In light of the recent snowstorms and in anticipation of more winter storms, OSHA issued a reminder to workers, employers, and the general public of the hazards associated with snow removal and recovery work.
“Cleaning up after a storm encompasses a variety of tasks, each of which can carry risks if performed incorrectly or without proper safeguards,” said Marthe Kent, OSHA’s regional administrator in Boston. “We want people to know what those risks are and what steps they can take to protect themselves against these hazards.”
Common hazards can include:
- Electric shock from contact with downed power lines or the use of ungrounded electrical equipment.
- Falls from snow removal on roofs, or while working in aerial lifts or on ladders.
- Being struck or crushed by trees, branches, or structures that collapse under the weight of accumulated snow.
- Carbon monoxide poisoning from gasoline-powered generators in inadequately ventilated areas or idling vehicles.
- Lacerations or amputations from unguarded or improperly operated chain saws and power tools, and improperly attempting to clear jams in snow blowers.
- Slips or falls on icy or snow-covered walking surfaces.
- Being struck by motor vehicles while working in roadways.
- Hypothermia or frostbite from exposure to cold temperatures.
Means of addressing these hazards can include:
- Assuming all power lines are energized, keeping a distance, and coordinating with utility companies.
- Making certain that all electrically powered equipment is grounded.
- Providing and ensuring the use of effective fall protection.
- Properly using and maintaining ladders.
- Using caution around surfaces weighed down by large amounts of snow.
- Making certain all powered equipment is properly guarded and disconnected from power sources before cleaning or performing maintenance.
- Using and wearing eye, face, and body protection.
- Clearing walking surfaces of snow and ice, and using salt or its equivalent where appropriate.
- Establishing and clearly marking work zones.
- Wearing reflective clothing.
- Using engineering controls, personal protective equipment, and safe work practices to reduce the length and severity of exposure to the cold.
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
Columbia, South Carolina 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™.
State Warns Retailers about Selling Skin-lightening Products that May Contain Mercury
The discovery of the toxic metal mercury in several skin lightening creams sold in the Chicago area has prompted state environmental officials to warn area retailers not to sell skin products if the product is not labeled, or to take special precautions when dealing with imported cosmetics that use unfamiliar names for mercury.
Recent investigations by public health officials in California, Virginia, and New York City have found high levels of mercury in skin lightening creams imported into the United States from China, Dominican Republic, India, Mexico, and several other countries. Mercury or mercury salts is sometimes used as an active ingredient in skin-lightening products to lighten the complexion, or to remove spots and freckles.
“Because mercury is toxic, skin-lightening creams, soaps and other cosmetics that have mercury in them are prohibited for sale or distribution in Illinois under a state law that went into effect last year,” said Illinois state EPA Director Doug Scott.
Using mercury-containing skin products may result in rashes, irritation, and other changes to the skin. Mercury may also be absorbed through the skin from prolonged exposure, posing a health risk to the nervous system and kidneys.
Illinois EPA recently distributed fact sheets to local chambers of commerce in Chicago to help inform retail store owners about the state sales ban. The fact sheet also provides information on the dangers of mercury, how to identify skin creams containing mercury, and what to do if these products are found in stores. The Illinois EPA recommends that retailers review the list of ingredients on skin-lightening products to determine if the product may contain mercury.
Retailers should not sell skin-lightening products if there is no label on the container, or if there are no ingredients printed on the product’s box or container. The state also recommends that retailers not sell or distribute any cream or cosmetic that lists any of the following ingredients on the label: “mercury,” “mercurio,” “calomel,” or mercury compounds such as “mercurous chloride.”
If any skin-lightening product is suspected of containing mercury, the retailer should arrange to ship the product back to the manufacturer, or dispose of the product as hazardous waste. The product should not be disposed in the trash with other solid waste.
January is National Radon Action Month
January is an especially good time to test homes and schools because windows and doors are closed tightly and people spend more time indoors.
Unsafe levels of radon can lead to serious illness. The Surgeon General has warned that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. Only smoking causes more lung cancer deaths. By making simple fixes in a home or building people can lower their health risks from radon.
Radon testing is the only way to know if radon is present, since it is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas. Test kits are available in home improvement centers and hardware stores and cost approximately $20. The kits are simple to use and they include instructions for how to mail them to a lab for the results.
One of the best ways to protect our families’ health is to get radon gas out of our homes. Since radon enters homes from under the ground, living healthy starts from the ground up. By preventing radon from entering homes, we can have safer, healthier air to breathe.
EPA developed Living Healthy & Green to educate the public about how easy it can be to mitigate radon. Part of the campaign features former NFL kicker Fuad Reveiz, now a home builder, who uses radon-resistant construction and encourages others to do the same.
The entire campaign is available in multiple media formats and sizes for newspapers, magazine, billboards, and the Web in both English and Spanish.
Employers Jailed for Failing to Comply with OSHA Citations and Court Sanctions
OSHA announced the arrest of Brian Andre, former owner of Andre Tuckpointing and Brickwork, and Regina Shaw, owner of Andre Stone & Mason Work Inc., the successor company to Andre Tuckpointing and Brickwork. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis ordered their arrest and incarceration for repeatedly failing to comply with court sanctions enforcing OSHA citations that had become final orders of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The two were taken into custody by authorities recently.
The order for incarceration stems from Mr. Andre and Ms. Shaw’s failure to comply with sanctions ordered by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, following the court’s initial ruling of contempt against Andre and Shaw in January 2010.
“Employers who expose workers to hazards and blatantly ignore OSHA citations will not be allowed to escape their responsibility of keeping workers safe—or sanctions levied against them for failing to do so,” said Charles E. Adkins, OSHA’s regional administrator in Kansas City, Missouri.
OSHA issued numerous citations from June 2003 to the present, to both the original company and its successor, for willful, repeat, and serious violations related to fall hazards, scaffolding erection deficiencies, power tool guarding, and other hazards in connection with multiple St. Louis-area projects. When the companies failed to comply with the court’s 11(b) order enforcing the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission’s final orders, the Labor Department’s Office of the Solicitor filed petitions for contempt.
As a result, a special master of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals found Brian Andre, Andre Stone & Mason Work Inc., and Regina Shaw in contempt, and ordered various sanctions including requiring them to pay outstanding penalties, continually accruing interest, and other miscellaneous fees in the current amount of $258,582. Andre Stone & Mason Work Inc., and Regina Shaw must pay a $100 daily penalty, calculated from the time of default in early 2008 on the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission’s final orders. Andre Stone & Mason Work Inc., must provide OSHA weekly notification of all current jobs and known future jobs at least 72 hours prior to commencement of work for a period of three years. The company also must provide training to all persons currently and subsequently designated as jobsite “competent persons” prior to beginning any work and provide the department with records of such training.
MSHA to Revise Examination Requirements in Underground Coal Mines
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration announced a proposal to revise its requirements for pre-shift, supplemental, on-shift, and weekly examinations. The proposed rule on Examinations of Work Areas in Underground Coal Mines for Violations of Mandatory Health or Safety Standards would require mine operators to take responsibility for conducting complete workplace examinations; correcting violations; and reviewing with mine examiners on a quarterly basis all citations and orders issued in areas where pre-shift, supplemental, on-shift, and weekly examinations are required.
“Examinations are the first line of defense for miners working in underground coal mines,” said Joseph A. Main, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health. “Mine operators must take ownership for their workers’ health and safety by conducting basic workplace examinations to assure they are in compliance with health and safety standards.”
“At the beginning of the shift, miners in an underground coal mine are particularly vulnerable to hazards and conditions in the workplace that may have developed during the prior shift. The examinations are intended to protect them,” Main said.
Under the existing standard for pre-shift, supplemental, on-shift, and weekly examinations, operators are required to identify, correct, and record hazardous conditions. The proposal would apply to these examinations and would require that operators also identify, correct, and record violations of mandatory health or safety standards.
MSHA reviewed accident investigation reports and the agency’s enforcement data on underground coal mines, and concluded that the agency needed to propose changes to the existing examination requirements. By reviewing records and data over a five-year period, MSHA determined that the same types of violations of mandatory health or safety standards are found by MSHA inspectors in underground coal mines every year.
Violations for accumulations of combustible materials, ventilation and roof control plans, and maintenance of incombustible content of rock dust are the top 10 cited safety standards year after year. These standards accounted for about 40% of the total violations at underground coal mines in 2009. Under the proposal, MSHA intends that an examiner looking for violations of mandatory health or safety standards would identify these types of violations and correct many conditions before miners suffer injury, illness, or death.
“Last year, MSHA inspectors issued 82,126 citations and orders at underground coal mines,” said Main. “These violations should be found and fixed by mine operators, not left for MSHA to find.”
OSHA Fines LM Wind Power Blades Following Fatality
OSHA has cited LM Wind Power Blades Inc., of Grand Forks, North Dakota, with five safety violations for exposing workers to fall and crushing hazards that ultimately took one worker’s life.
OSHA’s Bismarck Area Office began an investigation in July following the death of an employee working from a scissor lift who was crushed by a nearby crane. The employer is being cited with one willful, three serious, and one other-than-serious citation. Formerly known as LM Glasfiber Inc., the company manufactures wind turbine blades.
“A worker’s life was needlessly lost because the employer failed to identify and eliminate the hazards prior to allowing this employee to perform the work,” said Tom Deutscher, OSHA’s area office director in Bismarck. “It’s critical for employers to assess conditions before letting work begin.”
The alleged willful violation is for failing to ensure employees were adequately protected against struck-by and/or crushing hazards from a nearby crane. OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirements, or plain indifference to worker safety and health.
The three serious violations involve failing to use appropriate fall protection equipment while on an aerial lift, climbing the guardrails of a scissor lift without fall protection, and failing to safely position cranes for maintenance operations. 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.
The other-than-serious violation is for failing to provide adequate warning or “out-of-order” signs. An other-than-serious violation is one that has a relationship to job safety and health but would not directly cause death or serious physical harm.
Proposed penalties total $92,000. LM Wind Power Blades has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to contest them before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Prior to contesting, they may request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director in Bismarck. To report workplace accidents, fatalities, or situations posing imminent danger to workers, call OSHA’s toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742).
OSHA Fines Pasadena Refining Services in Texas $115,650 for Multiple Safety Hazards
OSHA cited Pasadena Refining Services Inc., with 21 serious violations for exposing workers to multiple safety and health hazards at the company’s facility in Pasadena, Texas. Proposed penalties total $115,650.
OSHA’s Houston South Area Office in Texas began its investigation on June 30 at the company’s facility on Red Bluff Road as part of the agency’s national emphasis program on process safety management of refineries.
The serious violations include failing to provide properly constructed scaffolds, provide supports to hold piping, provide controls to prevent valves from closing, conduct annual confined space audits, ensure guard rails are adequate, and ensure that operating procedures are up-to-date and accurate.
“OSHA’s National Emphasis Program is designed to comprehensively evaluate the petroleum refining industry,” said Mark Briggs, OSHA’s area director for the Houston South Area Office. “An employer’s lack of compliance with OSHA’s standards will not be tolerated.”
Pasadena Refining Services is an independent refinery that employs about 363 employees in Pasadena.