Safe Workplace and Safety News

If you have not heard about it, this is legislation you'll need to know about. The following is quoted directly from the House Committee on Education and Labor. Keep in mind this represents how your elected representatives describe this legislation:

The Protecting America's Workers Act will strengthen and modernize the Occupational Safety and Health Act, our nation's law that ensures the health and safety of American workers. Significant progress has been made on protecting the health and safety of American workers since the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration almost four decades ago. According to studies, nearly 400,000 workers' lives have been saved as a result.

However, too many workers are still dying, getting injured or become ill by working in unsafe and unhealthy conditions. The Protecting America’s Workers Act will provide additional tools to ensure that OSHA can fulfill its duty enforce safe and healthy workplaces for all American workers.

Protects More Workers

• Expands OSHA coverage to include state and local public employees and federal government workers.


• Expands coverage to millions of other workers inadequately covered such as airline and railroad employees, and Department of Energy contractors.

Strengthens Health and Safety Penalties

• Raises civil penalties and indexes those penalties to inflation.


• Establishes mandatory minimum penalties for violations involving worker deaths.


• Allows felony prosecutions against employers who commit willful violations that result in death or serious bodily injury, and extends such penalties to responsible corporate officers.


• Requires OSHA to investigate all cases of death and serious injuries (i.e. incidents that result in the hospitalization of 2 or more employees).
  

Improves Whistleblower Protections

• Codifies regulations that give workers the right to refuse to do hazardous work.


• Clarifies that employees cannot be discriminated against for reporting injuries, illnesses or unsafe conditions, and brings the procedures for investigating and adjudicating discrimination complaints into line with other safety and health and whistleblower laws.

Allows Workers and Their Families to Hold Dangerous Employers Accountable

• Provides workers and employee representatives the right to contest OSHA's failure to issue citations, classification of its citations, and proposed penalties.


• Gives injured workers, their families and families of workers who died in work-related incidents the right to meet with investigators, receive copies of citations, and to have an opportunity to make a statement before any settlement negotiations.


• Clarifies that the time spent by an employee accompanying an OSHA inspector during an investigation is considered time worked, for which a worker must be compensated.


• Prohibits OSHA from designating a citation as an "unclassified citation" where an employer can avoid the potential consequences of a "willful" violation, the most serious violation.


• Allows any worker or their representative to object to a modification or withdrawal of a citation, and entitles them to a hearing before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Labels: politics, safety management, safety politics, safety regulations

The following was issued by Dupont for World Day for Safety and Health at Work:

As organizations mark World Day for Safety and Health at Work today, safety leaders at DuPont share 10 ways individuals can personally reduce injuries at work. World Day for Safety and Health at Work is an international campaign to promote safe, healthy and decent work.

"You can’t be safe if your workplace is unsafe, but even a safe workplace will not keep you from harm if you do not take personal responsibility," said Jim Weigand, vice president and general manager of DuPont Safety Resources, the company's consulting and training business that has worked with thousands of organizations globally to improve workplace safety. "The vast majority of injuries are due to the unsafe actions of people.”

Here are 10 reminders for individuals to help prevent injuries:

1. Be aware. Being aware of your surroundings, potential hazards and your fellow colleagues is one of the best ways to prevent injuries. Distractions cause accidents. Anticipating versus reacting will help keep you safe and bring you home to your family.
2. Think it through. Before you start a task take a couple of minutes to think through what you’re about to do. Do you know the correct procedure, the protective equipment required, and the potential hazards to you and to others?
3. Address unsafe actions and conditions when you see them, for your safety and the safety of others. Don’t be afraid to speak up when you see something unsafe – you could be preventing an injury.
4. Use personal protective equipment as prescribed. The proper gloves, glasses, clothing, shoes and respirators are an important part of keeping you safe, but only if they are used and worn as intended. And they are your last line of defense, not a substitute for removing a hazard.
5. Be aware of your body position. Move your body in the right way. Keep out of the way of hazards, such as moving equipment and sharp objects. Using the right gloves is important, but gloves do not protect hands from being crushed or punctured. And don’t forget that repetitive motions can cause injuries.
6. Use the right tool for the right job. The proper tools and equipment help you avoid hazards and prevent risk. For example, when you’re using a ladder, make sure the ladder is set properly to prevent it from tipping. Be careful not to overreach. And have another person assist you when necessary.
7. Follow procedures for safe work. It may take a little extra time, but shortcuts put you at risk. Locking-out machinery and using guards helps keep you safe from moving parts. Don’t cut corners and by-pass these important safeguards.
8. Stay in shape. Keeping your core muscles in shape – whether you have a desk or physical job -- is important to prevent injuries. Core muscle strength helps maintain balance, flexibility and strength. Take a few moments to stretch, make sure you know the limitations of your body and maintain good posture.
9. Watch your step. Ice, water, and spills are the most common causes of slips, trips and falls. And steps can be particularly dangerous, so make sure you always use a handrail.
10. Practice safe driving. Many people get hurt driving on the job by not obeying traffic laws. And distractions such as cell phones are responsible for the rising number of automobile accidents. Visit the April is Driving Safety Month webpage or click here to watch a video for more information.

For more information, visit:
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/safework/worldday/index.htm.

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New OSHA Guidance Document Focuses on PPE
Emphasis On Reducing Lead Exposure

Labels: Industrial Health, Industrial Safety

When a compliance safety and health officer (CSHO) from OSHA’s Calumet City, Ill., Area Office arrived at a jobsite to conduct a trench inspection under the agency’s national emphasis program, he observed an employee working in an unprotected 7-foot deep trench. Although the employee worked for a village public works department, the CSHO identified the hazards and the construction employer agreed to voluntarily remove the employee from the unsafe trench. As the employee began exiting the trench, the side wall collapsed and the water main the employee was working on erupted sending approximately 4 feet of water into the trench. Because OSHA had no jurisdiction, a referral was made to the State of Illinois Department of Labor for further investigation. Detailed information on trench safety is available on OSHA’s trenching and excavation Safety and Health Topics Web page.

Related Past Posts:
Trench Collapse Results In Lawsuit
Contractor Faces Maximum Fine For Trench Collapse

Labels: Construction Safety, hazard identifcation

A New Jersey cast iron pipe manufacturer, Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co. (a division of McWane Inc.) and four company officials were found guilty of committing flagrant abuses of environmental and worker safety laws, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency announced today. The charges include, among others, the regular discharge of oil into the Delaware River, concealing serious worker injuries from health and safety inspectors, and maintaining a dangerous workplace that contributed to multiple severe injuries and the death of one employee at the Phillipsburg, N.J., plant.

After approximately six days of deliberations, the jury returned guilty verdicts against five of six defendants: Atlantic States; plant manager John Prisque; maintenance supervisor Jeffrey Maury; finishing superintendent Craig Davidson; and former Atlantic States human resource manager Scott Faubert—each of whom face prison time for the convictions. One defendant, Daniel Yadzinski, formerly the engineering manager at the plant, was acquitted on three counts.

U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper, who presided over the nearly seven-month-long trial—the longest environmental crimes trial prosecuted by the Justice Department—scheduled the sentencing for the corporation and individual defendants for Sept. 7, 2006.

"As a multiple offender, McWane has time and again shown a disturbing indifference towards the health and safety of their workers and a blatant disregard for the natural environment we all share," said Sue Ellen Wooldridge, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "Today's conviction shows that the Department of Justice takes seriously its responsibility to enforce the nation's environmental laws. And when companies or individuals break them with such shocking regularity, they will be vigorously prosecuted."

"The conviction of Atlantic States and its managers after a trial of unprecedented length sends a clear message: neither EPA nor the public will tolerate knowing and rampant environmental misconduct," said Granta Y. Nakayama, EPA's assistant administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "This manner of 'doing business' injures workers, the public and our environment, and EPA will continue to deter such flagrant disregard of pollution laws by vigorously pursuing not only corporations, but also the culpable individuals regardless of their position within the organization."

The 34-count indictment charged Atlantic States, a subsidiary of McWane Inc. of Birmingham, Ala., and the named managers, with conspiracy to violate federal clean air and water regulations and laws governing workplace safety, as well as obstruction of criminal and regulatory investigations by the EPA and Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The company and the four managers were each convicted on Count One of the 34-count indictment, charging that they and the company engaged in an eight-year conspiracy to pollute the air and Delaware River in violation of the federal Clean Water and Clean Air Acts, expose its employees to dangerous conditions and impede federal regulatory and criminal investigations. For the individual defendants, the conspiracy count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, and a fine of $500,000 for the company.

Atlantic States was named in all counts of the indictment, and was also convicted on five counts of making materially false statements to state and federal environmental agencies and the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA); four counts of obstructing OSHA investigations; 22 counts of violating the federal Clean Water Act and one count of violating the Clean Air Act.

In addition to the main conspiracy conviction, the verdicts for the individual defendants were as follows:

• John Prisque, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania:

– Guilty of three counts of obstruction of an OSHA investigation, and one not guilty of obstructing OSHA.
– Guilty on one count of violating the Clean Water Act.
– Guilty on one count of violating the Clean Air Act.

• Scott Faubert, of Easton, Pennsylvania:

– Guilty on one count of making false statements to OSHA.
– Guilty on two counts of obstructing an OSHA investigation.

• Jeffrey Maury, 36, of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania:

– Guilty on one count of making false statements to the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety and the FBI.
– Guilty of obstruction of an OSHA investigation
– Guilty of seven counts of violating the Clean Water Act

• Craig Davidson, of Nazareth, Pennsylvania:

– Guilty on one count of making false statements to the NJ Department of Law and Public Safety and a NJ Department of Environmental Protection emergency responder.
– Guilty on 16 counts of violating the Clean Water Act.

The privately held McWane Inc. and its divisions are among the largest manufacturers in the world of ductile iron pipe with more than a dozen plants in the United States and Canada. McWane's products are used primarily for municipal and commercial water and sewer installations.

Assistant Attorney General Sue Ellen Wooldridge of the Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie credited Special Agents of the U.S. EPA, under the direction of William V. Lometti, special agent in charge of EPA's Criminal Investigation Division in New York; staff of OSHA's Avenel, N.J. office, under the direction of Patricia K. Clark, OSHA regional administrator in New York; the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, under the direction of Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson; the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Division of Criminal Justice, under the direction of Attorney General Zulima Farber; and the Phillipsburg Police Department.

The case was prosecuted by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr., Assistant U.S. Attorney Norv McAndrew, Andrew Goldsmith, Senior Trial Attorney and Assistant Section Chief in the Environmental Crimes Section, and Senior Trial Attorney Deborah Harris in the Environmental Crimes Section of the Department of Justice in Washington.

Labels: Nuclear Power Safety, safety, workplace safety

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released an addendum to the 50th Edition (effective January 1, 2009) of the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations.

A PDF version is available here.

Labels: Transportation Safety

I bring up the following article just because it seems to be generating a lot of discussion and press coverage. This one is from the Kansas City Star editorial page.

The question involves a newspaper sports reporter who was injured (and later died from those injuries) while climbing "stairs" to the press box on the roof of a high school stadium.

Who is responsible? His employer, the Buffalo News? The high school? Or is this just a normal hazard that sports reporters must deal with?

Labels: fall protection, safety and the media

Safety consulting firm BST announced five recommendations for business leaders wishing to protect worker safety and health during the economic downturn. The recommendations, released in a new white paper titled "Leading Safety in a Downturn," outlines the effects of a recession on workplace safety and proposes five actions to address them.

According to the paper, common downturn events, such as job reassignments and layoffs, can increase employee exposure to injury just as many organizations have fewer available resources to manage those risks. According to BST vice president Don Groover, fewer resources are only part of the problem. "A downturn can also have significant cultural implications for a business," he says. "What leaders do now with respect to safety and the business sends a message to employees about what really matters. That message will resonate long after the outside situation improves." In the paper, BST recommends that leaders:

1. OPEN UP AND COMMUNICATE WHY SAFETY MATTERS NOW. Employees anxious about the impact of the economy on the company, and on them personally, can be at increased risk for injury. Leaders need to be out front, demonstrating concern, listening, and taking appropriate actions.

2. CONSIDER THE EFFECTS OF YOUR ACTIONS ON THE CULTURE. How leaders "do the hard stuff" - layoffs, job assignments, budget cuts - will dictate how people engage in safety and the business now and down the road.

3. REFINE YOUR STRATEGY. Oftentimes safety performance can become bogged down, both financially and functionally, by legacy systems that no longer meet the needs of the business. Many companies find that their actual needs dictate an investment in fewer (or different) systems than they have right now.

4. WORK THE FUNDAMENTALS. Survival in a downturn, for any part of the business, is about targeting the core elements that sustain the enterprise. In safety performance, that means protecting the lives and livelihoods of employees. Life-altering injuries and fatalities must be a primary concern.

5. DEMONSTRATE - AND DEVELOP - TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP. Leaders who use a transformational style are more successful at creating the will to go "above and beyond" self-interest and give people a sense of purpose, belonging, and understanding regarding the work they do.

The full paper and recommendations are available at BST’s website: http://www.bstsolutions.com/perspectives.

Labels: safety management, Safety Training, VPP Safety Articles and Papers, workplace safety

The following is from the April 8th Wall Street Journal. It discusses how concerns about changes in workplace laws will impact the workplace from a legal perspective. Here is the opening paragraph:

"U.S. businesses, fearful of rising union influence and a crackdown by the Obama adminstration on workplace practices, are scrambling for legal advice and training, creating a windfall for labor consultants and law firms."

You can read the complete article here.

While most of the article focuses on the "Employee Free Choice Act," it does note that increased safety inspections may also be coming. While we all are working to have the safest possible workplace, in these changing times we'll need to be aware of what the government is doing in the areas such as new regulations and inspections, as well as changes in what they are looking for during inspections.

Labels: safety management, safety politics, safety regulations

Assigned Protection Factors (APF), a new guidance document published by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), provides employers with vital information for selecting respirators for employees exposed to contaminants in the air.

OSHA revised its existing Respiratory Protection standard in 2006 to add APFs and Maximum Use Concentration (MUC) provisions. APF means the workplace level of respiratory protection that a respirator or class of respirators is able to provide to workers. The higher the APF number (5 to 10,000), the greater the level of protection provided to the user. APFs are used to select the appropriate class of respirators that will provide the necessary level of protection against airborne contaminants. Such exposures can come from particles or a gas or vapor.

MUC represents the limit at which the class of respirator is expected to provide protection. Whenever a hazard's exposure level exceeds MUC, employers should select a respirator with a higher APF. MUC means the maximum atmospheric concentration of a hazardous substance for which a worker can be expected to be protected when wearing a respirator.

"Proper respirator selection prevents exposure to hazardous contaminants and is an important component of an effective respiratory protection program," said Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Donald G. Shalhoub. "This guidance document serves as another useful resource for protecting the health and safety of workers at risk for respiratory illnesses."

APF and MUC are mandatory respirator selection requirements that can only be used after respirators are properly selected and are used in compliance with the entire standard. The Respiratory Protection standard requires fit testing, medical evaluations, specific training and proper respirator use. The standard applies to general industry, construction, longshoring, shipyard and marine terminal workplaces.

Related Past Posts:
OSHA Issues Final Rule On PPE
Is PPE Compliance A Challenge In Your Facility?
PPE Compliance, A Top Workplace Concern

Labels: OSHA, osha information, PPE

Reports this week in the Charleston (WV) Gazette and Charlotte (NC) Observer reveal that "The U.S. Labor Department did not properly enforce laws designed to crack down on employers with a history of workplace safety violations..."

A Labor Department audit has concluded that that in 97% of the cases sampled OSHA did not properly follow its own procedures when targeting workplaces with a history of job-related fatalities.

The Charleston Gazetted reports that "The study found that officials failed to gather needed data, conducted uneven inspections and enforcement, and sometimes failed to notice repeat fatalities because records misspelled the companies' names or failed to notice when two subsidiaries with the same owner were involved."

The Charlottre Observer noted that state OSHA programs were not doing any better: "The Carolinas weren't included because they run their own OSHA programs. But regulators in the Carolinas have also missed chances to take stiff action against repeat violators."

Read the complete articles:
The Charleston (WV) Gazette
The Charlotte (NC) Observer

Labels: OSHA, OSHA Inspections