OSHA requires that PPE be safely designed and constructed for the tasks performed. OSHA is updating the references in its regulations to recognize more recent editions of the applicable national consensus standards, and is deleting editions of the national consensus standards that PPE must meet if purchased before a specified date. In addition, OSHA is amending its provision that requires safety shoes to comply with a specific American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard, and a provision that requires filter lenses and plates in eye-protective equipment to meet a test for transmission of radiant energy specified by another ANSI standard. In amending these paragraphs, OSHA will require this safety equipment to comply with the applicable PPE design provisions. These revisions are a continuation of OSHA’s effort to update or remove references to specific consensus and industry standards located throughout its standards.
“Workers exposed to occupational hazards requiring head, foot, or eye and face protection will now be provided protection based on a standard that reflects state-of-the-art technology and materials,” said acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, Jordan Barab. “This final rule is another step in OSHA’s efforts to update or remove references to outdated national consensus and industry standards.”
The final rule will become effective on October 9, 2009. For technical inquiries, contact Ted Twardowski, OSHA’s Directorate of Standards and Guidance, at 202-693-2070.
NPPTL Announces the Availability of Presentation Materials for the September 17 Public Meeting
Topics that will be discussed are respirator standards development projects for:
- Supplied-Air Respirators (SAR)
- Air-Fed Ensembles
- Total Inward Leakage (TIL) Test for Respirators Other than Filtering Facepiece and Half Mask
- In keeping with the green movement, NPPTL will not provide hard copies of the presentations at the meeting site. The presentations may be downloaded or interested parties may print any of the presentations.
This meeting will also be available via Live Meeting Conferencing. This service provides remote access capability for participants to listen in and view the presentations over the internet simultaneously. Remote participants will have the opportunity to ask questions during the open comment period. To register for Live Meeting Conferencing participation, call 412-386-5200. This option will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis and is limited to 50 participants.
OSHA Forum on Pandemic Influenza
An expert panel of OSHA, state and county health officials, and a small business representative will discuss the current H1N1 (swine flu) threat, explore preventive measures, and identify resources for small businesses on preparing their workplaces for a pandemic.
OSHA Fines Metal Improvement Co. $275,000 for Serious and Repeat Violations
OSHA has cited Metal Improvement Co., doing business as E/M Coating Services in Lombard, Illinois, with alleged serious and repeat citations of federal workplace safety and health standards. Proposed penalties total $275,000.
OSHA began a safety and health inspection of the Lombard site, which provides decorative metal coating and blasting metal services, in March of 2009, based on a referral from another public agency alleging numerous fires and other safety issues. The safety inspection revealed 10 serious and six repeat violations with proposed penalties totaling $155,000.
Some of the serious safety hazards include various electrical and equipment issues, lack of a spray booth sprinkler system, and fire hazards in a spray booth. 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.
Some of the repeat violations addressed fall protection deficiencies, improper oxygen cylinder storage, and other specific electrical hazards. The company had been cited for these violations in previous inspections.
The OSHA health inspection found 10 serious and three repeat violations with proposed penalties totaling $120,000. Some of the serious health hazards include a lack of PPE, confined space entry violations, a lack of emergency eyewash and shower facilities where required, and problems with respirator equipment fit. Repeat violations pertain to the company’s failure to evaluate if areas are permit-required confined spaces, training deficiencies, and failure to provide an eyewash in an area where corrosive materials are used.
“OSHA has inspected this company on five occasions going back to 1997, resulting in numerous violations, including many we found again on this most recent inspection,” said OSHA Area Director Kathy Webb, North Aurora, Illinois. “It’s time for this indifference to employee health and safety to stop.”
International Bridge & Iron Co. Fined $225,500 for New and Recurring Hazards
International Bridge & Iron Co., a manufacturer of structural steel bridge parts, faces a total of $225,500 in proposed OSHA fines for new and recurring safety hazards at its Newington, Connecticut, manufacturing plant.
OSHA opened an inspection in February in response to a complaint and found several hazards similar to those cited in a 2007 OSHA inspection. These included unguarded stairs; lack of eye protection; incomplete and uncertified employee training to prevent the unintended startup of machinery during maintenance; cranes lacking bridge bumpers; unguarded moving machine parts; uninspected ropes and lifting hooks; slings not marked with their lifting capacity; unguarded grinders and pulleys; and ungrounded, uninspected, or damaged electrical equipment or wiring.
These conditions resulted in the issuance of 17 repeat citations, carrying $150,000 in proposed fines. OSHA issues repeat citations when an employer has previously been cited for substantially similar hazards and those citations have become final.
“The sizable fines proposed here reflect both the breadth of hazards found in this workplace and this employer’s failure to prevent the recurrence of hazardous conditions that can, if left unaddressed, lead to falls, lacerations, electrocution and crushing injuries,” said C. William Freeman III, OSHA’s area director in Hartford.
An additional $75,500 in fines have been proposed for 16 serious citations encompassing uninspected overhead cranes; uninspected lifting hooks; defective and unmarked lifting slings; unguarded live electrical parts; damaged electrode holders and insulation; incorrectly stored compressed gas cylinders; unmarked and unchecked fire extinguishers; and slipping hazards from an oil spill in a work area.
OSHA Cites Pride Plating Inc. Fined Over $200,000 for Willful, Repeat, and Serious Violations
OSHA has cited Pride Plating Inc., with alleged willful, repeat, and serious violations following an inspection at the company’s facility in Grove, Oklahoma. Proposed penalties total $209,000.
“Employees should not be exposed to safety and health hazards,” said David Bates, OSHA’s area director in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma “In this case, the significant penalty of $209,000 demonstrates OSHA’s commitment to eliminating safety and health hazards in the workplace.”
OSHA’s Oklahoma City Area Office began its investigation March 4 at the company’s facility at 2900 East Highway 10. A willful violation citation was issued for failure to perform periodic monitoring after initial monitoring indicated workers were exposed to chromium VI in excess of OSHA’s permissible exposure limit. OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
A citation for 10 repeat violations was issued for failure to provide safe walking surfaces, failure to provide PPE for workers exposed to chromium, failure to prevent workers from being overexposed to chromium VI, and failure to properly train workers who have been exposed to chromium, caustics, and corrosives used in the facility.
A serious citation noting three violations was issued for failure to provide adequate washing facilities for workers exposed to chromium VI and failure to prohibit tobacco products in chromium-regulated areas.
OSHA also issued a notice of failure-to-abate citation to Pride Plating relating to three violations: the company’s failure to implement a respiratory program, failure to institute a medical surveillance program for workers overexposed to chromium VI, and failure to develop and implement a hazard communication program for workers exposed to caustics and corrosives. A failure-to-abate citation is issued when an employer has not corrected a violation for which OSHA previously issued a citation and the abatement date has passed.
Pride Plating employs about 90 workers at the Grove, Oklahoma facility.
OSHA Proposes Penalties Totaling $116,600 for Guam Contractors for Multiple Safety and Health Violations
OSHA has proposed penalties totaling $116,600 against a general contractor and five subcontractors for 61 alleged safety violations found during a March inspection at the Charthouse Condominium Project in Tumon, Guam.
OSHA cited general contractor Paxia Builders Inc., and five subcontractors with 53 serious, seven repeat, and one other-than serious violation. The violations include failing to provide eye and head protection, lack of fall protection, unprotected exposed rebar, various equipment safety concerns, lack of required safety training and fire prevention measures, failure to maintain safety and health programs or conduct regular safety inspections at the jobsite, and a variety of sanitation-related violations.
“The workers at this construction site were exposed to multiple serious safety and health violations,” said Ken Atha, OSHA’s regional administrator in San Francisco. “With construction projects expected to increase in Guam with the military buildup, OSHA wants employers to take safety and health seriously to ensure each of their workers is properly trained and working safely each day.”
Paxia has been cited for 24 serious violations with proposed penalties of $31,500 and seven repeat violations with proposed penalties of $49,100. OSHA has inspected Paxia on 15 previous occasions, with violations found during 11 of those inspections.
The five subcontractors included in the inspection and cited by OSHA include the following Guam-based contractors:
- Equatorial Manufactory Inc. — three serious violations with proposed penalties of $5,400
- Island Roofing Co. — four serious violations and one other-than-serious violation with proposed penalties of $4,000
- JBL General Builders — 12 serious violations with proposed penalties of $14,400
- M Electric Corp. — seven serious violations with proposed penalties of $10,200
- UMS Equipment Rental — three serious violations with proposed penalties of $2,000
An other-than-serious violation is defined as a situation where exposure cannot reasonably be predicted to cause death or serious physical harm to employees but the violation would have a direct impact on employees’ safety or health.
OSHA Proposes More than $90,000 in Penalties Against Griffin Industries Rendering Plant
OSHA has proposed $91,275 in penalties following an inspection of a Griffin Industries site in Starke, Florida. The rendering plant is being cited with one willful violation and a $55,000 proposed penalty for not providing workers with fall protection when working above an industrial blender.
One repeat violation is being issued with a $25,000 proposed penalty for the company’s continued failure to conduct an annual audit of its lockout/tagout of energy source procedures for equipment.
The company is also being cited for three serious violations and one other-than-serious violation with proposed penalties totaling $11,275 for failing to anchor a machine, not providing a lock to lock-out equipment, not shutting down equipment during clearing operations, and not covering a floor hole.
Cold Spring, Kentucky-based Griffin Industries collects and recycles agricultural waste, meat and poultry by-products, grocery scraps, restaurant grease, and waste from the bakery industry.
“Fall hazards continue to be a leading cause of employee deaths in the workplace and should never be overlooked in any industry,” said James Borders, OSHA’s area director in Jacksonville.
OSHA Cites Knobel’s Refrigeration Inc. for Safety Violations Including Fall Hazards
OSHA has cited Knobel’s Refrigeration Inc., of North Platte, Nebraska, for alleged violations of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act. OSHA cited the company following an investigation into an accident in North Platte, where an employee fell about 12 feet to the ground when he lost his grip near the top rung of a fixed ladder while climbing to access the roof of a building to service refrigeration equipment. The employee died 10 days later from injuries sustained in the fall.
“Fall hazards must be eliminated,” said Charles Adkins, OSHA’s regional administrator in Kansas City, Missouri. “It is imperative that employers take the necessary steps to inspect equipment and provide training for their workers to prevent accidents like this from occurring.”
Inspectors found three alleged serious and one alleged other-than-serious violations of the OSH Act. Two of the serious violations relate to using a fixed ladder with less than 7 inches of perpendicular clearance between the rungs and any obstruction behind the ladder—in this case, a gutter near the top rung served as an obstruction—as well as failure to train workers on fixed ladder hazards. The third serious violation, unrelated to the accident, involves failure to properly train workers to operate industrial trucks.
The violations carry $15,750 in proposed penalties against the company.
Annual AIHA/ASSE North Texas OSHA Regulatory Update Seminar Scheduled for September 15
Directorate of Standards and Guidance Director, Dorothy Dougherty; Region VI Administrator, Dean McDaniel; and other OSHA officials will explain emphasis programs and agency policies to local safety and health professionals. For more details and to register, contact Kira Cox at The University of Texas at Arlington, 817-272-2581.
National SGE of the Year Award Recipient Honored at the VPPPA Conference
Sander, a U.S. Postal Service employee, has participated on nine VPP on-site evaluations and is a member of the VPPPA Region VII Mentoring Committee. This award recognizes an SGE who epitomizes and exhibits exceptional mentoring, outreach, and OSHA support in VPP.
Update on NIOSH Studies Related to Respirator Performance and Airborne Transmission of the H1N1 Virus
On August 11–13, NIOSH researchers participated in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) workshop on PPE for healthcare workers potentially exposed on the job to the H1N1 virus. The researchers described current scientific results and details of ongoing NIOSH studies on the key issues of respirator performance and airborne transmission of the virus.
The IOM committee will make recommendations to CDC and OSHA.
NIOSH is Seeking Comments on Numerous Draft Plans and Programs
NIOSHA has announced it is seeking comments on a number of draft plans and programs, as follows:
Oklahoma Surveillance Study Examines Burn Injuries Among Roofers
A new study by the Oklahoma Occupational Surveillance Project of the Oklahoma State Department of Health examined burn injuries among roofers, using data collected from Oklahoma burn centers and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The study revealed that 7% of serious work-related burn injuries and deaths occurred among roofers.