Safe Workplace and Safety News

The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit against Brocon Petroleum Inc. and its president, Richard Kohler, on behalf of an employee who was terminated in violation of the whistleblower provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act. The Freehold construction company specializes in municipal sanitation projects.

The complaint alleges that the defendants terminated the employee in retaliation for the employee engaging in a protected activity. The department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) conducted an inspection of the employer's worksite in response to an anonymous complaint about safety practices at the worksite. The defendants later that day fired the complainant because they believed the complainant had contacted OSHA.

The former employee filed a complaint with OSHA alleging retaliation by the defendants in violation of Section 11(c) of the OSH Act. OSHA investigated the complaint and determined it had merit. After being notified of OSHA's findings, the defendants refused to reinstate the employee to the same or a substantially equivalent position of employment, and to pay back wages or other employment benefits.

"Employees should be free to exercise their rights under the law without fear of termination or retaliation by their employers," said Louis Ricca Jr., OSHA's acting regional administrator in New York. "This lawsuit underscores the Labor Department's commitment to vigorously take action to protect those rights."

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, the complaint seeks to reinstate the employee; secure compensatory damages, lost back pay and punitive damages; and require the company to post a notice in a prominent place for 60 days that explains employee rights under Section 11(c) of the OSH Act.

OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the OSH Act and 15 other statutes protecting employees who report violations of various trucking, airline, nuclear power, pipeline, environmental, rail and securities laws. Detailed information on employee whistleblower rights, including fact sheets, is available online at: http://www.osha.gov/dep/oia/whistleblower/index.html.

Labels: OSHA

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed $158,250 in fines against Access Ag Inc., a Mazon-based grain handling company, for three alleged willful and four alleged serious violations of federal workplace safety standards found during a September 2007 investigation after an employee was asphyxiated in a grain bin.

The willful violations include failing to lockout equipment prior to bin entry to prevent accidental energy start-up; allowing employees to walk on the grain to make it flow; and failing to require employees to wear body harnesses with lifelines during bin entry.

The serious violations include deficient ladders; failing to provide rescue equipment for employees entering a grain bin; training deficiencies; failing to implement an emergency action plan; and failing to maintain communication between observers and persons entering the grain bin.

OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health. A serious violation is one in which there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazardous condition about which the employer knew or should have known.

"Grain handling standards were put into regulations approximately two decades ago, and OSHA continues to see a tragic disregard for safe work practices, resulting in employees being placed in harm's way," said Kathy O'Connell, the agency's area director in North Aurora, Ill. "Failure to adhere to those standards will not be tolerated."

Access Ag Inc. operates as a corporation in four Illinois locations: Mazon, Ransom, Dwight and Odell. The grain co-op includes some 2,000 landowners and farmers.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Labels: OSHA Citations

Preventable tunnel fire claimed five lives

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed $845,100 in penalties against RPI Coating Inc. of Santa Fe Springs, Calif., and $189,900 in proposed penalties against the Public Service Co. of Colorado, doing business as Xcel Energy, for alleged serious and willful violations of federal workplace safety and health standards following a tunnel fire last year that killed five employees.

"This catastrophe could have been avoided if the companies had followed their critical safety procedures," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Edwin G. Foulke Jr. "There should never be such a disregard for the safety of employees. Today's citations should serve as a reminder to all employers about the critical need to always provide a safe and healthful workplace for their employees."

The fire began at the Xcel Energy Cabin Creek hydroelectric plant in Georgetown, Colo., on Oct. 2, 2007, while employees were in a tunnel cleaning a sprayer with a flammable solvent. Vapor from the solvent ignited, causing the fire. Four employees escaped, but five employees working deeper inside the tunnel were unable to escape and died due to asphyxiation.

RPI has received 13 willful citations with proposed penalties totaling $778,500. These include three per-instance willful citations alleging that RPI brought electrical equipment into the tunnel that was not safe because it could ignite the solvent. RPI also has received 10 willful citations alleging the unsafe handling of flammable liquids, failure to provide employees with adequate ventilation, failure to install carbon monoxide alarms, failure to arrange for emergency response in the event of an accident, failure to train on worksite chemical hazards and a lack of fire extinguishers in the work area. It also has received 25 serious citations with penalties totaling $66,600 that include alleged fall hazards, the unsafe storage of flammable liquids outside the tunnel and improper respiratory protection.

Xcel Energy has been issued two willful citations with proposed penalties of $126,000 for failing to take precautions to protect its own employees from hazards in the tunnel and to arrange for rescue services. Xcel Energy also has received 19 serious citations with proposed penalties totaling $63,900, which include alleged fall hazards, the unsafe storage of compressed gas and electrical hazards.

The companies have 15 business days from the receipt of the citations to request an informal conference with OSHA's area director or to contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Labels: OSHA Citations

What should you do when an OSHA inspector shows up at your reception desk? How can you prepare for an OSHA inspector's unannounced visit? The February issue of Occupational Hazards magazine included an article called, "When OSHA Knocks" (click on the link to read the article).

The article is written by attorney Patricia Poole and it offers a legal perspective on preparing for and dealing with a visit from an OSHA inspector. Her opening paragraph states:

"With a plethora of investigative agencies that may show up at your company's door, it is important to understand the purpose of a visit from OSHA. It equally is important for emplloyers to take action during the course of the inspection to place themselves in a favorable legal position."

From a legal perspective, here are some of the things the article says you should do "when OSHA Knocks:"

• Restrict admittance until management personnel are on site


• Determine the reason for the inspection


• Obtain a copy of the complaint


• Identify whistleblower protection inspections


• Limit the scope of the inspection


• Take the same photographs and videos as the OSHA inspector


• Remember you have a right to refuse to allow an inspection without a search warrant.

The article covers what to do before allowing an OSHA inspector into your facility. What to do during the inspection walk-around, what you need to do in the closing conference with OSHA, and how to respond if a citation is issued.

Labels: OSHA Citations, OSHA Inspections

As the result of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) has paid $254,000 to a mechanic who was terminated by the delivery carrier after complaining about unsafe conditions in trucks at the company's Watertown, N.Y., garage.

The former employee filed complaints with OSHA alleging violations of the whistleblower provisions of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA) and the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act. OSHA's investigation found merit to the complaints, and the agency informed UPS on Dec. 20, 2007, of this preliminary finding.

After receiving OSHA's findings, UPS elected to settle the case. In addition to paying the complainant the $254,000 in remedies, UPS will post OSHA whistleblower fact sheets in all its New York facilities and agrees that it will not in any manner interfere with, coerce or restrain its employees from exercising their rights under STAA and the OSH Act. In agreeing to the settlement, UPS neither admits nor denies the allegations of the complaint.

"Employees are entitled to raise legitimate workplace safety and health concerns without fear of termination or retaliation," said Louis Ricca Jr., OSHA's acting regional administrator in New York. "We will not hesitate to ensure that right is legally protected. In this case, the settlement goes beyond one employee in one location and ensures that UPS employees throughout the Empire State are aware of this vital safeguard."

OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the OSH Act and 15 other statutes covering employees in the transportation, environmental and financial services industries. These include STAA, which provides protections for private sector drivers and other employees relating to the safety or security of commercial motor vehicles. Detailed information on employee whistleblower rights, including fact sheets, is available online at: www.osha.gov/dep/oia/whistleblower/index.html.

Labels: OSHA Fines

While we are on the subject of million dollar penalties. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced yesterday that a manufacturer of athletic shoes and apparel has agreed to pay the government a $1,000,000 civil penalty. This penalty, which has been provisionally accepted, is the largest for a Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA) violation and follows a recall announced by CPSC and Reebok of 300,000 bracelets.

The penalty settles allegations that Reebok International Ltd., of Canton, Mass., imported and distributed charm bracelets that contained toxic levels of lead. The charm bracelets were provided as free gifts with the purchase of various styles of children’s footwear. In March 2006, a 4-year-old boy from Minneapolis who swallowed the bracelet’s heart-shaped pendant died.

The FHSA bans toxic levels of accessible lead in toys and other children’s products. CPSC’s enforcement policy urges manufacturers of children’s metal jewelry to keep lead content below 0.06% by weight.

"This civil penalty sends a clear message that the CPSC will not allow companies to put children’s safety at risk," said CPSC Acting Chairman Nancy Nord. "Preventing dangerous metal jewelry from reaching the hands of children is a priority for our agency."

In agreeing to settle the matter, Reebok denies that it violated federal law.

Labels: consumer safety, home safety

An article in today's edition of the Saipan Tribune reports "The U.S. government filed yesterday a lawsuit against Sablan Construction Company Ltd. to collect its alleged delinquent debts totaling over $1 million arising from numerous penalties imposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration."

The lawsuit was filed on March 18th in the Northern Mariana Islands District Court with the Presiding Judge being Chief Judge Alex R. Munson. The Northern Mariana Islands are a U.S. Commonwealth. They are located in the North Pacific Ocean, about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines.

The Saipan Tribune article states that the government complaint alleges "that on July 18, 1991, an OSHA safety officer conducted a comprehensive safety inspection of the company's operations at its Sablan Building in Chalan Piao and found multiple violations."

As a result on Oct. 17, 1991, OSHA issued 15 citations, including seven “serious” violations. Additional inspections that resulted in citations and fines were conducted in 1992, 1995, 1999 and 2001.

For example, OSHA reports that following up on a report they received in January 1999, an inspection of the Marpi Road Expansion Project was conducted that resulted in citations for two willful violations with penalties of $80,000, and three serious violations with penalties of $12,600.

The two willful violations were allowing employees to work in conditions where cave-ins could occur without providing adequate cave-in protection; and for falsifying the records of occupational injuries and illnesses. The serious violations included failure to provide a safe means of escape from an excavation; allowing employees to work under a suspended load; and for failure to keep excavated soil and other material a safe distance from the edge of a trench.

The 1999 OSHA inspection also revealed that the company falsified required records of injuries. Although the company was the subject of a number of workers compensation insurance claims over the last few years, company records did not show any injuries. Injury records are reviewed during OSHA inspections and are one of the factors considered in proposing penalties for violations.

The $1,000,000 the government is suing for a total of $700,000 in fines, $65,335.20 in accrued pre-judgment interest, $228,999.87 in administrative charges, $52,501.50 in penalty charges, and $350 in filing fees.

Labels: OSHA Citations, OSHA Fines

On February 7th a dust explosion at the Imperial Sugar refinery killed 12 workers and critically injured 11 others, making this the deadliest industrial explosion in the United States since 1980. The following provides links to articles that summarize what is happening in this area.

Occupational Hazards Magazine reports that on Wednesday this week OSHA Administrator Edwin Foulke Jr. stated in congressional testimony that OSHA would consider new rule making on combustible dust a "strong option" only if its investigation of the Feb. 7 explosion and an inspection of existing standards show that existing standards are not adequate.

Safety Business and Legal Reports (Safety.BLR.com) published an article yesterday titled: "OSHA Reissues Combustible Dust National Emphasis Program". This article states that OSHA is taking action. The article states:

"OSHA reissued its Combustible Dust National Emphasis Program (NEP) Instruction. The NEP will increase enforcement activities and focus on specific industry groups that have experienced frequent combustible dust incidents. 'Combustible dust fires or explosions can pose significant dangers in the workplace,' said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Edwin G. Foulke Jr. 'With this new Combustible Dust NEP, the Agency will increase its activities in outreach, training, and cooperative ventures with stakeholders, as well as enhance its enforcement activities.'"

You can read the Safety.BLR article at: http://safety.blr.com/display.cfm/id/105965

Meanwhile Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John W. Oxendine announced new tougher state regulations to improve safety in workplaces that "produce flammable dust in their manufacturing processes." An article in the Peachtree Corners Weekly reports:

"Oxendine said the new rules will require all industries in Georgia that produce combustible dust to draw up emergency plans, practice implementing the plan, and train employees in evacuation techniques."

In addition:

"At Oxendine’s request, the International Fire Code Committee has approved for their final action hearings, requirements for factory fire emergency evacuation procedures and drills for the 2009 edition of the International Fire Code."

Labels: Emergency Planning, OSHA, safety regulations, workplace safety

An article titled, What OSHA Expects: The Electrical Safety Questions OSHA Will Ask During an Investigation by Kenneth Cybart appeared in yesterday's Occupational Hazards Magazine. This is how the article introduces itself:

"OSHA’s goal is for employers to identify all electrical hazards, both potential and actual... For electrical safety in the workplace, OSHA relies on expert consensus bodies such as the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and its standards published in NFPA 70E. To ensure that employers are following NFPA and OSHA guidelines, OSHA trains its inspectors and compliance officers to ask specific questions in the event of an electrical safety incident."

The article presents 17 questions OSHA inspectors are likely to ask, such as:

Are there detailed descriptions of work practices to be employed?

Were the workers performing the tasks qualified to do so?

Were proper tools and equipment used?

Were required electrical safety analysis performed?

You can read the complete article, including all 17 questions, on Occupational Hazards' web site.

Labels: electrical safety, OSHA Inspections

The Houston Chronicle reports that "OSHA inspectors conducting an unprecedented national audit of U.S. refineries have found 146 violations — many described as potentially life-threatening — after reviewing just 17 refineries in a dozen states."

In June 2007 OSHA published a directive implementing a National Emphasis Program to help eliminate workplace hazards associated with the release of highly hazardous chemicals at petroleum refineries. Under this program, OSHA planned to conduct 81 inspections over the next two years. 17 of those inspections have been completed so far.

The Houston Chronicle story reports: "When the refinery program was launched last June, OSHA leaders said they aimed to reduce preventable deaths at refineries, one of the nation's most dangerous industries. Its directive said 52 employees have died in the past 15 years."

You can read the complete story, describing what has been found so far, at the Houston Chronicle web site.

Labels: OSHA Inspections

Connecticut environmental cleanup company faces more than $95,000 in OSHA fines. Hazards found at True Blue Environmental Services locations in Northampton, Mass. and Danbury, Conn.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- True Blue Environmental Services, a Wallingford, Conn., environmental remediation company, faces a total of $95,750 in proposed fines from the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for allegedly failing to protect employees against hazards at jobsites in Northampton, Mass., and Danbury, Conn.

The bulk of the hazards were at the former Northampton Manufactured Gas Plant in Northampton. OSHA found that True Blue supervisors and employees removing coal tar from contaminated soil at that location had neither received the required training nor been certified to safely perform their duties.

Additional hazards included: employees overexposed to benzene, a hazardous substance contained in the coal tar, and inadequate controls to reduce their exposure levels; no initial air monitoring to determine exposure levels; no detailed evaluation of the site to identify hazards and necessary protective measures; no onsite safety and health supervisor; respirator deficiencies; and failure to record all workplace injuries.

"OSHA's safety and health requirements for hazardous waste cleanup are detailed and stringent because of the highly hazardous nature of this work," said Mary Hoye, OSHA's area director in Springfield. "It is imperative that employers provide and document proper and effective training to ensure that employees can perform their duties correctly and safely."

Conditions at the Northampton site resulted in OSHA issuing three willful and six serious citations to True Blue. An additional willful citation was issued for the company's failure to provide site-specific electric safety training to employees performing remediation work at an electrical substation in Danbury.

OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health. A serious citation is issued when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations to contest them before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The inspection was conducted by OSHA's Springfield Area Office (telephone 413-785-0123).

Labels: OSHA Citations, OSHA Fines

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has posted a new Combustible Dust Safety and Health Topics Web page at www.osha.gov/dsg/combustibledust/index.html to help employers address hazardous combustible dust and provide recommendations to prevent and control these hazards.

"Fires and explosions resulting from combustible dust can pose a significant danger at the workplace," said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Edwin G. Foulke Jr. "This new safety and health topics page is part of a long-term, ongoing program in OSHA to address these hazards and assure safe and healthful working conditions."

Certain combustible substances, when divided into a dust-like form and suspended in air, can become explosive. Industries that have combustible dust include food (for example, candy, sugar, spice, starch, flour and feed), grain, tobacco, plastics, wood, paper, pulp, rubber, furniture, textiles, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, dyes, coal, metals (for example, aluminum, chromium, iron, magnesium and zinc) and fossil fuel power generation. Combustible dust may have been a cause of an explosion at a Georgia sugar refinery plant. An OSHA Safety and Health Information Bulletin at www.osha.gov/dts/shib/shib073105.html reminds employers of the dangers associated with combustible dust and encourages employers to address such hazards at their worksites. OSHA has in place many relevant standards to address combustible dust hazards – including requirements for hazard communication, housekeeping, emergency action plans, ventilation and hazardous locations.

The Web page also features a link to the National Emphasis Program on Combustible Dust (www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=DIRECTIVES&p_id=3729) that provides information on compliance with existing standards, an understanding of the hazard, and methods of abatement and collection of data for analysis. The new page also incorporates information on directives as well as OSHA and national census standards.

Labels: OSHA

The Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health has notified 14,000 employers nationwide that their injury and illness rates are considerably higher than the national average.

In a letter sent this month to those employers, Assistant Secretary Edwin G. Foulke, Jr. explained that the notification was a proactive step to encourage employers to take action now to reduce rates and improve safety and health conditions in their workplaces.

"A high injury and illness rate is costly to employees and employers in both personal and financial terms," said Assistant Secretary Foulke. "Our goal is to make them aware of their high injury and illness rates and to get them to focus on eliminating hazards in their workplace. To help them in this regard, OSHA offers free assistance programs to help employers better protect the safety and health of their employees."

OSHA identified businesses with the nation's highest rates of workplace injuries and illnesses through employer-reported data from a 2007 survey of 80,000 worksites (this survey collected injury and illness data from calendar year 2006). Workplaces receiving notifications had 5.4 or more injuries resulting in days away from work, restricted work activity, or job transfer (DART) for every 100 full-time employees. Nationally, the average U.S. workplace had 2.3 DART occurrences for every 100 employees.

Employers receiving the letters were also provided copies of their injury and illness data, along with a list of the most frequently cited 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.

Labels: OSHA

The United Kingdom's Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 takes effect next month on April 6th. This new law states:

"An organisation to which this section applies is guilty of an offence if the way in which its activities are managed or organised causes a person’s death, and amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed by the organisation to the deceased."

In other words, under this law if there is a fatal accident there will be a police investigation and a corporation can be prosecuted for homicide. The U.K. Ministry of Justice puts it this way:

"The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act introduces a new offence, across the UK, for prosecuting companies and other organisations where there has been a gross failing, throughout the organisation, in the management of health and safety with fatal consequences."

The U.K. Health and Safety Commission (HSC) states:

"Prosecutions will be of the corporate body and not individuals, but the liability of directors, board members or other individuals under health and safety law or general criminal law, will be unaffected. And the corporate body itself and individuals can still be prosecuted for separate health and safety offences."

"The Act also largely removes the Crown immunity that applies to the existing common law corporate manslaughter offence. This is welcome, and consistent with Government and HSC policy to secure the eventual removal of Crown immunity for health and safety offences. The Act provides a number of specific exemptions that cover public policy decisions and the exercise of core public functions."

Safety and Health Practitioner magazine had an article covering this new law in last week's edition. You can read about the background and this new law at: http://www.shponline.co.uk/article.asp?pagename=features&article_id=7232

The conclusion of this article is that "the new Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 is a long-awaited piece of legislation. It takes its context from well established legal principles, and targets corporate failure at senior level within an organisation, which led to the death of persons where there was an established duty of care."

"In order to deliver the duty of care, and thereby prevent a charge of corporate manslaughter, organisations should ensure the effectiveness of the own health and safety management system, proactively identify and rectify shortcomings, remain up to date with developments in health and safety legislation, good practice and guidance, and seek competent specialist advice where necessary."

What do you think? Do you think similar legislation will be enacted in the U.S.?

Labels: Industrial Health, Industrial Safety

HR.BLR reported yesterday that Earl Blair from Indiana University and Barry Spurlock from the Midwestern Insurance Alliance spoke at a conference of more than 600 safety professionals from Indiana and several surrounding states. They talked about the "ten steps for developing and applying leading safety measures in the workplace, how to measure safety performance, and how to sell the leading measures to management."

The articled opened with this introduction: "Is your safety program proactive to create safety performance excellence, or is it reactive to simply hold the line on injuries and illnesses? Safety professionals who are trying to achieve excellence through leading measures of performance can take the next step to develop and apply such measures in a systematic way."

What are the ten steps?

• Step 1--Prioritize what is measured.


• Step 2--Determine the hierarchal level of the organization to measure.


• Step 3--Verify controls and identify obstacles to improvement.


• Step 4--Develop a simple list of measures for each activity.


• Step 5--Identify the means of employee engagement.


• Step 6--Develop safety measurement methods and tools.


• Step 7--Develop delivery strategies for measuring performance.


• Step 8--Set performance goals.


• Step 9--Monitor the progress of safety measures.


• Step 10--Adjust and modify safety measures over time.

Read the details at: http://hr.blr.com/news.aspx?id=78032

Labels: workplace safety

"In the roofing industry, opportunities for crisis—in the form of employee injuries or fatalities—present themselves more often than in most other industries. According to U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Bureau of Labor Statistics Data, 100 roofing workers were killed in occupation-related incidents during 2006, 80 from falls alone."

The above is the opening paragraph from an article from Professional Roofing Magazine by Ashley St. John, that is called "Roofing contractors share how they handled job-site fatalities." The article describes two fatal accidents and how managers responded.

The last third of the article is dedicated to describing how to create a crisis-management plan for your company. The article states:

"As is evidenced by Baxter's and Gooding's accounts, confronting a severe injury or fatality can be one of the most stressful situations you ever will encounter. Having a written crisis-management plan already in place is key to helping you face the pressures presented during this chaotic time."

The article then presents a summary of the National Roofing Contractors Association recommendations. These are recommendations I think apply in any industry.

Labels: Construction / Installation, Construction Safety, fall protection, workplace fatalities

Agoura Hills, CA - HASP Online announces JSABuilder -- the first free online tool for conducting Job Safety Analysis (JSA).

JSA, also known as Job Hazard Analysis (JHA), is a proven and effective technique of identifying potential job hazards and implementing the controls necessary to eliminate or reduce them. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) recommend that a JSA be done to determine the proper work safety procedures.

The JSA process consists of:

• Breaking the job or task into a sequence of logical steps;
• Identifying the hazards associated with each step;
• Understanding the consequences of these hazards if not properly controlled; and
• Identifying the necessary
  • engineering controls (e.g., safety devices, special tools, structures, barriers, or baffling),
  • administrative controls (e.g., work or job safety procedures, safety practices, work permits),
  • personnel protective equipment (PPE),
  • and/or special training (e.g., electrical safety, respiratory safety, lock out/tag out) necessary to eliminate or minimize theses hazards.

JSABuilder is fast, easy-to-use, and comprehensive. Developed by health and safety professionals, information is quickly entered through a series of screens by selecting from pre-programmed lists and entering text specific to the user's job or project. Once all information has been entered, users can download and print the JSA worksheet as an Adobe Acrobat PDF document for use in pre-job safety meetings, training sessions, or to store for future reference.

HASP Online is the first commercially available online health and safety plan development and management tool for HAZWOPER sites. HASP Online is a joint venture between EnviroSolve Corporation and Safety Unlimited, Inc.

"Many jobs are performed without the benefit of a job safety analysis, resulting in injuries that should have been easily prevented by a careful analysis and discussion of potential hazards," says EnviroSolve president John Batchelder. Adds Jules Griggs, president of Safety Unlimited, "Our goal is to ensure that anyone assessing job hazards has the best possible tools to easily perform a job safety analysis."

"We feel strongly," says Griggs, "that by sharing this free health and safety planning tool, we're helping safety professionals, managers, supervisors, foremen and task leaders to prevent injuries. We're pleased to be able to give this away as a service to the safety profession."

Additional information about EnviroSolve can be found at http://www.envirosolve.com. Additional information about Safety Unlimited can be found at http://www.safetyunlimited.com.

Information from HASP Online andthe JSABiulder web site.

Labels: Industrial Safety, workplace safety