 years of experience representing injured and disabled workers, Pond offers a front-line perspective on how changes at OSHA could impact worker safety and employer accountability. The conversation explores political developments that could weaken the agency, the viability of the NOSHA Act, and the implications of President Trump’s nomination of David Keeling as OSHA administrator. Pond also dives...
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Episode 217: The Importance of Women’s PPE
OH&S SafetyPod
Properly fitting PPE is critical for ensuring comfort, effectiveness, and safety on the job, but for women in the workforce, sourcing PPE that is designed with their dimensions in mind isn’t always easy. That’s why women’s PPE advocacy organization The Safety Rack and the Alliance of Women’s Safety Apparel Manufacturers (AWSAM) partnered with other women’s groups to launch the #MyBodyMyPPE campaign last year to raise awareness about the issue. The co-founders of #MyBodyMyPPE, Amy Roosa, the founder of The Safety Rack, and Emily Soloby, founder and CEO of Juno Jones Safety...
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Episode 216: Understanding OSHA’s Arc Flash Guidance
OH&S SafetyPod
In November 2024, OSHA released new arc flash guidance for the first time in almost 20 years. The guidance covered various areas of concern, including low-voltage hazards; PPE and arc-rated (AR) clothing; hierarchy of controls; worker training and establishing boundaries for arc flash hazards. Scott Margolin, Vice President of Technical at Tyndale and Chairman of the Board for the Partnership for Electrical Safety (PES), joins the podcast to discuss the key elements of the guidance, as well as why OSHA chose to release the guidance and how the PES is working to increase electrical safety for...
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Episode 215: New Developments in Confined Space Entry Monitoring and Safety
OH&S SafetyPod
Workers entering and working in confined spaces face a number of potentially fatal hazards such as insufficient oxygen, physical hazards including falls, and toxic or flammable atmospheres. Fortunately, new technology innovations are helping to improve their safety. Todd Connelly, Rental Sales Manager for Blackline Safety, joins the podcast to discuss why confined space entries persist as a safety concern; key considerations when evaluating CSE approaches; and how smart, connected safety solutions can help manage confined space hazards. This episode is sponsored by . Over 2 million...
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Episode 214: 20 Years of Breakthrough Strategies
OH&S SafetyPod
If you’re a regular reader of Occupational Health & Safety, then you’re probably familiar with Robert Pater. Pater is the managing director and creator of the MoveSMART system to reduce soft-tissue injuries and slips, trips, and falls, and he’s quickly approaching his 20-year anniversary of writing the Breakthrough Strategies column for OH&S. Moreover, he’s written nearly 200 articles for OH&S as well. Robert joins the podcast to talk about the upcoming anniversary of his column, as well as to discuss why slips, trips and falls continue to be a significant workplace safety...
info_outlineVarious kinds of disasters pose a wide spectrum of respiratory hazards for first responders, so how can they be kept safe? Dennis Terpin, Ph.D. joins the SafetyPod to discuss key topics related to this issue, such as the elements of hazard and risk assessment for those types of disasters; how health and safety planning vary in terms of the type of disaster and how this impacts respiratory safety; the key components of a respiratory protection program in disaster scenarios; and how the RAIN model applies to protecting responders’ from respiratory hazards during disaster response.
Sponsored by the National Fire Protection Association
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is a global self-funded nonprofit organization, established in 1896, devoted to eliminating death, injury, property and economic loss due to fire, electrical and related hazards. NFPA delivers information and knowledge through more than 300 consensus codes and standards, research, training, education, outreach and advocacy; and by partnering with others who share an interest in furthering their mission. Visit www.nfpa.org to learn more.