OSHA has scheduled two additional stakeholder meetings, one in Washington, D.C., and one in Sacramento, California, to solicit comments in developing the Injury and Illness Prevention Program proposed rule. These additional meetings are part of a series of five stakeholder meetings.
The stakeholder meetings are informal discussions to provide OSHA with the necessary information to develop a rule that will help employers reduce workplace injuries and illnesses through a systematic process proactively addressing workplace safety and health hazards.
“With this proposal, we will be asking employers to find and fix the hazards in their workplaces,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, Dr. David Michaels. “This common sense rule will help make the secretary of labor’s vision of ‘good jobs for everyone’ a reality.”
Two meetings have been conducted in East Brunswick, New Jersey, and Dallas, Texas. Registration for a third meeting in Washington, D.C., on June 29 reached full capacity. To allow more stakeholders to provide input, OSHA has scheduled another Washington meeting for July 20, and an August 3 meeting is scheduled in Sacramento. All meetings will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. local time.
Submissions can also be mailed to Eastern Research Group Inc., 110 Hartwell Ave., Lexington, Massachusetts 02421, Attention: OSHA I2P2 Stakeholder Meeting Registration. Additionally, submissions may be faxed to 781-674-2906 labeled, Attention: OSHA I2P2 Stakeholder Meeting Registration.
Submission deadlines for confirmed registrations are July 6 for the Washington meeting and July 20 for the Sacramento meeting. After these deadlines, registration will remain open until the meetings are full.
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$42,300 Penalty for 9 Serious Safety Violations, Worker Fatality
OSHA has cited Schneider Electric, doing business as Square D, in El Paso for alleged workplace safety violations following the electrocution fatality of a worker at the company’s facility on Northwestern Drive.
“Employees deserve a safe workplace,” said Jack Rector, OSHA’s area director in El Paso. “If the company had followed OSHA’s standards to ensure that testing equipment was free of electrical hazards, this tragedy could have been avoided.”
OSHA’s El Paso Area Office began its inspection on January 21 after a worker was electrocuted when he grabbed the test leads on a shop-made cart the company used to test equipment. The investigation found that Schneider Electric, which employs about 160 workers at its El Paso facility, exposed workers to various electrical hazards during the testing process of equipment the company manufactures.
OSHA proposed penalties totaling $42,300 and has cited the company with nine serious violations including failing to ensure personal protective equipment was tested and maintained; failing to ensure that workers who were testing the equipment wore proper electrical rated gloves, footwear, and/or fire resistant clothing; failing to provide written procedures for equipment testing; failing to ensure that qualified employees were allowed to work on energized electrical parts or equipment, and failing to ensure that all electrical openings in boxes were properly covered and closed. A serious violation is one in which there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.
First Reactivated Filtration Media Certified for Water Treatment
NSF International, a public health and safety organization, announced that Calgon Carbon Corporation’s plant in Blue Lake, California is the first to receive NSF certification for reactivated carbon used for water treatment. NSF certification to NSF/ANSI Standard 61: Drinking Water System Components—Health Effects verifies that the reactivated carbon is safe for reuse in municipal water treatment applications, such as those used to treat river, lake, or well water, making it potable for humans.
Municipal water treatment plants use activated carbon (media) to reduce organic compounds and contaminants in drinking water, and this carbon media needs to be periodically replaced. Rather than disposing spent media in a landfill, the media can be reactivated, which removes contaminants and enables it to be reused by municipal water treatment facilities. Certification to NSF/ANSI 61 ensures the reactivated media reused by municipal water treatment plants meet national requirements for health and safety.
NSF/ANSI Standard 61: Drinking Water System Components—Health Effects outlines requirements for regenerated/reactivated water treatment media, including inspections of regeneration facilities as well as periodic testing of regenerated media by an accredited certifying organization. NSF/ANSI 61 also requires that the regeneration/reactivation facilities have a robust quality system, ongoing evaluations of contaminants in the raw source water, and an evaluation of the regeneration process to verify removal of these contaminants.
Reactivation is a high-temperature thermal process, whereby spent water filtration media can be safely and cost effectively treated and reused. During the reactivation process, absorbed organic compounds and contaminants are destroyed, and the reactivated carbon’s filtration capacity is restored. Reactivation also is better for the environment, significantly reducing the CO2 footprint associated with the production, supply, and use of virgin activated carbon.
To obtain certification from NSF International, Calgon Carbon completed a rigorous process that included submission of product samples, formulation reviews, data collection, testing, and monitoring. NSF will periodically audit Calgon’s facility and test samples to ensure ongoing compliance.
OSHA Cites Ford for Damaged Overhead Cranes
OSHA has cited the Ford Motor Co. Buffalo Stamping Plant in Hamburg, New York, with an alleged willful violation of safety standards for not repairing or removing unsafe overhead cranes from service. The citation follows an OSHA inspection opened in January 2010 in response to a complaint from workers at the plant.
OSHA standards require that employers inspect cranes to identify unsafe conditions and remove the cranes from operation until the hazards are corrected. OSHA’s inspection found five instances where overhead cranes used to lift and set dies or lift coils of steel were allowed to remain in service after defects were identified during inspections conducted in 2008, 2009, and 2010. The defects included worn brake drums, loose or sheared coupling bolts, and worn or damaged gears.
“Management’s ongoing knowledge of and failure to correct these repeatedly recognized defects exposed workers to potential crushing injuries had one or more of these cranes failed,” said Arthur Dube, OSHA’s area director for western New York. “It should not take an OSHA inspection and enforcement action to prompt an employer to complete necessary repairs that should have been made months, even years, ago.”
The willful citation carries a proposed fine of $70,000. OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for worker safety and health.
“One means of preventing hazards such as these is to establish an effective comprehensive workplace safety and health program, in which workers and employers work together to proactively evaluate, identify and eliminate hazardous conditions,” said Robert Kulick, OSHA’s regional administrator in New York.
Sneed Shipbuilding Cited for Electrical and Other Safety Hazards
OSHA has cited Sneed Shipbuilding Inc., for alleged serious, repeat, and other-than-serious violations for exposing employees to electrical and other safety hazards at the company’s facility in Channelview, Texas. Proposed penalties total $59,300.
“Welders were using damaged welding leads, and the company failed to repair damaged electrical junction boxes,” said David Doucet, director of OSHA’s Houston North Area Office. “Electrical hazards like these can cause electrocution.”
OSHA’s Houston North Area Office began its investigation on April 27, finding structural deficiencies on one of the crawler cranes Sneed Shipbuilding maintained and operated, as well as electrical hazards throughout the shipyard. OSHA has issued 19 serious citations, including failing to provide employees with fall protection, guards on grinders, covers over open manholes in decks, and fire extinguishers in areas where flammable paint and solvents are used.
A repeat violation has been issued for failing to provide employees operating crawler cranes with load rating charts. A repeat violation is issued when an employer previously was cited for the same or a similar violation of any standard, regulation, rule, or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last three years.
Two other-than-serious citations have been issued for failing to properly complete the required Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses form, and to maintain a written respiratory protection program for employees exposed to inhalation hazards. An other-than-serious violation is one that has a direct relationship to job safety and health but probably would not cause death or serious physical harm.
Postal Service Cited for Electrical Hazards at Mail Processing Facility
OSHA has cited the U.S. Postal Service for alleged willful and serious violations of safety standards at the Portland, Oregon, Processing and Distribution Center, located at 715 N.W. Hoyt St. An OSHA inspection conducted in response to employee complaints resulted in a total of $77,500 in fines for electrical hazards and a failure to adequately lock out machines’ power sources to prevent unexpected startups.
“The Postal Service disregarded basic electrical safety practices, which left workers at this facility exposed to unnecessary risk of serious injury,” said Richard S. Terrill, OSHA regional administrator in Seattle.
OSHA’s inspection found workers were performing tests on live electrical equipment and doing so without adequate personal protective equipment, safety-related work practices and warning signs, as well as working on equipment that had not first been de-energized.
As a result of these conditions, OSHA has issued the Postal Service one willful citation with a proposed fine of $70,000.
In addition, two serious citations with $7,500 in fines have been issued for failure to adequately lock out machines’ power sources to prevent unexpected startup during servicing and for inadequate insulation on electric cables. OSHA issues serious citations when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from hazards about which an employer knew or should have known.
Dr. Rafael Moure-Eraso Confirmed and Appointed as New Chairman and Mark Griffon as Board Member of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board
Dr. Rafael Moure-Eraso has been confirmed and appointed as the new chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB), the agency announced on June 25; Mr. Mark Griffon has been appointed as a new board member, filling the other vacancy on the Board.
The new chairman and board member were nominated by President Obama on March 22, 2010. They were discharged from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on June 17 and confirmed by the full Senate on June 23. They were appointed and commissioned by the president the following day.
Outgoing Chairman John Bresland said, “I greatly look forward to working with the new appointees; their diverse backgrounds and deep dedication to workplace safety will serve as an invaluable resource for the board as we enter a time of profound challenge and opportunity.”
Mr. Bresland has now stepped down from the chairman position but will continue to serve as a board member for the remainder of his five-year term, which runs through March 2013.
Dr. Moure-Eraso has until now served as Chair and Head of the Department of Work Environment, School of Health and Environment, University of Massachusetts, Lowell. He has 30 years of experience in workplace safety issues and is a certified industrial hygienist. He received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Bucknell University. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati in Environmental Health-Industrial Hygiene.
Mr. Griffon has been working as a consultant in the environmental and occupational health field for 18 years. Mr. Mark Griffon is also a member of the Federal Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness and Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA). Mr. Griffon holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an M.S. in Radiological Sciences from University of Massachusetts.
The CSB is an independent federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents. The agency’s board members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. CSB investigations look into all aspects of chemical accidents, including physical causes such as equipment failure as well as inadequacies in safety management systems.
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