Safety Advisory for Rail Workers

“Clear communication is critical to keeping employees out of harm’s way,” said US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “I want railway workers to return home safely to their families after their shift and it is the responsibility of the railroads and their employees to keep the work environment as safe as possible.”

Safety Advisory 2014-02 Roadway Worker Authority Limits, highlights the need for railroads to ensure that appropriate safety redundancies are in place in the event an employee fails to comply with existing rules and procedures. The advisory describes several related incidents and stresses the importance of clear communication and the need for railroads to monitor their employees for compliance. This Safety Advisory satisfies one National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) safety recommendation related to dispatchers and partially addresses another related to redundant signal protection.

There are three safety measures in the advisory designed to reduce incidents that FRA expects railroads to take action on immediately:

1. Increase monitoring of their employees for compliance with existing applicable rules and procedures
2. Examine train dispatching systems, rules, and procedures to ensure that appropriate safety redundancies are in place
3. If a railroad determines that appropriate safety redundancies are not in place, adopt electronic technology—such as the Enhanced Employee Protection System, Hi-Rail Limits Compliance System, and the Train Approach Warning System—that would provide appropriate safety redundancies

Until such technologies are in place, railroads should stress importance of dispatchers being advised of roadway workers’ whereabouts and work plans; forbid student dispatchers from removing blocking devises until confirmed by a supervisor; and that, prior to passing any absolute signal, a roadway worker should verify the limits of his or her authority.

FRA believes Positive Train Control, a system for monitoring and controlling train movements to enhance safety, would have prevented the incidents described in the Safety Advisory.

However, where Positive Train Control is not in effect, FRA recommends that railroads adopt one or more electronic technologies that may serve to fill the technology gap and safeguard roadway workers.

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.

Environmental Resource Center is offering live online training for you to learn how the new rule differs from current requirements, how to implement the changes, and when the changes must be implemented. 

Wilmington RCRA and DOT Training

Raleigh Area 24-Hour HAZWOPER Training

Cleveland RCRA and DOT Training

New Publication Highlights Solutions to Prevent Overexertion Injuries for Retail Workers

“Data has shown us that not only do musculoskeletal injuries result in time away from work across all industry sectors, but data shows that they affect workers in the wholesale and retail trade at a higher rate,” said NIOSH Director John Howard, M.D. “This new resource is an invaluable tool for workers in this industry to help decrease injuries and increase productivity.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, musculoskeletal injuries, also called overexertion injuries, accounted for approximately 30% of occupational injuries that resulted in time away from work. Additionally, laborers and freight, stock, and material movers experience the highest number of overexertion injuries. These injuries often involve strains and sprains to the lower back, shoulders, and upper limbs.

While this new publication focuses on the grocery sector, the easy-to-read format can be adapted to other scenarios including for those working in warehouse and storage facilities. The technology presented may also support a retailer’s growing Internet sales that depend on moving large quantities of merchandise often with fewer employees.

Proposed National Total Worker Health Agenda; Draft Available for Public Comment

The draft agenda is available for public comment, until closing of the federal docket on December 22, 2014, 11:59 pm EST.

Stakeholders are invited to provide input on the top priority research, practice, and policy issues to include in the Proposed National Total Worker Health™ Agenda to help improve integrated workplace practices, prevent worker injury and illness, and advance worker safety, health, and well-being.

“A growing body of science supports the effectiveness of integrating health protection programs with health promotion programs in efforts to create workplace interventions that advance worker safety, health and well-being,” said NIOSH Director John Howard, M.D. “A National Agenda with stakeholder input and support is imperative in moving forward with the Total Worker Health™ strategy.”

The NIOSH Total Worker Health™ program is guided by the vision that both work-related factors and health factors beyond the workplace jointly contribute to many safety and health problems that confront today’s workers and their families. The Total Worker Health™ perspective is a broad-based, integrated approach and includes issues related to protecting the safety and health of workers in the work environment, preserving human resources through employment practices, and promoting health and well-being for individual workers.

The Proposed National Total Worker Health™ Agenda includes four strategic goals:

• Advance and conduct etiologic, surveillance, and intervention research that builds the evidence base for effectively integrating health protection and health promotion activities in the workplace
• Increase the awareness and adoption of effective, integrated occupational safety and health protection and health promotion activities in the workplace
• Create guidance for policies that promote integration of occupational safety and health protection and health promotion activities in the workplace
• Build professional capacity to strengthen the Total Worker Health™ workforce and Total Worker Health™ field to support the development, growth, and maintenance of integrated occupational safety and health protection and health promotion activities in the workplace

• Do you see your own organization's goals reflected in the Proposed National Total Worker Health™ Agenda?
• What are the bridges between your own work and the Proposed National Total Worker Health™ Agenda?
• Are there any missing components or gaps in the Proposed National Total Worker Health™ Agenda?

US Granite Cited for Willful, Serious and Repeat Violations.

. A citation and notification of penalty was issued on November 14, 2014, following an inspection of the facility on May 27 and 28, 2014. Violations included:

• Use of damaged below-the-hook lifter/clamp to handle and move granite and marble slabs, causing employees to be exposed to struck-by and/or crushed-by hazards
• A stairway less than 44” wide was not equipped with at least one handrail
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• The employer did not ensure that each affected employee used appropriate eye or face protection when exposed to eye or face hazards from flying particles, molten metal, liquid chemicals, acids or caustic liquids, chemical gases or vapors, or potentially injurious light radiation
• The employer did not designate a program administrator who was qualified by appropriate training or experience that was commensurate with the complexity of the program to administer or oversee the respiratory protection program and conduct the required evaluations of program effectiveness
• Where lockout was used for energy control, the periodic inspection did not include a review, between the inspector and each authorized employee, of that employee's responsibilities under the energy control procedure being inspected
• Each affected employee was not instructed in the purpose and use of the lockout/tagout energy control procedure
• Forklift modifications and additions which affected capacity and safe operation (boom attachment) were performed without manufacturers prior written approval
• Prior to permitting an employee to operate a powered industrial truck (except for training purposes), the employer did not ensure that each operator has successfully completed the training required
• Employees were using damaged slings, and were exposed to the hazards of being struck-by and/or crushed-by marble and granite slabs weighing more than 4,000 lb
• Slings employees used to lift, move, and load granite and marble slabs were not marked to show the rated capacity
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