Do you know your rights as an employee? Do you know how to exercise those rights? Does your spouse or child have a job that you feel puts them in unnecessary danger? Many employers continue to put their workers unnecessarily in danger’s way. So, it is to those workers that this article is written for.

All jobs carry a certain amount of risk, and I’m good with that. Taking risks is how we learn from failure and grow, as individuals, companies, and society. During my lifetime, I grew up farming and have worked as a roofer, machinist, firefighter, and dogsled guide, among other hazardous occupations and I have great respect for people who perform jobs with higher risks. Our world needs the roughnecks who work the oil rigs where one mistake can be catastrophic and the police officers who have zero idea what risk is around the next corner but face it anyway. Our society would grind to a cold halt without the people who take immense risk and manage it with intense skill and dedication.

It is the moral and legal obligation of an employer to put safeguards in place and not unnecessarily put those employees and the public at risk. Just because an industry has inherent risks does not mean the worker should show up for work at their own peril, though. It is important for you as a worker to understand that there are acceptable and unacceptable risks in the workplace, and you should not have to take unacceptable risks to pay your bills. Unacceptable risk is going to be different for an office worker, roofer, and firefighter, but in each case, there are risks and requirements.

I’m going to skip over the safety requirements that we’ve all seen, like posters and OSHA 300 logs, and jump straight to the things that are potentially the most impactful for you. There are many other requirements, but these are what I see as the most prevalent….

Did you know Minnesota OSHA, or MNOSHA, has additional requirements for employers that Federal OSHA does not have? Here I talk about general industry standards that are different.

I would like to take a few minutes to introduce you to Provenio Consulting! Meet our team of experienced consultants and check out what we can do to help you!

First aid and CPR instructor Tim Harves and I discuss OSHA’s requirements for a trained first response team, some considerations and legal requirements, equipment you should have, training, and other aspects…

Do you struggle with writing safety policies? I discuss how to determine which policies you need, how to figure out what to include, keeping them brief and easy to follow, and what should and should not be in them!

The explosion in Beirut was tragic, but not unprecedented. The U.S. has had comparable explosions and ammonium nitrate is very common. Join me as we talk about how you can find out what’s in your neighborhood…

Let’s talk briefly about respirator fit testing and what is required. Here I show a Bitrix qualitative fit test that is the preferred method for qualitative fit testing, particularly for N95 and half-mask respirators.

Here we discuss atmospheric monitors, why we monitor the four gases we do, how to read them, and calibrations!