We’ve curated a selection of blogs, articles and stories from around the web:

Arc flash safety at e-hazard.com

As arc-flash safety signs continue to be big sellers for us, we know this topic is hot. There are plenty of rules, guidelines and equipment requirements in regards to Arc Flash. NFPA 70E is a pretty extensive collection of regulations, thought kind of vague and ambiguous at times. We happened upon e-hazard.com, a site for a business that offers electrical and arc flash safety training – and they’re good at breaking down some of the most misunderstood segments of NFPA 70E. The blog is great and we always find good information on it. Check out the latest blog post here.

Deciphering the upcoming new OSHA reporting injuries and illnesses rules in a healthcare setting

The new OSHA rules for reporting and recording occupational injuries and illnesses are getting ready to be the law of the land. The rules, as usual, are a little murky and this blog post, by guest blogger Martie Moore, RN, MAOM CPHQ, on mcknights.com – a long-term healthcare magazine – did a great job of pinning down a few specifics for healthcare providers. Most of the rules will go into effect in January 2017. Check out the post here.

Walmart staffing mistake and what it has to do with Lean management

This was a really good article and explains a lot of what we see when we visit our local Walmart. Jon Miller writes about how Walmart sought to cut costs by bringing more autonomous staffing solutions to its stores and how that has had some success in efficiency – and how it’s had some not-so-good-effects. Miller writes a solid piece on how externalizing costs and “going lean” can sometimes hurt a business if you don’t have flexibility and common sense about when a plan needs a re-do. Read it on the Gemba Academy site, here.

The importance of just saying “I don’t know”

A blog post inspired by another blog post! John Shook posts for the Lean Post and references another blogger, Dr. Helen Kales. Kales is a medical blogger and recently wrote about how hard-to-find answers aren’t really found until someone admits, “I don’t know.”  Shook applies the value of stepping back and admitting to not understanding something (or how a process is failing) to a work environment. “Fear of saying, ‘I don’t know,’ is indicative of a serious organizational illness,” says Shook. It’s a great blog post, applicable in life or work.

Who makes decisions vs who has the best information to make the best decisions

It’s the age-old question of, “Do the people running the place really know more than the people doing the work?” Jamie Flinchbaugh blogs about businesses making the best decisions and offers a great video to illustrate his point. “The answer is to move the authority to make decisions to where the information is,” — a great message in this really smart blog post. See the post and video here.