This document proposes a new framework for ensuring responders’ safety and health by monitoring and conducting surveillance of their health and safety during the entire cycle of emergency response. The deadline for comments is April 1.
NIOSH is the federal agency that conducts research and makes recommendations for preventing work-related injuries, illnesses, and death. NIOSH has a strategic program of research to better identify, understand, and address potential safety and health hazards for industry. NIOSH also works with diverse partners to stimulate, design, and carry out research for the healthcare and social assistance sector under the National Occupational Research Agenda, NORA.
How to Prepare for OSHA Adoption of the GHS for Classification and Labeling of Chemicals
It is expected that in August, OSHA will announce U.S. employers must begin to adopt the GHS.
This means that virtually every chemical label, MSDS (soon to be called “safety data sheet”), 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.
Theses dramatic changes will also impact other OSHA standards such as Flammable and Combustible Liquids, Process Safety Management (PSM), Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER), Fire Prevention and Protection, Occupational Exposure to Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories, and many of the chemical-specific OSHA standards such as the Lead Standard.
At this live webcast, you will learn:
- GHS standards OSHA is adopting
- How the new standards differ from current requirements
- How to implement the changes
- Expected timetable for GHS implementation
Cary, North Carolina 24-Hr and 40-Hr HAZWOPER Courses
Courses for HAZWOPER training will be offered in March at Environmental Resource Center’s Cary, North Carolina office.
Personnel who are expected to stop, contain, and clean up on-site releases are required to have 24 hours of initial training. Personnel who are involved in cleanups at waste sites—including Superfund sites, RCRA corrective action sites, or even voluntary cleanups involving hazardous substances—must have 40 hours of initial classroom instruction.
Satisfy your training requirements by attending a comprehensive class that provides in-depth instruction on how to perform emergency response activities. Topics include hazard recognition, spill control and containment, worker protection, and waste site activities such as site characterization, waste handling, and decontamination. You will have the opportunity to apply your training during a hands-on simulated incident response.
Advertising Opportunities Available
Environmental Resource Center is making a limited number of advertising positions available in the Safety Tip of the Week™, the Environmental Tip of the Week™, and the Reg of the Day™.
Report Focuses on Lessons Learned to Improve Worker Safety and Health
The University of Massachusetts Lowell, Center for Sustainable Production, has released the report “Lessons Learned: Solutions for Workplace Safety and Health.” The report contains case studies of what it terms systemic failures in protecting workers from injury and illness. The publication also outlines some paths that can more effectively protect workers, the communities in which they live, consumers, and the environment, while stimulating innovation in safer forms of production.
NIOSH Seeks Insights from Healthcare Workers on Chemical, Health, Safety Practices
NIOSH invites healthcare personnel to participate voluntarily in an online survey about health and safety practices in working with hazardous chemicals on the job.
Individual responses will be kept confidential, and no personal identifiers will be recorded. Survey participants will be asked to enter an organization key, which is: HCWS. The survey takes approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Results of the survey will help NIOSH better understand the extent to which healthcare personnel may be exposed to chemical agents such as antineoplastic agents, anesthetic gases, surgical smoke, high level disinfectants, chemical sterilants, and aerosolized medications, and the circumstances of potential exposures. Results will also help NIOSH to better learn and understand current practices for reducing potential exposures, to identify gaps in current knowledge about those practices, and to design further research in collaboration with our partners for addressing those gaps.
“Safeguarding healthcare workers from potential occupational hazards is an essential part of providing good jobs for these dedicated men and women, and for furthering high-quality patient care,” said NIOSH Director John Howard, M.D. “We look forward to a robust voluntary response to this survey. The results will help NIOSH and its partners design next steps in the research essential for addressing the workplace health and safety needs of this important and growing U.S. workforce.”
Information to help access the voluntary survey, if needed, is available from a toll-free Help Desk, 1-888-219-5667. For further information about the survey, contact the NIOSH Project Staff:
Workplace Safety Messages Available in Spanish
NIOSH developed content for a series of short Spanish-language videos on occupational safety and health for the Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network (HITN). The videos, narrated by Maria Sofia Lioce of NIOSH, aired on a live national Spanish-language talk show on HITN.
The videos feature the following topics:
OSHA Cites Millard Refrigerated Services for Serious Safety and Health Violations
OSHA has cited Millard Refrigerated Services, Inc., in Theodore, Alabama, with 16 alleged safety and health violations following an incident in which 152 workers were overcome by ammonia vapors. Proposed penalties total $52,500.
In August 2010, anhydrous ammonia leaked out of a 12-inch pipe located on the roof of the Millard Refrigerated Services facility, due to hydraulic shock within the pipe. A failure of a suction header inside the facility on one of the evaporators to a blast freezer also occurred at approximately the same time. The company became aware of the leak on the roof when a crane operator was overcome by vapors and fell down while evacuating his crane cab on board a ship that was being loaded by Millard. The ammonia vapors also carried across the ship canal to a site being used by Patriot Environmental and BP workers for decontamination of equipment used in the cleanup of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill. One hundred fifty-two workers from several companies went to the hospital for ammonia vapor exposure, 31 were admitted, and four were placed in the intensive care unit.
The company is being cited with seven serious safety and one serious health violation with $45,500 in proposed penalties. Four of the safety violations related to the incident include failure to consider hazard analysis from previous incidents; ensure an emergency shutdown would be executed in a timely and safe manner; train workers in process safety management of highly hazardous chemicals; and investigate the contributing factors to an incident that could have resulted in a catastrophic event. Other safety violations include deficiencies with ladders, respiratory protection and emergency response. The health violation is related to a lack of respirator use and training during emergency response. A serious citation is issued 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.
Seven other-than-serious violations are being cited with $7,000 in proposed penalties for failing to properly fill out the OSHA 300 log. An additional other-than-serious violation, with no proposed penalty, is for failing to conduct a periodic inspection of the energy control 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.
In January 2007, OSHA inspected the Millard facility in Theodore and issued citations for process safety management violations. In 2008, process safety management violations also were cited at a Millard plant in North Carolina.
“This incident demonstrates the importance of employers with process safety management covered processes, such as anhydrous ammonia refrigeration, to have an effective safety program. Such a program must include thorough investigations of all mishaps and chemical releases to identify causal factors and prevent recurrence,” said Kurt Petermeyer, OSHA’s area director in Mobile. “Additionally, it is imperative that employers have efficient emergency response procedures in place to ensure the protection of responding personnel and quick containment of the chemical release.”
Proposed Penalties Total $201,600 for Gun Range Cited for Exposing Workers to Lead Hazards
OSHA has cited Miami, Florida-based E.N. Range, Inc., for exposing workers to dangerously high levels of lead while removing lead pellets at an outdoor gun range in Oley, Pennsylvania. Proposed penalties total $201,600.
OSHA initiated an inspection in response to a complaint alleging the lead hazards as well as deficiencies in the company’s respiratory protection program. As a result of the inspection, three willful citations were issued with penalties of $168,000 and 11 serious citations were issued with penalties of $33,600.
“E.N. Range failed to take the necessary steps to protect employees exposed to lead levels above the permissible limit,” said Kevin Kilp, director of OSHA’s area office in Harrisburg. “Lead overexposure is a leading cause of workplace illness that can lead to serious, adverse health problems.”
The willful citations were issued for failing to ensure employees exposed to lead above the permissible limit did not wear contaminated protective clothing home; provide a change room and ensure employees removed protective clothing in the change room at the end of the work shift; provide shower facilities for employees exposed to lead; ensure employees washed their hands and faces before eating and drinking; maintain all surfaces free of lead accumulation; and provide information and training on lead. A willful violation exists when an employer has demonstrated either an intentional disregard for the requirements of the law or plain indifference to employee safety and health.
The serious citations were issued for failing to use a guardrail on an open-sided platform; utilize ladders set at the proper angle; select the appropriate respirator; identify and evaluate respiratory hazards in the workplace; fit-test employees for respirators; implement engineering controls to reduce lead exposures; and replace protective clothing as needed. Additionally, inspectors cited the company for failing to notify employees when blood tests indicated lead levels above the permissible limit, provide employees with a written medical opinion for lead, post warning signs where employees were exposed to lead above the permissible limit, and accurately record all air monitoring results.
OSHA’s lead standard requires employers to protect their workers from lead exposure, which can cause many serious health issues including brain damage, paralysis, kidney disease, as well as death.
E.N. Range, Inc., specializes in lead reclamation and metal removal for indoor and outdoor gun ranges, and employs nine employees at the Olney site. In August 2010, OSHA issued citations to E.N. Range, Inc., in Miami, Florida, for more than 50 violations, alleging that the company knowingly neglected to protect employees who clean gun ranges from serious overexposure to lead, as well as violations of other standards. E.N. Range also was cited at that location for providing non-Food and Drug Administration-approved treatments for lead exposure without medical supervision. For those violations, the company is facing total proposed penalties of $2,099,600. It is currently contesting the citations and penalties.
OSHA Cites Pep Boys for Machine Guarding and Electrical Hazards
OSHA has issued four repeat and one serious citation to the Pep Boys auto service company following a recent inspection at its facility at 2301 Dixwell Ave., in Hamden, Connecticut. The Philadelphia-based chain faces a total of $75,000 in proposed fines.
“The size of these fines reflects the fact that Pep Boys previously was cited for a number of similar hazards at its Orange, Connecticut, location,” said Robert Kowalski, OSHA’s area director in Bridgeport. “It would be to the benefit of its workers’ safety companywide for this employer to determine if similar hazards exist at other stores and to eliminate them if they do.”
OSHA alleges that workers in the Hamden store’s service area were exposed to electric shock hazards from damaged power cords, as well as to cuts and lacerations from a grinder that lacked a safety guard, a tongue guard, and guarding of its spindle end. OSHA cited Pep Boys in September 2009 for similar hazards at its Orange store. As a result of this latest inspection, OSHA has issued the repeat citations with $70,000 in proposed fines. A repeat citation 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.
Pep Boys was issued the serious citation with a fine of $5,000 for missing faceplates on an electrical outlet box and a snap switch box.
OSHA Cites Ames True Temper for Exposing Workers to Electrical and Safety Hazards
OSHA has cited Ames True Temper for exposing workers to electrical and other hazards at its Carlisle, Pennsylvania storage warehouse. Proposed penalties total $52,800.
“A lack of proper protections from electrical and other workplace hazards exposes workers to serious injuries,” said Kevin Kilp, director of OSHA’s Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Area Office. “It is vital that the company abate all of the identified hazards to ensure that employees have a safe and healthful work environment.”
OSHA initiated an inspection on January 24 as part of its site-specific targeting program for employers with high injury and illness rates. As a result of the inspection, three repeat citations with a penalty of $49,500 were issued for failing to develop specific energy control procedures, provide proper guarding for bench grinders, and follow listing and labeling requirements for electrical quad outlet boxes with knockouts.
One serious citation with a penalty of $3,300 was issued for the company’s failure to provide a lower guard for employees operating a radial arm saw.
Ames True Temper is a U.S. and international provider of non-powered landscaping products. It employs 170 workers at the Carlisle warehouse.
OSHA Cites Seaboard International of Houston with Safety Violations Following Worker Fatality
OSHA has cited Seaboard International, Inc., with 24 serious, two other-than-serious safety violations, and is proposing penalties totaling $79,400 following the death of a worker at the company’s Houston facility. OSHA’s Houston South Area Office began its investigation on September 14, 2010, at the company’s South Freeway facility, where an employee died after a pallet-pulling machine came loose and struck him on the head.
“It is the employer’s responsibility to provide a safe and healthful workplace for employees,” said Mark Briggs, director for OSHA’s Houston South Area Office. “If OSHA’s standards for health and safety had been followed, it is possible this tragedy could have been avoided.”
Serious violations include failing to implement OSHA’s standards for the control of hazardous energy, provide a hazard communication program, ensure jib cranes were adequately inspected and properly loaded, provide the required machine guarding, and ensure a pallet-pulling machine and chain used in material handling were maintained and inspected.
Other-than-serious violations include failing to certify the annual summary of injuries and illness.
Seaboard International is a Houston-based oilfield equipment company that employs about 75 workers at its Houston facility and has additional manufacturing, sales, and service locations elsewhere in the U.S. and abroad.
New Video Available Urging Health Executives to Develop Sustainable Operations
The Healthier Hospitals Initiative, Practice Greenhealth, and Health Care Without Harm have produced a new video to help hospital administrators and C-Suite personnel understand the urgency and importance of developing sustainable hospital operations. The video, “Leading the Health Care Sector to Sustainability,” features hospital executives, medical experts, and leaders of supporting institutions, who conclude that ‘Going Green’ reduces costs, and improves the health of patients, staff, and the environment.
AGP Grain Marketing Facing $64,00 in Fines for Exposing Workers to Machine Guarding, Fall, and Other Hazards
OSHA has cited AGP Grain Marketing, LLC, in Hastings, Nebraska for exposing workers to machine guarding and fall hazards, as well as other safety and health hazards. OSHA has proposed $64,000 in penalties against the company.
OSHA’s investigation, which began in December 2010, resulted in the issuance of seven serious and one repeat citation. OSHA’s inspection was initiated under a local emphasis program that targets grain handling establishments in Nebraska.
“The hazards associated with grain handling operations are well recognized,” said Charles E. Adkins, OSHA’s regional administrator in Kansas City, Missouri. “All employers, and especially those in high-hazard industries such as the grain industry, must take the necessary steps to eliminate hazards from the workplace.”
Some of the serious citations include a spiral stairway being used as the primary means of access to levels in the grain elevator that was not equipped with standard railings; a fixed ladder that did not have clearance on its climbing side and did not have side rails that extended above the landing surface; a lack of a written respiratory program and annual employee fit-testing; and a lack of guarding on belts and pulleys.
The repeat citation is similar to one issued against the same company on March 18, 2009, for failing to inspect energy control procedures.
OSHA Issues More than $67,000 in Machine-Guarding Penalties to Pallet Recycling Facility
OSHA has cited the Ifco Systems pallet recycling facility in Henderson, Colorado, with one repeat and five serious citations for improper machine guarding following an inspection. Penalties total $67,765.
“Machine guarding is at the heart of preventing amputation injuries,” said Herb Gibson, OSHA’s area director in Denver. “Many of these hazards could have been corrected if the employer had an effective safety and health management system, which would identify hazards in the workplace, and reduce the likelihood of injuries and illnesses.”
The inspection was initiated under OSHA’s site-specific targeting program that focuses on employers with high injury and illness rates. Ifco Systems is an international logistics service provider with more than 210 locations worldwide, including the facility in Henderson.
The repeat citation, with a penalty of $50,000, was issued for failing to provide adequate machine guarding on a bandsaw. OSHA issued similar citations to Ifco Systems facilities located in Smithville, Ohio, on July 12, 2006; Columbus, Ohio, on December 5, 2008; and Atlanta, Georgia, on October 8, 2010.
The serious citations, with a penalty of $17,765, were issued for failing to develop and implement proper lockout procedures for energy sources; a lack of proper guarding for open-sided floors; a lack of machine guarding on a table saw; and exposing employees to excessive levels of noise.
OSHA Certifies Schneider Electric as a VPP ‘Star’ Site for Workplace Safety and Health
OSHA has recognized management and employees of Schneider Electric USA, Inc., for achievement in the company’s employee safety and health program. The company’s Lincoln, Nebraska facility has been designated as a “star” site in OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP).
Schneider Electric USA, which manufactures miniature circuit breakers, earned the recognition following a comprehensive on-site evaluation by a team of OSHA safety and health experts. More than 250 workers are employed at the Lincoln facility.
“From the top down, Schneider Electric USA has displayed outstanding effort in implementing a comprehensive safety and health management system,” said Charles E. Adkins, OSHA’s regional administrator in Kansas City, Missouri. “The company is an exemplar of workplace safety.”
The Voluntary Protection Programs recognize employers and workers in private industry and federal agencies that have implemented effective safety and health management systems, and maintain injury and illness rates below national Bureau of Labor Statistics averages for their respective industries. In the VPP, management, labor, and OSHA work cooperatively and proactively to prevent fatalities, injuries, and illnesses through a system focused on hazard prevention and control, worksite analysis, training, management commitment, and worker involvement.
To participate in VPP, employers must submit an application to OSHA and undergo a rigorous on-site evaluation by a team of safety and health professionals. Union support is required for applicants represented by a bargaining unit. VPP participants are re-evaluated every three to five years to remain in the programs. VPP participants are exempt from OSHA programmed inspections while they maintain their VPP status.
OSHA Cites Plumbing and Heating Contractor for Failing to Provide Cave-in Protection
OSHA has cited Crisafulli Brothers Plumbing and Heating Contractors, Inc., an Albany, New York contractor, for allegedly failing to provide cave-in protection for its workers who were repairing a sewer line. The company is facing a proposed fine of $50,400 after an OSHA inspection found its employees working in a 10 to 13-foot-deep straight-walled trench that lacked protection against a collapse of its sidewalls onto the workers. As a result of its findings, OSHA issued the contractor one willful citation for the unprotected trench.
“The sizable fine issued here reflects the gravity of this potentially deadly condition and the employer’s knowledge of and failure to correct it,” said Edward Jerome, OSHA’s area director in Albany. “An unprotected trench can become a prison or a grave in seconds if its walls cave in on workers. Employers should never allow their employees into a trench until it has been effectively protected against collapse.”
OSHA standards require that all trenches and excavations 5 feet or deeper be protected against collapse.
“One means of eliminating recurring hazards such as these is for employers to establish an injury and illness prevention program in which workers and management jointly work to identify and eliminate hazardous conditions on a continual basis,” said Robert Kulick, OSHA’s regional administrator in New York.
Trainor Construction Co. Fined $29,000 for Failing to Provide Cave-in Protection at Boston Jobsite
OSHA has cited Trainor Construction Co., Inc., for alleged willful and serious violations at a Boston worksite where the contractor was replacing a water main. The company faces a total of $29,000 in proposed fines.
OSHA’s inspection found that the 7 to 7-and-one-half foot deep trench in which Trainor Construction employees were working lacked adequate protection against a collapse of its sidewalls.
The agency also determined that the trench lacked shoring or underpinning for an unsupported concrete structure adjacent to the trench, the trench’s support system members were not installed properly, and a competent person had not removed the workers from the trench. Finally, the employees lacked reflective vests or high visibility clothes, exposing them to the hazards of being struck by or caught between vehicular traffic.
“An unprotected trench can become a prison or a grave in seconds if its walls cave in on workers,” said Brenda Gordon, OSHA’s area director for Boston and southeastern Massachusetts. “Employers should never allow employees into a trench until it has been effectively protected against collapse. Workers’ lives depend on it.”
As a result of its findings, OSHA issued the company one willful citation with a proposed fine of $14,000 for the unprotected trench, and four serious citations with $15,000 in fines for the other hazards.
NIH Launches Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Cleanup Worker Health Study
A new study that will look at possible health effects of the Gulf of Mexico’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill on 55,000 cleanup workers and volunteers began recently in towns across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.
The GuLF STUDY (Gulf Long-term Follow-up Study) is the largest health study of its kind ever conducted among cleanup workers and volunteers, and is one component of a comprehensive federal response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The study is being conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), which is part of the National Institutes of Health, and is expected to last up to 10 years. Many agencies, researchers, outside experts, as well as members of the local community, have provided input into how the study should be designed and implemented.
“Over the last 50 years, there have been 40 known oil spills around the world. Only eight of these spills have been studied for human health effects,” said Dale Sandler, Ph.D., chief of the Epidemiology Branch at NIEHS and principal investigator of the GuLF STUDY. “The goal of the GuLF STUDY is to help us learn if oil spills and exposure to crude oil and dispersants affect physical and mental health.”
Over time, the GuLF STUDY will generate important data that may help inform policy decisions on health care and health services in the region. Findings may also influence responses to other oil spills in the future.
“We are enrolling workers and volunteers because they were closest to the disaster and had the highest potential for being exposed to oil and dispersants,” Sandler said.
The GuLF STUDY will reach out to some of the 100,000 people who took the cleanup worker safety training and to others who were involved in some aspect of the oil spill cleanup. The goal is to enroll 55,000 people in the study. Individuals may be eligible for the study if they:
- Are at least 21 years old
- Did oil spill cleanup work for at least 1 day
- Were not directly involved in oil spill cleanup but supported the cleanup effort in some way, or completed oil spill worker training
Working from lists of people who trained or worked in some aspect of the oil spill response, the GuLF STUDY will contact potential participants by mail, inviting them to take part in the study.
The study was developed to make participation as easy and convenient as possible. In addition, the GuLF STUDY incorporates safeguards to protect the privacy and confidentiality of personal information.
All participants will be asked to complete an initial telephone interview, and provide updated contact information once a year. During the telephone interview, participants will be asked questions about the work they did with the oil spill cleanup, and about their health, lifestyle, and job history. About 20,000 participants will be invited to take part in the second phase of the study, which involves a home visit and follow-up telephone interviews in subsequent years. Small samples of blood, urine, toenail clippings, hair, and house dust will be collected during the home visit, and clinical measurements such as blood pressure, height and weight, urine glucose, and lung function will be taken.
If at any time in the course of the study, the need for mental or medical health care is evident, participants will be given information on available health care providers or referred for care. The study leaders have up-to-date information on health care providers and a medical referral process in place as part of the study. Materials will be available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
NIH is funding the GuLF STUDY. A small part of the funds have been provided by BP made to NIH specifically for research on the health of Gulf area communities following the spill, though BP is not involved in the study.