Archive for the ‘Safety’ Category

Last week, OSHA released a preliminary report of the top 10 most frequent workplace safety violations. In revealing the list, OSHA said that the number of violations were up almost 30% over the same period in 2008. The final list will be published in December.

The workplace violations are:

1. Scaffolding – 9,093 violations. Scaffold accidents most often result from the planking or support giving way, or from the employee slipping or being struck by a falling object.

2. Fall Protection – 6,771 violations. Any time a worker is at a height of four feet or more, the worker is at risk and needs to be protected. Fall protection must be provided at four feet in general industry, five feet in maritime, and six feet in construction.

3. Hazard Communication – 6,378 violations. Chemical manufacturers and importers are required to evaluate the hazards of the chemicals they produce or import and prepare labels and safety data sheets to convey the hazard information to their downstream customers.

4. Respiratory Protection – 3,803 violations. Respirators protect workers against insufficient oxygen environments, harmful dusts, fogs, smokes, mists, gases, vapors, and sprays. These hazards may cause cancer, lung impairment, other diseases, or death.

5. Lockout-Tag out – 3,321 violations. “Lockout-Tag out” refers to specific practices and procedures to safeguard employees from the unexpected start up of machinery and equipment, or the release of hazardous energy during service or maintenance activities.

6. Electrical (Wiring) – 3,079 violations. Working with electricity can be dangerous. Engineers, electricians, and other professionals work with electricity directly, including working on overhead lines, cable harnesses, and circuit assemblies. Others, such as office workers and sales people, work with electricity indirectly and may also be exposed to electrical hazards.

7. Ladders – 3,072 violations. Occupational fatalities caused by falls remain a serious public health problem. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) lists falls as one of the leading causes of traumatic occupational death, accounting for 8% of all occupational fatalities from trauma.

8. Powered Industrial Trucks – 2,993 violations. Each year, tens of thousands of injuries related to powered industrial trucks (PIT), or forklifts, occur in U.S. workplaces. Many employees are injured when lift trucks are inadvertently driven off loading docks, lifts fall between docks and an unsecured trailer, they are struck by a lift truck, or when they fall while on elevated pallets and tines.

9. Electrical (general) – 2,556 violations. See #6.

10. Machine Guarding – 2,364 violations. Any machine part, function, or process that may cause injury must be safeguarded. When the operation of a machine or accidental contact injures the operator or others in the vicinity, the hazards must be eliminated or controlled.

Closer to home, the most frequently cited violation by Cal/OSHA over the same time period is the Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP), which is a unique requirement of Cal/OSHA vs. Federal OSHA.

Do recognize any of the top 10 that you may have issues with? Is your IIPP up to date and is everyone trained? If you need help getting your safety or training programs up to speed, give us a call or send us an email. We’re here to help you succeed.

President Obama nominated David Michaels to head OSHA back in July. Although he hasn’t yet been confirmed, there are many signs on the horizon that OSHA will step up efforts to ensure compliance, including:

·         Increasing OSHA’s budget by over 10%, or $50.6 million, in part allowing them to hire more than 200 new employees.

·         Increase in construction enforcement. With economic stimulus incentives, including the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, OSHA will increase inspections to ensure compliance.

·         OSHA issued a proposed rule change here in September, to modify the HazCom (Hazard Communication Standard (HCS)) standard to align with the U.N.’s Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). The intent is to standardize chemical labelling due to shipments between countries.

·         On September 30, OSHA issued a Directive here to increase inspections and address the issue of under-recorded injuries and illnesses. This affects OSHA Form 300 reporting for companies of a certain size and in targeted industries.

·         Higher penalties to provide incentives for increased compliance. In addition, the appeal process is being reviewed to address the perception that the current process allows employers to unfairly reduce or eliminate incurred penalties.

·         There may once again be a push on passing an ergonomic standard to address repetitive motion injuries. This has been floating around for years, but may finally come to pass.

Many changes are on the way from OSHA and Cal/OSHA. Manufacturers are challenged by running their businesses in an already lean environment, and at the same time, make sure that they’re in compliance with all existing and new safety requirements. However, with increasing pressure due to serious injuries incurred on the job, OSHA is determined to step up their game to address the issue.

Is your Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) up to date? Didn’t know you needed one? If you need help getting your safety or training programs up to speed, give us a call or send us an email. We’re here to help you succeed.

Texting while driving or “distracted driving” is getting a lot of press lately. California’s had its share of serious texting incidents, including last year’s Metrolink commuter train crash, and several recent car crashes attributed to distracted drivers.

As a result of impairment that’s shown by some studies to be worse than DUI, 10 states, including California, have banned texting while driving, while another 8 have laws that will be enacted between now and January 1st. Further, there is a movement in process to pass federal legislation banning texting while driving. Over the last 2 days, there was a Distracted Driver Summit in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the U.S. D.O.T. (Department of Transportation), featuring several U.S. Senators, including Senator Charles Schumer of NY, an outspoken advocate on the subject.

So, while all of this is going on, you may be thinking that texting while driving isn’t relevant to business, but that would not be correct. What would happen if a salesperson or another employee is involved in a texting accident while driving on company business? Would you be liable if company policies and procedures didn’t ban texting while driving? It’s already cost companies tens of millions of dollars (read here) and with today’s rapidly evolving and ever-changing technology, it’s important that policies and procedures are up to date with these changes in order to mitigate company risk.

Are your policies are procedures up to date? Need help getting your process documentation or company policies in place or aligned? If you do or you’re not sure where to start, give us a call or send us an email. We’re here to help you succeed.

Did you know that Cal/OSHA and the state of California have specific requirements that employers need to take in order to prevent heat illness? Too busy focusing on the day to day operation to also focus on “other issues?”

The state of California has made heat illness prevention a high priority since the weather has recently turned unseasonably warm and temperatures are expected to be close to 100 degrees over the next several days.

That’s part of the problem. Most employers are too busy focusing on their businesses and what’s important to their business success to also focus on regulatory responsibilities that they ALSO have to take care of from a legal and risk management perspective.

For instance, Cal/OSHA and the state of California require that California employers with any outdoor places of employment comply with the Heat Illness Prevention Standard T8 CCR 3395. Employers are also required to have in place an overall Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) under T8 CCR 3203.

In a nutshell, California employers must take the following 4 steps to prevent heat related illness:

1)    Training – Train all employees and supervisors about heat illness prevention.

2)    Water – Provide enough fresh water so that each employee can drink at least 1 quart per hour, and encourage them to do so.

3)    Shade – Provide access to shade for at least 5 minutes of rest when an employee believes he or she needs a preventive recovery period. They should not wait until they feel sick to do so.

4)    Planning – Develop and implement written procedures for complying with the Cal/OSHA Heat Illness Prevention Standard.

If you’re an employer, do you have all of these in place? Cal/OSHA and the California Department of Industrial Relations require you to, and this is another example of what employers need to do while trying to survive the current business and economic climate.

Need help navigating through the current OSHA and state regulations? If you’re not sure whether or not you’re in compliance, or need help getting your program in place, give us a call or send us an email. We’re here to help you succeed.