Back injuries can be extremely painful and long-lasting. OSHA reports that "back strain due to overexertion represents one of the largest segments of employee injuries in the American workplace. Only the common cold accounts for more lost days of work." The National Safety Council has stated that overexertion is the cause of about 31 percent of all disabling work injuries. It's important to know what types of acts are likely to cause back strain and how to work in ways to reduce the risk.

General Duty Clause: Workplace hazards that can result in back injuries are subject to OSHA citations under the General Duty Clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

1910.1030 - Blood borne Pathogens: The OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens standard (29 CFR 1910.1030) requires employers to eliminate, or at least minimize, the hazards of occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens. The standard requires employers of workers at risk of occupational exposure to blood or OPIM to develop a written Bloodborne Pathogen Exposure Control Plan. In addition, such employers must implement a combination of safety measures including engineering and work practice controls, personal protective equipment, employee training, and offering potentially exposed workers the vaccination against hepatitis B.

Electrical Safety: -STD 01-16-007: Understanding the electrical safety for unqualified workers plan at your facility is crucial to your safety. Unqualified workers, in this case, are machine operators, operators of powered industrial trucks, construction workers, and other personnel who are not specifically qualified to perform electrical work, but who need to know essential information about the hazards of electricity and how to prevent serious injury.

1910.39 -Fire safety is important business. National Fire Prevention Week is intended to focus on the importance of fire safety in the home, in schools and at work. But workplace fire safety is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) principal focus and saving lives and preventing injuries due to fire is a key concern. According to National Safety Council figures, losses due to workplace fires in 1988 totaled $3.1 billion. Of the more than 5,000 persons who lost their lives due to fires in 1988, the National Safety Council estimates 360 were workplace deaths. When OSHA conducts workplace inspections, it checks to see whether employers are complying with OSHA standards for fire safety. OSHA standards require employers to provide proper exits, fire fighting equipment, emergency plans, and employee training to prevent fire deaths and injuries in the workplace.

1910.178 - Each year, tens of thousands of injuries related to powered industrial trucks (PIT), or forklifts, occur in US workplaces. Many employees are injured when lift trucks are inadvertently driven off loading docks, lifts fall between docks and an unsecured trailer, they are struck by a lift truck, or when they fall while on elevated pallets and tines.

Most incidents also involve property damage, including damage to overhead sprinklers, racking, pipes, walls, and machinery. Unfortunately, most employee injuries and property damage can be attributed to lack of safe operating procedures, lack of safety-rule enforcement, and insufficient or inadequate training.

Hazard Communications - In order to ensure chemical safety in the workplace, information must be available about the identities and hazards of the chemicals. OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) requires the development and dissemination of such information: Chemical manufacturers and importers are required to evaluate the hazards of the chemicals they produce or import, and Prepare labels and material safety data sheets (MSDSs) to convey the hazard information to their downstream customers. All employers with hazardous chemicals in their workplaces must have labels and MSDSs for their exposed workers, and train them to handle the chemicals appropriately.

OSHA housekeeping rules (29 CFR 1910.22) state that "all places of employment, passageways, storerooms, and service rooms should be kept clean and orderly and in a sanitary condition." The regulation makes specific mention of keeping floors clean and dry: "To facilitate cleaning, every floor, working place, and passageway shall be kept free from protruding nails, splinters, holes, or loose boards." The regulation also says that "aisles and passageways shall be kept clear and in good repair."

Ergonomics is the science of fitting the job to the worker doing that job. The goal of ergonomics is to reduce a worker's exposure to musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) risk factors by changing the design of a workstation or the way a job is performed, allowing workers to rotate through different jobs, or providing personal protective equipment (PPE). While the Clinton-era ergonomics standard was revoked, OSHA will cite ergonomics violations under the General Duty Clause.

Slips Trips Falls: Although some workplace slips, trips and falls are not serious accidents, statistics show that nonfatal slips, trips and falls account for approximately 20% of all injuries involving lost workdays. In fact, According to the National Safety Council’s Accident Facts (1995 edition is the most recent for which data is conclusive) slips, trips and falls rank as the fourth leading cause of fatal injuries to American Workers!

Workplace violence is any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site. It ranges from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and even homicide. It can affect and involve employees, clients, customers and visitors. Homicide is currently the fourth-leading cause of fatal occupational injuries in the United States. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), of the 4,547 fatal workplace injuries that occurred in the United States in 2010, 506 were workplace homicides. Homicide is the leading cause of death for women in the workplace.

Working Alone - Monitoring and managing the safe behavior of a workforce can be a difficult task, even in an enclosed environment. Yet employees who work autonomously create even greater challenges for safety managers and workplace supervisors.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) - OSHA requires the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to reduce employee exposure to hazards when engineering and administrative controls are not feasible or effective in reducing these exposures to acceptable levels. Employers are required to determine if PPE should be used to protect their workers.

Stairs & Ladders

1926.851(a) Only those stairways, passageways, and ladders, designated as means of access to the structure of a building, shall be used. Other access ways shall be entirely closed at all times.

1926.851(b) All stairs, passageways, ladders and incidental equipment thereto, which are covered by this section, shall be periodically inspected and maintained in a clean safe condition.