What do you get with 39 serious violations plus one willful violation of safety standards? Accidents are usually the product of this equation but in the case of Cast Metals Inc., a foundry and fabrication plant in Deshler, it’s more serious than that.

U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has disclosed today that the Deshler company faces $114,000 worth of fines. This is the result of an inspection conducted by OSHA in March where they allegedly found the company to have one willful violation and 39 serious violations. These violations also include 16 health and 23 safety regulation issues.

Jule Hovi, director of OSHA’s area office in Toledo, has this to say about the matter, “These issues should not exist at any worksite. Employers must remain dedicated to keeping the workplace safe and healthful or face close OSHA scrutiny.”

Of Violations and Citations

Some of the serious violations cited were the following:

• lead and silica over-exposures
• high-level noise exposure
• electrical hazards
• training deficiencies including respiratory protection training
• lack of personal protective equipment for employees dealing with molten metal

The willful violation involves the “lack of tagout/lockout training for employees exposed to unexpected energization of equipment during maintenance and servicing activities.”

Cast Metals, Inc. is given 15 business days to contest these citations. Until then we can only guess the outcome of yet another serious encounter with OSHA.

While this matter may seem like one workplace mishap, a lot can be done to avoid it. This is especially true with the large sum of money involved as fine. By keeping your company updated with the latest federal safety and health regulations, these fines can be avoided altogether.

A Long History of Fines

Just last month, OSHA issued its third largest fine against a sugar refinery.  The penalty reached almost $9 million for violation of safety standards and regulations that led to the death and injury of many employees.

Big or small, companies are subjected to OSHA’s federal standards and regulations. This could not be emphasized more than by the large fines issued against small companies in the past year. First on the list of largest fines involved violations of hazard communications, training requirements and head protection.

It’s not the first time, though, that OSHA cited a foundry or fabrication plant for multiple serious violations. On August 4, 2008, Cast-Fab Technologies Inc. of Cincinnati was cited for alleged serious violations. OSHA proposed $128, 700 in fines against the company . Like Cast Metals, Inc., Cast-Fab Technologies was chosen for inspection as part of a local emphasis program concentrating on the primary metal industry.

Again, whether your company is small or big, deals with metal or oil, it pays to be in the know about the latest federal standards and regulations. Otherwise, you might have to pay a price more than what you have bargained for.

If you need updates on the latest health and safety regulations, feel free to contact us.

Lead poisoning is a leading cause of workplace illness as well as a common hazard in the construction industry. Overexposure to the chemical is caused by the inhalation of lead dusts and fumes. This workplace issue is given high strategic priority by OSHA and is even included in the agency’s five year strategic plan wherein a performance goal of 15% reduction to lead exposure has been set. In a nutshell, the goal here is to reduce the average severity of lead exposure or employee blood lead levels in the industries and workplaces.

Lead exposure is also a major potential public health risk. Exposure usually takes place in demolition, salvage, removal, encapsulation, renovation and cleanup activities. Lead dust can also be carried around from work on clothing, skin, or hair. Preventive measures should therefore be taken to avoid overexposure to this harmful element. Here are some tips as provided to us by OSHA:

How to Avoid Lead Exposure:

• Use proper personal protective equipment such as gloves, non-permeable clothing and approved respirators in the worksite.
• Wash hands and face thoroughly after work and before eating.
• Never enter eating areas still wearing protective equipment contaminated with lead.
• Never wear outside of work clothes and shoes that were worn during periods of possible lead exposure.
• Launder clothing daily and use proper cleaning methods.
• Be alert to symptoms of lead exposure (e.g., severe abdominal pain, headaches, loss of motor coordination).

Use of Respirators:

• Wear appropriate respirators as directed.
• Conduct a user seal check each time a respirator is donned.
• Be aware of your company’s respiratory protection program; understand the limitations and potential hazards of respirators.

Preventing further exposure:

• Ensure adequate ventilation. (When outdoors, stand upwind of any plume.)
• Whenever possible, use dust collecting equipment.
• Use lead-free materials and chemicals.
• Use wet methods to decrease dust.
• Use local exhaust ventilation for enclosed work areas.

In your workplace, take the lead in preventing lead exposure. Be safe out there!

Check out OSHA’s Quick Tips for this month here or get our specialized safety meeting on lead here.

After discussing accident prevention and strategies to contain claims costs last week, we now go to the “Return to Work Programs” part of the Compensation chapter of our Safety Manual. You know by now that these are literal excerpts of the manual. The good thing about the Safety Manual is that it can be customized an assembled to follow the specifications of your company. If you want to do just that you can visit our company website for more information.

After an employee has recovered from injuries and is allowed to go back to work, it is still important to properly monitor and manage the employee’s program. This makes sure that the employee is continuously recuperating while still contributing to the company.

Return to Work Programs

Current studies of Workers’ Compensation claims show that companies with an effective return to work program in place have substantially reduced their insurance costs and overall operating expenses while contributing to productivity. Return to work programs allows companies to exert positive influences in reducing the length of time injured workers are unproductive.

The primary goal of a return to work program is to accommodate injured workers by identifying or modifying jobs to meet their capabilities and returning them to productive assets as quickly as possible.

The main objectives of a return to work program include:

• Accelerating an employee’s return to work by addressing the physical, emotional, attitudinal, and environmental factors that otherwise inhibits a prompt return.
• Facilitating temporary or permanent job reassignment or job restructuring.
• Reducing the time of an employee’s disability.
• Reducing the number of cases entering into the Workers’ Compensation litigation system.
• Increasing productivity by returning workers to their jobs as quickly as possible.
  
• Increasing worker morale and motivation at work.
• Complying with applicable labor and employment laws such as the “Americans with Disabilities Act”.
  
• Identifying alternative employment opportunities to accommodate unique needs of workers such as part-time, alternative work schedules, or work-at-home.

Successful return to work programs often incorporate a multi-disciplinary team approach involving the Company’s management team, the managed care provider, and the insurance carrier’s claims adjuster. This team concept is critical to achieve the above stated objectives.

Elements of a “Return to Work Program” include:

1. Management Commitment — Management must be committed to returning injured workers to productive roles. This commitment must be translated into specific responsibilities and accountabilities. Performance measures should be established to track the effectiveness of the program.
2. Job Profiles — Profiles of existing jobs considered suitable for early return to work should be developed. A profile should define the job in terms of overall physical demands, motions required, environmental conditions, the number of times the job is performed per week, and its duration.
3. Job Modification — Systematic analysis of specific jobs for the purpose of modifying them to accommodate the unique needs of the injured worker. Job modifications should be performed by individuals trained and skilled in ergonomic task analysis, engineering, safety and biomechanics. In most cases your managed care provider can assist in your job modification needs.
4. Communication of Return to Work Opportunities — The presence of jobs that can accommodate injured workers and your return to work program should be communicated to your managed care provider, claims adjuster, and injured worker. In addition, regular contact with the injured worker, claims adjuster, and managed care provider should occur.
5. Changing Needs — Following the successful early return of an injured worker, review the job modifications with the worker to assure they meet his/her needs. Communicate any problems with your job modification team and insurance carrier. Work with your managed care provider and worker to move them to full production status in their assigned jobs as quickly as possible.

Studies show that return to work programs are effective claim cost containment efforts that contribute to production and worker morale.

Check out the very first part of this section by clicking this link.

Another workplace accident has occurred in New York City early Tuesday, this time an elevated work platform raised at 40-feet tipped over and killed its two passengers, 35-year-old Robert Fabrizio of Las Vegas and 37-year-old Garin Fabrizio of Milford, Penn. The terrible mishap occurred at the World Financial Center where the two, both employees of Total Building Services in Elizabeth, New Jersey, worked as window washers. They were cousins.

This is a very sad and unfortunate thing to have happened, especially since it was only in December of last year when a team of two brothers also fell 47 stories from their scaffold in the Upper East Side. One of them died, but the other miraculously survived the fall.

New York is known to have among the strictest regulations when it comes to safety standards. Commercial window washers in the city are protected by a special labor law that makes a building owner liable for injuries due to defective equipment such as a safety harness or scaffold. Unionized window washers in the city must also learn basic regulations, as well as know how the equipment (whether it’s a ladder, scaffold or belt anchored to a window) works. But despite this, workplace accidents are still an occurrence in the Big Apple. The recent accident is a testimony to the loopholes of the city’s safety systems. To add, May of this year saw another construction accident involving a crane that fell, killing several people, damaging property, disrupting construction work and affecting the locals.

Though OSHA admits to not having specific regulations that apply particularly to window washers, the agency enforces general industry safety standards for equipment and employee training. This includes conducting a safety training program for window washers, wherein they are taught how to reduce the risks of such a dangerous and life-threatening occupation. Safety is still a law, and it is still the right of workers to be formally trained by their employers when it comes to safety in the workplace, especially if the work environment is by nature unsafe.

Such jobs may be risky but the fact is that there is still a work demand for such jobs and that the work supply is available due to lack of employment choice. This is why safety should always be a first in the workplace, because lives don’t have to be spent for us to take safety seriously.

Helpful Links:

• New Lead in the Window Washing Accident
• Emergency Response Plan for Fall-Related Emergencies
• PPE and How It Can Save Your Life – Part 1
• PPE and How It Can Save Your Life – Part 2

Safety is mandated by law. And breaking the law comes with huge consequences (and HUGE fines). Last month will go down in history as the month that the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued its third largest fine following a major violation of US safety regulations by a company.

A Deadly Explosion

Following the deadly explosion at their Port Wentworth factory which claimed the lives of 13 employees as well as injured 40 others, Imperial Sugar Company and two of its affiliates now face charges as well as a penalty of almost $9 million for their violation of safety standards and regulations in two of their jobsites. In both their plants in Port Wentworth, Georgia and Gramercy, Louisiana were found large accumulations of combustible sugar dust. This volatile and explosive material was present not only in their workrooms where most of their employees were present, but also on most of the equipment they operated.

108 Willful Violations and that’s not all of it

OSHA’s site investigations also revealed that there was total negligence and disregard for employee safety on the part of Imperial Sugar since the company very well knew of the hazardous conditions in their facilities. Despite these issues, the company did not do anything to alleviate the danger nor did they, at the very least, take on safety measures for the welfare of their employees. Thus, the company has been cited with 108 instances of willful violations related to the combustible dust hazard, which includes failing to clean up dust and not using appropriate equipment or safeguards where combustible dust is present. Other OSHA citations against the company include 10 citations for other willful violations, 100 citations for serious violations and four citations for other-than-serious safety and health violations.

Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970

Safety programs are important as much as they are a law in this country. It is stated in the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 that employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthy workplace for their employees. And yes, we don’t say “safety first” for nothing. The laws are there as a check and federal agencies such as the Department of Labor and OSHA are here as a balance. As responsible businessmen and employers, it is our duty to abide by these rules and standards as well as to look out for the safety and health of our employees in order to achieve a safer work environment. Not knowing the rules is never an excuse, and we know this because ignorance had cost many companies in more ways than one.

On the topic of violations and fines, you can view an earlier blog entry entitled “Top 10 OSHA Fines for Small Companies” here in our site.

Don’t be fined and you’ll be just fine. Stay safe!

Related Links:

• Top 10 OSHA Fines for Small Companies
• When Cranes Crumble
• New York Crane Collapse
  
• Walkway and Scaffolding Collapse, Injuring 16 Pedestrians in Downtown San Diego

In this day and age where the construction industry is continuing to rise with the demands of industrialization and urbanization, crane-related accidents are–at an alarming rate–continuing to rise as well. Just recently, one of the nation’s largest mobile cranes crumbled and fell which resulted in the death of four construction workers in an oil refinery in Houston, Texas. Seven others were also injured in the same tragedy.

This is following similar crane mishaps in just the past few months in Miami, Las Vegas, and New York, where a number of deaths, injuries, and damages have also been reported. And this is indeed very alarming given that these numbers are greater than the total deaths from cranes recorded in the past decade.

Height: 300 feet / Boom: 400 feet

These towering and massive steel structures should not be taken with mere regard. From their looks alone, cranes are threats in themselves and dangerous to work with and around. The mobile crane that recently fell in Houston stood 300 feet tall (about as tall as a 30-storey building) and had a 400-foot boom. Reports and testimonies on the site of the accident also revealed that the impact of the crane’s fall was so big that it shook the ground and even created a deep crater where the crane landed.

Crane Safety

What does this say about crane safety, then? Failing cranes, crumbling cranes, falling cranes, the list of reasons for these fatal crane accidents goes on and on. And where, indeed, are we going wrong?

A study conducted by the Associated Press just last month showed that cities and states have diverse and varying rules concerning construction cranes. AP’s analysis also revealed that some of these cities and states have no local regulations at all, and instead, use decades-old, non-updated, and obsolete federal guidelines and standards which are no longer in sync with recent and relevant technological developments.

Local occupational safety and health regulations should be strictly implemented

Some states (Texas, in particular) also operate cranes without any local oversight; neither is it required in the state for crane operators to be licensed. Federal statistics have also shown that Texas has had 26 crane-related fatalities in 2005 and 2006. Learning from this, crane operation oversight should not be left alone to the federal regulators. Thus, the local occupational safety and health authorities should just be as vigilant to oversee operations and to implement the necessary safety regulations. Making sure that crane operators are certified and properly trained before taking over crane controls should also be given prior importance by the local authorities.

OSHA Standards

Regular (or annual) crane inspection is also required by OSHA standards. Keeping these inspection records and performing maintenance activities are required by federal law and is a responsibility of the crane owners. However, since these inspection reports are merely kept and not submitted, the crane owners’ compliance is not assured. Again, we must all be reminded that following or complying with safety rules and regulations is for everyone’s welfare.

Checking the crane’s lifting and weight capacities, maintaining the crane engine, holding worker/employee safety meetings, properly assembling cranes, and using crane operation plans and schedules, will also help to ensure and promote a culture of safety in the worksite. Let us all learn from this and work our way towards a safer workplace for everyone.

And hopefully no more crane accidents in the future!

Related Links:

Lockout Tagout Basics : Machinery Tags (When Absence Means Trouble)

Better Fall Protection in Your Workplace: News and Safety Tips

Top 7 Tips on Using the 2006 Census to Improve Workplace Safety

What You Need to Know about Lockout, Blockout and Tagout

We come to the final part of the series of common workplace safety terms for our post today. These terms are not confined to the technical jargon and know – how that you usually encounter in industries like construction, mining and manufacturing. Some of these terms are also words that we hear and use everyday. But here’s one important thing – the difference between knowing and not knowing these terms might mean your own life, or the life of a friend or family member.

Here’s the last set of terms:

11. Contaminant

This is an unwanted material (for example, radioactive, biological or chemical) that is likely to harm the quality of the working environment. The most common workplace contaminants are chemicals that may be present in the form of dusts, fumes, gases or vapors.

10. Construction

The word refers to a combination of engineering, purchasing, erection, installation, assembly, demolition, or fabrication used to create a new facility, or to alter, add to, rehabilitate, dismantle, or remove an existing facility. It also includes any construction and excavation activities conducted as part of environmental remediation efforts.

9. Confined Space

This term just means a space that is large enough and so configured that an employee can enter bodily, has limited or restricted means for entry or exit (for example, tanks, vessels, vaults, pits), and is not designed for continuous occupancy.

8. Competent Person

When you say competent you mean someone qualified by knowledge, training and experience to do a particular job. We further define a competent person as someone who is aware of any actual or potential hazard in the workplace competent person and who has acquired through training, qualification or experience, or a combination of them, the knowledge and skills to carry out a particular task. If we put OSHA in the consideration then a competent person would mean “one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings, or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them” as well as familiar with the Occupational Health & Safety Act and Regulations.

7. Code of Federal Regulations

This is a collection of the regulations that have been promulgated under United States Law. In more formal terms it is the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government. It is divided into 50 titles that represent broad areas subject to Federal regulation. Each volume of the CFR is updated once each calendar year and is issued on a quarterly basis.

6. Cave In

This refers to the separation of a mass of soil or rock material from the side of an excavation, or the loss of soil from under a trench shield or support system, and its sudden movement into the excavation, either by falling or sliding, in sufficient quantity so that it could entrap, bury, or other wise injure and immobilize a person.

5. Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS)

For our Canadian counterparts, this is a federal government agency based in Hamilton, Ontario, which serves to support the vision of eliminating all Canadian work-related illnesses and injuries.

4. Bobcat

Not the animal exactly, instead it is A piece of load shifting equipment. To operate a bobcat, a certificate of competency for a front-end loader skid steer is required, or one must be in training under direct supervision.

3. Benching / Benching System

This doesn’t pertain to the seat. Instead it means a method of protecting employees from cave-ins by excavating the sides of an excavation to form one or a series of horizontal levels or steps, usually with vertical or near-vertical surfaces between levels.

2. Asphyxiant

We’re sure you’ve heard of asphyxiation, this is related to that word. It does the actual suffocation. It is a vapor or gas that can either reduce the oxygen content in the air or interfere with the body’s ability to use oxygen. Exposure to an asphyxiant can result in unconsciousness or death due to suffocation or lack of oxygen. Asphyxiation is one of the principal potential hazards of working in confined spaces

1. Accident

This is our top word as accidents are the very things we wish to avoid. Accidents are unexpected event or an unintended outcome that results in harm to people and/or damage to or loss of property or process. It should be every workplace’s goal to be as safe as it can be and keep its workers from accidents that may occur.

If you would like to read the first parts of this series, please click Part 1 of “Common Workplace Safety Terms”, Part 2 of “Common Workplace Safety Terms” and Part 3 of “Common Workplace Safety Terms”.

There you have it folks, 50 of the most common workplace safety terms that you encounter and what they mean. We hope you picked up the information you needed with the series. Be safe out there.

Other Related Links:

Electrical Safety for Construction Site Workers – Part 1

Proper Management of Hazardous Chemicals: Plan and Training for Workers

OSHA Hosts Informal Hearing on Proposed Rule on Confined Spaces in Construction

Top 7 Tips on Using the 2006 Census to Improve Workplace Safety

We’ve already tackled the 1^st and 2^nd parts of our 4-part series: Common Workplace Safety Terms. Today we continue with our reading up on the most common safety terms we hear in our workplace. You may be surprised as some terms are used and spoken everyday by ordinary people. Workplace safety comes after awareness and education, so let’s educate ourselves so that we can be safer whether we are in the workplace or at home.

Here’s part 3 of the series:

24. Contaminant

This refers to unwanted material (whether radioactive, biological or chemical) that is likely to harm the quality of the working environment. The most common workplace contaminants are chemicals that may be present in the form of dust, fumes, gases or vapors.

23. Controls

The word can refer to:

1. the steps taken to eliminate or reduce hazards or exposure to them. Hazards can be controlled at the source, along the path and at the personal level
2. Measures designed to eliminate or reduce hazards or hazardous exposures.
3. Examples include: engineering controls, administrative controls, personal protective equipment. Hazards can be controlled at the source, along the path to the worker, or at the worker.

22. Corrosive

This is a chemical that causes visible destruction of, or irreversible alterations in, living tissue by chemical action at the site of contact. For example, a chemical is considered to be corrosive if, when tested on the intact skin of albino rabbits by the method described by the U.S. Department of Transportation in appendix A to 49 CFR part 173, it destroys or changes irreversibly the structure of the tissue at the site of contact following an exposure period of four hours. This term shall not refer to action on inanimate surfaces.

21. Danger Zone

It is an area or location where the probability of injury is high (for example, in the vicinity of saw blades) and can also refer to any place in or about a machine or piece of equipment where an employee may be struck by or caught between moving parts, caught between moving and stationary objects or parts of the machine, caught between the material and a moving part of the machine, burned by hot surfaces or exposed to electric shock. Some examples of danger zones are nip and shear points, shear lines, drive mechanisms, and areas underneath counterweights.

20. Dogman

This is a construction worker who works with cranes, often traveling up and down with the load or on the crane hook.

19. Duty of care

It is a principle of common law that requires each person or organization to take care not to cause harm to other persons

18. Elevating Work Platform

A telescopic device used to raise a platform above ground level so work can be undertaken.

17. Elimination

The most effective risk control measure. It involves the removal of the risk, eg. changing work practices.

16. Emergency

This is an event that will produce or exacerbate injury to people and / or damage to property unless immediate intervention occurs. An emergency plan then means a set of detailed procedures for responding to an emergency, such as a fire or explosion, a chemical spill, or an uncontrolled release of energy. An emergency plan is necessary to keep order, and minimize the effects of the disaster.

15. Ergonomics

Refers to the design of equipment, machinery and workstations to suit people, occupational ergonomics is the design of the workplace and its processes to best match the anatomical, physiological and psychological capabilities of people.

14. Excavation

Technically an excavation is any man-made cut, cavity, trench, or depression in an earth surface, formed by earth removal. You will also encounter the term TRENCH (Trench excavation), when reading up on the topic. Trench means a narrow excavation (in relation to its length) made below the surface of the ground. In general, the depth is greater than the width, but the width of a trench (measured at the bottom) is not greater than 15 feet (4.6 m). If forms or other structures are installed or constructed in an excavation so as to reduce the dimension measured from the forms or structure to the side of the excavation to 15 feet (4.6 m) or less (measured at the bottom of the excavation), the excavation is also considered to be a trench.

13. Explosive

A substance, mixture or compound that is capable of producing an explosion.

12. Harm

Now this is a word that everybody knows. It can include diseases, injury, suffering, disability and even death.

It seems like a lot of words and technical jargon but it pays to know these words. We’ll post the final part of this series before the end of the week. For the next few days, be safe out there.

Continue Reading Part 4 of Common Workplace Safety Terms

Related Links:

Emergency Response Plan for Fall-Related Emergencies

Scaffold Safety Requirements and Tips

Creating Emergency Action Plans for Your Workplace

Better Safety with Machine Guards: Basics and Proper Use

Lockout Tagout Basics : Machinery Tags (When Absence Means Trouble)

Though handling propane cylinders can be as common as having the actual cylinders in your own backyard, extra caution is still advisable. Propane cylinders are still highly explosive when not operated or disposed of properly. Now we don’t want to scare you; but if you’re reading this and you own a propane service company (or you work for one), then it is for all of us to realize that when it comes to propane—it is always better to be safe than sorry.

It is vital for us, here in Safety Services Company, to be updated and to get you informed with the latest on safety and health in the workplace. Concerning propane safety, it has come to our knowledge that the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) has issued a new safety alert on this gas.

The alert, posted early this month in OSHA’s e-news memo QuickTakes (01 July 2008, Volume 7, Issue 13), deals with the hazards of propane cylinders being used alongside anhydrous ammonia in methamphetamine laboratories. According to the OSHA article, when the brass valve of a propane cylinder comes into contact with the ammonia, the valve deteriorates and is eventually damaged. As a result of this damage, a violent and unexpected expulsion of the cylinder valve is very likely to take place. This event is highly injurious and deadly.

If you are in the business of propane, you may already know what there is to know about this gas, most especially when it comes to safety and health concerns. But propane and its chemical reaction to ammonia may somewhat be unfamiliar to you. The following is just a quick backgrounder on the compound Ammonia.

Ammonia is both caustic and hazardous. In its commercial use, it is in the form of anhydrous ammonia. This only means that water is absent in the substance. Anhydrous ammonia is also classified as toxic (T) as well as dangerous for the environment (N). The gas is flammable, with an autoignition temperature of 651°C, and can form explosive mixtures with air. The permissible exposure limit (PEL) in the United States is 50 parts per million (ppm), while the Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health (IDLH) concentration is estimated at 300 ppm. Ammonia is regulated in the United States as a non-flammable gas. However, it still meets the definition of a material that is toxic by inhalation and requires a hazardous safety permit when transported in quantities greater than 13,248 L (3,500 gallons).

And so, we have learned something new about workplace safety and health again today. Feel free to view the official safety alert as well as to contact us if you have further inquiries about this topic. Be safe out there!

Related Links:

Proper Management of Hazardous Chemicals: Plan and Training for Workers

MSDS in Your Hazard Communication Program: Your Guard against Hazardous Chemicals

All about Material Safety Data Sheets

Fire Prevention in Your Workplace: Getting Better Fire Safety Measures

5 Distractions that Cause Workplace Hazards

Top 10 OSHA Fines for Small Companies