Top Three Ways to Avoid Increased OSHA Fines
With OSHA’s impending penalty increase , companies must empower employees, embrace technology and be prepared to ensure compliance success .
James Robins | EHS Today | July 20, 2016
All it takes is one workplace safety or employee health violation to severely hinder a business’s financial standing.
With OSHA’s near-80 percent fine increase going into effect August 1, and its more rigorous inspections process, it could be even more crippling to try to stay up to code. Until very recently, a serious OSHA violation penalty stood at $7,000.
New rules now in effect have increased the fine to $12,600. When it comes to willful and repeat violations, penalties have gone up from $70,000 to $126,000 per violation. For small or medium sized business, it could spell the end.
For the rest of the story visit EHS Today.
Alabama’s aerospace industry soars, becomes economic powerhouse for state
Jordan Laporta | YellowHammer | July 27, 2016
ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – With a string of successes, Alabama’s aerospace industry is now growing at a rate that could position it to one day challenge agriculture, automotive manufacturing and tourism for the title of the state’s largest engine of economic activity.
“Our second fastest growing industry sector in the state now is the aerospace sector,” Alabama Secretary of Commerce Greg Canfield told WKRG at the Economic Development Association of Alabama’s annual summer conference in Orange Beach.
Canfield, having just returned from the Farnborough Airshow, the world’s largest aerospace industry trade expo, specifically emphasized the importance of Airbus in the recent Alabama aerospace boom.
For the rest of the story visit Yellowhammer News.
Machining in the Digitized, Virtualized Future
Robert Brooks | American Machinist | June 28, 2016
Trends, by definition, are hard to trace. By the time an idea has taken hold with the individuals who pursue it, the circumstantial evidence is everywhere and all the new adherents want some credit. Big-stage events like IMTS are a good opportunity to see trends in action – but how can a prospective visitor know now what trends to be watching for in September.
“Smart manufacturing” is almost certain to be one of those ideas taking hold of IMTS attendees. Even as manufacturers are still preparing for the fully connected reality of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT, aka Industry 4.0), they should be prepared to make the next step to Smart manufacturing, the concept describing the full digitization of sensors, actuators, devices and components within a manufacturing system.
In advance of a separate (but tangentially relevant event), AMB – the International Exhibition for Metal Working, September 13-17 in Stuttgart, Germany, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christian Brecher, offered some insights on the emerging trend of manufacturing digitization and virtualization.
For the rest of the story visit American Machinist.