Safe Workplace and Safety News

Monday, May 13, 2013

Safety News Briefs - A Culture Of Myths

A regular news feature summarizing workplace safety related news.

We scan newspapers, magazines and the internet for safety news that isn't being reported elsewhere. The following are links to safety-related news and articles that came out during the past week. If you have any safety news tips, send them to: duralabelpro@gmail.com.

Photo by Tagido

Is Your Employee Safety Incentive Program As Obsolete As The 8-track?

If you have an incentive program based on zero accidents or zero recordables, your safety and health incentive programs are no different than the eight-track tape.

All incentive programs start with good intentions. They are implemented to improve an organization’s safety and health programs and build a teamwork mentality. But, these programs can drift sideways very quickly, particularly when bonuses and/or promotions are involved.

Read the article in Knowledge At Work.

House and Senate Looking To Expand The OSHA General Duty Clause

Bills in the House and Senate will expand the OSHA general duty clause to include employees who work for contractors and independent contractors at multi-employer worksites. The OSH Act currently only applies the general duty clause to a company's own employees. Both bills modify the general duty clause to allow for per-employee, or instance-by-instance, citations under the OSHA egregious penalty policy.

Read the story in Western Farm Press.

Photo by Brocken Inaglory

$2.5 Billion In Penalties

Both the state of California and the city of San Bruno are proposing to the California Public Utilities that PG&E stockholders be required to pay by $2,500,000,000 in penalties following a 2010 gas line explosion.

Read the story in the Washington Times

A Culture Of Safety Myths

Myth 1: Safety is our #1 priority
Myth 2: All safety rules are in place for your protection
Myth 3: We can eliminate all injuries n\by mistake-proofing our workplace
Myth 4: All hazards are created equal
Myth 5: Safety can be achieved through a program that encourages people to work more safely
Myth 6: We will fire you for acting unsafely
Myth 7: Comparing ourselves to industry average is useful for gauging our safety performance
Myth 8: Our goal is zero injuries
Myth 9: Some companies don't have a safety culture

Read the article in Fabricating and Metalworking magazine.

OSHA Shifts Funds From Compliance Assistance To Protect Enforcement From Sequester,

OSHA has shifted funds around in their budget to spare the OSHA enforcement program from sequester cuts. OSHA cut $10.9 million from the program that provides employers free consultation services on how workplaces can comply with OSHA rules. That cut, and reductions earlier in the budget process, lowered the compliance budget to $61.4 million, down from the enacted budget of $76.4 million.

Read the story in BNA Bloomberg

Zero Incident Goals Motivate Risk-Taking, Not Excellence

What do you want in safety? What are you trying to accomplish and why? Is the motivation to achieve the goal based on organizational or individual value? What does success and excellence look like, not just indicators and activities, but behaviorally, when you get there?

Definitions and terminology drive beliefs which affect decisions and behaviors at work and away. Is your goal to have zero incidents or successful beliefs and behaviors?

Read the article in ProAct Safety.

MIT Study Concludes Government And Industry Must Work Together To Improve Working Conditions

An article in MIT News reports that the private-compliance approach to improving working conditions has not worked. Richard Locke, the head of MIT's Department of Political Science and deputy dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management, said, "It’s better than nothing, but it wasn’t leading to a significant and sustained improvement in working conditions or enforcement of labor rights in any of the supply chains that we studied."

“ "The private sector can only do so much, and certain issues are issues of citizenship rights, such as the freedom of association, and the freedom to bargain collectively,” Locke says. “You can’t enforce those rights one factory at a time or one supply chain at a time, or even one brand at a time. Those are territorially enforced rights, and only the sovereign states can do that."

Read the complete article here.

Labels: OSHA, Safety Award, safety management, Safety Training

posted by Steve Hudgik
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Last Week's Significant OSHA Citations

The following is a summary of recent OSHA and state OSHA significant citations. These are citations that have proposed fines over $100,000 and that were announced during the past week.

The following are based on a press releases from OSHA and other sources. Reports from states, such as California, Oregon and Wyoming, in which the state has responsibility for workplace safety enforcement are also included.

AmeriGas Propane (Conroe, Texas) Cited For Safety Hazards ($105,000)

OSHA has cited AmeriGas Propane L.P. with 21 serious violations following a November 2012 fire that required three workers to be hospitalized and four workers to be treated and released. The Conroe plant inspection was expanded to include the national emphasis program on Process Safety Management Covered Chemical Facilities. Proposed penalties total $105,000.

The serious violations cited under the process safety management standard included:

failing to compile process safety information for safety systems, such as emergency shutdowns
failing to ensure equipment complies with recognized and good engineering practices, such as relief systems
failing to address various elements of a process safety hazards analysis, including the use of a methodology appropriate to the complexity of the process, human factors, facility siting and addressing action items or recommendations in a timely manner
failing to inspect and test equipment, including vessels and piping and identify safeguards
failing to perform the lockout/tagout of equipment and processes and provide training for employees in the use of lockout/tagout.

A serious violation occurs 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.
OSHA's standards contain specific requirements for the management of hazards associated with processes using dangerous chemicals. Additional information is available online at:

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/processsafetymanagement/index.html.
The citations can be viewed at: http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/AmeriGasPropaneInc_735302_0426_13.pdf http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/AmeriGasPropaneInc_723281_0426_13.pdf

AmeriGas is a supplier of propane throughout the United States and employs more than 8,000 people. The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations to comply, request an informal conference with the OSHA Houston North area director, or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Labels: Industrial Safety, LOTO, OSHA Citations

posted by Steve Hudgik
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Thursday, May 09, 2013

Can Someone With A Medical Marijuana Card Be Fired For Testing Positive?

Photo by Hendrike

Medical Marijuana and the Workplace

With several additional states having passed medical marijuana laws that allow marijuana use for medical reasons, a major question is: Can you fire someone who tests positive for marijuana, and who has a medical marijuana card?

Massachusetts is now implementing their medical marijuana law and the Boston Globe takes a look at this question.

Read the Boston Globe Article here.

The advice is varied. Some say they are dropping testing for marijuana altogether. Others say they must still conform to federal law which makes marijuana use illegal. An NBC news story reports:

According to a 2006 report from the Society for Human Resource Management:

84 percent of employers do pre-employment drug screening.
73 percent do reasonable-suspicion testing.
58 percent do post-accident screening.
39 percent do random testing.

The NBC story is about a Wal-Mart employee, with a medical marijuana card, who was fired for testing positive for marijuana use. Read the NBC story here.

While there are many stories about people who claim to be helped by the medical use of marijuana, the other side of the story is that it is reported that tens of thousands of people who do not have a medical need for marijuana are able to get medical marijuana cards. Plus, being under the influence of marijuana at work can be a safety concern.

Is there a real medical benefit for marijuana? The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports there is a benefit, but it may be outweighed by the negative effects. Read the NIDA report here.

However, without regard to benefits, side-effects, and misuse of medical marijuana cards, employers still need to deal with the reality that medical marijuana use has been approved in some states - but federally marijuana is still an illegal drug. Is this a problem? Can you fire someone who tests positive for marijuana use? That depends on the state you are in. For an excellent overview of the legal situation I recommend the following article in Corporate Counsel:

When Employment Law Meets Legalized Marijuana

Labels: health and biological hazards

posted by Steve Hudgik
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Monday, May 06, 2013

Safety News Briefs - Tell OSHA To Get A Warrant

Tell OSHA TO Get A Warrant

Two weeks ago we reported on a new letter of interpretation from OSHA that allows an OSHA inspector to bring in a union representative to represent employees in a non-union workplace during an inspection. An article by Frank Kollman in the National Clothesline provides legal advice on how to respond to an OSHA inspector showing up under these new conditions.

Be sure you have a plan in place covering what will be done should an OSHA inspector show up, and know your rights. Also, be sure your employees are trained in what they should do. Mr. Kollman's article includes advice on what should be included in your plan.

Read the article here.

Oregon Department of
Transportation Photo

Voice To Text Apps Do Not Make Driving Safer

A study conducted at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute reports that driving while using a voice to text app for sending text messages is no safer than manual texting. Both are dangerous to do while driving. The TTI analysis is the first to compare voice-to-text and manual texting on a handheld device in an actual driving environment.

The major findings from the study included:

Driver response times were significantly delayed no matter which texting method was used. In each case, drivers took about twice as long to react as they did when they weren’t texting.
The amount of time that drivers spent looking at the roadway ahead was significantly less when they were texting, no matter which texting method was used.
Drivers felt less safe when they were manually texting, but had a false sense of safety when using a voice-to-text application.

Read about the study on the TTI web site.

OSHA Launches Initiative to Protect Temporary Workers

OSHA has sent out a memorandum directing field inspectors to assess whether employers who use temporary workers are complying with OSHA standards. In addition, they will assess whether temporary workers received required training in a language and vocabulary they could understand.

The OSHA memo can be viewed here.

In recent months, OSHA has received a series of reports about temporary workers suffering fatal injuries – many during their first days on a job. OSHA has issued citations when the employer failed to provide adequate protections, including safety training. Fatal work injuries involving contractors accounted for 542 of the 4,693 fatal work injuries reported last year. Hispanic/Latino contractors accounted for 28% of fatal work injuries among contractors, well above their 16% share of the overall fatal work injury total for the year.

Educational Videos On preventing Fatal Falls In Construction

Two short, dramatic worker safety videos presenting the hazard of fatal falls on the job are now available online.

Produced by the California Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation program, with support from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the videos illustrate true stories about the death of a worker who fell through a skylight and a solar installer who fell off a roof. The videos explain the events that led up to these deaths and what could have been done to prevent them.

The five-minute videos can be used in worker trainings to prevent similar deaths.

Watch the skylight video and the solar installer video.

BLS Releases Revised Workplace Fatality Numbers

In 2011, 4,693 workers died on the job, according to revised numbers just issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Last September the BLS reported a preliminary count of 4,609 workplace deaths in 2011. The revised figure is virtually the same as the 2010 final figure of 4,690. The rate of worker deaths per 100,000 full-time workers remained the same from the preliminary report to final report – 3.5. This represents a slight decrease from the 2010 final rate of 3.6.

Changes between the September and April reports are caused by updates to the 2011 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries file that were made after the preliminary results were released, and include identification of new cases and revisions of existing cases

Ruling From Sixth Circuit Court Expands OSHA Citations To Cover "Access Alone."

A recent court ruling states that OSHA may cite employers for hazards that workers have access to, even though no workers were ever actually in the area where the hazard exists. This ruling means that employers must barricade and post warnings about hazardous areas, even though they believe no one would go near those areas.

Keep in mind that people doing things we don't expect them to do is a major cause of workplace injuries and fatalities.

Read about it in JDSupra.

Labels: fall protection, OSHA Inspections, safety archive

posted by Steve Hudgik
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This Week's Significant OSHA Citations

Collis Roofing Cited For Fall Hazards ($213,300)

OSHA has cited Longwood-based Collis Roofing Inc. with three willful and one serious safety violation for exposing workers to fall and other hazards while they were performing roofing work at three residential sites in Jacksonville, Oviedo and Palm Harbor. Two inspections were initiated in November 2012 and a third in December 2012 after OSHA inspectors observed employees without fall protection.

These inspections were all part of the agency's local emphasis program on fall hazards in construction. The proposed penalties total $213,300.

Three willful violations, with $210,000 in penalties, involved the employer allowing employees to work on elevated surfaces without fall protection. A willful violation is one committed with intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.

One serious violation, with a $3,300 penalty, was also cited for failing to inspect a fall harness that had previously been involved in an impact event. A serious violation occurs 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 citations can be viewed at:
http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/CollisRoofingInc_769902_0501_13.pdf
http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/CollisRoofingInc_739143_0501_13.pdf
http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/CollisRoofingInc_721522_0501_13.pdf

OSHA has created a fall prevention Web page at http://www.osha.gov/stopfalls with detailed information in English and Spanish on fall protection standards. The page offers fact sheets, posters and videos that vividly illustrate various fall hazards and appropriate preventive measures.

Collis Roofing Inc. has 15 business days from receipt of the citations and proposed penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Labels: fall protection, safety archive

posted by Steve Hudgik
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Monday, April 29, 2013

World Safety News - Women In Underground Mining

The following are summaries of safety news stories, with links to the stories, from locations outside the U.S. If you have news, or know of an important news story, please send it to duralabelpro@gmail.com.

Australian Miner Fined Nearly $11,000 For Smoking On The Job

Coal mines may contain combustible gases and coal dust. This means smoking is prohibited. An article in Australian Mining magazine reports that Travis Brown (24) "who was a contractor Peabody Energy at the time was sacked after co-workers smelt smoke and he was found with cigarettes and a lighter."

Read the story in Australian Mining.

MSHA Photo

Women In Underground Mining - South Africa Looks At Unique Safety Concerns

An article in BizCommunity looks at safety and women in underground mining. Ten percent of underground miners in South Africa are women, and that has raised some safety concerns. The opening paragraph of the article states:

"In a move that promised greater gender equality, women were allowed in the 1990s to enter the traditionally all-male world of underground work in South African mines. But it is time the industry and authorities reflect and take stock of the consequences of this decision thereby informing the way forward. According to Dr Moreshnee Govender, programme manager in Occupational Health and Safety at Wits University's Centre for Sustainability in Mining and Industry (CSMI), women face some particular dangers when working underground, many of which are not openly discussed with a view to a sustainable solution."

Read the article here.

Labels: Mining Safety, safety archive

posted by Steve Hudgik
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This Week's Significant OSHA Citations

The following is a summary of recent OSHA and state OSHA significant citations. These are citations that have proposed fines over $100,000 and that were announced during the week ending April 27th.

The following are based on a press releases from OSHA and other sources. Reports from states, such as California, Oregon and Wyoming, in which the state has responsibility for workplace safety enforcement are also included.

Candy Manufacturer Cited Following Ammonia Release ($133,000)

OSHA has cited New England Confectionery Company Inc., also known as Necco, for 19 alleged serious violations of workplace health and safety standards at its Revere production plant. The manufacturer of Necco Wafers, Clark Bars and other candies faces proposed penalties of $133,000 in connection with the release of 8,000 pounds of ammonia from the plant's refrigeration system on October 5, 2012.

Inspections identified several shortfalls in the plant's process safety management program under which the plant must proactively analyze, address and minimize potentially catastrophic hazards associated with the use of large amounts of ammonia in its refrigeration system. Specifically, Necco:

failed to develop safe operating procedures for the refrigeration system.
did not adequately inspect and have adequate preventive maintenance procedures for machinery, piping and storage vessels used in the refrigeration system.
did not update procedures and inform workers of changes to the refrigeration process, its equipment and management.

In addition, OSHA found that:

the plant did not have or implement an emergency response plan for employees who responded to the ammonia release.
workers were not trained to use fire extinguishers.
unsuitable motor was used in a hazardous area where combustible dust was present.

A serious violation occurs 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.

New England Confectionery Company Inc. has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet with OSHA's area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The citations can be viewed at:

http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/new_england_confectionary_co._686158_0402_13.pdf.
http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/new_england_confectionary_co_765142_0402_13.pdf.

Detailed information of process safety management hazards and safeguards is available at: http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/processsafetymanagement/index.html.

Labels: OSHA Citations, safety archive, safety management

posted by Steve Hudgik
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Safe Workplace and Safety News

Safety News Briefs - A Culture Of Myths

Photo by Tagido

Is Your Employee Safety Incentive Program As Obsolete As The 8-track?

House and Senate Looking To Expand The OSHA General Duty Clause