Developed in partnership with the Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Council and Ministry of Manpower, the booklet provides clear, easy-to-follow information about ladder hazards and using ladders safely, featuring simple illustrations and plain language writing.
On April 10, OSHA, NIOSH, and CPWR co-hosted a free webinar on preventing fatal falls in construction, welcoming an audience of more than 700 participants.
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, safety data sheet (formerly called “material safety data sheet” or MSDS), 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.
Charlotte RCRA, DOT, and SARA Training
Hilton Head RCRA and DOT Training
Orlando RCRA and DOT Training
Prototype Generators Emit Much Less Carbon Monoxide
Portable electric generators retrofitted with off-the-shelf hardware by the University of Alabama (UA) emitted significantly lower levels of carbon monoxide (CO) exhaust, according to the results* of tests conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
Compared with standard portable generators, CO emissions from the prototype machines were reduced by 90% or more, depending on the specific hardware used and operating conditions.
More than 20,000 people visit the emergency room and more than 4,000 are hospitalized due to exposure to toxic levels of the colorless, odorless gas. Fatality is highest among people 65 and older.
Many of these deaths and illnesses stem from unsafe use of portable generators, often in the aftermath of devastating storms and other causes of electric power outages. For the years 2005 to 2008, the CPSC reports that an estimated 37 to 47% of non-fire-related consumer product-related CO poisoning deaths were associated with generators.
The tests performed by NIST compared two commercially available gasoline-powered generators against two similar machines that UA retrofitted with closed-loop electronic fuel injection and a small catalyst. Tests were conducted at NIST’s manufactured test home, with the generator operating in the attached garage so as to simulate some common scenarios that often result in deaths or injuries.
In one series of comparisons, generators operated three or more hours in the garage with the garage bay door open and the entry to the house closed. For the stock generator tested, CO levels in the garage peaked at 1,500 parts per million (ppm, which are equivalent to microliters per liter) and inside the house ranged between 150 and 200 ppm.
Clinical symptoms of CO poisoning, including headaches, nausea, and disordered thinking, begin appearing at exposure levels of 100 ppm after at least 90 minutes exposure. During the NIST tests, emissions from the prototype generators ranged from 20 to 30 ppm in the open garage and from 5 to 10 ppm in the house.
CPSC staff conducted health effects modeling using NIST’s test results, as part of CPSC’s technology demonstration program of the prototype generator, to show that its engine’s reduced CO emission rate is expected to result in fewer deaths by significantly delaying the onset and rate of progression of CO poisoning symptoms compared to the stock generator.
On the basis of results of findings from NIST’s two earlier studies,** the CDC advises to never run a generator less than 20 feet from an open window, door, or vent where exhaust can vent into an enclosed area. Steven Emmerich, the lead NIST researcher, reminds that generators should always be operated outdoors, far from open windows. “Tragically, fatalities and injuries occur every year,” he says. “We hope our research in support of CPSC’s efforts to develop and demonstrate a low CO emission generator using existing emission control technology will contribute to practical safety improvements that will help to reduce this toll.”
Annual sales of portable generators have been increasing in the United States and around the world, largely as insurance in the event of power failures. By 2014, US sales of home generator units are predicted to reach $1.2 billion, according to a 2010 report by SBI Energy. The consultancy predicts that worldwide sales will grow to almost 13 million units in 2014.
In their study, NIST researchers also validated the use of their CONTAM*** computer model for studying the performance of prototype generators under a wider range of conditions than those tested. Results of simulations carried out with this publicly available software for studying building airflow and indoor air quality were checked against measurements of CO levels in actual tests. The predicted results were in good agreement with the CO measurements.
Maximum Allowable Dose Level Set for Methanol
A public comment period was provided from March 16 to June 25, 2012. A public hearing was held on May 7, 2012. Four written comments were received by OEHHA.
The Office of Administrative Law (OAL) approved the adoption of the MADLs for methanol and the amendment to Title 27, California Code of Regulations, section 25805(b) on April 10, 2013. The MADLs are 47,000 micrograms per day for inhalation and 23,000 micrograms per day for ingestion.
The regulation was filed with the Secretary of State on April 10, 2013 and will become effective July 1, 2013. OEHHA announces the availability of the regulatory text and the supporting rulemaking documents.
Follow the links below to download copies of the final documents as pdf files:
Ball Aerosol and Specialty Container Fined $589,000 for Amputation Hazards and Placed in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program
OSHA has cited Ball Aerosol and Specialty Container with 11 safety violations, including seven willful and three repeat, for exposing workers to machine guarding hazards at its Hubbard, Ohio, metal container manufacturing facility. Proposed fines total $589,000.
OSHA’s inspection found that the company knowingly permitted workers to operate the machines without proper guarding. The inspection revealed that the guarding was not installed or was removed because it slowed material positioning and production output.
“Ball Aerosol’s management made a decision to continue to expose machine operators to serious amputation hazards,” said Nick Walters, OSHA’s regional administrator in Chicago. “Workers should not be asked to take such risks, and OSHA will not tolerate such disregard for worker safety.”
Six willful, egregious citations were issued for inadequate machine guarding over the blades of slitter machines. The citations are being issued as willful because the company certified abatement for machine guarding on much of this equipment in 2009 and had a history of machine guarding violations in the past. OSHA also found that the company knowingly continued to violate agency requirements each time the machinery was placed in operation.
A seventh willful citation was issued for lack of machine guarding over nip points and rotating parts on feed tables that was also cited in 2009. Lack of machine guarding exposes operators to amputation hazards of the hands and fingers, which may enter the danger zone during machine operation. A willful violation is one committed with intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirement, or plain indifference to employee safety and health.
Three repeat safety violations were cited for failing to provide fire extinguisher training to employees; provide machine guarding to protect operators from rotating parts, nip and pinch points in machine areas; and to guard the blades at two mechanical guillotine shears.
A repeat violation exists 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. These violations were previously cited during the 2009 inspection.
One serious citation was issued for exposing workers to falls of approximately 10 feet while working on a platform with open sides. 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.
Because of the hazards and the violations cited, Ball Aerosol has been placed in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP), which mandates targeted follow-up inspections to ensure compliance with the law. OSHA’s SVEP focuses on recalcitrant employers that endanger workers by committing willful, repeat or failure-to-abate violations. Under the program, OSHA may inspect any of the employer’s facilities if it has reasonable grounds to believe there are similar violations.
The company, headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, produces small metal containers for use by a variety of food, beverage, and chemical industries. The company employs about 12,000 workers, operates 31 production plants in the US and has facilities in Asia, Europe, South America, and Canada. The Hubbard facility employs 57 workers and specializes in the production of three-piece welded paint and general lines cans.
Prestige Laundry Company Fined $219,000 for Safety Hazards
OSHA has cited Prestige Industries, LLC, doing business as Prestige, with four repeat and five serious safety violations found at its commercial laundry facility in North Bergen, New Jersey. OSHA’s October 2012 investigation was initiated in response to a complaint and resulted in $219,000 in proposed penalties.
The repeat violations, carrying an $185,500 penalty, include the company’s failure to protect workers from unguarded machinery, establish a lockout/tagout program and procedures for controlling energy sources, and provide energy control training for workers who perform maintenance on machines. The same violations were cited in 2012 following a worker’s death after being caught in an unguarded machine at its Bayshore, New York, facility.
The serious violations, with a $33,500 penalty, were due to electrical hazards; an inadequate confined space program and failure to identify permit required confined spaces; and no hazard communication program, training, and safety data sheets.
“The safety hazards present at this facility pose serious risks to workers and must be immediately corrected,” said Kris Hoffman, director of OSHA’s Parsippany Area Office. “OSHA will continue to hold employers legally accountable when they fail to provide safe workplaces.”
KG Framing and Construction Cited for Lack of Fall Protection and Placed in SVEP
OSHA has cited roofing contractor KG Framing and Construction, LLC, with 12 safety violations, including one willful and three repeat, for failing to provide roofers with protection from falls at a commercial shopping site in Maryland Heights, Missouri. Proposed fines total $121,480. The company has now been cited six times for this violation.
“KG Framing and Construction has been repeatedly cited for violations of fall protection standards, which puts roofers at risk of serious or fatal injuries. Each inspection with these findings is particularly disheartening because we encountered workers with limited English proficiency, who may be at increased risk for not understanding safety rules and procedures,” said William McDonald, OSHA’s area director in St. Louis. “Falls remain the leading cause of death in the construction industry, and companies must take responsibility for protecting their workers on the job and ensuring workers are properly trained and understand how to use safety equipment. Allowing vulnerable workers to be exposed to high risk is unacceptable.”
The inspection was initiated on October 12, 2012, after an OSHA inspector observed roofers on a pitched roof at a height greater than 14 feet without personal fall arrest systems. Other workers were wearing harnesses that were not properly attached to them or on anchor points. A willful citation was issued due to the company’s failure to ensure all workers were provided fall protection and, when provided, allowing improper use when worn.
Three repeat violations involve allowing workers to use pneumatic nail guns without any form of eye or face protection, a lack of fall protection training, and failing to extend ladders at least 3 feet above the landing surface. Similar violations were cited in 2010 and 2011 at four construction sites in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
Eight serious violations involve lack of hard hats, conducting regular inspections, and providing guarding on power-transmission apparatus. Five of the serious violations involve ladder standards, such as allowing workers to use ladders with structural defects, carrying objects while on a ladder and risking losing balance, and placing unsecured ladders in areas where they could be displaced.
Due to the hazards and the violations cited, KG Framing and Construction has been placed in OSHA’s SVEP. This inspection was the sixth for KG Framing and Construction in the past six years. The company made no attempt to resolve the first findings in the three inspections, and penalties were sent to debt collection. The company contested two inspections from 2011 that were affirmed by a final order in December 2012.
Pilgrim’s Pride Cited for Repeat and Serious Violations Following Worker Fatality
OSHA has cited Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., with eight safety violations following the death of a worker who became caught in an unguarded hopper while attempting to remove a piece of cardboard at the company’s facility in Canton, Georgia. OSHA’s Atlanta-East Area Office initiated its inspection in October 2012 in response to the fatality.
Two repeat safety violations have been cited for failing to include the process needed for the removal of locks and start-up following lockout/tagout. Additionally, the electrical cords did not have an effective strain relief device. Similar violations were cited following a 2011 inspection.
Four serious safety violations involve the employer failing to conduct annual periodic inspections of the energy control procedures since 2005 and not providing effective machine and equipment guarding, so that workers cannot enter areas of operation and be exposed to struck-by and caught-in hazards.
Two other-than-serious violations involve failing to consider safety and health standards for the refrigeration process and not including safety systems and their functions in the refrigeration operating procedures. 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.
“Establishing safety and health programs that identify and remove hazards before a worker gets injured or sick goes to the very core of providing a safe and healthful workplace,” said Bill Fulcher, director of OSHA’s Atlanta-East Area Office. “In this case, a tragic loss resulted from equipment that could easily have been guarded.”
The citations for the repeat and serious violations carry $58,755 in proposed penalties. No monetary penalties have been assessed for the other-than-serious violations.
Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., employs approximately 38,500 workers with operations in 12 states, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.
Keystone Pain Institute Cited for Bloodborne Pathogen Hazards
An inspection by OSHA’s Pittsburgh Area Office in February was prompted by a complaint and resulted in $46,800 in proposed penalties.
The serious violations include the company’s failure to conduct a written hazard assessment; provide workers with the Hepatitis B vaccination series and training on bloodborne pathogens; provide a written cleaning schedule; utilize engineering controls for sharps (IV catheters); properly color code and construct regulated waste containers to prevent leakage; implement adequate procedures for handling of blood or other potentially infectious materials to minimize splashing; and include an exposure determination in the written exposure control plan.
“Employers must protect workers who are occupationally exposed to blood or other potentially infectious materials,” said Christopher Robinson, director of the OSHA Pittsburgh Area Office. “All medical facilities have a duty to provide a safe and healthful workplace for their employees.”
Keystone Pain Institute is one of seven clinics operated by Lighthouse Medical, LLC, in Altoona.
Fallen Oregon Workers to be Remembered April 29
Not all Oregon families are able to welcome home their loved one after a day on the job. Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA), a division of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, invites all Oregonians to attend a noon ceremony on Monday, April 29, 2013. The event will take place at the Fallen Workers Memorial outside the Labor and Industries Building on the Capitol Mall in Salem.
The memorial service will feature the reading of the names of Oregon workers who died on the job in 2012. Oregon OSHA Administrator Michael Wood and Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain will also be among the speakers at the ceremony.
“Each year, we hope to see the list of fallen workers diminish until we do not have a list to read from at all,” said Chamberlain. “Until that day, we will continue to fight for safe working conditions. As we add jobs to Oregon’s economy and get more people back to work, it is crucial that Oregon employers continue to prioritize safety at the workplace – anything else would be unacceptable and undermine the years of hard work we all have put in to strengthening our workplace protections.”
The annual Workers Memorial Day serves as a nationwide day of remembrance. It recognizes the thousands of US workers who die each year on the job and the more than 1 million people in the US who are injured each year at work. The observance is traditionally held on April 28 because Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act on that date in 1970.
“So many of these deaths are readily preventable, the result of problems that can easily be addressed by employer compliance with our rules and with safe work practices,” said Wood. “That can make Workers Memorial Day a frustrating experience for those of us who attend each year. But that is also why it is an important event. Because we can, indeed, do better. And we must never forget that.”
Through a partnership of labor, business, and government working together to improve workplace safety and health conditions in Oregon, the number of fatal workplace incidents eligible for workers’ compensation benefits has been cut by roughly three-quarters since the Oregon Safe Employment Act was enacted in 1973.
OSHA Alliance with Philippine Consulate General Will Assist Workers in 10 States
OSHA and the Philippine consulate general in New York recently formed an alliance to promote workplace safety and health for Philippine nationals in the northeast US.
Through the alliance, OSHA and the consulate will provide information, training, guidance, and access to education and training resources to Philippine nationals, particularly those working in home health care, and their employers. The alliance will cover workers in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
The training will address safety and health hazards associated with home health care and promote understanding of the rights and responsibilities of workers and employers under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, including the OSHA complaint process.
“Knowledge is the most important tool a worker can bring to the job,” said Robert Kulick, OSHA regional administrator in New York. “This alliance will help workers identify and eliminate workplace hazards and ensure that they know their right to have a voice in their workplace when it comes to their safety and health. We look forward to a long and fruitful alliance with the Philippine consulate general.”
The purpose of each alliance is to develop compliance assistance tools and resources and educate workers and employers about their rights and responsibilities. Alliance Program participants do not receive exemptions from OSHA inspections or any other enforcement benefits.
Safety News Links
