The 33-minute video explains the major components of a respiratory protection program including fit-testing, medical evaluations, training, and maintenance. The video also discusses the difference between respirators and surgical masks, and features a segment on common respiratory hazards found in healthcare settings, including airborne infectious agents that cause diseases such as tuberculosis, pandemic influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), chicken pox, and measles.
Demonstrations also show how respirator use helps protect workers from exposure to airborne chemical hazards such as formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde, which are used commonly in hospital laboratories to preserve tissue samples for medical analysis. These toxic substances can cause eye and nasal irritation, headaches, asthma, and other symptoms. Additionally, formaldehyde is a carcinogen and has been linked to nasal and lung cancer, with possible links to brain cancer and leukemia.
“Employers can’t rely on respirators providing the expected protection if they don’t train their workers on how to use them properly,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. “This video is an important training tool that teaches proper respirator use and discusses employers’ responsibilities under OSHA’s respiratory protection standard.”
Register Today for: IATA Update – What’s New for 2011?
Each year, the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) updates and revises the regulations for the transportation of dangerous goods (hazardous materials) by air. If you offer dangerous goods for transportation by air, you must follow the new regulations by January 1. A large number of significant changes are being implemented in the 2011 IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR).
At this live webcast, you will learn:
- Changes in the regulations for consumer commodities– new marking and shipping paper entries
- New test authorized to determine classification and packing group of corrosives
- Changes in the classification criteria for magnetized materials
- Revisions to the classification of environmentally hazardous substances, marine pollutants, and aquatic pollutants
- Phase in of new packing instructions for Class 3 flammable liquids, Class 4 flammable solids, Class 5 oxidizers/organic peroxides, Class 8 corrosives, Class 9 miscellaneous, and Division 6
- New entries on the IATA List of Dangerous Goods and new special provisions
- New marking requirements for net quantities, limited quantities, environmentally hazardous substances, and orientation arrows
Nashville, Tennessee RCRA and DOT Training
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™.
MSHA Issues Alert to Mining Community
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has issued a fatality alert to the mining community profiling the causes of and circumstances surrounding the 71 fatal accidents that occurred last year.
“2010 will be remembered for the dramatic explosion that killed 29 men at the Upper Big Branch Mine and for the deaths of 42 other miners across the nation whose lives ended in needless tragedy,” said Joseph A. Main, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health. “We can—and must—honor all of these miners by increasing our efforts to ensure safe and healthy workplaces for our nation’s miners.”
Of the 71 deaths in 2010, 48 occurred in coal mines. Twenty-three occurred at metal and nonmetal operations, and nearly half of those victims were contractors.
“We must all learn from these tragedies and act to prevent additional fatalities,” said Main. “Fatalities are not inevitable. They can be prevented using effective safety and health management programs, workplace examinations for hazards, and effective and appropriate training so that miners recognize and understand the hazards, and how to control or eliminate them.”
Among the causes of death in last year’s mining fatalities:
- Seven metal/nonmetal miners died in powered haulage accidents. Four surface coal mine truck drivers were killed in powered haulage accidents when they lost control of their trucks and either struck another truck, turned over the truck, or the truck went through a berm and over a highwall.
- Six coal miners were killed working in close proximity to mining or haulage equipment.
- Six coal miners and two metal/nonmetal miners were fatally crushed by roof falls and rib rolls.
- Six metal/nonmetal miners and two coal miners died when they were struck by falling material or moving objects.
Fatal investigation reports, once completed, are also available at that site.
OSHA Cites Oil and Gas Field Service Company, Subsidiaries with Recordkeeping Violations
OSHA has cited Superior Energy Services Inc., (SESI), payroll company, SESI LLC, and five subsidiary companies in Louisiana with 38 violations of the OSHA recordkeeping standard. Proposed penalties total $337,500.
OSHA’s Baton Rouge office initiated its investigation on August 10, 2010, after receiving a complaint alleging that employees’ work-related injuries and illnesses were not being recorded in the OSHA 300 log. Employers are required to record fatalities as well as all significant injuries and illnesses, including the number of days away from work, the days of job transfer or any restriction that results from the injury or illness.
“OSHA’s standards for accurate workplace injury and illness records must be followed to protect workers’ health and safety,” said Dorinda Folse, director of OSHA’s Baton Rouge Area Office. “These records are needed to prevent future hazards.”
The five subsidiary companies and citations are as follows: Fastorq LLC, in Harvey was cited with five willful and one other-than-serious violation with penalties of $130,500; H.B. Rentals LC, in Broussard was cited with five willful and one other-than-serious violation with penalties of $40,500; Production Maintenance Industries LLC, in Morgan City was cited for five willful and one other-than-serious violation with penalties of $40,500; Superior Energy Services LLC, in New Orleans was cited with nine willful and two other-than-serious violations with penalties of $66,600; and Warrior Energy Services Corp., in Broussard was cited for eight willful and one other-than-serious violation with penalties of $59,400.
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. 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. Together, the violations cited include 187 instances of improperly recording or failing to record information in the OSHA log.
Each of the five subsidiary companies is wholly-owned by Superior Energy Services Inc., a publicly-traded holding company based in New Orleans that specializes in providing oil and gas field services and labor, in the U.S. and internationally. Superior Energy Services also owns SESI LLC. SESI employs the corporate executive team, which is comprised of employees who oversee the subsidiary operating companies. The responsibility to ensure proper recordkeeping is shared by the subsidiaries and the parent corporation.
Superior Energy Services Inc., SESI LLC, and the subsidiaries have 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director in Baton Rouge or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
Protech Environmental South Inc. Cited with 46 Serious Violations
OSHA has cited Protech Environmental South Inc., doing business as U.S. Erosion Control Products Inc., following an inspection that uncovered 46 alleged safety and health hazards including worker exposure to heavy accumulations of combustible dust. Proposed penalties total $55,250.
After receiving a complaint, OSHA began an inspection in August 2010 at the company’s site in Willacoochee, Georgia. Serious citations were issued for violations that included exposing workers to explosion hazards resulting from inadequate dust control, exposing workers to dust without respiratory protection, failing to clean up thick dust accumulations, using unapproved electrical equipment and forklifts in locations that may include flammable or combustible materials, absence of a fire extinguisher in a straw storage area, and fire extinguishers missing from their mounts.
Additional serious citations included exposing workers to fall hazards, electrical hazards, obstructed exit routes, hazards related to the use of liquid propane gas, amputation hazards from a lack of machine guards, hazards from damaged forklifts, hazards related to lack of eye protection, and lack of a hearing conservation program. OSHA issues a serious citation 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.
“Combustible dust is a major safety and health hazard, and employers must recognize and correct hazards that expose their employees to death or serious physical harm,” said Robert Vazzi, OSHA’s area director in Savannah.
OSHA initiated its Combustible Dust National Emphasis Program on October 18, 2007, to inspect facilities that generate or handle combustible dust that poses a deflagration/explosion or other fire hazard. Following a massive sugar dust explosion at Imperial Sugar’s Port Wentworth, Georgia, facility on February 7, 2008, that killed 14 workers and injured many more, OSHA revised the combustible dust program to include more inspections and to focus on industries with frequent and high consequence dust incidents.
After the inspection, the company moved to Pearson, Georgia, where it continues to produce erosion control products using natural materials such as straw.
OSHA Fines Contractor $60,600 for Failing to Provide Trench Cave-in Protection for Workers
OSHA has issued Doherty, Giannini & Rietz Construction Inc., an underground contractor located in Bensenville, Illinois, one willful and one repeat safety citation for failing to protect workers from cave-ins during trenching operations at a Chicago, Illinois, jobsite. The company faces proposed penalties of $60,600.
“Cave-ins are a leading cause of worker fatalities during excavations,” said Gary Anderson, OSHA’s area director in Calumet City, Illinois. “This is the fourth time in recent months that OSHA has issued citations to this contractor related to the cave-in protection standard. Workers’ safety should be paramount on a jobsite, and OSHA is committed to protecting workers, especially when employers fail to do so.”
The willful citation alleges that a Doherty, Giannini & Rietz Construction employee was working in a trench at a depth greater than 6 feet without cave-in protection during a December 2010 inspection. A trench box was present on the site but not installed in the trench. The inspection was conducted under an OSHA national emphasis program on trenching and excavation.
The company was issued the repeat citation for failing to establish a safe work zone as regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s manual on uniform traffic control devices. 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.
The company has been inspected by OSHA 27 times since 1988, resulting in 16 prior citations for lack of cave-in protection at various worksites. Four of those violations have been issued since June 2010, including the citation from the December inspection.
OSHA standards mandate that all excavations 5 feet or deeper be protected against collapse.
OSHA Cites North Western Energy for Electrical Hazards after Employee Injured by High-voltage Equipment
OSHA has issued citations to North Western Energy in Billings, Montana, for one repeat and two serious safety violations after an employee was injured while working on high-voltage equipment.
“An apprentice lineman came into contact with 7,200 volts and was seriously injured because this employer failed to implement safety standards, even though the company previously had been cited for similar violations at its Corwin Springs, Montana, facility,” said Christine A. Webb, OSHA’s area director in Billings.
The repeat citation was issued for failing to implement a minimum distance from high-voltage equipment. 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.
North Western Energy was cited with two serious violations for failing to train workers on equipment used to energize electrical lines, and to examine, clean, and test electrical equipment.
OSHA has proposed penalties totaling $49,000 for the citations.
Judge Upholds Citations for Willful and Serious Trenching Violations, $91,200 in Fines Issued against Boston Contractor
The U.S. Department of Labor has won a decision from an administrative law judge upholding eight citations and $91,200 in fines issued to a Boston contractor for excavation and other construction safety hazards. OSHA has cited Shawn Telsi, doing business as Life Time Homes, Green Pines, and/or Telsi Builders, following an August 2009 inspection of a construction site at 394 Dedham St. in Newton, Massachusetts.
During that inspection, OSHA found employees working without cave-in protection in an excavation up to 14 feet deep. The excavation lacked a safe means of exit and had piles of soil stored at its edge. Employees also risked impalement upon unguarded steel rebar, falls into uncovered 7-foot-deep holes and injuries from lack of head protection.
OSHA cited Telsi in February 2010, and the company contested its citations and fines to the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission the following month. A hearing was held in Boston on September 28, 2010, before Administrative Law Judge Covette Rooney. Rooney recently ruled, upholding the four willful and four serious citations, and the monetary penalties issued by OSHA.
“Serious, life-threatening hazards remained uncorrected even after they were brought to this employer’s attention,” said Marthe Kent, OSHA’s New England regional administrator. “In one instance, had the unprotected 14-foot-high excavation wall collapsed, it would have engulfed workers who were pouring concrete formwork and crushed them beneath tons of concrete, soil and debris.”
“Employers must understand that they cannot disregard standards meant to protect the life and safety of their employees without facing consequences,” said Michael Felsen, the Labor Department’s regional solicitor for New England. “This decision not only affirms OSHA’s findings, it also shows that the Department of Labor will not hesitate to pursue appropriate legal action on behalf of America’s workers.”
Telsi has 20 days from the date the administrative law judge’s decision is docketed with the review commission to appeal. The safety inspection was conducted by OSHA’s Andover Area Office in Massachusetts. The case was litigated for OSHA by senior trial attorney Paul Katz of the department’s Boston Regional Solicitor’s Office.
The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission is an independent federal agency created to decide contests of citations or penalties resulting from workplace inspections conducted by OSHA. An employer who is cited by OSHA for an alleged workplace health or safety violation can contest the OSHA citation and have the case heard by a commission administrative law judge, who ultimately issues a decision. The judge’s decision can then be appealed to the commission, whose members are presidential appointees.
OSHA Fines Pool Chemical Manufacturer More than $70,000
OSHA has cited Kearny, New Jersey-based Alden Leeds Inc., a pool chemical manufacturer, for exposing employees to safety hazards at worksites located in Kearny and Hackensack, New Jersey. Proposed penalties total $70,400.
“Employers who fail to follow through on their responsibility to provide safe workplaces will be held legally accountable,” said Kris Hoffman, director of OSHA’s Parsippany, New Jersey, area office. “It is vital that Alden Leeds remove these hazards immediately.”
OSHA initiated an inspection in response to a complaint, citing Alden Leeds for 23 serious violations with penalties of $66,550 and five other-than-serious violations with penalties of $3,850.
The serious citations are for failing to ensure workers being lifted by a forklift truck had an approved manlift cage; provide sufficient guardrails on work platforms; keep exits clear and mark exit doors; provide stable material storage; evaluate forklift operators every three years; conduct a preventative maintenance program for 2-ton cranes; ensure compressed air used for cleaning did not exceed 30 lb per square inch; and ensure workers did not use damaged electrical equipment.
The other-than-serious violations pertain to recordkeeping.