OSHA Form 300A, which lists a summary of the total number of job-related injuries and illnesses that occurred during 2012, must be posted between February 1 and April 30, 2013.
The summary must include the total number of job-related injuries and illnesses that occurred in 2012 and were logged on OSHA Form 300, Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses. To assist in calculating incidence rates, information about the annual average number of employees and total hours worked during the calendar year is also required. If a company recorded no injuries or illnesses in 2012, the employer must enter "zero" on the total line. The form must be signed and certified by a company executive. Form 300A should be displayed in a common area where notices to employees are usually posted.
Employers with 10 or fewer employees and employers in certain industries are normally exempt from federal OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping and posting requirements.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics may still select exempted employers to participate in an annual statistical survey. All employers covered by OSHA need to comply with safety and health standards. All accidents that result in one or more fatalities or in the hospitalization of three or more employees must be reported verbally within eight hours to the nearest OSHA office.
How to Implement OSHA’s Globally Harmonized Hazard Communication Standard (GHS)
OSHA has issued a final rule revising its Hazard Communication Standard, aligning it with the United Nations’ globally harmonized system (GHS) for the classification and labeling of hazardous chemicals. This means that virtually every product label, material safety data sheet (now called “safety data sheet” or SDS), and written hazard communication plan must be revised to meet the new standard. Worker training must be updated so that workers can recognize and understand the symbols and pictograms on the new labels as well as the new hazard statements and precautions on SDSs.
Houston RCRA and DOT Training
Indianapolis RCRA, DOT, IATA/IMO, and HazCom Training
Charleston, SC RCRA, DOT, and IATA/IMO Training
California Drops Proposal to List Styrene as a Carcinogen
On January 4, 2013, the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) issued a Notice of Intent to List styrene as a chemical known to the State to cause cancer via the Labor Code mechanism contained in Health and Safety Code section 25249.8(a).
OSHA Cites Bacardi Bottling Following Death of Temporary Worker on 1st Day
OSHA has cited Bacardi Bottling, Corp., with 12 alleged safety violations following the death of a 21-year-old temporary worker his first day on the job. Lawrence Daquan "Day" Davis was crushed to death by a palletizer machine at the Jacksonville, Florida, facility in August 2012. The company uses Remedy Intelligent Staffing as a temporary staffing service to provide laborers for certain types of jobs.
"A worker's first day at work shouldn't be his last day on earth," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. "Employers are responsible for ensuring the safe conditions of all their employees, including those who are temporary."
OSHA requires that employers protect the health and safety of all workers under their supervision and control. Davis was cleaning glass from under the hoist of a palletizing machine when an employee restarted the palletizer. Bacardi Bottling had failed to train temporary employees on utilizing locks and tags to prevent the accidental start-up of machines and to ensure its own employees utilized procedures to lock or tag out machines.
Two willful citations have been issued for failing to develop, document, and utilize lockout/tagout procedures for the control of potentially hazardous energy and train temporary workers on lockout/tagout procedures. A willful violation is one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.
"We are seeing untrained workers—many of them temporary workers—killed very soon after starting a new job. This must stop," said Michaels. "Employers must train all employees, including temporary workers, on the hazards specific to that workplace—before they start working. Had Bacardi done so, this tragic loss of life could have been prevented."
Also cited are nine serious violations for exposing workers to trips, struck-by and fire hazards where fixed permanent conveyors crossed through the aisle; obstructing exit routes; exposing workers to falling bottles and debris from overhead conveyors and electrical shock hazards. The employer also failed to provide an adequate number of lockout/tagout devices to perform lockout/tagout procedures of energy sources on various equipment, conduct an adequate periodic review of the energy control procedures, perform servicing and maintenance on machines and equipment without training in the methods and means for energy isolation, and require workers to wear safety goggles and long sleeves when using air guns at 90 lb per square inch. A serious violation occurs 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.
One other-than-serious violation has been cited for storing a mixing tank within 12 inches of the electrical panel box. An other-than-serious violation is one that has a direct relationship to job safety and health, but probably would not cause death or serious physical harm.
Follow-Up Inspection at Landes Foods Reveals Workers’ Continued Exposure to Hazards
OSHA has cited Landes Foods, LLC, with six safety and health violations, including four repeat violations, after an August follow-up inspection found workers were continuing to be exposed to workplace hazards at the company's tortilla manufacturing facility on Hines Place in Dallas, Texas. Proposed penalties total $129,500.
"Landes Foods has failed to correct violations previously cited while also continuing to expose workers to safety and health hazards that could lead to possible injuries, illnesses or worse," said Stephen Boyd, OSHA's area director in Dallas. "It is the employer's responsibility to find and fix workplace hazards."
The three repeat safety violations were cited for failing to provide quick drench and eyewash facilities for employees working with corrosive sanitation chemicals, ensure electrical receptacles had appropriate polarity, and ensure the use of protective footwear. A repeat health violation was cited for failing to monitor exposure to formaldehyde released during the chip frying process. A repeat violation is issued when an employer previously has been cited for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years. Similar violations were cited in May 2010 that resulted in penalties totaling $123,200. The company contested the citations, and the case is currently in collection.
The two serious health violations were cited for failing to monitor noise level exposure and provide audiometric testing for workers exposed to noise at or above 85 decibels for an eight-hour time-weighted average.
Tenax Manufacturing Alabama LLC Fined Over $56,000 for Serious Safety Violations
OSHA has cited Tenax Manufacturing Alabama, LLC, with 15 alleged safety violations following an August 2012 inspection at the Evergreen plant. OSHA initiated the inspection as part of the agency's National Emphasis Program on Amputations. Proposed penalties total $56,296.
OSHA cited the manufacturer with 14 serious safety violations and a penalty of $55,486 for failing to develop an emergency action plan; provide handrailings on stairs; develop, document, and utilize the control of potentially hazardous energy; guard machines; provide training on the energy control program, use of fire extinguishers and operating a forklift; and provide a written hazard communication program and correct electrical deficiencies. Additionally, the employer allowed workers to use forklifts without wearing seat belts.
One other-than-serious violation with an $810 fine was cited for failing to maintain clean and dry floors.
"Employers need to be proactive in addressing workplace hazards rather than waiting for OSHA inspectors to identify them," said Joseph Roesler, OSHA's area director in Mobile. "Employers are responsible for ensuring that their employees have a safe and healthful work environment."
Tenax Manufacturing Alabama produces construction netting and fencing. The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations and proposed penalties to comply, request a conference with OSHA's area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
OSHA Cites Forever 21 for Repeat Safety Hazards Following Inspection in Massachusetts
OSHA has cited Forever 21 with two alleged repeat violations of workplace safety standards following an inspection of the retailer's Burlington, Massachusetts, store. The Los Angeles-based retail chain faces a total of $55,000 in proposed fines for exposing workers to struck-by and exit access hazards following a December 2012 inspection by OSHA's Andover Area Office.
Workers at the Burlington Mall Forever 21 store faced the hazards of being struck by boxes that fell from piles of stock in the store's back room that were not secured against collapse or displacement. Additionally, the store's emergency exit route was compromised by boxes of stock narrowing the route to the extent that it could prevent workers from swiftly and safely exiting the store during a fire or other emergency.
As a result, Forever 21 was issued two repeat citations with $55,000 in fines for these recurring hazards. OSHA cited Forever 21 in 2011 for similar hazards at its Bridgewater, N.J., store.
"Improper storage of stock and inadequate exit routes can and do put workers at risk of serious and severe injury," said Jeffrey A. Erskine, OSHA's area director for Middlesex and Essex counties in Massachusetts. "Particularly disturbing is that these same hazards were previously found at another Forever 21 store. An employer with multiple locations, such as Forever 21, must ensure that safe and healthful working conditions are maintained at all its workplaces."
Forever 21 has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet informally with OSHA's area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
Cosmetics Manufacturing Plant Faces $53,000 Fine for Multiple Hazard Violations
OSHA has cited US Cosmetics, Corp., with 20 alleged serious violations at its manufacturing plant in Dayville, Connecticut. The safety and health inspections, which began in October 2012, were conducted under OSHA's Site-Specific Targeting Program that directs enforcement resources to workplaces where the highest rates of injuries and illnesses occur. Proposed fines total $53,561.
"These citations address a cross section of electrical, mechanical, chemical, and other hazards that can exist in a manufacturing environment, but which must be addressed systematically and effectively to protect the safety and health of workers at this plant," said Warren Simpson, OSHA's area director in Hartford. "Left uncorrected, they expose employees to the hazards of electrocution, arc blasts, lacerations, falls, and being trapped or overcome in confined spaces."
OSHA's Hartford Area Office inspection found that the employer failed to develop and implement an electrical safety-related work practices program for employees performing live electrical diagnostic work and supply personal protective equipment to employees performing live trouble-shooting, or who verified that electrical equipment was properly de-energized. Additionally, maintenance personnel had not been trained regarding safe electrical work practices and personal protective equipment.
OSHA also identified deficiencies in the plant's program regulating employees' entry into confined spaces to perform work. These included entry permits that did not address entry procedures, safeguards and hazards, not locking out hazardous power sources before entry and no rescue service or retrieval equipment to remove employees during an emergency in a confined space. The inspection found instances of unguarded machinery; fall and tripping hazards; unlabeled containers of hazardous chemicals; ungrounded containers used to dispense flammable liquids; lack of quick drenching facilities for employees working with caustic chemicals; and ungrounded electrical equipment, damaged power cords, and other electrical hazards.
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