The agency is postponing full enforcement of the new standard to October 2, 2015, in response to requests for additional time to train and acquire the equipment necessary to comply with the new standard.
During the 60-day temporary enforcement period, OSHA will not issue citations to employers who make good faith efforts to comply with the new standard. Employers who fail to train their employees consistent with either of these two standards will be cited.
Factors that indicate employers are making good faith efforts to comply include: scheduling training for employees as required by the new standard; ordering the equipment necessary to comply with the new standard; and taking alternative measures to educate and protect employees from confined space hazards.
OSHA issued the Confined Spaces in Construction final rule on May 4, 2015. The rule provides construction workers with protections similar to those manufacturing and general industry workers have, with some differences tailored to the construction industry. These include requirements to ensure that multiple employers share vital safety information and to continuously monitor hazards—a safety option made possible by technological advances after the manufacturing and general industry standards were created.
OSHA estimates the confined spaces rule could protect nearly 800 construction workers a year from serious injuries and reduce life-threatening hazards.
New Exclusions for Solvent Recycling and Hazardous Secondary Materials
EPA’s new final rule on the definition of solid waste will present new opportunities for waste recycling outside the scope of the full hazardous waste regulations. This rule, which goes into effect on July 13, 2015, will maintain critical environmental protections while streamlining the regulatory burden for wastes that are legitimately recycled.
The first of the two exclusions is an exclusion from the definition of solid waste for high-value solvents transferred from one manufacturer to another for the purpose of extending the useful life of the original solvent product by keeping the materials in commerce to reproduce a commercial grade of the original solvent product.
The second, and more wide-reaching of the two exclusions, is a revision of the existing hazardous secondary material recycling exclusion. This exclusion allows you to recycle, or send off-site for recycling, virtually any hazardous secondary material, and it will not meet the definition of solid waste. Provided you meet the terms of the exclusion, the material will no longer be hazardous waste.
Learn how to take advantage of these exclusions at Environmental Resource Center’s live, one-hour webcast, where you will learn:
- Which of your materials qualify under the new exclusions
- What qualifies as a secondary material
- Which solvents can be remanufactured, and which cannot
- What is a tolling agreement
- What constitutes legitimate recycling
- What your generator storage requirements are
- What documentation you must maintain
- What your off-site shipping requirements are
- What your training and emergency planning requirements are
- If it is acceptable for the recycler to be outside the U.S.
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 safety data sheets.
Raleigh Environmental, Safety, and Transportation Training
Macon RCRA and DOT Training
Cleveland RCRA and DOT Training
DuPont Placed in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program
In November 2014, a worker was overcome at a DuPont chemical manufacturing facility in La Porte, Texas, when a supply line unexpectedly released more than 20,000 lb of methyl mercaptan, a deadly chemical. Three co-workers came to the worker’s aid in an attempted rescue, but all four were asphyxiated fatally by the colorless, flammable, and highly toxic gas.
After the initial investigation into the four deaths, OSHA found hazards that prompted the inspection at the facility to be expanded under the National Emphasis Program for chemical facilities.
OSHA has cited DuPont for three willful, one repeat, and four serious violations at their chemical manufacturing plant in La Porte. OSHA has proposed penalties of $273,000 for these new violations. A willful violation is one committed with intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirement, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health. An OSHA violation is serious if death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard an employer knew or should have known exists. 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.
“Nothing can bring these workers back to their loved ones. I hope that our continued scrutiny into this facility and into working conditions at other DuPont plants will mean no family ever suffers this loss again. We here at OSHA want DuPont and the chemical industry as a whole to hear this message loud and clear.”
The program concentrates resources on inspecting employers who have demonstrated indifference towards creating a safe and healthy workplace by committing willful or repeated violations, and/or failing to abate known hazards. It also mandates follow-up inspections to ensure compliance with the law.
DuPont employs about 63,000 people with operations in about 90 countries globally. The La Porte location employs 313 workers who manufacture pesticides and other chemicals for the company.
HB&G Building Products Exposed Workers to Amputation, Fall and Electrical Hazards
Other violations involve failing to maintain an unobstructed access area in front of an electrical panel and not ensuring a stairway had a standard railing.
“This inspection has identified several safety hazards that put workers at risk of amputations from unguarded machinery, electrocution from exposed live wiring and fall hazards,” said Joseph Roesler, OSHA’s area director in Mobile. “HB&G’s management must take action to correct the hazards so it can fulfill their responsibility to protect employees in the workplace.”
OSHA Cites Auto Parts Manufacturer for Ignoring Safety Hazards, Worker loses Fingertip
OSHA inspectors have determined that FIC America Corp., an auto parts manufacturer in Carol Stream, Illinois, ignored machine safety procedures which led to the loss of a worker’s fingertip.
In response to the employee’s injury, OSHA inspected the facility in January and has cited FIC for one repeated, nine serious, and one other-than-serious safety violation. Proposed penalties total $89,000.
The worker’s injury was caused when his finger caught in a pinch point as he serviced a machine. Inspectors found FIC failed to use safety procedures and locking devices to prevent the machine from operating during service and maintenance.
“Workers are at risk for debilitating injuries when machine safeguards are ignored,” said Jake Scott, OSHA’s area director for its North Aurora office, which investigated the incident. “Machine hazards are among the most frequently cited by OSHA. Manufacturer-installed guards and industry-standard locking devices protect workers from the dangers of operating machinery. Yet, each year thousands of workers are injured because employers ignore machine hazards and do not train workers on safety procedures.”
The eight violations that involve failing to protect workers from machinery operating parts include:
- Not training workers on machine safety procedures
The company paid a penalty of $7,000 to resolve those safety citations.
FIC manufactures mufflers, exhaust systems, and other auto parts. It is a subsidiary of Futaba Industrial Co. Ltd., based in Japan. The company supplies parts to major automakers including Toyota Motor Corp., Mitsubishi, Honda, and Nissan.
Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center to Work to Prevent Workplace Violence
Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, in Brooklyn, New York, has agreed to implement and maintain a comprehensive program to safeguard its employees better against assaults and other on-the-job violence, after a patient assaulted a nurse at the facility in 2014.
The agreement includes specific engineering and administrative controls that include:
- Employee training
- More holistic violence prevention efforts
- Improved communication with employees
- Guidance for actions before, during, and after workplace violence incidents
- Engagement of an outside consultant with expertise in workplace violence in hospital settings
“Health care and social service workers face job-related violence risks, but effective, proactive employer policies can curtail these dangers. This agreement and its comprehensive corrective measures are great examples of what health care facilities should do to protect their employees better,” said Robert Kulick, OSHA’s regional administrator in New York.
“This agreement is a positive start to a thorough and focused effort to enhance the safety and health of the facility’s workers and prevent and minimize the possibility of future assault. It is Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center’s responsibility to carry out its provisions fully and effectively,” said Jeffrey Rogoff, the department’s regional solicitor of labor in New York.
Under the settlement’s terms, Brookdale will no longer contest the citations, will pay a $15,000 fine, and agrees to allow OSHA to monitor progress of its corrective actions and will cooperate with those inspections.
The original inspection was conducted by OSHA’s Manhattan Area Office. The agreement was negotiated by attorney Kathryn L. Stewart of the department’s regional Office of the Solicitor in New York.
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