Archive for the ‘Safety’ Category

  • Impt OSHA Policy re Worksite Safety Responsibility

    Contractors take heed… an important policy from OSHA, as detailed here.

    “The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission has upheld OSHA’s multi-employer citation policy in a reversal of a decision the Commission made during the previous administration. Under the policy, OSHA inspectors may cite employers on multi-employer worksites for violations that do not expose their own workers to occupational hazards. For example, a general contractor who controls the worksite may be responsible for violations created by a subcontractor whose workers are exposed to safety or health hazards. In reaching its Aug. 19 decision,* the Commission agreed with an earlier decision by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which had rejected the Commission’s previous contrary view that employers are only legally responsible for protecting the safety and health of their own workers. The case under consideration involved Summit Contractors Inc., a general contractor constructing an apartment complex in Lebanon, Pa., in 2005. An OSHA compliance officer cited Summit for a safety violation after observing workers of a subcontractor using electrical equipment that lacked ground fault circuit interrupters and which had been brought onto the worksite by Summit.”

    2010.09.06 / no responses / Category: Safety

  • Workplace Deaths at Lowest Since 1992

    As written about recently in the USA Today, “the 4,340 workplace fatalities recorded in 2009 is the smallest total since the Bureau of Labor Statistics first began tracking the data in 1992. It’s the second straight year that fatal work injuries have reached a historic low, following a 10% drop in 2008.

    High unemployment and layoffs in more dangerous industries like construction played a major role in the decrease, the agency said. The construction unemployment rate is 17.3%, nearly double the overall jobless rate of 9.5%.

    Workers on average logged 6% fewer hours last year than in 2008. Employees in construction worked 17% fewer hours in 2009 than the previous year.”

    For more detailed statistics, visit the BLS website.

    2010.08.30 / no responses / Category: Safety

  • OSHA Injury & Illness Prevention Meetings Big Success

    OSHA recently completed three stakeholder meetings – in NJ, TX and Wash, DC – on its Illness Prevention Program standard, attended by hundreds of participants representing a wide array of industries nationwide. So popular, an additional two meetings had to be scheduled, in DC and CA. Click here for summary notes.

    2010.08.20 / no responses / Category: Safety

  • OSHA Spanish-Language Safety Docs Available

    Direct links to Spanish translations of two documents on respirator use are now on OSHA’s Respiratory Protection Safety and Health Topics page. The “Medical Evaluation Questionnaire” and “Information for Employees Using Respirators When Not Required Under Standard” are included in Appendices C and D of OSHA’s respiratory protection standard. The new links make it easier to find the Spanish-language versions of these documents, “Cuestionario de Evaluacion Medico obligado por la OSHA” and “Informacion Para los Empleados Que Usan los Respiradores Cuando No lo Exige el Reglamento o Norma,” enhancing their usefulness in protecting the health of workers.

    Source: OSHA Quick Takes

    2010.07.16 / no responses / Category: Safety

  • OSHA Directive Targeting “Severe Violators”

    OSHA is targeting employers who are “severe violators” of safety rules and regs – part of its Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP).  This push “concentrates resources on inspecting employers who have demonstrated indifference to their OSH Act obligations by committing willful, repeated, or failure-to-abate violations. Enforcement actions for severe violator cases include mandatory follow-up inspections, increased company/corporate awareness of OSHA enforcement, corporate-wide agreements, where appropriate, enhanced settlement provisions, and federal court enforcement…” Read more here.

    2010.07.05 / no responses / Category: Safety

  • OSHA Small Business Page

    The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has launched a website targeted at educating small employers. The page provides “links to numerous OSHA resources and information designed specifically for smaller employers, including the free On-site Consultation Program, safety and health tools and publications, easy-to-follow guides for specific OSHA standards, and descriptions of benefits that small businesses receive from OSHA. The page also includes information on the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP), which recognizes small employers who operate an exemplary safety and health management system.”

    2010.06.16 / no responses / Category: Safety

  • 10 Most Frequently Cited OSHA Standards

    October 2008 to September 2009

    1. Scaffolding – 9,093 violations

    Scaffold accidents most often result from the planking or support giving way, or to the employee slipping or being struck by a falling object.

    2. Fall Protection – 6,771 violations

    Any time a worker is at a height of four feet or more, the worker is at risk and needs to be protected. Fall protection must be provided at four feet in general industry, five feet in maritime and six feet in construction.

    3. Hazard Communication – 6,378 violations

    Chemical manufacturers and importers are required to evaluate the hazards of the chemicals they produce or import, and prepare labels and safety data sheets to convey the hazard information to their downstream customers.

    4. Respiratory Protection– 3,803 violations

    Respirators protect workers against insufficient oxygen environments, harmful dusts, fogs, smokes, mists, gases, vapors and sprays. These hazards may cause cancer, lung impairment, other diseases or death.

    5. Lockout-Tag out– 3,321 violations

    “Lockout-Tag out” refers to specific practices and procedures to safeguard employees from the unexpected startup of machinery and equipment, or the release of hazardous energy during service or maintenance activities.

    6. Electrical (Wiring)– 3,079 violations

    Working with electricity can be dangerous. Engineers, electricians and other professionals work with electricity directly, including working on overhead lines, cable harnesses, and circuit assemblies. Others, such as office workers and sales people, work with electricity indirectly and may also be exposed to electrical hazards.

    7. Ladders– 3,072 violations

    Occupational fatalities caused by falls remain a serious public health problem. The US Department of Labor (DOL) lists falls as one of the leading causes of traumatic occupational death, accounting for eight percent of all occupational fatalities from trauma.

    8. Powered Industrial Trucks– 2,993 violations

    Each year, tens of thousands of injuries related to powered industrial trucks (PIT), or forklifts, occur in US workplaces. Many employees are injured when lift trucks are inadvertently driven off loading docks, lifts fall between docks and an unsecured trailer, they are struck by a lift truck, or when they fall while on elevated pallets and tines.

    9. Electrical– 2,556 violations

    Working with electricity can be dangerous. Engineers, electricians, and other professionals work with electricity directly, including working on overhead lines, cable harnesses, and circuit assemblies. Others, such as office workers and sales people, work with electricity indirectly and may also be exposed to electrical hazards.

    10. Machine Guarding – 2,364 violations

    Any machine part, function, or process that may cause injury must be safeguarded. When the operation of a machine or accidental contact injures the operator or others in the vicinity, the hazards must be eliminated or controlled.

    (Source: hrtools.com)

    2010.05.14 / 1 response / Category: Safety

  • OSHA Quick Takes

    Click here for OSHA Quick Takes archive – a twice monthly e-news product that provides information about workplace safety and health.

    2010.03.20 / 2 responses / Category: Safety

  • Safety Pays

    Click here (PDF) for an in-depth and lengthy study, put out by the Institute for Work and  Health, on the impact of education and training on workplace safety.

    2010.02.17 / no responses / Category: Safety

  • Searchable OSHA Data

    From OSHA’s “Quick Takes,” February 1, 2010 – Volum 9, Issue 3:

    “OSHA data on employer specific injury and illness incidence rates is now publicly available on data.gov and its website. OSHA collects work-related injury and illness data from more than 80,000 employers within specific industries and of a certain employment size. The agency uses this data for its strategic management plan and as a targeting mechanism for its Site-Specific Targeting enforcement program. Data is now searchable from 1996 to 2007 and can be used by interested individuals or groups to look at establishment-specific injury and illness data. The information includes the establishment name, address, industry, and associated total case rate; days away, restricted and transfer case rate; and days away from work case rate. Suspect or unreliable data is not included in this database.”

    2010.02.05 / no responses / Category: Safety

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