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Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao announced that the United States Senate has confirmed Edwin G. Foulke Jr. of South Carolina as assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. Foulke was nominated by George Bush on Sept.15, 2005, to head OSHA.
"Ed has extensive knowledge and experience in workplace safety and health issues that he will put to use to protect workers and promote employer compliance," said Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao.
Prior to his nomination, Foulke was a partner with the law firm of Jackson Lewis LLP in Greenville, S.C., and chaired the firm's OSHA practice group. He served on the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission from 1990 to 1995, chairing the commission from March 1990 through February 1994. The commission is an independent federal adjudicatory agency that renders decisions in job safety and health disputes arising from inspections conducted by OSHA.
As head of OSHA, Foulke will be responsible for administering a comprehensive program to assure the safety and health of America's workers by setting and enforcing standards, providing training, outreach and education; and establishing partnerships and alliances that encourage continual improvement in workplace safety and health.
A native of Perkasie, Pa., Foulke graduated from North Carolina State University in 1974. He received his Juris Doctor from Loyola University in 1978 and a Master of Law (LL.M.) degree from Georgetown University Law School in 1993. He also served as an adjunct professor at St. Mary's Dominican College in New Orleans.
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New Printing Industry Ergonomics eTool
"This is an important new resource to help educate workers and employers on avoiding ergonomic-related injuries in the printing industry," said Jonathan L. Snare, Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA. "It's designed to provide practical information that is based on the experience of others on how workers can make simple ergonomic improvements to avoid hazards on the job."
The eTool focuses on workers involved in printing processes who may be at risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) from workplace activities which may require them to work outside their physical capacities (e.g., lifting heavy items or lifting too often, or working in awkward body postures).
The first module of the eTool addresses the lithographic printing process. While there are significant variations in the process, the new tool simplifies the overall operation into three broad categories: prepress, press, and finishing and burdening. Users can access specific printing tasks, such as plate making and hand collating, for a description of each task and the potential hazards that have been identified for that job. The user can navigate within each task to become familiar with the hazards and to learn what others have identified as possible solutions.
The Graphic Arts Coalition includes the Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, Specialty Graphic Imaging Association, Flexographic Technical Association, and the Gravure Association of America.
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OSHA Program in Missouri Targets Concrete Industry
OSHA will begin a statewide program in Missouri to identify, evaluate and control employee exposure to concrete-related hazards.
This Local Emphasis Program (LEP) targets general industry businesses in Missouri that manufacture, produce, mix or deliver concrete or concrete products. The program has two facets: providing information and outreach materials to identified employers and conducting programmed facility inspections.
Safety and health inspections under the LEP will address all aspects of potential exposures to hazards associated with concrete-related work, including silica and noise.
The comprehensive inspections will evaluate "lockout/tag-out" procedures to ensure that machinery does not accidentally start up during repairs or maintenance; confined space entry precautions; electrical safe work practices; machine guarding; respiratory protection, and medical surveillance. OSHA will review employers' documentation supporting their workplace safety and health programs, including recordkeeping and records required as a result of worker exposure to concrete-related hazards.
Additional information about the local emphasis program is available from OSHA's Kansas City area office at 816-483-9531 (or toll-free in Missouri - 1-800-892-2674) or the OSHA St. Louis area office at 314-425-4249 (or toll-free in Missouri - 1-800-392-7743).á
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Massachusetts Trains Healthcare Workers on Workplace Violence
Protecting the State's health care workers against violence in their workplaces will be the subject of a free half-day seminar Wednesday, March 29 at The Lantana in Randolph, Mass.
"Workplace Violence: Healthcare is Not Immune" is sponsored by OSHA, the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) and the Massachusetts Division of Occupational Safety, Consultation Program (MDOS-CP).
The seminar is designed for registered nurses, managers, supervisors, safety directors, and human resource, risk management and occupational health professionals who are affected by workplace violence or who are developing workplace violence prevention programs.
Representatives of government, health care, law enforcement and labor will address such topics as nurses, hospitals and violence; lessons learned from workplace violence programs; components of an effective workplace violence prevention program; and OSHA's involvement with workplace violence.
Scheduled speakers include: Mary Sennott, RN, lieutenant, Mass. State Police; Jonathan Rosen, director of health and safety, New York State Professional Employees Federation; Jean Haertl, director of workplace violence prevention, Commonwealth of Mass.; Thomas Lynch, director of security, Baystate Medical Center; and Thomas Galassi, deputy director, Directorate of Enforcement Programs, OSHA.
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The seminar is being presented as part of an ongoing alliance among OSHA, MNA and MDOS-CP. To register, call Susan Clish at 1-800-882-2056, x723 or 781-830-5723.
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OSHA Cites Lumber Company after Fatal Accident
OSHA has cited Vaughn Lumber for 39 alleged serious safety and health violations and proposed penalties totaling $66,650 after investigating a fatal accident at the company's Forsyth, Ga., sawmill.
"This tragedy could have been prevented if the employer had followed safety standards that require guards on the equipment involved in the accident," said Gei-Thae Breezley, OSHA's Atlanta-East area director.
OSHA investigators determined that an employee cleaning wood chips from moving conveyor rollers of a debarking machine was pulled into the machinery when the tool he was using became caught in the rollers. The agency issued one serious citation directly related to the fatality, with a proposed penalty of $4,900, for lack of safety guards on the machine.
The company also received 38 serious citations, with total proposed penalties of $61,750, for other safety and health hazards observed during the September 2005 fatality investigation. These included: lack of safety guards on other machinery; unguarded wall openings; missing stair railings; damaged electrical equipment, ladders and work platforms; lack of emergency eye wash stations; unsafe storage of equipment and chemical cylinders; and failure to establish and maintain effective hearing conservation and hazard communication programs.
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Job Hazards at Ashton Marine Bring OSHA Citations and Fines
OSHA has issued citations against Ashton Marine LLC in Harvey, LS for alleged violations of safety and health standards. The agency proposed penalties totaling $48,000.
OSHA's citations against Ashton Marine, a tug boat repair facility that employs about 25 workers, allege 20 serious, two repeat and 10 other-than-serious violations. The citations follow an inspection that began Jan. 19 at the company's worksite on Peters Road.
"Many of the violations in this case could have caused serious harm or death," said Greg Honaker, OSHA's area director in Baton Rouge. "Health and safety standards must be followed to avoid injuries and fatalities."
Alleged serious violations include failing to: safeguard machinery; provide a competent person to perform inspections; train employees who enter confined spaces; adequately store oxygen and fuel gas cylinders; ensure electrical boxes are properly covered; develop and implement a fire safety plan, and replace defective flotation devices. A serious violation is one likely to cause death or serious physical harm from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.
The repeat citations were issued for failing to remove combustible items prior to performing heat-related projects and for failing to properly guard edges of decks, platforms or similar flat surfaces more than five feet above a solid surface. A repeat citation is issued for a violation that was previously cited when, upon re-inspection, a substantially similar violation is found.
Other-than-serious violations include failing to: provide a written respirator program; conduct forklift training; properly utilize electrical equipment; develop and implement a hazardous communication program, and perform a personal protection equipment hazard assessment. Other-than-serious citations are issued for hazards that would probably not cause death or serious physical harm but have a direct and immediate relationship to the safety or health of employees.á
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OSHA Fines Company that Expected Employees to Fight Fires without Training
Cellu Tissue Corporation - Natural Dam faces a total of $166,700 in proposed fines from OSHA following an inspection prompted by a September 2005 fire at the company's Gouverneur, N.Y., paper mill. The tissue maker was cited for a total of 20 alleged willful, serious and repeat violations of workplace safety standards.
OSHA's inspection found that, while the company expected employees to combat fires, it had not established an in-house fire brigade and failed to provide workers with required training, personal protective equipment, self-contained breathing apparatus and medical evaluations. As a result, OSHA has issued a willful citation and fined the company $70,000.
"If you're going to have your employees fight fires, then you must provide them with the training and equipment to do it correctly and safely," said Chris Adams, OSHA's Syracuse area director.
The inspection also identified other hazards at the plant. These included lack of annual fire extinguisher training; failure to inspect lifting devices and crane structures; not cleaning up combustible paper dust; unguarded floor holes and uncovered drains; ladder defects; unsecured gas cylinders; lack of emergency stop devices on paper machines; unguarded machinery, and unlabeled circuit breakers. These conditions resulted in 13 serious citations with $39,000 in proposed penalties.
Finally, $57,700 in fines were proposed for six repeat citations encompassing unguarded open-sided floors and platforms; unguarded belts, pulleys and other moving machine parts; electrical hazards, and lack of stair railings. These items were classified as repeat because OSHA had cited the company in July 2004 for similar hazards at its East Hartford, Conn., plant.
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OSHA Forms Alliance with Concrete Sawing and Drilling Association
Furthering the safety and health of workers in the concrete cutting industry is the goal of an Alliance signed between OSHA and the Concrete Sawing and Drilling Association (CSDA).
CSDA joined with OSHA in an Alliance to provide the association's members and other sawing and drilling operators with information that will focus on highway work zone hazards, motor vehicle safety, and respiratory protection for hazards associated with silica.
"This Alliance gives us an opportunity to provide vital guidance materials and training resources to thousands of workers in the concrete cutting industry that will help foster a safer work environment," said Jonathan L. Snare, Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA. "The collective expertise of CSDA and OSHA can significantly improve the safety and health of workers in the industry."
Added CSDA President Susan Hollingsworth: "The OSHA and CSDA Alliance will produce products designed to increase safety awareness and recognition of job hazards for sawing and drilling contractors through training and education as well as outreach and communication goals."
Through the Alliance, OSHA and CSDA will provide expertise in developing information on the recognition and prevention of workplace hazards and develop ways of communicating that information throughout industry using print and electronic media, including electronic assistance tools and both organizations' Web sites.
OSHA and CSDA will share information among OSHA personnel and industry safety and health professionals regarding CSDA's best practices and help publicize that information through written materials, training programs, workshops, seminars and lectures. Finally, both organizations will take the opportunity to speak, exhibit and appear at conferences, events, stakeholder meetings and roundtable discussions to discuss safety and health issues for the concrete cutting industry while helping to forge innovative solutions to reduce workplace hazards.
CSDA represents more than 475 contractor, manufacturer and affiliated member companies in the concrete cutting industry, and promotes safe operating practices for sawing and drilling contractors.
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OSHA Fines Company after Tire Explosion Leads to Worker Fatality
OSHA has cited Liberty Tire & Rubber, Davie, Fla., and proposed $45,450 in penalties, after investigating a fatal accident. A company road crew member working off-site in Medley, Fla., was fatally injured when a tire he was servicing exploded Sept. 12, 2005.
"This tragic accident could have been prevented if proper equipment had been provided to all employees and OSHA regulations had been followed," said Luis Santiago, OSHA's Ft. Lauderdale area director.
OSHA issued five serious citations after completing its accident investigation. Penalties of $19,250 were proposed for failing to provide road service crew employees with appropriate air pressure gauges, regulators, line assemblies and other safety equipment for repairing truck tires off-site.
During a comprehensive inspection at the tire repair and re-treading shop in Davie, OSHA confirmed that this equipment was available for "in shop" employees, but inspectors observed other safety and health hazards.
The company received 18 additional citations, with proposed penalties of $26,200. Cited hazards included failing to: repair defective powered industrial trucks and electrical equipment; safely store equipment and chemical cylinders; install safety guards on machinery; train employees and evaluate their competency to operate powered industrial trucks; and implement and maintain hearing conservation and hazard communication programs.á
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