The tool performs a quick check to determine if the incident must be directly reported to OSHA, or if it should be reported to your state occupational health and safety agency. If reporting to the state is required, the tool identifies the state phone number to call.
Employers are required to report
- All work-related fatalities within 8 hours
- All work-related inpatient hospitalizations, all amputations, and all losses of an eye within 24 hours
Only fatalities occurring within 30 days of the work-related incident must be reported to OSHA. In-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye incidents must be reported to OSHA only if they occur within 24 hours of the work-related incident.
If any of these events occur, the employer must report the following information:
- Business name
- Names of employees affected
- Location and time of the incident
- Brief description of the incident
- Additional information relevant to the incident
- The number of fatalities and/or injuries
- The object or substance that have caused the harm (if known)
- Whether the harm was a fatality, hospitalization, amputation, loss of an eye, or some combination of these
- The identity of a contact person and their phone number
New Exclusions for Solvent Recycling and Hazardous Secondary Materials
EPA’s new final rule on the definition of solid waste creates new opportunities for waste recycling outside the scope of the full hazardous waste regulations. This rule, which went into effect on July 13, 2015, streamlines 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 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. 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 webcast where you will learn:
- Which of your materials qualify under the new exclusions
- What qualifies as a hazardous secondary material
- Which solvents can be remanufactured, and which cannot
- What is a tolling agreement
- What is legitimate recycling
- Generator storage requirements
- What documentation you must maintain
- Requirements for off-site shipments
- Training and emergency planning requirements
- If it is acceptable for the recycler to be outside the US
Cary HAZWOPER Refresher and DOT/IATA Training
Columbia RCRA and DOT Training
Indianapolis RCRA, DOT, and IATA/IMO Training
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.
High & Dry Roofing Fined $152,460 for Exposing Workers to Potentially Fatal Falls
Litchfield contractor Michael Cahoon, who does business as High & Dry Roofing, knows he must protect his employees against falls and other hazards at his jobsites. Yet, OSHA has cited him repeatedly for putting workers in danger of deadly and disabling falls, most recently in Manchester.
Two days later, inspectors returned and found the same hazards again. As a result, OSHA cited Cahoon for two willful violations of workplace safety standards.
"This is a repeat violator who knowingly and needlessly refuses to follow basic safety procedures. High & Dry Roofing employees face the risk of death or disabling injuries every time their employer denies them vital and legally required safeguards," said Rosemarie Ohar Cole, OSHA's area director for New Hampshire.
OSHA's inspection also identified four repeated violated violations for hazards similar to those cited in 2012 following OSHA inspections at High & Dry Roofing worksites in Hampton and North Hampton. These violations include:
- Failing to provide fall protection for employees working on scaffolds
- Lack of hard hats and eye protection for workers
- Failure to guard the operating parts of an air compressor against contact
In addition, OSHA issued four serious citations for the following hazards:
- Locating scaffolding too close to a live, 240-volt electrical line
- Inadequate scaffold access
- Using ladders on scaffold platforms
- Failing to provide training to workers on fall protection
The program 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.
Dollar General Corp. Fined $162,800 for Exposing Employees to Hazards
OSHA initiated the inspection on July 14, in response to a complaint alleging workplace safety hazards at Dollar General’s Sherman, Texas, store. OSHA issued citations for one serious, two repeat, and two willful violations.
The company was also cited for two repeat violations for failing to keep the store aisles clean and clear, and ensuring that portable fire extinguishers were mounted and accessible. Proposed penalties total $162,800.
“Dollar General stores nationwide have repeatedly been cited for exposing their workers to hazards posed by overstocking issues, while promising time and again to take corrective action, yet workers continue to be exposed to unnecessary hazards,” said Josh Bernstein, OSHA’s acting area director in Fort Worth, Texas. “It is the employer’s responsibility to find and fix these hazards and OSHA will continue to hold this employer accountable.”
Dollar General has 11,500 stores in 40 states, and employs about 90,000 workers nationwide, including eight workers at its Sherman location. OSHA has received complaints from Dollar General’s employees in 21 states since 2006, and has cited the company for 240 safety violations, including numerous willful and repeat violations during this same time period.
Susquehanna Supply Company Inc. Fined $140,000 After Trench Collapse Leads to Death
The bridge repair and construction company was contracted by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to rehabilitate a small steel-frame bridge over the creek.
OSHA investigators determined the employee was working inside a trench, approximately 12-15 feet deep, on the outside of the bridge abutment when the adjacent trench wall collapsed and he became buried in soil. The worker was in the trench shoveling soil off the base of the abutment wall because it was not reachable by an excavator.
The employer has 15 business days from receipt of the citations and proposed penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the findings before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
Proposed penalties total $140,000.
"Susquehanna Supply Company took unacceptable risks with its workers' lives by failing to comply with common-sense safety practices intended to prevent trenching tragedies such as this from occurring," said Mark Stelmack, director of OSHA's Wilkes-Barre office. "Employers who expose workers to cave-in hazards from an unprotected trench place those employees' lives in immediate jeopardy. This will not be tolerated."
Latite Roofing Repeatedly Exposed Workers to Fall Hazards
Inspectors with OSHA initiated three separate inspections of Latite Roofing after observing employees performing roofing work without fall protection. Latite was previously cited for similar violations in 2013 at a worksite in Coconut Creek, Florida. Proposed penalties total $115,500.
The company has been cited nine times in the past five years. However, OSHA found that Latite is again exposing employees to the hazards of fall protection. A lack of adequate fall protection when working from elevations can result in serious or fatal injuries.
SB Framing Services Cited After Worker Suffers Fatal Fall
Had his employer taken the necessary steps to fully protect him, a 32-year-old construction worker might not have suffered deadly injuries in a fall at a Naples building site on September 26, 2015.
Selvin Velasquez, a residential framer, was working at a new residence at Marbella Isles on Monticello Boulevard when he lost his balance and fell from 19 feet to the ground below. Velasquez was transported to a hospital where he later succumbed.
In its investigation, OSHA determined that SB Framing Services, Inc., failed to ensure a fall protection system was in use.
“This tragedy was preventable,” said Condell Eastmond, director of OSHA’s Fort Lauderdale Area Office. “SB Framing Services was warned previously by a third-party, as recent as the day before this incident, that the workers on the roof had no fall protection and needed to be secured safely. The company’s owner ignored the warning and took no action to protect its workers.”
. SB Framing Services’ failure to provide workers with a training program on workplace safety resulted in a serious violation. Proposed penalties total $53,900.
SB Framing is a framing company that was subcontracted by A&C Construction and USI Contractors to install sheathing and framing for the new residential project.
Frankfort Company Recertified as VPP “Star” For Outstanding Workplace Safety & Health
CF Industries, Inc., of Frankfort, Indiana, has achieved recertification in the Indiana Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) as a “Star” worksite for superb workplace safety and health success. The employees at the site will hold the title for another five years as a model workplace in safety and health for small-town Hoosier businesses.
“These folks have proven how successful a culture of safety can be,” said Indiana Department of Labor (IDOL) Commissioner Rick J. Ruble. “The facility hasn’t had a lost time injury in more than forty years because management and employees have committed to their goals of safety and health standards. Congratulations to everyone at CF Industries, Inc.; the IDOL looks forward to continuing to work with you.”
A distribution facility, the Frankfort Ammonia Terminal of CF Industries, Inc., operates with four full-time and six part-time employees. The facility refrigerates, stores, and distributes anhydrous ammonia, which is a concentrated nitrogen fertilizer used as a cost-effective fertilizing method in farming. Working with anhydrous ammonia can be highly dangerous, which is why the company has instituted thorough workplace standards with annual comprehensive evaluations and equipment integrity inspections. All management and employees work hard in understanding all safety and health practices with in-depth annual training.
For more than forty years, the CF Industries, Inc., worksite in Frankfort has had no lost time injuries or incidents. The site’s total case incidence rate (TCIR) is zero, a clean slate compared to the BLS industry average of 3.3 per 100 workers. This also means that the days away from work, restricted activity, or job transfer (DART) case incidence rate is also 0, compared to the BLS average of 2.1 per 100 workers.
Safety News Links