Safe Workplace and Safety News

The Las Vegas Sun reported yesterday that George Washington University professor David Michaels will be nominated to be the head of OSHA. The article reports that:

"Michaels, an epidemiologist, has been a notable advocate for workers to be compensated for health risks from chemicals and has also exposed attempts from businesses to block health regulations by making scientific research appear less certain than it is."

"Last year, he published the book 'Doubt is their Product' about industries' use of misleading public relations campaigns to create scientific doubt and block governmental efforts to regulate health risks."

You can read the complete Las Vegas Sun article here.

Labels: Department Of Labor, OSHA, politics, safety politics

OSHA has issued an interpretation letter covering recording injuries resulting from horseplay in the workplace. It states that workplace injuries resulting from "horseplay" must be recorded in OSHA logs. Here is that letter:

Dear Mr. Winkelman:

Thank you for your December 2, 2008, letter to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regarding the Recordkeeping regulation found at 29 CFR Part 1904. Specifically, you requested guidance from OSHA on a case regarding "horseplay."

Scenario: In your letter, you describe an instance where two of your supervisors had completed their work for the day and had entered the change trailer to change clothes and proceed home. There was some bantering back and forth concerning how to beat the traffic at shift's end. The discussion escalated into a physical confrontation where one supervisor allegedly pulled a knife and struck the other in the right bicep, causing a laceration that required sutures to close.

Issue: You have asked OSHA to endorse your contention that, because the work environment did not contribute to the "horseplay gone badly," as you described the situation, the injury was not work-related and thus was non-recordable under OSHA regulations.

Response: Under 29 CFR Subpart C, "Recordkeeping Forms and Recording Criteria," an injury must be recorded if it is work-related, is a new case, and meets one or more of the general recording criteria (such as requiring medical treatment beyond first aid). See 29 CFR §1904.4(a). An injury is presumed to be work-related if it results from an event occurring in the work environment, unless an enumerated exception to this geographic presumption applies. See 29 CFR §1904.5(a). The work environment includes any location where one or more employees are working or are present as a condition of their employment. See 29 CFR §1904.5(b)(1). We assume that the supervisors were in the change trailer as a part of their work or as a condition of their employment. If our assumption is correct, the injury resulted from an event (the altercation between the two supervisors) occurring in the work environment and was thus work-related. When a work-related injury requires treatment beyond first aid, it is recordable unless it falls within one of the §1904.5(b)(2) exceptions to the geographic presumption.

Violence in the workplace does not generally qualify as an exception. OSHA's Frequently Asked Question 5-2 (found at http://osha.gov/recordkeeping/detailedfaq.html#1904.4) provides guidance on this issue:

Question 5-2: Are cases of workplace violence considered work-related under the new Recordkeeping rule?

The Recordkeeping rule contains no general exception, for purposes of determining work-relationship, for cases involving acts of violence in the work environment. However, some cases involving violent acts might be included within one of the exceptions listed in section 1904.5(b)(2). For example, if an employee arrives at work early to use a company conference room for a civic club meeting and is injured by some violent act, the case would not be work-related under the exception in section 1904.5(b)(2)(v).

Furthermore, the geographic presumption (that is, an injury is work-related if it occurs in the work environment) covers cases in which an injury or illness results from activities that occur at work but that are not directly productive, such as horseplay. See the preamble to the final rule (66 Fed. Reg. 5916, 5929 (Jan. 19, 2001)).

Applying these principles to your situation, it is OSHA's position that the injury was work-related and required medical treatment beyond first aid. This is so whether the incident leading to the injury is characterized as horseplay or as workplace violence, neither of which is covered by any exception to the geographic presumption. Therefore, the injury is recordable.

Both the Note to Subpart A of the regulation (29 CFR §1904.0) and the Overview to OSHA Form 300 (http://osha.gov/recordkeeping/new-osha300form1-1-04.pdf) expressly state that recording a case does not indicate that an employer or employee was at fault or that an OSHA standard was violated. In addition, OSHA recognizes that injury and illness rates do not necessarily indicate an employer's lack of interest in safety and health. Recording a case indicates only three things: (1) that an injury or illness has occurred; (2) that the employer has determined that the case is work-related (using OSHA's definition of that term); and (3) that the case is non-minor, i.e., that it meets one or more of the OSHA injury and illness recording criteria. See 66 Fed. Reg. at 5933.

Thank you for your interest in occupational safety and health. We hope you find this information helpful. OSHA requirements are set by statute, standards, and regulations. Our interpretation letters explain these requirements and how they apply to particular circumstances, but they cannot create additional employer obligations. This letter constitutes OSHA's interpretation of the requirements discussed. Note that our enforcement guidance may be affected by changes to OSHA rules. In addition, from time to time we update our guidance in response to new information. To keep apprised of such developments, you can consult OSHA's website at http://www.osha.gov.

Labels: OSHA, osha information, safety regulations

Aaron Richards, "a West Virginia railroad worker is causing a bit of a flap in his industry by suing his employer for failing to protect him from an unusual workplace hazard –- a nesting goose."

Under the Federal Employers' Liability Act allows workers can collect a damage award from their employer based on only circumstantial evidence of very slight employer negligence.

Read the complete story in the On.Point blog

Labels: employment, workplace safety

This new safety video uses 3-D animation to show how accumulations of combustible dust at industrial workplaces can provide the fuel for devastating explosions that kill and maim workers, shut down plants, and harm local economies. Excellent quality - 30 minutes in length.



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Labels: hazardous materials, Industrial Safety, Safety Training, safety videos, workplace safety

OSHA has proposed seven citations with penalties totaling $136,000 against Tritt Contracting Inc. for violating federal workplace safety standards.

The penalties follow an inspection of a construction site on Cedar Drive in Powder Springs, Ga., where OSHA found company employees working in dangerous conditions inside a 23-foot-deep trench.

OSHA alleges two willful violations with penalties totaling $100,000 for allowing employees to work in a trench without a safe means of escape and without an adequate worker protective system to prevent cave-ins. The agency defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health.

The agency also has proposed a repeat violation with a $20,000 penalty for the company's failure to adequately train employees to recognize and avoid hazardous conditions, and for inadequately training employees to direct traffic around the worksite. The company was cited for violating the same standard in 2007.

Four serious violations with penalties totaling $16,000 have been issued for the company's failure to place warning signage to oncoming motorists of work being conducted in the roadway, not providing the employee directing traffic with proper traffic control equipment, allowing equipment to be placed within two feet of the trench and using a protective system inside the trench that was not designed by a professional engineer.

"OSHA will not allow employers to endanger their workers' lies by cutting corners on safety just to speed up work and minimize any inconvenience to residents and motorists," said Andre Richards, area director of OSHA's Atlanta-West office.

The company, based in Jasper, Ga., has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to contest the violations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The site was inspected by staff from OSHA's Atlanta-West Area Office, 2400 Herodian Way, Suite 250, Smyrna, Ga.; telephone 770-984-8700.

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Labels: Construction Safety, OSHA Citations, OSHA Fines

Ethylene oxide exposure levels and monitoring requirements are addressed in OSHA's recently published Small Business Guide for Ethylene Oxide. The guidance document helps employers understand the ethylene oxide (EtO) standard and explains how to monitor the air quality in workplaces where EtO is processed, used or handled.

The document includes clarification of the various types of EtO exposure monitoring, lists and explains the exposure levels used by OSHA and provides an outline of what employers should do when monitoring shows EtO exposure levels exceed the allowable limits.

"Because ethylene oxide cannot be detected by sight or smell, workers can be exposed to dangerous levels and not realize it," said acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jordan Barab. "Understanding OSHA's EtO standard is vital to ensuring that employers know how to measure exposure levels so that workers are not exposed to potentially serious illnesses."

The odorless, colorless EtO gas is widely used in hospitals to sterilize surgical equipment. Among other common products, EtO also is found in antifreeze, detergents, adhesives and spices. Short-term exposure to EtO can cause difficulty breathing and nausea, among other symptoms. Long-term exposure can cause more severe conditions such as damage to the nervous system and cancer.

Labels: Industrial Health, OSHA, osha information

OSHA has proposed $314,000 in fines against Dana Container Inc. of Summit, Ill., for alleged willful, serious and repeat violations of federal workplace safety standards.

As a result of a safety and health inspection, OSHA has cited the company for three willful violations with a proposed penalty of $210,000. The willful citations address the company's alleged failure to have adequate written programs and permits required for working in confined spaces and not insuring proper working conditions before allowing workers to enter those confined spaces. OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health.

The company also has been cited for 16 serious violations with proposed penalties of $86,500. Some of the citations allege the company failed to provide proper training and procedures on uses of personal protective equipment such as respirators; review permit space entry operations and permit required confined space programs; install guardrails on elevated runways; provide proper identification and warnings on hazardous material tanks; and provide an adequate hazard communication program. A serious citation is issued when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

Dana also has received one citation for a repeat violation with a penalty of $17,500. The alleged repeat violation addresses failure to provide emergency eyewash and a safety shower for employees working with corrosive materials. OSHA issues a repeat violation when it finds a substantially similar violation of any standard, regulation, rule or order at any of an employer's facilities in federal enforcement states when an initial one previously was cited.

"Injuries and fatalities from accidents such as asphyxiation due to overexposure of hazardous gases are preventable," said Gary Anderson, OSHA's area director in Calumet City, Ill. "Employers must remain dedicated to keeping the workplace safe and healthful or face strong enforcement actions by OSHA."

Dana Container Inc. is a tank washing company that employs about 375 workers nationally. Its facility has been inspected seven times by OSHA, including two inspections after worker fatalities, and the company has received numerous citations from these past inspections.

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 proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

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Labels: hazard identifcation, OSHA Citations, OSHA Fines, safety regulations

As slips, trips and falls continue to represent significant exposures and hazards in the workplace, the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) recently announced the approval of three new fall protection standards by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), aimed at preventing these hazards in the workplace. The three standards are:

• ANSI/ASSE Z359.6-2009 - Specification and Design Requirements for Active Fall Protection Systems


• ANSI/ASSE Z359.12-2009 - Connecting Components for Personal Fall Arrest Systems


• ANSI/ASSE Z359.13-2009 - Personal Energy Absorbers and Energy Absorbing Lanyards

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), out of the 5,657 fatal on-the-job injuries that occurred in 2007, 847 were attributed to falls. Aimed at preventing injuries and death due to falls, the ANSI/ASSE Z359.6-2009, approved by ANSI on June 3, 2009, specifies requirements for the design and performance of complete active fall-protection systems, including travel-restraint and vertical horizontal fall-arrest systems. Also approved on June 3, 2009, the ANSI/ASSE Z359.12-2009 standard establishes requirements for the performance, design, marking, qualification, test methods and removal from service connectors.

The intention of the ANSI/ASSE Z359.13-2009 standard, approved by ANSI on June 23, 2009, is to require all energy absorbing lanyards and personal energy absorbers to reduce the forces implied on the user to less than 10 times the normal gravitational pull of the earth. In addition, users of energy absorbing lanyards must weigh within the range of 130 to 310 lbs.

"I applaud the ASSE and the devoted group of professionals on the ANSI Z359 Accredited Standards Committee for their dedication to the development of these ground-breaking standards" said the ANSI/ASSE Z359 Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) Chair and President and CEO of Gravitec Systems Inc. Randall Wingfield. "Because falls from heights make up a significant portion of workplace fatalities and injuries, the creation of authoritative documents for workers at height and their employers is essential."

"Years in the making, Z359.12 and Z359.13 expand on existing standards in which connecting devices and personal energy absorbers were initially addressed," Wingfield added. "Standards devoted solely to these components were necessary because new research and testing have provided us with a better understanding of how these products are used. The new Z359.6 standard tackles fall protection systems design for the first time and is intended for engineers with expertise in this area. The release of these standards marks considerable progress toward the completion of the Z359 Fall Protection Code, a living document that will continue to grow as ten additional standards are drafted and adopted."

The three new standards will be available soon and will become part of the ASSE Fall Protection Code with an effective date of November 16, 2009. The ASSE Fall Protection Code currently includes six standards:

• Z359.0-2007 -Definitions and Nomenclature Used for Fall Protection and Fall Arrest
  
  
• Z359.1-2007 - Safety Requirements for Personal Fall Arrest Systems, Subsystems and Components


• Z359.2-2007 - Minimum Requirements for a Comprehensive Managed Fall Protection Program


• Z359.3-2007 - Safety Requirements for Positioning and Travel Restraint Systems


• Z359.4-2007 - Safety Requirements for Assisted-Rescue and Self-Rescue Systems, Subsystems and Components

...as well as the historical ANSI/ASSE Z359.1-1992 (R1999).

The ANSI/ASSE Z359 ASC for Fall Arrest/Protection is also working on 10 additional Z359 standards projects aimed at protecting workers from falls.

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Labels: ANSI, ASSE, fall protection

An article in yesterday's Industry Week reports that a new review by the GAO of 30 OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) sites that had fatalities, found that there was no recorded action taken by the appropriate VPP staff.

The article states:

"The Occupational Safety and Health Administration concluded it did not adequately address findings in a 2004 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that found OSHA lacked sufficient internal controls to ensure that only qualified worksites participated in its safety recognition program."

"OSHA said it will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of its VPP and Alliance programs to determine how the agency should best allocate its resources among cooperative programs, enforcement and the agency's other activities."

Read the complete article.

Labels: OSHA, VPP

The Charlotte Observer reports that "Bob Whitmore, an OSHA official who has publicly criticized his agency for failing to get tough with companies that try to hide workplace injuries, has lost a key round in his fight to hold on to his job."

Mr. Whitmore has been outspoken about OSHA letting companies under report workplace injuries through careless record keeping. The result was that workplaces appeared to be safer than they really were.

Charlotte Observer "reporters spoke with Whitmore starting in spring 2006 while reporting on injuries inside poultry plants. The newspaper's investigation, published in February 2008, found that many injured employees weren't showing up on company injury logs. That made plants appear safer than they actually were."

Labels: OSHA, osha information, OSHA Inspections

OSHA is issuing 30 safety and health citations carrying proposed penalties of $189,000 against Kopac International Corp., which does business as Southeast Pallet and Box in Montgomery, AL.

The penalties follow inspections in January 2009 that uncovered numerous workplace violations including two willful violations resulting in $99,000 in penalties. The company is alleged to have failed to establish a testing program for noise exposure and to implement controls to reduce the level of exposure. The agency defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health.

Three repeat violations with penalties of $20,000 are being proposed against the company for exposing employees to unsanitary conditions, hazards from unguarded conveyor belts and electrical hazards. OSHA issues repeat violations when it finds a substantially similar violation of any standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facilities in federal enforcement states.

Two serious health and 22 serious safety violations were identified with penalties totaling $70,000. The company failed to implement a monitoring program to excessive noise exposure and did not institute a training program on the hazards of noise exposure. Employees were exposed to hazards related to crushing, tripping, struck-by, amputations, falls and fire hazards. One other-than-serious safety violation with no penalty is also being proposed against the company for failing to implement a hazard communication program. A serious citation is issued when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

"This company has been told in the past that it has worker safety and health issues and has even received assistance from the state's on-site consultation program, so its continued inaction demonstrates gross indifference to employees' well-being," said Kurt Petermeyer, OSHA's area director in Mobile, AL.

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

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Labels: OSHA Citations, safety

The Idaho Supreme Court ruled last week that a records clerk's claim for worker's comp. benefits would not be allowed because she failed to show that her employer had actual knowledge of her injury.

Idaho law requires that a psychological injury resulted in "violence to the physical structure of her body" and that the employer knew about the physical injury. A former records clerk was investigated for a payroll discrepancy and suffered PTSD as a result. Two years later the psychiatrist who diagnosed her found physical brain damage as a result of the PTSD. However, the court denied the claim because her employer was not aware of the physical damage.

Read the complete story in Risk and Insurance Online magazine.

Previous Blog Posts
OSHA Identifies High Risk Workplaces
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Labels: Industrial Health, Workers' Comp

These are some videos from the past week's fire school training at TEEX (Texas Engineering Extension Service).

Labels: Industrial Safety, Safety Training, safety videos

SafetySkills™ Direct makes six of their training courses available free to groups of 100 or fewer employees. It is called the Basic Safety Awareness Series. It consists of six environmental health and safety courses. Safety Skills Direct states that they make these courses available for free to help small businesses protect their employees from common workplace injuries.

The free courses include:

Basic Fire Safety
Basic Electrical Safety
Intro to HAZCOM
Flu Symptoms and Prevention Strategies
Flammable and Combustible Liquids
Material Handling
Walking and Working Surfaces

“We’re in the business of protecting employees. If we can help prevent an injury, and help small businesses stay in compliance with OSHA – we’ve done our job. But we hope that you will love our free courses so much that the next time you need training you’ll immediately think of SafetySkills,” said Trey Greene, President and CEO of noodleStream.com.

Courses have various lengths and include quizzes throughout the course material. An incorrect answer on a quiz triggers a review of the related material and a repeat of the quiz question. After successful completion of a course participants can print a personalized certificate.

SafetySkills™ Direct is for small businesses with 100 or fewer employees to train. For larger companies, SafetySkills™ Enterprise has advanced reporting features and also allows for course customization. For more information and to see demo courses visit the Safety Skills web site at: http://www.safetyskills.com.

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Labels: HSE, Industrial Health, Safety Training

The following is a 28 minute video from the 70's about the dangers associated with earth-moving equipment operation. It shows many great simulated accidents on construction sites.

Labels: Construction Safety, Vehicle Safety

The nation’s first standard to protect workers from the spread of airborne diseases was approved Monday by California’s Office of Administrative Law and filed with the Secretary of State. It is known as the Aerosol Transmissible Disease (ATD) standard. It is designed to protect workers in healthcare and related industries from the spread of diseases such as tuberculosis, measles, influenza, and other pathogens spread by coughing and sneezing. The standard becomes effective on August 5.

“This first in the nation standard is a milestone in workplace safety,” said Department of Industrial Relations Director John C. Duncan. “It is designed to protect employees who are likely to come in contact with transmittable diseases which is especially significant due to recent events such as the H1N1 swine flu outbreak. I applaud the efforts of our Cal/OSHA program for once again being on the leading edge of worker safety.”

The new ATD standard will be added to the California Code of Regulations as Title 8, section 5199, and will cover health care and related workplaces that typically treat, diagnose, or house individuals who may be ill such as hospitals, clinics, nursing care facilities, correctional facilities, and homeless shelters. It will also cover emergency responders, who often are the first point of contact of the health care system with patients who can transmit disease.

Designed to protect workers with duties that increase their risk of exposure to infectious diseases, the ATD standard requires health care employees and others at increased risk to develop exposure control procedures and train employees to follow them. Employees must be made part of the process by involving them in the periodic review and assessment of these procedures. Basic exposure precautions such as source control, hand hygiene, and cleaning and decontamination procedures are a fundamental part of the standard.

Currently there are no specific requirements outlining the responsibilities for employers to address aerosol transmissible diseases as a workplace safety hazard for their employees.

“The ATD standard provides guidance on how to protect employees from exposure to diseases that are well known, like TB, and those that are novel, like what we have just experienced with the recent appearance of H1N1 flu,” said Cal/OSHA Chief Len Welsh. “This standard provides a set of safety practices and precautions tailored to the level of healthcare-related service provided by the employers covered, so they can respond in an organized and intelligent fashion to situations ranging from day-to-day management of a potentially infectious patient to emergency surges that may be brought on by a pandemic. The standard is designed not only to protect healthcare workers, but the functionality of the healthcare system itself, since the system cannot run without them. ”

Also accompanying the ATD standard is the Zoonotic Disease standard, which addresses employees working around animals where many infectious diseases originate. The standard requires employers to control workplace exposures to infectious diseases in animals such as Hantavirus, monkey pox, anthrax, avian influenza, and bovine tuberculosis.

For more information about the ATD and Zoonotic Disease standard visit or web site at www.dir.ca.gov/DOSH.

Labels: hospital safety, HSE, Industrial Health

Can you learn safety from Dilbert?

Labels: Safety Training, safety videos

The Handies video contest gives you a chance to win big and raise the bar on hand protection.

The following is a press release from Superior Glove.

Hands - and the gloves that protect them - are the subject of a video contest with a first prize of $5000. Superior Glove Works announces the 'Handies', a video contest about Hand Safety in the Workplace.

Hands are our most valuable asset. They contain more bones and moving parts than most other areas of the body and separate humans from the rest of the species. In the work environment, protecting them is the number-one challenge faced by companies where employees must wear gloves.

Despite efforts to increase awareness about the importance of taking care of them, approximately one-quarter of lost-time work injuries involve the hand because workers aren't wearing their gloves when they get injured.

It's time to change how messages about safety are delivered since cuts, burns and fractures continue to sideline workers. Even though safety organizations strive to educate the public about hazards, often trying to scare workers into doing the right thing, they still have a hard time reducing injury numbers.

It's human nature to want that spoon-full-of-sugar instead of vinegar when it comes to changing habits, which is part of the inspiration behind the video contest. Superior Glove president Tony Geng is hoping someone out there with a yen to be a filmmaker plus a deep appreciation of our hands can help get a new, revitalized - and more memorable - message across, perhaps by reinforcing how amazing hands are, so that taking care of them becomes second nature.

Enter the Handies Video Contest or click on the contest link on the Superior Glove website. Video submissions must be under three minutes long, and the contest is open to Canadian and U.S residents with no entry fee, a limit of three entries per person and a deadline of Oct. 5th 2009. The top five videos selected (four runners-up each receive $100.00 cash) will be presented for viewing in Orlando, Florida, on Oct. 25th, 2009, at the National Safety Congress 2009 .

Labels: safety

A worker's habits outside the workplace affect their safety and health in the workplace. An article in the Business Ledger points out that two-thirds of American's are overweight, and employers are impacted by these employee's weight-related injuries and illnesses.

The article points out that researchers have "found the worker’s compensation claim rate for the heaviest employees to be twice that of the recommended-weight workers. The number of lost workdays was almost 13 times higher, medical claims costs were seven times higher, and indemnity claims costs were 11 times higher among the heaviest workers. "

It then recommends ways to control and reduce weight-related safety and healthcare costs.

You can read the Business Ledger article here.

Safeway is becoming highly recognized for its approach to improving employee safety and reducing health care costs, and also improving safety. For example, Safeway found that an "obese employee can require 10 times the number of doctor visits in a year than someone of healthy weight." The created a health program that rewarded employees for improving their health. This is how an article in the Wall Street Journal described Safeway's program:

"The result was Safeway's "Healthy Measures" program, which is voluntary. Employees are tested for smoking, weight, blood pressure and cholesterol. Every area they 'pass' results in a reduction in their premium, of as much as $1,560 for a family, a year. Those who fail but prove progress can get refunds. Safeway complements this with an intense culture of health: weight-loss tips, fitness competitions and smoking cessation programs."

Read the Wall Street Journal article.

Labels: Industrial Health, safety management

With young people starting summer jobs and import skill many of them need to be taught is how to lift objects. Also, as the workforce grows older, and more easily injured, this is something we need to keep fresh in the minds of our regular workforce. So for this holiday weekend we present two videos about lifting. One historic, the other current. But no matter the age of the video, the message is the same.

This is a short video (40 seconds) from 1966 that shows the proper posture for picking up objects.


This video (2:47) provides detailed, step-by-step instructions for evaluating, picking up and carrying an object.

Labels: Industrial Health, Industrial Safety, Safety Training