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Lean has been helping companies streamline their production, eliminate waste, and generally improve the way things are done for many years. Initially, the concepts behind lean were primarily used only in companies and facilities that were directly involved with physical product creation, such as manufacturing plants, factory floors and things of this nature. However, over time the lean methodologies have been adapted and implemented in almost every other type of business, ranging from health care to information technology, and many more. When done properly, lean can help improve virtually any work environment to help eliminate waste, improve communication, and to help ensure that the products or services being developed are indeed something customers will be interested in. For instance, when working in an information technology environment, it is important to be able to understand how lean strategies can be implemented, and why they are so important. The following are some of the most significant reasons why lean IT strategies should be taken seriously by any company that uses technology in their business (which is almost all of them!). Lean Promotes Ownership One of the things about lean strategies in an IT environment is that virtually every task completed is owned by an individual. Even if a person does not do all the work for a particular project, he or she will be directly responsible for overseeing it. This creates a sense of ownership, which can help in a variety of ways. It will give other teams a single point of contact for obtaining updates, providing feedback, or requesting changes. This will also allow the owner of a specific project to drive the progress directly, rather than having to rely on large committees or other types of groups to receive pertinent information. It is important to note that just because one person owns a process or project does not mean that he or she can simply dictate things to other groups. Instead, that person is there to

Many businesses need and even require the use of safety signs to warn employees and customers of potentially hazardous areas. However, the task of finding the right signs to portray the right message, along with finding a reputable company to provide the signs may be more difficult than originally intended. We are here to ease some of that burden with 10 helpful tips for finding the right safety signs to satisfy your business needs. 1. Identify Areas that May Need Safety Signs Before even beginning a search for a safety sign supplier, the first step in the process should be to accurately identify any areas within your facility that may be in need of safety signage. Think of all areas used by employees and/or customers such as aisles, walkways, fork lift zones, hazardous waste areas, potential slippery surface areas, etc. The key here is to identify all the locations that could pose hazardous conditions so proper signage can be created. 2. Pinpoint Potential Safety Hazards. Once certain areas have been designated as potentially hazardous, the next step would be to determine the actual safety hazards in the area that pose risks. An example of this could include an area where liquids are routinely transported. In this case, a spill may be likely which could endanger employees or customers due to the enhanced risk of a slip or fall. 3. Determine the Message to be Conveyed by the Signage Signs are posted everywhere, from "Watch Your Step" signs to "Employees Only" signs. However, for a sign to be truly effective it must convey a clean and clear message that can be understood easily by nearly anyone. For instance, in a work environment that includes welding, safety signs warning of potential arc flashes may be needed. In this case, a sign should be posted instructing anyone who enters to wear proper protective gear, this sign could read "Warning: Arc Flash Zone Proper Protection Required." 4. Consider the Conditions where the Signs will be Located Now

Workplaces today are extremely safe compared to what people had to endure generations ago. This is in large part because of the increased focus employers have put on workplace safety. Employers made this effort for a variety of reasons including regulatory pressure, the best interests of their employees, and of course, the fact that a safe workplace is a more profitable workplace. Despite all the great strides that have been made, many workplaces are still quite hazardous. The following 10 workplace safety mistakes illustrate just how far many industries still have to go. They can also help spur ideas for where improvements can be made in your facility. 1. Using Ladders Improperly One of the most common and most dangerous workplace safety mistakes is failing to use a ladder properly. People make many ladder-related mistakes in the workplace, all of which can be devastating. The following are just a few of the more common examples: Unsteady Ladders - If you don't take the time to properly steady the ladder when setting it up, it could easily slide out while you're on it, causing serious injuries. Leaning from Ladders - When working on a ladder, you should never reach off to the left or right as that can throw the center of balance off, which could cause the ladder to fall. Using Objects as a Ladder - Using scaffolding, chairs, stools, or other objects to reach high areas can be dangerous. These things aren't meant for climbing the same way a ladder is. Climbing too High on Ladders - One should never step onto the upper rungs of a ladder. Depending on how the ladder is placed, even several rungs down can be unstable. 2. Lack of Visual Communication The noise in many workplaces can be quite deafening at times, which can make it difficult to communicate. When it comes to safety, communication is essential. This is why it is so important to have visual communication options in any loud workplace. Visual communication can come in many forms including

The quality or the lack thereof can be a huge contributing factor to a fractured and sluggish digital journey where ROI is hard to achieve and results come in short supply. The quality of data has a direct impact on the ability of the enterprise to be aware of relevant events, its reaction time, the decision time and its action time. A clear and concerted effort is required to measure and improve the data quality to drive better decisions and actions. Common Quality Issues The following are the most common quality issues Comprehensiveness Comprehensiveness quality issues refer to key attributes or data points missing from the data collected by the enterprise. This can occur when the data producing systems or the data delivery networks have glitches or malfunction or are incorrectly configured to miss entire rows of data or attributes of the data. Integrity Integrity quality issues refer to the corruption of the values of key attributes to contain unidentifiable or unreadable data. When key attributes are empty or null when they are by design, not allowed to be empty/null or when an attribute contains a value that does not meet the specifications of the type of the attribute for example, a string column contains an integer or a timestamp column contains a string not parse-able into a timestamp. Integrity of data is important before data can be included in the data set to drive analysis, decisions and actions. Sampling Sampling quality issues refer to the inclusion or exclusion of a certain percentage of the records in a data set with the assumption that the remainder records are good, representative sample of the original data set. Bad or inaccurate sampling can lead to a distorted view of reality and that can lead to bad decisions. In addition, sampling itself can make the data set inappropriate for certain types of analysis that require the entire dat set to be utilized for training. Filtering An upstream filtering scheme can end up removing too many or

When people think about personal protection equipment, they typically think about hard hats, steel toed boots, and safety goggles. One of the most commonly used types of protective gear, however, is fairly normal looking protective apparel. Protective apparel from KleenGuard is used in many industries ranging from medical labs to manufacturing facilities and offers an excellent first line of defense from a wide range of different hazards that are commonly found in the workplace. Look Like Normal Work Clothing or Uniforms The apparel from KleenGuard is designed with safety first in mind, but it is also made to look and feel nice so employees will be happy to wear it. In fact, many people don't even realize that this type of apparel is a form of protective gear that is keeping them safer while at work. Depending on which apparel is chosen, these items can be buttoned up, zipped up, sealed with tape, or slipped right on to allow easy preparation at the start of a shift. Types of Protection KleenGuard makes a full lineup of protective apparel, so looking at each individual item is the best way to learn about what types of protective features it offers. The following, however, are some of the different ways that KleenGuard protective apparel help to keep those who are wearing it safe: Liquid Barrier - The material is made to stop liquids from soaking through and coming in contact with the skin. This is important when working with biological liquids (body fluids, etc.) or when working with chemicals that could cause skin irritation. Particulate Barrier - Stopping particles of materials from getting through the clothing is an important feature. Tiny particles of wood, metal, fiberglass, or other very small materials are kept away from the skin to avoid irritation or other issues. Antistatic - The material resists the buildup of static, and passes the NFPA 99 criteria for this feature. Avoiding static is important in many industries and can be a key safety featur

Improving Indoor Air Quality Indoor Air QualityWhen trying to make improvements to the workplace, many companies don't even consider the actual air that is breathed in by everyone all day. Indoor air quality can be a significant problem that can have a wide range of different effects on employees throughout the facility. Some of these issues can be immediately seen, such as with allergies. Others may take longer to develop, but can be very serious. If you are not taking air quality seriously in your facility, you are not only doing everyone a disservice, but you could be exposing the company to the risk of potential lawsuits years down the road. With this in mind, take some time to look at five of the most important things that you should know about indoor air quality, and how you can make simple changes to improve it. According to OSHA's Safety and Health Topics: Poor indoor air quality (IAQ) has been tied to symptoms like headaches, fatigue, trouble concentrating, and irritation of the eyes, nose, throat and lungs. Also, some specific diseases have been linked to specific air contaminants or indoor environments, like asthma with damp indoor environments. In addition, some exposures, such as asbestos and radon, do not cause immediate symptoms but can lead to cancer after many years. 5 Things to Know about Indoor Air Quality 1. Proper Ventilation and Filtering One of the biggest problems in most workplaces is that the air in the facility doesn't get properly circulated. As the air is breathed, moved around machinery and exposed to cleaning chemicals, it keeps picking up more and more contaminants along the way. Over time, this air can become hazardous to your health and lead to things like headaches, allergies and many other issues. This is why OSHA and many other regulatory organizations recommend reviewing your facilities air ventilation system and filtering. By taking the air from within the facility and venting it outside, all of these common contam

Make Construction Safety a Priority Everyone knows that construction sites can be very dangerous. The more you know about the types of danger you will face, however, will help you to take steps toward keeping everyone safe. Look over the following 10 safety facts and see what you can learn about how to improve the overall safety of your facility. In addition to using this information to help you to make safety improvements, you can also show these items to the workers at any site so they can be more aware. Some of these facts may surprise people, and cause them to be more aware of their surroundings. According to OSHA, "Nearly 6.5 million people work at approximately 252,000 construction sites across the nation on any given day. The fatal injury rate for the construction industry is higher than the national average in this category for all industries." 10 Tips to Improve Construction Safety Fact #1 - Losing your Load On construction sites people use machines to lift and move all sorts of things on a regular basis. Whether it is lifting wood or metal beams, or you are digging out dirt to prepare to lay a foundation, this is an essential part of most jobs. The vast majority of times this type of activity goes very smoothly and the jobs are completed without incident. The fact is, however, that having loads come loose while in transit is actually a leading cause of injury on construction sites. You need to keep in mind that even if you don't lose the entire load, people can be severely injured from even one thing falling out of a crane or back hoe. With this in mind, people working on site need to know to stay well away from this machinery, and the machine operators need to know to avoid moving items when people are nearby. Fact #2 - Entering and Leaving Heavy Machinery Another safety issue related to working with heavy machinery is related to operators getting on and off of the rigs that they will be working on. While this is something that they of

Using floor tape is a great way to keep a facility safe, organized, and efficient. Just like any type of flooring, floor tape can get quite dirty over time. When floor tape gets dirty, it can become harder to see, which defeats the purpose of using it at all. This is why so many people ask questions about how to clean floor marking tape properly so it looks great and lasts a long time. Here are some of the most popular questions and answers on this topic. Q: What is the Best Way to Clean Floor Tape? A: If you're looking to clean floor tape specifically, the ideal option is to use SafetyTac Floor and Tape Cleaner. This cleaner is designed specifically to be safe for use on virtually any type of floor tape that is on the market today. In addition, it is able to clean the surrounding floors without any trouble at all. Q: Can I Clean Floor Tape with the Same Cleaner as the Rest of the Floor? A: Yes! High quality floor tape is durable and can be cleaned by all normal and industrial floor cleaning products. Just go over the floor tape like you do with the rest of the floor to remove dirt, dust, scuff marks, and any other markings. Q: Can I Clean Floor Tape with a Motorized Floor Cleaner? A: Absolutely. SafetyTac (and other manufacturers of high quality industrial floor marking tape) know that many facilities use large motorized floor cleaners to keep their facility clean. Once the tape is properly installed, it can withstand this type of cleaning without any trouble at all. Simply have the floor cleaner go over the tape just like any other part of the floor. It is important to note that discount quality floor tape may not be able to stand up to this type of cleaning, so always make sure you're using high quality floor tape in your facility. Q: How Do I Remove Stubborn Stains on the Floor Tape? A: If you can't remove a stain or marking on the floor tape using normal floor cleaning methods, the best option is to get a small bucket with a solution of SafetyTac

Large scale industrial units are devilishly hard to manage. There are hundreds of employees working under an establishment and the number of equipment, tools and machine components used are countless. If the tools and equipment are not categorized and stored systematically, then a lot of time is wasted in finding the appropriate tool or machine component before starting any job. To minimize this waste of time, the tools, equipment and different machine components are kept on different racks, which are categorized by rack labels. The labels distinguish the racks from each other and tell the employees what is stored in which rack. This article is going to discuss the need of getting the racks labeled, and the different types of rack labels available in the market. There are different types of rack labels available in the market such as the polyester warehouse label, multi level rack warehouse signs, magnetic warehouse labels, cold storage labels, cold storage rack placards, cover-up labels. These different varieties of labels are used for different types of storage units. Let us discuss in depth the different types of rack labels. The polyester warehouse labels are the toughest labels in terms of the physical abuse, shocks and harsh industrial conditions, they are withstood. These levels are better than the paper labels because they are tear resistant. There is a polyester film over the labels which protect the text from chemicals and abrasion. The adhesive used on the polyester labels help in creating strong bonds over any kind of surface. The labels are available in all kinds of custom sizes and shapes. The multi level rack warehouse signs are designed to get rid of the requirement to have long range scanners as they help in identifying multiple rack labels with one single label, which contains information about all the racks. The magnetic warehouse labels come handy when the labels are needed to be relocated over and over again. The labels are provided with mag

Improving Hazard Communication in the Workplace Hazard CommunicationIf you're looking for ways to improve the overall safety of your facility, one of the best places to start is with an evaluation of your current hazard communication standards. According to OSHA, hazard communication violations are the second most commonly cited violations, as of 2012. In 2012 there were 4696 citations given in this one area alone. Sadly, very little has been done to change this problem over the past several years. Understanding how your facility communicates any type of hazard, and working on ways that can be improved, is an important part of keeping everyone safe. One of the best places to start is to review the OSHA regulation on this topic, which is titled, "Hazard Communication - 1910.1200." This will give you all the requirements that you will need to follow in order to keep people safe, and avoid any citations. Key Points in Section 1910.1200 After reviewing the entire section on this topic, you will want to go back and really focus on a few key points. These are some of the areas where most of the citations were given out, and also where some of the biggest risks exist. The following key points will be great places to start when it comes to improving the way your facility handles hazard communication: 1910.1200 (b)(2) - This is the section that covers how you need to communicate hazards that apply to any chemical that exists in a way that employees could become exposed to it. This applies to both normal exposure, and exposure during a foreseeable emergency. 1910.1200(b)(3)(i) - In this section, it details the requirements a facility has concerning the labeling of chemicals that come into the facility. Specifically stating that the labels may not be removed or defaced. 1910.1200(b)(4)(iii) - This area explains in detail that employers need to provide employees with sufficient training on how to react to a potential chemical spill. This includes how to

One of the most common injuries plaguing nearly any industrial business is the eye injury. The human eye is susceptible to damage from a variety of different sources, however, most eye injuries stem from exposure to chemicals, paints, solvents, allergens, sawdust, laboratory materials, etc. However, it is important to remember that nearly ninety percent of all eye injuries are preventable when proper procedures are followed and adequate eye protection is used. The right type of goggles, depending upon the job, can protect the eyes from coming into contact with nearly any eye irritating contaminant. Nonetheless, eye injuries still seem to occur and businesses need to be ready and prepared just in case an eye injury does happen. One of the best ways to provide immediate support to an injured eye is to utilize the help of an eyewash station. Guidelines for Eyewash Stations When it comes to the safety standards related to primary eyewash stations, OSHA sets the overall requirements. However, it is ANSI (American National Standards Institute) that is the entity who provides the necessary guidelines that employers must follow regarding the design, type, performance, location, and details specific to any eyewash station. Even though the ANSI z358.1-2009 covers the guidelines for all types of eyewash equipment such as emergency showers, eyewash stations, face washes, and combination units, we are going to focus on guidelines related to eyewash stations. Tips for Compliance with ANSI's Eyewash Standard Every Second Counts! - When an eye injury occurs every second really does count. An eye injury can go from bad to catastrophic in mere seconds if the eye is not properly flushed. ANSI mandates that all eyewash be located just a short 10 second walk from any eye hazard. The path to the eyewash station must well lit and remain clear and free of debris. The eyewash station must also be properly identified with an eyewash station sign. Yes, the Water Does Matter - there

Signs are everywhere! Whether you are shopping in a large mall, visiting a zoo, or simply driving in your car, there are signs helping to guide you along your visit or journey. However, one place that signs are highly utilized is within the workplace, especially within industrial work environments. With all the safety hazards possible in different types of jobsites, appropriate workplace signs are a must to help ensure safety. View our "10 Tips For Safety Signage Part 1" Slideshare Presentation Common Signs in the Workplace Signs can convey all sorts of messages from helpful directional arrows guiding employees and visitors to a specific location all the way to urgent, danger zone messages that require people to stop and use extreme caution. Let's discuss some of the most common types of workplace signage. Restriction Signs - These signs often refer to restricted areas or zones, restricted speeds for forklifts, or restricted weight amounts. When a restricted sign is used there are often certain limits in place. Danger Signs - Signs that warn employees of danger are often high-contrast and feature the colors of black, white, and red. These signs can warn of electrical shocks, toxic materials, or any other dangerous situation. Fire Signs - This type of signage is usually white and red and can either warn employees about fire hazards or provide information on where fire safety equipment can be found. Mandatory Signs - Mandatory signs are signs requiring that certain precautions be taken before entering or utilizing an area or piece of equipment. Some mandatory signs may require employees to wear certain protective clothing before entering. Hazard Signs - Often times these signs feature the colors yellow and black. Hazard signs warn employees and visitors of potential hazards in the area. Hazard signs may warn about forklift traffic, slippery floors, or radiation risks, among many other things. Guide Signs - This type of signage is often used

People today work 40+ hours per week, meaning they are spending about half of their waking hours at work. Given the total number of hours employees are spending at work, it is inevitable that some of them will experience serious medical problems while at the facility. When this happens, employers have a responsibility to be able to contact the paramedics right away, and to provide the initial care until professionals can arrive. In the event of respiratory or cardiac arrest, it may be necessary to perform CPR or even use an AED. Providing instruction to employees on how to use an AED, and how to properly perform CPR is essential. Some companies will offer the training to everyone in the facility, and others will only train a select few. The important thing is that there is someone who can respond to emergencies, and help keep the person alive until the paramedics can arrive. What is CPR? CPR, or Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is one of the most commonly seen emergency procedures. It is performed on television all the time, and even in real life it is far more common than most people might think. While it might look easy to perform on TV, the fact is, it needs to be done with proper technique or it can cause a lot of damage. Fortunately, training people to properly perform CPR is fairly simple, and doesn't take very long. In many cases a full CPR class can be given in a half of a day, and the employees in the class can become certified to perform this life saving procedure. During the training classes, employees will learn when they should attempt CPR, and how it should be performed. Some interesting things that employees will learn include: CPR is done to help push the blood through the body when the heart is not beating. Keeping the blood circulating will prevent damage to the heart, brain and other vital organs. Rescue breathes are actually optional. While most people surveyed believe that breathing into the mouth of the victim is the most important part of

Every time you step onto a construction site, there are countless hazards that you can come across in just a matter of seconds. That is why construction safety is not something that should be taken without serious diligence and precaution. Whether you are working on a commercial or residential site, or if you are working on a road, demolition, excavation or any other type of construction workplace, taking safety into consideration must be your first priority. Here is a comprehensive look into construction safety and why it can mean the difference between life and death if not given proper attention. Causes of Injury In 2012, 4,383 people were killed on construction sites. The math on that shows that nearly 12 deaths occur every single day around the nation. That number is incredibly high, especially when you consider the prevention that you can take to avoid death or serious injury. Of that number of people who were fatally injured in 2012, their deaths most commonly fell into one of four categories. This includes falls, being struck by an object, electrocutions, or being caught in between two objects. Falls made up for nearly 36% of all deaths, which is the most of the four categories. Second was being struck by an object, 10%, followed by electrocution and caught in between objects, 9% and 2% respectively. You will notice that that doesn't add up to quite 100%, but keep in mind that the remaining injuries that result in death are caused by other factors. But nearly 56% of all total injuries come from one of these four construction incidents. It is estimated that by being more prepared and cautious in the workplace, over 400 construction workers could prevent injury on an annual basis. While some workplace issues are still likely to occur, there is no denying that the potential of these four categories should be the first thing considered on a construction site. Importance Of Prevention The reasons that construction sites should be concerned with their safety

Eliminating Awkward Postures For most companies, the work that employees perform on a daily basis can be quite physical. This type of physical labor can lead to a wide range of injuries. Of course, to improve on workplace safety it is important to do all you can to help reduce the amount and severity of these types of injuries. One easy place where you can start is with the different postures that employees take while performing their day to day activities. In many cases, they put themselves in awkward postures, which increase the risk of injuries to the back, neck and other parts of the body. Fortunately, there are typically alternative ways to do things or even tools that can do those tasks for them so they can avoid injury. According to OSHA: Working in awkward postures increases the exertion and muscle force an employee must apply to complete a task and compresses tendons, nerves and blood vessels. In general, the more extreme the postures the more force is needed to complete the task. Examples of awkward postures include performing overhead work, bending or twisting to lift an object, typing with bent wrists, and squatting. The important thing is helping to identify the awkward postures, and help find alternatives for the employees. The following five positions should be removed from the workplace as much as possible so that employees can complete their work with as little risk for injury as possible. 5 Awkward Postures that Should be Avoided 1. Working with Arms above the Head The first awkward posture that is commonly seen in workplaces is trying to complete tasks with your arms above the head. There are many examples of this, some of which could include holding up a board while it is secured in place, or even painting a ceiling. Any time you are working with your arms over your head, you are putting added strain on your back. In addition, your arms are going to fatigue much more quickly than they would in a more natural position. This can put you at r

How to Create Bumper Stickers for Your Sticker campaigns For everything from political campaigns to social causes and beyond, cars adorned with bumper stickers are a regular sight across the country. Regular stickers, even more common, are a staple of our world from a young age, and an easily recognizable object for even children. Have you ever wondered how they're made? Sure, there are many companies that print stickers and the like in bulk for a third party, but there are also countless custom sticker campaigns floating about with highly customized messaging, some of which sprang up nearly instantaneously from their creative parties. These aren't cheap, flimsy creations either, some of them are the backbones of grass roots organizations that have changed the way we think and live our lives. Whatever your idea or needs, you're reading this because you want to create your own stickers, labels, or some other similar creative piece with professionalism and reliability. Let's take a look at exactly how you might get that done. Step One - Get Your Printer Especially if you're going to be producing large quantities of whatever you're making, it will be important that you have a reliable printer that isn't going to break down on you. For this reason, I'd suggest a thermal printer. Thermal printers have relatively few moving parts compared to traditional printers. Thermal Printers 101: The primary way in which thermal printers differ from traditional inkjet type models is that they use heat to transfer or even produce text and images. There are two subtypes: thermal transfer and direct thermal. Thermal transfer printers heat an inked ribbon which is then rolled over a paper or high-graded vinyl, transferring an image. Direct thermal printers work with thermal-chromatic paper, but do not require any ink. A heating element is pressed against the paper in the pattern of the text or imagery desired, and the paper responds by changing color in those places.

Improve Organization and Efficiency with Industrial Labeling Industrial labeling is an essential activity in any facility, and for many different reasons. For example, it can help to improve safety as well as organization and even efficiency. In fact, proper labeling can benefit almost every measurable area of the facility. If you don't already have a proactive labeling policy within your facility, look at the following ten points to see why it is so important. 1. Regulatory Compliance One of the most important reasons why you need to focus on proper industrial labeling is that it is often required by organizations like OSHA. If you are using certain hazardous chemicals, for example, you will need to have the containers labeled using the proper industry standards. In addition, you must put these types of labels on any products that contain these chemicals before you ship them out. There may be other regulations where you need to have proper labeling too. Machines and pipes that use or transport hazardous items will often need to be properly labeled. Even if it is just steam that is being transported, you should likely have it clearly noted so nobody accidently burns themselves while working in the area. 2. Tracking Maintenance Tasks Many facilities will use industrial labeling to distinguish different machines or vehicles within the facility. This is much easier to use than checking the VIN or serial number each time, and it can make scheduling the maintenance of these items much easier. If you have an industrial label maker, you can print off a label that has a bar code or other easily identify mark. This can then be scanned by the maintenance team every time they change the oil or perform any other type of work. This can help them to log all the activities they have done, and even make it so all their activities are tracked through computer programs. However you decide to actually track and store the information, you will find that having each machine ta

The GHS and You - 5 Big Changes April 10, 2014 by Tony Ferraro If your workplace handles chemicals, particularly as the initial producer or as a distributor to clients, it's time to familiarize yourself with the global harmonization system (GHS) of classification and labeling chemicals, or the GHS, for short. What is the GHS? The GHS, first proposed to the United Nations in 1992, is an attempt at bringing some uniformity to the chemical labeling procedures of the developed world. Member nations, based upon their own time-frames, signed on to promise to convert to the GHS method of labeling chemical substances by a certain date. The idea was and still remains to make international business and production easier by having chemical labeling procedures that wouldn't slow down import and export, and would be easy for everyone involved to understand. This also greatly reduces transport costs as materials aren't having to be re-labeled or re-inspected as they cross borders. Last, but certainly not least, the GHS protects workers by ensuring the risks of handling any given material are clearly stated in an easy to understand manner from the beginning. According the UN's publishing of a GHS guide, the following are succinct statements of the GHS' most important goals: Defining health, physical and environmental hazards of chemicals: Creating classification processes that use available data on chemicals for comparison with the defined hazard criteria; and Communicating hazard information, as well as protective measures, on labels and Safety Data Sheets (SDS). OSHA.gov - GHS What does this mean for me? In the United States, the time-frame for adoption is staggered over several stages. On March 2012, the final rule for how workplaces should adopt their policies was published, and employees were required to be trained on these new procedures by December 1, 2013. Interestingly enough, the adoption of the standard by product manufacturers is not required until Ju

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration or OSHA is dedicated to the health and well-being of employees while on the job. Day in and day out employees are exposed to potentially dangerous situations based upon their specific job functions. Whether a person is employed at a manufacturing facility, an auto body shop, or within a large warehouse, OSHA regulations aim to provide the warnings needed to keep hazards at a minimum and keep employees informed about their surroundings. One of ways in which employees are kept informed about the hazards and dangers within their work environments is through the usage of warning labels. Types of OSHA Warning Labels and Signs The term warning label or sign can be used interchangeably in regards to OSHA's recommendations for hazard warning. There are basically three types of labels or signs outlined within OSHA 1910.145 and they are used to indicate danger, caution, or general safety instruction. Danger Sign/Labels: Danger labels or signs should feature the colors or red, black, and white. Employees should be informed that whenever danger signs or labels are posted they should exercise extreme caution as many hazards are immediate. This does not mean dangers are possible, it means they are imminent if certain things were to happen. Caution Sign/Labels: Any signage or labels indicating caution should feature a yellow background with black lettering. Caution labels or signs should be used to inform employees about potential hazards. This is unlike danger signs, since dangers signs indicate certain dangers that ARE there, while caution indicates that hazards are just simply POSSIBLE. Safety Instruction Sign/Labels: The standard background should be white, with black letters upon the white background. In addition, on the panel, green with white letters may also be used. This type of warning label or sign is used when general information related to certain safety practices is available. Furthermore, OSHA indicates in 19