OSHA

Video Replay: OSHA Listens Public Meeting

 in Safety & Health  tagged OSHA / Politics / Safety / Video

On Thursday, March 4, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) held a public meeting, “OSHA Listens,” to solicit comments and suggestions from OSHA stakeholders on key issues facing the agency, including:

  1. What can the agency do to enhance and encourage the efforts of employers, workers and unions to identify and address workplace hazards?
  2. What are the most important emerging or unaddressed health and safety issues in the workplace, and what can OSHA do to address these?
  3. How can the agency improve its efforts to engage stakeholders in programs and initiatives?
  4. What specific actions can the agency take to enhance the voice of workers in the workplace, particularly workers who are hard to reach, do not have ready access to information about hazards or their rights, or are afraid to exercise their rights?
  5. Are there additional measures to improve the effectiveness of the agency’s current compliance assistance efforts and the on site consultation program, to ensure that small businesses have the information needed to provide safe workplaces?
  6. Given the length and difficulty of the current OSHA rulemaking process, and given the need for new standards that will protect workers from unaddressed, inadequately addressed and emerging hazards, are there policies and procedures that will decrease the time to issue final standards so that OSHA may implement needed protections in a timely manner?
  7. As we continue to progress through a new information age vastly different from the environment in which OSHA was created, what new mechanisms or tools can the agency use to more effectively reach high risk employees and employers with training, education and outreach? What is OSHA doing now that may no longer be necessary?
  8. Are there indicators, other than worksite injuries and illness logs, that OSHA can use to enhance resource targeting?
  9. In the late 1980s, OSHA and its stakeholders worked together to update the Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs) (exposure limits for hazardous substances; most adopted in 1971), but the effort was unsuccessful. Should updating the PELs be a priority for the agency? Are there suggestions for ways to update the PELs, or other ways to control workplace chemical exposures?

Video replays of this event are available below: (more…)

Fact Sheet: Aligning HAZCOM with GHS

 in Safety & Health  tagged HAZCOM / OSHA / Safety

OSHA is proposing modifying the Hazard Communication Standard (HAZCOM) with the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS).  Over 40 million workers in more than 5 million workplaces are expected to be impacted at a total cost of approximately $97 million per year to implement (costs to decrease to $42 million per year after initial period of familiarization).

HAZCOM currently:

  • Requires chemical manufacturers and importers to label containers and prepare MSDS’s
  • Requires employers to have a HAZCOM program for workers who have exposures or potential exposures

GHS will:

  • Adopts a standardized method of hazard classification leading to an increase in quality and consistency of information provided to employees and employers
  • Classifies chemicals by their health and physical hazards
  • Specifies hazard communication specifics for labelling and MSDS’s
  • Agreement at an international level

Major changes to HAZCOM:

  • Specific criteria for classification of health and physical hazards of chemicals and mixtures
  • Manufacturers and importers must use standardized labelling methods that include signal word, pictogram, and hazard statement
  • MSDS’s will have a specific 16-section format
  • Workers must be trained within 2 years of the final rule on the recognition and understanding of the GHS labelling and MSDS system

Benefits of GHS:

  • Prevent 43 fatalities per year
  • Prevent 585 illnesses per year (more…)

MSD’s to be Added Back to OSHA 300 Log?

 in Safety & Health  tagged Ergonomics / OSHA / Safety

OSHA is proposing to revise its Recordkeeping regulation (29 CFR part 1904) to restore a column to the OSHA 300 Log that employers would use to record work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). The 2001 Recordkeeping final regulation included an MSD column, but the requirement was deleted before it became effective. The proposed rule would require employers to place a check mark in the MSD column, instead of the column they mark now, if the case is an MSD and meets the general recording requirements of the Recordkeeping rule. The rule also proposes, for this recordkeeping purpose only, a definition of MSD that is identical to the one contained in the 2001 final Recordkeeping rule. In addition, OSHA proposes an entry for the total number of MSDs on the OSHA 300A form, the form that employers use to annually summarize their work-related injuries and illnesses (see 29 CFR 1904.32).

In 2003 OSHA deleted the MSD provisions (column and definition) from the 2001 Recordkeeping rule. However, after further consideration and analysis, the Agency believes that information generated from the MSD column will improve the accuracy and completeness of national occupational injury and illness statistics; will provide valuable and industry specific information to assist OSHA in effectively targeting its inspection, outreach, guidance and enforcement efforts to address workplace MSDs; and will provide useful establishment-level information that will help both employers and employees readily identify the incidence of MSDs.

OSHA stresses that the purpose of this rulemaking is solely to improve data gathering regarding work-related MSDs. The proposed rule does not require employers to take any action other than to check the MSD column on the OSHA 300 log if a work-related MSD case occurs that meets the general recording requirements of the Recordkeeping regulation. Unlike OSHA standards, the proposed rule does not require employers to implement controls to prevent and control employee exposure to an identified occupational hazard.

Source:  OSHA.gov

OSHA Publishes Hexavalent Chromium Booklet

 in Safety & Health  tagged Hexavalent Chromium / OSHA / Safety

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently published Hexavalent Chromium, a booklet outlining industry requirements for hexavalent chromium standards. Workers exposed to this toxic chemical can develop lung cancer and damage to the nose, throat and respiratory system.

Inhaling the chemical’s fumes can cause allergic reactions or asthmatic symptoms, such as wheezing and shortness of breath. Hexavalent chromium is used in pigments, metal finishing, wood preservatives and fungicides. Workers may also be exposed to hexavalent chromium fumes generated during welding of chromium metal alloys.

“Hexavalent chromium is a powerful lung carcinogen and exposure to this chemical must be minimized,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA David Michaels. “OSHA provides guidance on its standards to ensure that employers and workers know the best ways to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses.”

The booklet explains OSHA’s hexavalent chromium standards in a reader-friendly format and is a companion document to the Small Entity Compliance Guide for the Hexavalent Chromium Standards published in 2006. Requirements for exposure limits, exposure monitoring and determination, protective work clothing and equipment, medical surveillance, communication of hexavalent chromium hazards and recordkeeping are described.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace for their employees. OSHA’s role is to assure safe and healthful working conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

Source: OSHA.gov

OSHA Offers Free On-Site Safety Consulting Services

 in Safety & Health  tagged Consulting / OSHA / Safety

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OSHA’s On-Site Consultation Service offers free and confidential advice to small and medium-sized businesses in all states across the country, with priority given to high-hazard worksites. Consultation services are totally separate from enforcement and do not result in penalties or citations.

Program Information

Using a free consultation service largely funded by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), employers can find out about potential hazards at their worksites, improve their occupational safety and health management systems, and even qualify for a one-year exemption from routine OSHA inspections.

The service is delivered by state governments using well-trained professional staff. Most consultations take place on-site, though limited services away from the worksite are available. Primarily targeted for smaller businesses, this safety and health consultation program is completely separate from the OSHA inspection effort. In addition, no citations are issued or penalties proposed.

It’s confidential, too. Your name, your firm’s name, and any information you provide about your workplace, plus any unsafe or unhealthful working conditions that the consultant uncovers, will not be reported routinely to the OSHA inspection staff.

Your only obligation will be to commit yourself to correcting serious job safety and health hazards — a commitment which you are expected to make prior to the actual visit and carry out in a timely manner.

Benefits

Knowledge of your workplace hazards and ways to eliminate them can only improve your own operations and the management of your firm. You will get professional advice and assistance on the correction of workplace hazards and benefit from on-site training and assistance provided by the consultant to you and your employees. The consultant can help you establish or strengthen an employee safety and health program, making safety and health activities routine considerations rather than crisis-oriented responses. In many states, employers may participate in the OSHA Consultation SHARP (Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program).

This program provides incentives and support to smaller, high-hazard employers to develop, implement and continuously improve effective safety and health programs at their worksite(s). The program recognizes employers who have demonstrated exemplary achievements in workplace safety and health by receiving a comprehensive safety and health consultation visit, correcting all workplace safety and health hazards, adopting and implementing effective safety and health management systems, and agreeing to request further consultative visits if major changes in working conditions or processes occur that may introduce new hazards. Employers meeting these specific program requirements may be exempt from general scheduled OSHA inspections for one year.

How To Get Started

Because consultation is a voluntary activity, you must request it. Your telephone call or letter sets the consulting machinery in motion. The consultant will discuss your specific needs with you and set up a visit date based on the priority assigned to your request, your work schedule, and the time needed for the consultant to adequately prepare to serve you. OSHA encourages a complete review of your firm’s safety and health situation; however, if you wish you may limit the visit to one or more specific problems.

The On-Site Consultants Will:

  • Help you recognize hazards in your workplace
  • Suggest general approaches or options for solving a safety or health problem
  • Identify kinds of help available if you need further assistance
  • Provide you a written report summarizing findings
  • Assist you to develop or maintain an effective safety and health program
  • Provide training and education for you and your employees
  • Recommend you for a one-year exclusion from OSHA programmed inspections, once program criteria are met.

The On-Site Consultants Will Not:

  • Issue citations or propose penalties for violations of OSHA standards.
  • Report possible violations to OSHA enforcement staff.
  • Guarantee that your workplace will “pass” an OSHA inspection.

Source: OSHA.gov

OSHA Publishes Weekly Reports on Fatalities and Catastrophes

 in Safety & Health  tagged OSHA / Safety

osha-logo

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has begun publishing weekly summaries on fatalities and catastrophes (multiple people injured) in the workplace.  Per OSHA regulations, employers must report this data to OSHA within eight hours of an event occurring.  The result of more “open government” within the Obama administration and better access of information by the general public, the reports will provide preliminary information on the cause and result of the incidences.  Once the full investigation is complete, OSHA will update the summaries and the related inspection information, including citations.

You can view the summaries on OSHA’s website HERE.

EPA Hosts Webinar on Spray Foam Initiative

 in Safety & Health  tagged EPA / Exposure / NIOSH / OSHA / Safety

spray_foamThe Environmental Protection Agency hosted over 300 spray foam industry professionals and concerned viewers in an online seminar to introduce the agencies’ collective concerns and involvement with the safety practices and health risks associated with the handling, application, and life cycle usage of spray polyurethane foam.

Involvement included:

  • EPA
  • OSHA
  • NIOSH
  • CPSC
  • The Center for Polyurethanes Industry, and
  • Spray Polyurethane Foam Alliance (SPFA) trade associations

The SPFA reports market growth of up to 40% since 2004. The EPA sited a report indicating that over 400 million pounds of polyurethane foam were consumed in North America during 2008.

The presentation several goals of the EPA initiative:

  • Improve Availability of Safety Information
  • Communicate Best Safety Practices
  • Address Inaccurate and False Marketing Claims
  • Exposure Assessment

According to information made by the EPA, another webinar will be held regarding Spray Foam due to demand.  Stay tuned to OHShub.com for more information.

Source: Sprayfoam.com

Mary Cushmac, from the EPA opened up the meeting with comments about the current situation in the industry as it relates to the government agency’s perspective. She indicated that both the A-side product and B-side products contain both primary and intermediate chemicals of concern, especially if they are mis-handled, or applied incorrectly.

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Black Friday is Near: OSHA Issues Fact Sheet on Crowd Control

 in Safety & Health  tagged OSHA / Safety
Black Friday's Crowds

Black Friday's Crowds

With Black Friday looming, OSHA has recently issued a fact sheet on crowd control at retail sales events.

Last year a worker was trampled to death while a mob of shoppers rushed through the doors of a large store to take advantage of an after Thanksgiving Day “Black Friday” sales event. The store was not using the kind of crowd control measures recommended in OSHA’s fact sheet.

“Crowd-related injuries during special retail sales and promotional events have increased during recent years,” said acting Assistant Secretary for OSHA Jordan Barab. “Many of these incidents could be prevented, and this fact sheet provides retail employers with guidelines for avoiding injuries during the holiday shopping season.”

The fact sheet provides employers with recommended elements for crowd control plans. Plans should include having trained security personnel or police officers on site, setting up barricades or rope lines for pedestrians and crowd control well in advance of customers arriving at the store, making sure that barricades are set up so that the customers’ line does not start right at the entrance of the store, preparing an emergency plan that addresses potential dangers, and having security personnel or customer service representatives explain approach and entrance procedures to the arriving public.

Click after the break to download a copy of the fact sheet

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Free Safety Equipment: Test the Allowable Barrier Opening Size: Gotcha Stick

 in Safety & Health  tagged Machine Guarding / OSHA / Safety
gotcha_stick

Source: Omron STI’s website

Omron STI’s “Gotcha Stick” Safe Distance Scale accurately tests the allowable barrier opening size, based on the distance from the point-of operation as determined by OSHA data. This three-segment stick features English measurements on one side, and Metric measurements on the other. Guarding machinery by means of hard (fixed) barriers is one of the main ways of protecting personnel from point-of-operation hazards. The Gotcha Stick is the easiest means of verifying that openings in hard guarding will not allow the point-of-operation to be accessed by the operator.


Get your Free Gotcha Stick HERE

OSHA Levies $87 Million Dollar Fine Against BP

 in Safety & Health  tagged OSHA / Safety

BP logo-300The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed $87,430,000 in propose penalties against BP Products North America, Inc. for 709 alleged failures to comply with the 2005 settlement agreement and citations, and violations of safety and health standards identified during the agency’s inspection of the corporation’s refinery in Texas City, TX (BPTCR). The inspection of the refinery was conducted from May through October 2009.

Summary of Alleged Violations and Penalties

439 willful, per-instance citations with total penalties of $30,730,000 will also be issued for new violations of the PSM standard. A willful violation exists under the Act where an employer has demonstrated either an intentional disregard for the requirements of the Act or plain indifference to employee safety and health.

A Notification of Failure to Abate for violation of two provisions of the 2005 settlement agreement with a penalty of $56,700,000 will also be issued as a result of 270 separate violations. In order to achieve the necessary deterrent effect, the Area Director exercised his discretion in issuing the highest gravity-based penalty due to the employer’s extensive knowledge of the hazards, and OSHA regulations, and past events at the site. The total penalty to be issued to this employer is $87,430,000.

Individual Relief Device deficiencies

  • 411 instances (New violations)
  • Standard Violated: §1910.119(d)(3)(i) and §1910.119(d)(3)(ii) grouped with §1910.119(j)(5)
  • Classified as Willful Egregious
  • Proposed penalties: $28,770,000

Failure to provide operating limits in procedures

  • 28 instances (New violations)
  • Standard Violated: §1910.119(f)(1)(ii)
  • Classified as Willful Egregious
  • Proposed penalties: $1,960,000

Failure to perform relief device studies

  • 28 instances
  • Did not comply with Settlement Agreement
  • Classified as Failure to Abate (FTA)
  • Proposed penalties: $5,880,000

Failure to implement International Society of Automation (ISA) S84.00.01 standard for safety instrumented systems

  • 242 instances
  • Did not comply with Settlement Agreement
  • Classified as FTA
  • Proposed penalties: $50,820,000

Source:  OSHA Fact Sheet on BP 2009 Monitoring

osha-logo

Webinar: Arc Flash Safety

 in Safety & Health  tagged Electrical / NFPA / OSHA / Safety / Webinar

arc_flash

SIEMENS put together an excellent webinar regarding compliance with OSHA regulations and the NFPA with regard to Arc Flash safety.

The objectives of the webinar include:

  • Addressing the topic of arc flashes
  • Providing direction to individuals responsible for maintaining a safe work environment and complying with regulations and standards
  • Understanding the basics of arc flashes
  • Understanding methods for mitigating arc flash hazards in the workplace

You can view this webinar On-Demand (i.e. there is not a set time to view the webinar).

Check out the Webinar HERE (windows media is required for this link)

NHCA Petitions OSHA to Lower PEL for Noise

 in Safety & Health  tagged Noise / OSHA / Safety

hearing_protectionView OHShub’s previous post about AIHA petioning OSHA:  HERE

Citing the fact that nearly 22 million American workers are exposed to hazardous noise on a daily basis and that occupational hearing loss continues to plague industry, the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA) has made a request to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to reduce the permissible exposure limit (PEL) for noise exposures.

“Noise-induced hearing loss is an insidious, permanent, and irreversible disease which has a tremendous negative impact on people’s lives. The good news is that this disease is 100% preventable,” said Rick Neitzel, PhD, CIH, NHCA President. “The bad news is that OSHA’s 30-year-old noise exposure regulation is not consistent with current scientific knowledge, is not uniformly applied across all industries, and has not proven effective in preventing noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL).”

NHCA has requested that OSHA lower the PEL in the Occupation Noise Standard 29 CFR 1910.95 from 90 dBA to 85 dBA, and the Action Level from 85 to 80 dBA. Citing recent research by NIOSH and other organizations, American workers face a considerable risk of NIHL associated with long-term work at the current PEL of 90 dBA and a 5 dB time/intensity exchange rate. NHCA has also requested that the time/intensity exchange rate be reduced from 5 to 3 dB.

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