Safe Workplace and Safety News

Press Release
Carmen L. Gleason, American Forces Press Service, March 29, 2007

WASHINGTON, March 28, 2007 – Safety is critical to readiness, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness told safety officers attending the Voluntary Protection Program conference here yesterday.

"Every asset we keep in peacetime is an asset we can apply against the enemy in war," Joseph Angello said. "Every person we keep healthy and fit is a person in our unit who is serving against the enemy."

DoD spends more than $3 billion in direct costs associated with aviation and ground accidents, military injuries, and civilian worker compensation, Angello told the audience. "Those are resources we could be using for systems and people to defend our country."

Defense officials are pushing for leaders to better understand the importance of safety and are aiming for a 75 percent accident reduction rate throughout the force, Angello said.

For a second year, DoD is participating in the Voluntary Protection Program, designed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to improve safety records and readiness of its civilian and military personnel.

The program is recognized as an accident reduction "best practice" for the private sector to improve safety in industrial operations and has been adopted by the Defense Safety Oversight Council’s Installations Task Force, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Environment Safety and Occupational Health Tad Davis said.

Private sector VPP participants have seen a 60 percent reduction in injuries, 20 percent reduction in worker’s compensation costs, and a 150 percent return on investments, program officials said.

"We saw VPP as one of private industry’s best practices," Davis said. "Our needs are similar but unique compared to the private sector."

Army safety officials, with Davis in the lead, created the DoD VPP Center of Excellence to ensure that 40 new installations each year work to implement injury reduction throughout the armed forces.

"If we can apply lessons learned from the first two years, then we’ll have insights that will allow us to do it smarter, quicker and more economically at these installations down the road," Davis said.

The focus of the two-day conference is to acknowledge good work that has been done thus far on installations and gain insights from the installations that have already implemented the program, he said. Participants also came together to discuss ways to improve the processes installations are using to prevent injuries and improve mishap prevention.

Panel members and speakers repeatedly expressed the importance of senior military and installation leaders championing safety efforts and filtering that information down to each individual. "People don’t really care what you have to say until you show you care about them," Navy Capt. Mike McKinnon, commander or Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Ga., said. "The key to success is the leadership at the top."

McKinnon said the key to VPP success is attitude. "It’s not just eight hours while you’re at work; it’s 24 hours a day, 365 days a year," he said.

To date, four Navy bases and an Army installation have been recognized by OSHA as attaining "star status" for their safety efforts. DoD has set the goal of participating VPP installations to achieve this status within two years of joining the program.

By incorporating leadership and employees into worksite analysis, hazard prevention, and safety and health training, officials hope ultimately to save DoD billions of dollars.

"The lynchpin has been the tremendous support from senior leadership," Davis said. "This has to start at the top and permeate down to individual soldiers, civilians and contractors."

"The Department of Defense is a world-class organization," Angello said. "We’re going to demonstrate our commitment to this program where the rubber meets the rank."

Labels: VPP Implementation

NFPA Press Release
2007 Edition of NFPA 1600 available at no cost
Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs

The 2007 edition of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs is available for download at no charge at NFPA’s Web site.

The standard establishes a common set of criteria that sets a foundation for disaster management, emergency management, and business continuity programs using a total program approach. Organizations and parties responsible for developing such programs will benefit from information on emergency management, prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery, and business continuity.

"Whether they are initiated by nature or human caused, disasters and emergencies wreak havoc," said James M. Shannon, president and CEO of NFPA. "As organizations plan for unpredictable situations that may arise, NFPA 1600 has become the gold standard to help organizations develop an inclusive plan – a plan that will prove essential in achieving the most successful outcome possible when disaster strikes."

NFPA 1600’s latest edition incorporates changes to the 2004 edition and expands the conceptual framework of the earlier version. Aspects of mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery which are focused on in earlier versions have been updated, and prevention has been added as a fifth and distinct concept.

In 1991, NFPA’s Standards Council established the Disaster Management Committee to develop a preparedness standard that identified key components of a comprehensive plan that could be used by a variety of organizations. The plan was intended to address preparations for, responses to, and recovery from disasters resulting from natural, human or technological events. This was the beginning of NFPA 1600.

Utilized by and developed for organizations in both the public and private sector, NFPA 1600 is one of NFPA’s most widely implemented standards. More than 115,000 copies have been downloaded from NFPA’s Web site since 2004.

The Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP), a program available to state territorial and local government programs, bases its voluntary national accreditation process on NFPA 1600. Nine states, two counties and the District of Columbia have earned EMAP accreditation by ensuring that their disaster preparedness and response systems meet national standards in 15 areas, including: planning; resource management; training; exercises, evaluations and corrective actions; and communications and warning. EMAP accredited states include: Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Printed copies can be ordered through the online catalog and will be available April 2007.

Labels: Free Safety Guides

The Puget Sound Naval Shipyard had one of the worst safety records in the Navy. They are now an OSHA VPP STAR site. What happened?

A short article on Blackanthem Military News reports:

"'In 2001 we were declared by the Secretary of the Navy as having one of the worst safety records in the Department of Defense. Now we are one of the top 20 best sites, and we’ve won the Navy Secretary’s safety awards,' said Danny Haas, production process manager for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. According to Mr. Haas, the real change happened when senior management accepted responsibility, and created a labor-management partnership. 'They empowered the employees, and gave them the keys to the car.'"

Representatives from the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard were on the road earlier this week to present what they had learned to another military facility that was looking to improve safety.

A major part of their success resulted from empowering employees to be proactive instead of reactive. This resulted in safety problems being addressed as soon as they became evident.

Labels: VPP Implementation

OSHA PRESS RELEASE

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced today that approximately 14,000 employers have been notified that injury and illness rates at their worksites are higher than average and assistance is available to help them better protect their employees.

In a letter sent this month to those employers, OSHA explained the notification was a proactive step to motivate employers to take steps now to reduce those rates and improve the safety and health environment in their workplaces.

"This identification process is meant to raise awareness that injuries and illnesses are high at these facilities," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Edwin G. Foulke, Jr. "Injuries and illnesses are costly to employers in both personal and financial terms. Our goal is to identify workplaces where injury and illness rates are high and to persuade employers to use resources at their disposal to address these hazards and reduce occupational injuries and illnesses."

Establishments with the nation's high workplace injury and illness rates were identified by OSHA through employer-reported data from a 2006 survey of 80,000 worksites (the survey collected data from calendar year 2005). The workplaces identified had 5.3 or more injuries or illnesses resulting in days away from work, restricted work activity, or job transfer (DART) for every 100 full-time workers. The national average during 2005 was 2.4 DART instances for every 100 workers.

Employers receiving the letters were also provided copies of their injury and illness data, along with a list of the most frequently violated OSHA standards for their specific industry. The letter also offered assistance in helping turn the numbers around by suggesting, among other things, the use of free OSHA safety and health consultation services provided through the states, state workers' compensation agencies, insurance carriers, or outside safety and health consultants.

The 14,000 sites are listed alphabetically, by state, on OSHA's Web site at: www.osha.gov/as/opa/foia/hot_13.html.

The list does not designate those earmarked for any future inspections. An announcement of targeted inspections will be made later this year. Also, the worksites listed are establishments in states covered by federal OSHA; the list does not include employers in the 21 states and Puerto Rico, who operate OSHA-approved state plans covering the private sector.

OSHA's data collection initiative is conducted each year to provide the agency with a clearer picture of those establishments with higher than average injury and illness rates. Information obtained from the survey gives OSHA the opportunity to place inspection resources where they're needed most and also helps the agency plan outreach and compliance assistance programs where they will be most beneficial.

Labels: OSHA, workplace safety

May 6 through the 12th is North American Occupational Safety and Health Week (NAOSH).

The following is a press release from the American Society of Safety Engineers'.

Des Plaines, IL — Last year the American Society of Safety Engineers’ (ASSE) Board of Directors approved the creation of an "Occupational Safety and Health Professional Day" (OSHP) to recognize the ongoing efforts of occupational safety, health and environmental professionals to protect people, property and the environment. This year OSHP Day will be held on Wednesday, May 9, 2007.

"They are the ones that make sure you go to and come home from work safely and without injury every day," ASSE President Donald S. Jones Sr., P.E., CSP, said.

Occupational Safety and Health Professional Day also aims to further raise awareness and pride in the occupational safety, health and environmental profession, a profession where one is qualified by education, training and experience, who identifies hazards and develops appropriate controls for these hazards all aimed at preventing occupational injury, illness and property damage. Safety and health professionals follow a Code of Professional Conduct and bring to bear technical knowledge, skill and expertise along with management abilities developed through years of continued education and practical experience. Currently there are about 100,000 occupational safety, health and environmental practitioners in the U.S. today in what is one of the most challenging, growing and rewarding career fields.

Occupational safety and health practitioners have existed for a long time, but formed ASSE in 1911 following the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York City on March 25, 1911. On that date nearly 150 women and young girls died in the factory fire because of locked fire exits and inadequate fire extinguishing systems. This was a major turning point in worker safety history as the tragedy led to changed government regulations and new worker protection laws.

Today millions of people go to and return home safely from work every day due, in part, to the work of occupational safety, health and environmental professionals.

"We still have a long way to go in increasing workplace safety for all," ASSE Past President Eddie Greer, CSP, of Texas, said. "Many women perished in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in 1911, yet even 80 years later we had 25 workers die and 49 more injured when a fire broke out at a chicken processing plant in Hamlet, North Carolina. The plant doors were padlocked trapping the workers inside. We are making a difference and workplace fatalities have gone down over the years, but we need to reach the businesses who don't have or ignore workplace safety and health processes."

"We take time this May 9 to say thanks to those invisible heroes, who work to make your workplace safer and healthier," Jones said. "It doesn’t happen often, but when a call is made to a family member that their loved one has been injured or killed on the job several lives change forever. Work with your occupational safety and health professionals to make sure you and your family never receives that call."

"Thank your occupational safety and health professional today," Jones said. "It will mean more than you know."

Founded in 1911, the Des Plaines, IL-based ASSE is the oldest and largest professional safety organization and is committed to protecting people, property and the environment. Its 30,000 occupational safety, health and environmental professional members manage, supervise, research and consult on safety, health, transportation and environmental issues in all industries, government, labor and education.

Here is another OSHA press release announcing citations related to problems with lockout/tag out and visual communication. The visual communication citation was for failure to post warning signs. Making warning signs is not very difficult. A new web site that discusses Facility Signs and sign makers, such as the DuraLabel Sign Printer, is now online.

Here is the OSHA press release:

MINGO JUNCTION, Ohio -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed $147,500 in fines against the Mingo Junction facility of Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel Co., Wheeling, W.Va., for alleged willful and serious violations of federal workplace safety standards following the death of an employee in September 2006.

OSHA opened an investigation after receiving notification that an employee had fallen from an elevated walkway that was not protected with guardrails. Two willful citations with proposed penalties totaling $140,000 were issued, alleging a lack of guardrails on a crane runway and the failure to follow lockout/tagout procedures and to conduct periodic inspections on those procedures.

Two serious citations with proposed penalties of $7,500 were issued, alleging failure to post warning signs and lack of readily accessible disconnecting means for a crane power supply.

"The tragedy of serious injuries and fatalities resulting from falls is made worse by the fact they are entirely preventable," said Deborah Zubaty, OSHA area director in Columbus, Ohio. "It should not be difficult to recognize hazards that may lead to falls and to correct them before such tragedies occur."

Since 1976, Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel facilities in Ohio have experienced 16 fatalities, including five resulting from falls. Twelve of the total fatalities have occurred at the Mingo Junction plant. The company has 15 working days from receipt of the current citations to appeal before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Labels: OSHA Citations

Generally I would not post a link to the following article because the article can not be read without registering. However, registration is free and the article is interesting.

Machinery safety technology uses 3D vision system

The article talks about a new 3D monitoring system, called Safetyeye, developed by Pilz and DaimlerChrysler. It was developed to primarily for use in automated manufacturing in which robots are used. It establishes protection boundaries around machinery. If a boundary is violated the machine operation can be slowed or stopped.

The article describes the system this way:

"Each Safetyeye system comprises a sensing device with three greyscale cameras – which gives three-dimensional coverage – and an analysis unit that contains a high-performance computer and a programmable safety and control system. The three-camera sensor unit is mounted above the application, enabling a zone to be monitored around a hazard machine. Maximum coverage would be for a three-dimensional envelope that is approximately conical with a base area of 12.8 x 9.6m and a height of 10m, though the user-friendly configuration software enables zones to be defined within this, both as warning zones and detection (danger) zones. If an operator enters a warning zone, an alarm can be triggered and the speed of the machine reduced; if the detection zone is entered, the machine will be brought to a stop."

Labels: Industrial Safety, workplace safety

The following OSHA press release states that citations were issued for, among other safety hazards, a lack of lockout/tagout procedures and training, and inadequate hazard communication. A new web site is just coming online that provides information about lockout/tagout supplies and equipment. Hazard communication is covered on a number of web sites, including the RTK Labeling Resource.

Here is the OSHA press release:

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued citations to Insulpane of Connecticut Inc. for a range of safety hazards at its Hamden, Conn., glass manufacturing plant. Proposed fines total $42,500.

OSHA cited Insulpane of Connecticut for a total of 34 alleged serious and other-than-serious violations of safety standards following an inspection begun Jan. 4, 2007, under the federal job safety agency’s Site Specific Targeting program that focuses inspections on workplaces with higher than average injury or illness rates.

"These citations encompass hazards that are, unfortunately, all too common in a manufacturing environment," said Robert Kowalski, OSHA's area director for southwestern Connecticut. "If such conditions are left uncorrected, they can expose employees to lacerations and crushing injuries, electrocution, fire, explosions, or being caught in moving machine parts or struck by forklifts."

OSHA's inspection identified instances of unguarded or inadequately guarded moving machine parts and power tools; improper storage of compressed gas cylinders; lack of an emergency action plan and training; lack of lockout/tagout procedures and training; failure to assess the workplace for hazards that require the use of personal protective equipment; inadequate hazard communication; defects involving cranes, slings and powered industrial trucks; electrical hazards; an obstructed aisle; and failing to maintain work areas in a clean, orderly, sanitary and dry condition.

These conditions resulted in 29 serious citations, carrying $41,500 in proposed fines. OSHA issues a serious citation when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

The company was also issued five other-than-serious citations, with an additional $1,000 proposed fine, for incomplete recording of occupational injuries and illnesses, improper exit signage and deficiencies involving respiratory protection and hand tools. Kowalski stressed the importance of accurate recording of work-related injuries and illnesses as a marker for identifying and correcting potentially hazardous conditions that may hurt employees.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations to request and participate in an informal conference with the OSHA area director or to contest the citations before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The investigation was conducted by OSHA's area office in Bridgeport, telephone (203) 579-5581.

Labels: OSHA Citations