OSHA has issued citations proposing penalties totaling $8,777,500 against the Imperial Sugar Co. and its two affiliates, alleging violations at their plants in Port Wentworth, Ga., and Gramercy, La. OSHA initiated the inspections following an explosion and fire on Feb. 7, 2008, at the Port Wentworth refinery that claimed the lives of 13 employees and hospitalized 40 others. Three employees still remain hospitalized. The proposed penalties against Imperial Sugar represent the third largest fine in OSHA’s history.
OSHA inspections of both facilities found that there were large accumulations of combustible sugar dust in workrooms, on electrical motors, and on other equipment. The investigation also determined that officials at the company were well aware of these conditions, but they took no action reasonably directed at reducing the obvious hazards.
"I am outraged that this company would show a complete disregard for its employees' safety by knowingly placing them in an extremely dangerous work environment," Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Edwin G. Foulke Jr. said. "What is even worse is that a month after the devastating catastrophe in Port Wentworth that claimed the lives of 13 people, this company had done little to ensure abatement of the combustible dust hazards at its other plant. If OSHA investigators had not inspected and posted an imminent danger notice regarding areas at the second plant, the same thing could have happened again."
OSHA proposed $5,062,000 in penalties for safety violations at the Port Wentworth refinery and $3,715,500 for safety violations found at the Gramercy refinery. The citations include 108 instances of willful violations related to the combustible dust hazard, including the failure to clean up dust and not using appropriate equipment or safeguards where combustible dust is present. OSHA also has issued 10 citations for other willful violations, 100 citations for serious violations, and 4 citations for other-than-serious safety and health violations.
Transit Systems Are Not Well Integrated Into Local Emergency Plans
Transit systems could play a significant role in transporting carless and special needs populations in times of emergency, but these groups are inadequately addressed in most local emergency plans and evacuating them could easily exceed limited transit resources.
"For transit systems to be successful partners in an evacuation, they need to be part of the emergency management planning process and command structure; have real-time communications capability with local emergency managers, other transit providers, and their customers; and participate in annual exercises and drills," said Richard White, executive vice president, DMJM Harris, and chair of the committee that wrote the report. "To the extent transit agencies are asked to take on a major role in an evacuation, they should be considered essential personnel and be eligible with other first responders for cost reimbursement."
After reviewing 38 urban areas' emergency response and evacuation plans, the committee found that transit has a role to play in each of the four major elements that make up an emergency response plan— mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. The committee then conducted in-depth case studies of Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City/northern New Jersey, and Tampa. The five case studies illustrate the roles transit could play in an evacuation, including transporting those without a car to area shelters or outside the affected area, bringing emergency responders and equipment to emergency incident sites, returning evacuees to their original destinations, and restoring service as expeditiously as possible.
Emergency managers should be realistic in their expectations for the use of transit during an emergency, the committee noted. Transit systems' capacity to assist depends on the nature of the incident and its location. Damage from an earthquake or other incident may prevent the use of affected transit systems. Transit operations could also be hampered by unavailability of drivers and lack of equipment, especially at off-peak times. During peak periods, congestion impedes travel in many urban areas even in normal conditions. Evacuating special needs populations by transit poses a major challenge that requires advance planning, working with nonprofits and social service agencies to identify groups that need assistance, and a targeted public information campaign and sheltering strategy. It may also require mutual-aid agreements with other transit providers to help meet surges in demand.
Local governments are required by law to develop emergency plans for evacuations and mass departure routes, and, since 2006, for populations with special needs, such as people with disabilities. Local governments also have the primary responsibility of responding to emergency incidents and ordering an evacuation, if necessary, and transportation and transit agencies play a supporting role. If an incident overwhelms local capability, state and federal assistance may be requested, which happens with some frequency. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in recent years there have been between 45 and 75 presidentially declared disasters annually. Severe storms are the most prevalent disaster, some of which come with advance notice or recur with some regularity, such as hurricanes, while other events like earthquakes and terrorist attacks strike without warning.
"Few urban areas have planned for a major disaster that could involve multiple jurisdictions or multiple states in a region and necessitate an evacuation of a large fraction of the population. Leadership is lacking because no one jurisdiction owns the problem," White said. No clear regional emergency management protocols are evident, and the feasibility of evacuating major portions of large, highly developed, congested urban areas is also questionable, the report finds.
To help fill the planning gap, the committee recommends that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security provide guidance and funds to state and local governments on regional evacuation planning that includes transit and other public transportation providers. States should take the lead to see that plans are implemented, coordinating with appropriate regional entities. Federal transportation funds also should be directed to evacuation-related, capacity-enhancement projects to add redundancy to critical transit and highway infrastructure and to Intelligent Transportation Systems projects, to further network resilience in an emergency.
The committee broadly defines transit as bus and rail systems, paratransit and demand responsive transit, commuter rail, and ferries. It does not cover privately owned operators, such as intercity bus companies, taxis, and shuttles, although it recognizes that they may also play an important role in emergency evacuations.
This study was requested by Congress and funded by the Federal Transit Administration and the Transit Cooperative Research Program. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. They are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under a congressional charter. The Research Council is the principal operating agency of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.
AIHA Cosponsors the 11th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate
The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) will cosponsor the 11th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate, August 17–22, 2008, in Copenhagen, Denmark, where approximately 1,000 participants from more than 50 countries will gather to network and attend education sessions.
This event will involve participants from medicine, engineering, architecture, and other fields. The conference will cover all aspects of indoor air quality and climate and the effects on human health, comfort, and productivity. Cutting-edge research results will be presented, including ways to achieve an optimal indoor environment in a sustainable manner.
The conference includes 11 keynote presentations, 66 parallel technical sessions with about 800 presentations, and 33 workshops. These sessions will address a variety of indoor environments—residential, office, school, industrial, commercial, and transport.
OSHA Cites Gulf Coast Pre-Stress With 16 Crane and Other Violations
OSHA is proposing $78,100 in penalties after an inspection at the Pass Christian, Miss., manufacturing facility for Gulf Coast Pre-Stress Inc. revealed 6 serious and 10 repeat safety violations.
"Operating cranes with defects and allowing employees to work on unsafe scaffolds and gangways threatens the safety of the more than 300 people employed at this plant," said Clyde Payne, director of OSHA's Jackson Area Office.
OSHA found serious safety violations with employees operating cranes with broken, missing, and leaking parts. Inspectors determined that monthly safety inspections were not being performed. Plywood planking on the scaffolds was damaged with cracks and splits, wood timbers lacked a guardrail system, and compressed gas cylinders were not secured.
The company is being cited with repeat violations that include allowing employees to work around electrical hazards and on structural beams without guard rails. Safety equipment was missing or not being maintained properly, and an employee was sighted driving a front-end loader under a load suspended by a crane. The location had been cited for similar violations in 2007.
Senators Call on Labor Secretary to Protect Workers With Crane and Worker Fall Standards
U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chairman of the Senate HELP Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety, led a group of Senate Democrats in calling on Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to take measures to protect America's construction workers. In a letter to Secretary Chao, the Senators requested that OSHA immediately issue a long-awaited safety standard for cranes and derricks and enforce safety standards that protect workers from deadly falls. The Senators' letter comes after a rash of crane and construction deaths across the country in recent months.
"Our nation’s construction workers and their families should be confident that when they go to work, they will return home safely," the Senators write. "Thus, OSHA should ensure that the cranes and derricks standard that has languished for four years before being sent to the OMB for final review is issued immediately, and that it and all fall protections are fully and vigorously enforced."
The current crane safety standard is more than 30 years old and was designed for cranes and derricks far different from today's models. In July 2004, a 23-member industry and union advisory committee that OSHA established issued its recommendations and a proposed standard on crane safety. Since that time, OSHA has yet to implement their recommendations by issuing a new standard.
Falls are the leading cause of worker deaths in the construction industry, accounting for about 36% of all fatalities. However, as the Senators point out in their letter, "OSHA encourages employers to ignore OSHA’s own long-standing regulation that requires employers to place planking, decking, or netting no more than 30 feet below where workers work—regardless of whether safety harnesses are in use."
The full text of the Senators letter follows:
July 22, 2008
The Honorable Elaine L. Chao Secretary of Labor
United States Department of Labor
200 Constitution Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20210
Dear Secretary Chao:
Our nation’s construction workers are in danger. They are laboring on increasingly complex projects, and workers and contractors alike are under pressure to bring those projects in on time and within budget. The number of fatalities in recent months is growing evidence that workers’ safety is being sacrificed for speed as well as cost. In 2006, 1,226 construction workers were killed on the job—the most of any industry sector. These alarming numbers raise significant concerns with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) work in two areas: worker falls and unsafe construction cranes.
Falls are the leading cause of worker deaths in the construction industry, accounting for about 36 percent of all fatalities. Temporary planked or decked floors and netting are critical safety features at construction sites—and the last chance for a worker whose safety harness fails or becomes detached. It may be the only chance to stop an accident from becoming fatal. Workers, therefore, are best protected when both forms of fall protection are in place—safety harnesses and decking or netting. We find it difficult to understand, therefore, why OSHA encourages employers to ignore OSHA’s own long-standing regulation that requires employers to place planking, decking or netting no more than 30 feet below where workers work—regardless of whether safety harnesses are in use. OSHA’s current policy to allow employers who provide safety harnesses to forgo decking or netting seems designed to minimize costs—not maximize safety. There is no acceptable rationale for a policy that encourages contractors to cut costs at the expense of workers’ safety and lives. The use of both safety harnesses and decking or netting is critical and federal inspectors should enforce rules requiring both of them.
Industry experts claim a crane is one of the most dangerous pieces of equipment on a construction site. According to a July 16, 2008 New York Times article, 72 workers died in crane-related accidents across the country in 2006 (the most recent statistic available). As the skills and knowledge necessary to operate construction cranes has increased, standards to operate them safely have not kept pace. Cities and states have varying rules governing contraction cranes, and some choose to rely on outdated federal guidelines from 1971, even though technology has greatly changed crane operations and substantially increased crane size.
The Department of Labor has failed to provide the needed safety standards for cranes and derricks during this Administration. In 2003, OSHA established a negotiated rulemaking committee, bringing together representatives of industry and labor, to develop a consensus documents to serve as the foundation of a proposed OSHA standard on crane and derricks. Four years ago, the committee completed its work, and only now has OSHA submitted a proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval. This delayed action is unfathomable—particularly since the committee included a revised standard with specific rules on critical aspects of the issue, such as crane assembly. OSHA’s delay has resulted in more needless deaths and injuries in crane accidents.
In addition, federal inspections are failing to provide adequate safety oversight. Annual inspections are rare. In states without any state regulations, many crane owners are able to side step inspections all together.
Our nation’s construction workers and their families should be confident that when they go to work, they will return home safely. Thus, OSHA should ensure that the cranes and derricks standard that has languished for four years before being sent to the OMB for final review is issued immediately, and that it and all fall protections are fully and vigorously enforced. We respectfully request within 30 days of the date of this letter, that you: (1) notify the construction industry that all fall protection requirements will be fully enforced by federal inspectors; (2) explain how OSHA will help bring state OSHA policy and practice into compliance with the original 2002 rule on falls; (3) inform us of the date when OSHA submitted the proposed cranes and derricks rule to OMB and the date that the cranes and derricks standard will be issued; (4) provide us with a detailed explanation of OSHA’s four-year delay in taking action to issue the cranes and derricks standard; (5) forward a copy of the Cranes and Derricks Advisory Committee Consensus report as soon as possible, accompanied by a list of the stakeholders engaged in developing the consensus; and (6) describe OSHA’s plan to increase the number and thoroughness of construction crane site inspections by federal and state personnel and collect more complete and timely information on crane safety.
American construction workers have waited too long of OSHA to do its job. It is time for prompt, decisive action. We urge you to act now.
With respect and appreciation,
Patty Murray Harry Reid
Edward M. Kennedy
Christopher Dodd
Jack Reed
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Barack Obama
Sherrod Brown
Charles E. Schumer
Safety Conference Coming to Redmond, Oregon
Employers and workers in Central Oregon can benefit from innovative workplace safety and health information at the Central Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Conference, scheduled for Sept. 17–18, 2008 at the Eagle Crest Resort in Redmond.
Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA), a division of the Department of Consumer & Business Services, encourages workers and employers to attend this event designed to help improve safety and health performance. Transforming the workplace safety culture toward proactive safety is a major step in reducing injuries and accidents, and decreasing workers’ compensation costs.
Some of the topics featured at this year’s conference include:
- How to avoid being an injury victim
- Strategies for combining success and fun at work
- Ideas for leading change and transition
- Safety committee operations, motor vehicle practices, and chemical safety
- Exhibits showcasing the latest in safety and health products and services
Keynote speaker and organizational consultant Dan Miller will talk about how making small changes can lead to new experiences in the workplace and beyond. He says when people start taking personal responsibility, it transforms the quality of life on and off the job.
“If you stay focused in the same compass direction, it’s pretty predictable where you will end up,” Miller said. “What happens if you make a one-degree shift? Rather than doing what you always did, a one-degree shift in how you show up can significantly change yours and others’ lives.”
Registration for the event is $150. Single-day attendance is $80.
The conference is a joint effort of the Central Oregon Safety and Health Association and Oregon OSHA.
Toxic Chemicals Found in Common Scented Laundry Products, Air Fresheners
A University of Washington study of top-selling laundry products and air fresheners found the products emitted dozens of different chemicals. All six products tested gave off at least one chemical regulated as toxic or hazardous under federal laws, but none of those chemicals was listed on the product labels.
"I first got interested in this topic because people were telling me that the air fresheners in public restrooms and the scent from laundry products vented outdoors were making them sick," said Anne Steinemann, a UW professor of civil and environmental engineering and public affairs. "And I wanted to know, 'What's in these products that is causing these effects?'"
She analyzed the products to discover the chemicals' identity.
"I was surprised by both the number and the potential toxicity of the chemicals that were found," Steinemann said. Chemicals included acetone, the active ingredient in paint thinner and nail-polish remover; limonene, a molecule with a citrus scent; as well as acetaldehyde, chloromethane, and 1,4-dioxane.
"Nearly 100 volatile organic compounds were emitted from these six products, and none were listed on any product label. Plus, five of the six products emitted one or more carcinogenic 'hazardous air pollutants,' which are considered by the Environmental Protection Agency to have no safe exposure level," Steinemann said.
Steinemann chose not to disclose the brand names of the six products she tested. In a larger study of 25 cleaners, personal care products, air fresheners, and laundry products, now submitted for publication, she found that many other brands contained similar chemicals.
Because manufacturers of consumer products are not required to disclose the ingredients, Steinemann analyzed the products to discover their contents. She studied three common air fresheners (a solid deodorizer disk, a liquid spray, and a plug-in oil) and three laundry products (a dryer sheet, fabric softener, and a detergent), selecting a top seller in each category. She bought household items at a grocery store and asked companies for samples of industrial products.
In the laboratory, each product was placed in an isolated space at room temperature and the surrounding air was analyzed for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), small molecules that evaporate from the product's surface into the air.
Results showed 58 different VOCs above a concentration of 300 micrograms per cubic meter, many of which were present in more than one of the six products. For instance, a plug-in air freshener contained more than 20 different VOCs. Of these, seven are regulated as toxic or hazardous under federal laws. The product label lists no ingredients, and information on the Material Safety Data Sheet, required for workplace handling of chemicals, lists the contents as "mixture of perfume oils."
This study does not address links between exposure to chemicals and health effects. However, two national surveys published by Steinemann and a colleague in 2004 and 2005 found that about 20% of the population reported adverse health effects from air fresheners, and about 10% complained of adverse effects from laundry products vented to the outdoors. Among asthmatics such complaints were roughly twice as common.
Manufacturers are not required to list the ingredients used in laundry products and air fresheners. Personal-care products and cleaners often contain similar fragrance chemicals, Steinemann said. And although cosmetics are required by the Food and Drug Administration to list ingredients, no law requires products of any kind to list chemicals used in fragrances.
"Fragrance chemicals are of particular interest because of the potential for involuntary exposure, or second-hand scents," Steinemann said.
"Be careful if you buy products with fragrance, because you really don't know what's in them," she added. "I'd like to see better labeling. In the meantime, I'd recommend that instead of air fresheners people use ventilation, and with laundry products, choose fragrance-free versions."
The European Union recently enacted legislation requiring products to list 26 fragrance chemicals when they are present above a certain concentration in cosmetic products and detergents. No similar laws exist in the United States.
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