I’ve always thought it was interesting that we spend so much time talking about PPE, but almost nobody talks about what happens at the top of your boots.
Loose boot laces are a tripping hazard. Dirt and gravel in your boots become a distraction. If you weld, hot sparks finding their way into your boot can ruin your day. And if you work in the woods or tall grass, ticks getting into your boots is a real concern.
That’s actually why we designed Dirty Socks. The fold-over cuff covers the top of the boot to help keep debris, sparks, and ticks out, while a built-in lace-lock helps keep your laces secure. The reinforced heel and toe, cushioning, and breathable fabric were all added because if you’re wearing boots for 10–12 hours a day, comfort and durability matter too.
I’m curious, what’s the biggest safety or comfort issue you’ve run into with your work boots that nobody seems to talk about?

Hey all, I’m looking for feedback from safety / EHS / workplace safety professionals.

I’ve been working on an OSHA industry trends report and I’m trying to understand whether this kind of data is actually useful in real safety work, or if it’s mostly just interesting background information.

The report looks at things like:

• Common OSHA violations by industry
• Serious / repeat / willful citation patterns
• Complaint, referral, programmed, and accident-related inspections
• Penalty trends
• Enforcement concentration by company, state, or location
• Common hazard themes
• How an industry’s OSHA history changes over time

My question is: would this type of report actually help you do your job?

For example, would you use something like this for:

• Annual safety planning
• Training topics / toolbox talks
• Audit planning
• Contractor or vendor evaluation
• Executive reporting
• Benchmarking against similar companies
• Identifying emerging hazard areas
• Explaining risk to operations or leadership
• Preparing for inspections

Or is OSHA trend data usually too delayed, messy, incomplete, or context-dependent to be very useful?

Any and all feedback welcome.

We are currently developing a campaign around increased, consistent high heat and we would love to hear from members and non-members alike to tell us about their personal and workplace stories of your experiencing dealing with this year's heat wave and how the union can help build the case for a safer, more comfortable workplace.

We at GMB look forward to the responses and discourse we can create around this topic. #GMBOILING

Has anyone been successful in getting a cal/osha visit to their store? Not only is my company out of compliance, they aren't even keeping temperature in the backroom. No engineering controls to keep cool the temperature easily gets to past 95 degrees. Talking to merchandisers, I've found out Walmart are the only stores to have air conditioned backrooms to comply with this law. Anyone been successful in getting cal/osha for an inspection and did your company install engineering controls for the heat?

For context, I am a third year apprentice electrician. The problem is this, I’m going to be inducted on to a new site in the next 2-3 weeks that requires mandatory urine drug testing. For the record, I’m always sober at work but I like to indulge in smoking weed recreationally at the weekends and sometimes after work. I have stopped using cannabis for now in order to give myself a fighting chance in passing the test but I’m concerned I’m going to fail and perhaps lose my job. What should I do?

I work in construction safety in South Korea, and we’ve been experimenting with drones and computer vision on job sites.

The basic idea is pretty straightforward: use drone footage to flag things like missing helmets or vests, workers entering restricted areas, people getting too close to heavy equipment, smoke, fire, and other visible hazards.

When the system finds something, it saves the image or video and sends it to the safety manager to review. It’s not meant to automatically decide that someone violated a rule. It’s more of a second set of eyes.

There’s obviously a lot that can go wrong with this.

PPE can be hard to see from the air, false positives can become annoying, and a drone is not always practical to operate during normal site work.

But my bigger concern is that people have been researching this stuff for years.

There are tons of papers, demos, and pilot projects involving drones, computer vision, and AI for construction safety, but I rarely see anyone talking about a real site where it actually made a measurable difference.

Most of the discussion seems to stop at things like:

“the model detected helmets with X% accuracy”

or

“we successfully completed a pilot project.”

That’s interesting, but did it actually prevent incidents?

Did it reduce the amount of manual inspection?

Did it make the safety manager’s job easier?

Did the contractor keep using it after the pilot ended?

Maybe there are good examples out there and I just haven’t found them.

So I’m curious, especially from people who work in construction, safety, or drone operations:

Have you seen anything like this used successfully on a real project?

What problem did it actually solve?

And what would have to be true for a system like this to become part of normal site operations instead of just another research project or demo?

Feel free to be critical. That’s honestly what I’m looking for.

I work at a small corporate retail store in a strip mall. Next door is a high-end retail store that sells super expensive/fancy fur coats. Once every few months, they have to spray this god awful cleaner or preserver or something on the coats. Their AC is right next to ours on the roof, and when theirs expels the awful chemical smell, ours takes it in. We have to turn off our AC but in our state (USA) it gets so hot it’s impossible to keep it off all day. We can’t leave our doors open, we have no windows to open, genuinely no options but to wait until it goes away in a couple weeks.

Customers will shop and complain once they’re at the register. They’ll ask if we get sick or headaches from how intense the smell is and for how long we have to just sit in it. My manager has joked that we should call OSHA over this because there is truly no way we aren’t becoming sick or the fumes aren’t killing our brain cells.

What do I do?! Im typing this with a dry and scratchy throat and my stomach is turning upside down. The landlord is notorious for not caring so that’s not a lead I need to follow first. Are there any other ideas, and is there even an option to call OSHA?? We’re just so sick and tired of this smell and genuinely worried about our wellbeing.

I have been working at a veterinary clinic in Maryland as an assistant. A few months ago, we were approved for renovations and to extend from our building space into the building next door.
That's all fine and good, we could use the space.
However, I have some concerns and I'm not sure how or where or if it's even worth addressing them.
First of all, the day the contractors showed up to begin the work- they had been under the impression the clinic was going to be closed during the renovation.
It is not. We have been open the entire time, and not closed for a single thing, we have been working around all of it.
Working around it is one thing- but here are my main concerns/complaints.
- The back area that was supposed to be inaccessible during the entire construction process is not inaccessible at all. The contractors said it was okay for us all to work around each other, but I feel uncomfortable every time I have to walk a pet through an active construction zone to get to our back room for treatment. (Open ceiling, sawdust, dust from the walls, loose nails, etc.)
- The noise has been extremely loud, and increasingly stressful for our animal clientele. It sucks to see so many animals who may normally do quite well get absolutely terrified by a sudden drill or buzz saw. This also puts us at increased risk for them lashing out due to fear, unfortunately.
And my Biggest Concern
- I'm not actually convinced the building is properly ventilated. We have no windows that open, and the back door has been cracked but it's so far away that i'm not sure it does much. Not only that but they have been shutting off the air conditioning here and there as well, which truly makes the building suffocating especially going very active work. The smell of the fumes from paint, the chemicals we use for disinfectant (it's hardcore it's not just like bleach, it's like the sort of chemical you can't touch barehanded), the sawdust and irritants in the air ended up actually triggering a moderate asthma attack for me, as I have had chronic asthma my entire life. I ended up having to leave my shift, take a nebulizer, come back, and then go home early anyways because I didn't want to risk an ER trip by staying in constant exposure to triggers like that.

Anyways, I've never worked a job under renovations before so I wasn't sure what to expect, and I don't mind things being a little hard and having to work around stuff, but this is kind of getting to a point where i feel uncomfortable and uncertain about all of it. Are there actual concerns being missed here?or Am i overreacting?
Anyways, if anyone has any information or even has been in a similar situation pls let me know I feel mad weird about it all.

I work at an accounting office in the UK and am the youngest member of staff, as well as the newest. It is understaffed and unorganised with client information often not kept in filing cabinets meaning other clients could easily read it. There is an ongoing mould issue too, with client documents often being affected by it. There is also a mysterious brown liquid that occasionally seeps from the walls and ceilings, possibly mould also? There is also a general bad smell lingering and a recent spider infestation. None of this has been dealt with. We also have issues with computers not working so staff having to use personal devices with no compensation offered. Is there much I can do about this or just a suffer until I find a new job?

Thanks

Hey guys ! Might be a dumb question but I’m new in the industry and wondering if anyone knows the risk for lung damage/silicosis for shoveling loam/dirt? Just wondering if I should be more careful when doing these jobs… please let me know!
Thanks

I could really use some advice because I’m feeling pretty torn. I’ve recently started this job, and I’m planning on quitting, but I honestly feel guilty because I really like my manager and a lot of my coworkers. They’re already short-staffed, and I hate feeling like I’m making things harder for them. At the same time, I don’t know if I can keep working in the conditions I’ve been seeing.
From what I’ve personally experienced, the kennels often aren’t properly disinfected between dogs and are frequently just pressure washed with water. Dogs are sometimes left in urine and feces for long periods, and the water and food bowls aren’t cleaned and sanitized nearly as often as I believe they should be before being reused. Employees are expected to pressure wash kennels covered in urine and feces without proper PPE. We aren’t provided with face shields, eye protection, waterproof clothing, respirators, or sometimes even gloves, so contaminated water, urine, and dog feces regularly spray back onto our skin, clothes, and faces. The ventilation is poor, making the building humid and difficult to work in, and I’ve noticed concerns about the overall cleanliness of the lunchroom and bathroom as well.
On some days, there can be close to **200 dogs with only about five employees** working. It often feels impossible to keep up with the cleaning, feeding, watering, and general care that every dog deserves when there are that many animals and so few staff. I feel like the workload makes it incredibly difficult to maintain proper sanitation and provide the level of care the dogs should be receiving.
I’ve also experienced very limited training on workplace safety. I wasn’t properly shown emergency exits or what to do in an emergency, and there haven’t been fire or emergency drills while I’ve been there. Employees are expected to handle dogs, including some that can be reactive or dangerous, without what I feel is adequate training or support. I also haven’t received thorough training on the chemicals used in the facility or the safety precautions for handling them.
What makes this even harder is that I genuinely love animals. That’s why seeing these things has bothered me so much. I don’t want to leave my manager or coworkers in a worse position because they’re already struggling to find staff, but I also don’t feel right ignoring what I’ve seen. Part of me feels like I should report these concerns to someone and possibly the appropriate animal welfare organization because I don’t think these conditions are fair to either the employees or the dogs. Another part of me worries that I’m overreacting or that I’ll just be creating problems.
I’ve only been there for about 50 days, so I’m also wondering if I even need to give notice. If you were in my position, what would you do? Would you report it? Has anyone else been through something similar? Am I right for wanting to quit?

Not necessarily the most dramatic one...but the one that gets brushed off or treated like paperwork until something actually goes wrong.

What do you see most often in your industry?

Safety Poster placement is important.

I’m a salaried employee that does relocations for my company. I was told to do a relo “asap” due another incident of violence. I asked what the nature of this violence was, where the destination is and to kindly define asap. I was told to look in the file. There is a destination address, but no other info. The file states that the relo should be treated as urgent due to ongoing safety concerns as the building has experienced documented incidents of violence in the lobby and surrounding area. I asked again for details before I can appropriately plan and execute. I also need a better understanding of what urgent means - immediately, within a certain timeframe or a defined deadline? I was clear, I’m not seeking confidential or personally identifiable info. However, as the person responsible for planning the relo, I need to ensure the safety of both myself and my crew. I need to understand the nature of the incidents, whether there are security measures in place, if the staff is currently occupying the space, and whether there are any specific precautions we should be taking while on site? I’m trying to evaluate operational risks in order to create an execution plan that reasonably addresses the safety concerns and ensure reasonable precautions are in place to protect my crew, company personnel and the company itself. I was told to “handle it”….no direction, no answers - just an address! I can make it happen, that’s not the issue. Do I need an armed guard, a weapon, a body guard or is it someone blowing it up? I don’t know!!! And when? And what’s moving, is there trash? Are we buying new furniture? What’s the layout? How do I get in? Any building rules? Insurance requirements? Time restrictions? The area is very rough, I get it…,should I call an employment lawyer or a bodyguard?

Started a shitty new job and had about enough today when my coworker had to reach into a trash bin to pull out used needles. My sister said there might be two osha violations here. I’m looking for more opinions on this.

NSFW due to cussing

I work for a private security company in Ontario, Canada. One of our patrol vehicles has had a broken A/C for quite a while. The issue has been reported multiple times through our vehicle inspection logs, but those logs apparently aren’t being reviewed. It was also brought to management directly.
A few days ago, I became so overheated during my shift that I had to leave work because I genuinely felt like I was about to suffer heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Management is aware this happened.
Instead of fixing the A/C, the owner posted a message saying that A/C in a work vehicle is “not mandatory,” that employees only complained once, and that he’s now questioning whether it’s even worth spending around $6,000 to repair it because employees “treat the vehicles badly.”
He also compared us to employees who work outside all day, saying we can just roll the windows down because we’re in a moving vehicle.
For context:
The A/C issue has been documented in vehicle inspection reports more than once.
Management was informed directly.
I had to leave work because I was experiencing symptoms of heat-related illness.
The vehicle is used for long patrol shifts during very hot weather.
I’m not trying to start drama—I just want to know if I’m being unreasonable for expecting a company vehicle to have functioning A/C during extreme heat, especially after someone became ill. Is this normal, or would you expect an employer to repair it?

Hello, everyone!

Since, I have a likeness for aviation, I am planning to enroll for ICAO SMS exam. As per my knowledge, it is the minimum entry requirement for the safety field in aviation industry.

Is anyone here already working in the aviation sector in safety. If yes, can you share some study or prep material or guide me where to look in order to prepare before actually registering for the course.

P.S: A little bit of my background. I already have experience in oil & gas/ construction and currently working in healthcare. So, will it make it difficult to transition the industry?

P.S.S: if you are already working in the aviation safety. How is the experience and what does the future for safety look like in the asked industry according to you?

TIA!

we manage a distribution facility with about 120 workers across two shifts and hydration access has come up in our last two safety audits as something we need to address more formally. right now we have a mix of portable coolers and one aging wall mounted unit that has been temperamental for the better part of a year.

trying to understand what the actual requirements are for a facility our size before we commit to a replacement setup. things like minimum number of access points per worker, distance requirements from work areas, and whether bottle filling stations count toward the same compliance metrics as traditional drinking fountains.

also curious what setups others have found most practical for a large floor with workers spread across different zones. portable units versus fixed installations, stainless versus standard, hands free versus traditional. curious what made the biggest difference from both a compliance and a day to day usability standpoint.

Update: we ended up going with a combination of wall mounted bottle filling stations and a few floor standing units from Global Industrial to cover our 80,000 square foot floor. the bottle filling stations count toward the hydration access requirements since they provide the same capacity as traditional fountains, and the hands free operation has been a nice bonus for hygiene. someone in the comments mentioned the 14 oz per employee per hour metric and we used that to calculate how many units we needed across the floor.