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How Health Plays Into Safety at Work Healthy employees can make better employees, because health at work impacts safety at work. In recent years, rising healthcare and insurance costs have inspired small business owners to investigate and adopt workplace health programs to boost employee safety. Healthy employees are less likely to have workplace accidents, which in turn impacts a small business’ bottom line. “Maintaining a healthier workforce can lower direct costs, such as insurance premiums and worker’s compensation claims,” the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. “It will also positively impact many indirect costs such as absenteeism and worker productivity.” The CDC has...

Small Business Owner Responsibilities Include Personal Protective Equipment Nearly every occupation requires its workers to dress the part. Lawyers wear suits, doctors wear white coats and fast-food workers wear uniforms. But the more dangerous a job is, the more necessary the addition of personal protective equipment (PPE) becomes, and the responsibility to provide it falls solely on business owners. Owner obligations The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) believes controlling a hazard at its source is the best way to protect workers. However, “when engineering, work practice and administrative controls are not feasible or do not offer sufficient protection,” PPE is the...

The FDA's role in regulating personal protective equipment   All personal protective equipment (PPE) that is intended for use as a medical device must follow The FDA's regulations and should meet applicable voluntary consensus standards for protection. This includes surgical masks, N95 respirators, medical gloves, and gowns. The consensus standards and the FDA's requirements vary depending on the specific type of PPE. When these standards and regulations are followed, they provide reasonable assurance that the device is safe and effective. Some PPEs are reviewed by the FDA before they can be legally sold in the United States. In this review, known...