OSHA’s new national emphasis program takes on the initiative to deal with workplaces where hazardous chemicals are released. This has been a concern because the release of highly hazardous chemicals into the atmosphere can lead to toxic fires and explosions—hazards that can very well endanger the lives of many.

Policies and procedures for inspecting workplaces that are covered by OSHA’s process safety management (PSM) standard will be established in this one-year pilot program. Here, the inspection process will require compliance officers to:

• gather facts related to the PSM standard’s requirements
• and, verify that employers’ written and implemented programs are consistent.

According to OSHA officials, the intent of this new program is to conduct quick inspections at a large number of facilities. Since this is a national emphasis program, the facilities to be inspected will be randomly selected from a list of work sites likely to have highly hazardous chemicals in quantities covered by the PSM standard.

Jordan Barab, OSHA’s acting Assistant Secretary of Labor, says that the failure to comply with the requirements of the PSM standard have already led to several catastrophic incidents. With this, it is only high time to get the program up and running. The program is set to be piloted in several regions around the country, with the inspections programmed and planned. The program also stresses that these checks and inspections need not result from the occurrence of an accident or from the filing of a complaint or referral. The program will also be used to inspect workplaces reporting PSM-related complaints, referrals, accidents or catastrophes in regions not covered by the pilot. With this new national emphasis program by OSHA, safety issues such as these can now be better and more effectively dealt with.

Eight years may have passed but the effects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks can still be felt, both by the victims and the heroes. In fact, the heroes of 9/11 have become today’s victims. When people rushed to Ground Zero with the intent of helping and being of assistance in any way that they could, they didn’t know of the dangers that they were exposed to on the site. The emergency responders, cops, firefighters, and other well-meaning citizens who helped in the cleanup post the attack are now ill from post-diagnosed diseases stemming from exposure to very hazardous air and toxic dust in Ground Zero.

Joe Picurro, an ironworker who came to the rescue soon after the attack, is one of them. Only 42, his body is now ailing and suffering from the hazards he was exposed to since the attack in 2001. Picurro came to Ground Zero knowing that his skill as an ironworker would be needed in cutting through collapsed beams and hauling out debris in order to retrieve victims’ bodies. But, little did he know, the site was extremely dangerous given the presence of toxic chemicals and particles in the dust and in the air.

Now, Picurro is suffering from an inflammation of the lungs called sarcoidosis, where even mere breathing causes him to be in great pain. Aside from sarcoidosis, Picurro is also suffering from reactive airways dysfunction syndrome (RADS) and acid reflux. These cause for his joints to be in constant pain as well as produce in him periodic bouts of vomiting and coughing that become so violent his throat begins to bleed. Just recently, Picurro has begun to suffer seizures and blackouts as well.

Taking 37 different medicines costing nearly $10,000 a month, it doesn’t help that Picurro is unable to work and make a living because of his condition. His state has also led his family to seek and ask the government for assistance and help. The same is true for the many others who have become sick from working in Ground Zero.

Through the WTC Volunteer Fund and the 9/11 federal Victim Compensation Fund, Picurro and other Ground Zero workers like him can get workers’ compensation for injuries and ailments from the cleanup. Now medical bills can be met and living expenses given allowances. Some hospitals have also begun to offer treatment and homecare assistance for these workers.

But the best is yet to come for them. With the help of local politicians and labor leaders who are pushing to “rescue the heroes of 9/11” through the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, filing claims and vying for compensation and other healthcare benefits no longer need to be a struggle for these heroes. The 9/11 Health and Compensation Act seeks to provide permanent health treatment for all 9/11 Ground Zero workers and residents who have become sick from their exposure to contaminants. The Act will also seek to reopen the compensation fund for those who get sick or die. Though the bill has already made it through one House committee and is now set for a vote in another subcommittee this September, the full House and Senate have yet to take action on it. With enough pushing and promotion of the bill, the heroes of Ground Zero will receive what is due them, even after eight years since 9/11.

The U.S. Department of Labor has given the state of Illinois’ OSHA the authority to administer their very own occupational safety and health plan for public employees in the state. The notice of authorization for the public employee protection plan appeared in the recent edition of the Federal Register.

Illinois, New Jersey, Connecticut, New York and the Virgin Islands are among those that were already given authorization by the federal OSHA. This special authority gives these states and territories the power to administer a safety and health program of standards and enforcement that is specifically for state and local government employees.

This latest approval is the first new state plan to be approved since New Jersey’s, which was added in 2001. Puerto Rico and twenty-one other states have OSHA-approved plans for the private sector that also extend coverage to state and local government employees.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (specifically in the 29 CFR Part 1956 regulation) allows states and territories to establish plans that cover only state and local government employees who are excluded from federal coverage. It states under the same Act that OSHA’s role is to promote safe and healthful working conditions for America’s working men and women. OSHA does this by setting and enforcing standards, as well as by providing training, outreach and education.

Jordan Barab, Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, applauds the state of Illinois for its ongoing commitment to the safety and health of public employees as well as welcomes the state as OSHA’s newest state plan partner. Eligibility for initial approval as a public employee-only state plan requires being able to operate an occupational safety and health program that is at least as effective as the federal program.

Here are some details of the Illinois plan:

• To be administered by the Illinois Department of Labor, Safety Inspection and Education division
• Program will cover more than 1 million public workers (including 161,200 state government workers and 690,000 municipal workers, along with workers in the public education sector)
• The state will adopt and enforce standards identical to most federal OSHA safety and health standards
• The state plan’s commitment is to bring its standards in line with OSHA requirements, as well as to adopt future OSHA standards and revisions
• Federal OSHA will fund up to 50 percent of the program’s operating costs (a $1.5 million grant for the $3 million Illinois Public Employee Only program was awarded by the federal OSHA to the state)

Though Illinois has provided protection to its public employees for a time now, this new plan will seek to meet the additional requirements of the federal OSHA program. Private sector employees, on the other hand, will remain under the jurisdiction of federal OSHA. Through these joint efforts and corporate endeavors, safety and health in the public sector workplace will be encouraged and upheld.

One of OSHA’s grantees, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and its Research Center, will be offering a free seminar on scaffold and ladder safety. NAHB is a recipient of OSHA’s Susan Harwood Training Grant Program, and will conduct this seminar under provisions of the said grant. The two and a half hour safety training seminar will seek to help and refresh OSH Act-covered employers and workers on the basics of fall protection. It also seeks to have participants from the small-to-medium-size builders, remodelers, and trade contractors in the residential construction industry. The following will be the foci of the training program:

• Identification of scaffold and ladder fall hazards in residential construction
• Information on safe work practices that will help avoid and prevent fall-related injuries and deaths
• Refreshers on OSHA’s scaffold and ladder standards and fall protection regulations

The seminar is available in both English and Spanish (upon request) but will only be offered at certain areas in the US. You can visit NAHB online for more information and for registration.

In other news, OSHA’s Strategic Partnership Program has been found to help foster and promote safety and health in the construction industry. This has been proven in the case of Aurora, Illinois’ Police Station and Branch Court Facility, whose partnership with OSHA was formed in January 2008. The partnership can boast of the following achieved goals within its first year:

• Conduct of 60 sessions resulting in more than 600 employees, managers and supervisors completing safety and health training
• Identification and correction of more than 1,200 work-site hazards
• Achievement of an average total recordable case incidence rate of 67% (below the 2007 Bureau of Labor Statistics’ national average)
• Achievement of an average days-away-from-work, job transfer or restriction rate of 29% (below the 2007 Bureau of Labor Statistics’ national average)

With the success of OSHA’s Strategic Partnership Program with Aurora, Illinois’ local authorities, as well as in the joint efforts of special grants and beneficiaries through OSHA, workplace health and safety will be prospered and achieved for everyone’s gain.

Oregon’s OSHA has cited ConAgra Foods and NW Metal Fabricators Inc. for a worksite accident in Boardman that took the life of 21-year old Kevin Paul Gregerson early this year. Gregerson, a welder, became a casualty to unsafe work conditions and the lack of safety precautions in a worksite when the steel tank he was attempting to repair exploded, burying him in the debris. It was said that the tank used for potato washing was filled up with gas and that the welding equipment Gregerson used while making the repairs ignited it. The accident took place in February of this year at ConAgra’s food processing plant.

The recent citation by OSHA for the safety violations committed by the two companies has amounted to $90,000 in fines. ConAgra Foods received a $65,000 penalty, while NW Metal Fabricators Inc., Gregerson’s employer and a contractor for the food processing plant, took a $25,000 fine. Both companies were found to have violated a number of workplace and worker safety and health regulations, all of which could have prevented the fatal accident from happening as well as could have saved the life of Gregerson. The two companies in question were both given a month to respond to OSHA’s citations.

To prevent such adverse yet avoidable accidents from happening again, it is crucial to remember and apply the following basic safety rules pertaining to work in confined spaces:

• Confined spaces (e.g., tanks, wells, tunnels) are permit spaces that have limited access and egress and are not intended for human habitation. This is why working in such conditions require special permits as well as specific skills and training for the worker.
• If you are the employer and/or owner of the worksite, make sure that you are aware of all the present hazards. Identify and deal with all the hazards and threats to safety and health. Do not subject your employees to such harmful work conditions without first addressing them. Inform and train your employees on safe work practices and hazard communication.
• Employees who lack the skills and expertise should not (or should refuse to) work under such unsafe and risky conditions. Have in mind that working in confined spaces require permits and sufficient training. Get the permit as well as get trained before getting to work.

Time and again, we all have to remember that accidents in the worksite can be prevented if only everyone takes the initiative to look out for safety first.

A heat-related death in a Texas construction worksite is currently being investigated by OSHA. Jeffery Louis Willenborg of Grand Prairie, Austin died on July 15 from a reported worksite illness caused by heat. Willenborg has been said to be working at a construction site for three consecutive days and under conditions exposing him to very high temperatures. Though the probable cause of death is from heat exhaustion due to heat stress, the Travis County medical examiner has yet to release an official statement regarding the real cause of Willenborg’s death. He was only 43.

According to reports, Willenborg’s employer has not come forward regarding his death. The law requires construction companies to report to OSHA when an employee dies either on the job or after leaving the worksite. The regional office for OSHA in Austin is looking for more information regarding this matter. Though this is the first ever heat-related death recorded in Travis County this year, Texas has again been put on OSHA’s map as the state has been known for construction worksite safety violations leading to accidents and fatalities.

Since the start of the summer season this year, OSHA has been on a campaign to inform and protect workers from heat illnesses. Heat stress is of great concern to OSHA as the illness can lead to death, as with this recent case. Employers should be the first to educate their employees regarding heat illnesses. Employees, on the other hand, should be on the lookout for themselves as well as for their co-workers when working in conditions wherein they are exposed to heat. Reports of incidents and accidents on the worksite should also be duly reported to the local OSHA, so that the proper actions can be taken. Together, everyone can work towards a safer worksite.

Multina’s Plattsburgh Plant has been found by OSHA to have repeated safety violations as well as new ones and will now have to answer up with over $109,000 in fines. Multina USA Inc., a company that produces seats for the mass-transportation industry, is being cited and fined for seven alleged repeat and serious violations as well as for failing to correct a cited violation from last year. These were determined after OSHA conducted a follow-up inspection at the plant in January this year.

Citations on the plant were from alleged recurring hazards such as the improper storage, transfer and handling of flammable liquids, and the company’s failure to provide their employees with chemical-resistant protective gloves as well as HazCom trainings. Additional citations against Multina were for previous uncorrected violations such as the failure to abate notice and failure to inform workers of their right to access medical records. Aside from these, new hazards such as the lack of machine guarding on a router and excess pressure from a compressed-air hose were also discovered on the plant.

In other news on recent OSHA citations, Kara Fibers Inc. was cited for failing to correct previously discovered hazards involving machine guards. Additional alleged workplace safety violations such as blocked exit routes and the lack of an energy control program were also identified and cited against Kara Fibers. The paper recycling company has to answer up to the proposed fines amounting to over $61,000.

All in all, the citations were issued because the hazards were likely to result in death or serious physical harm—safety and health issues the employer should know about as well as effectively address. OSHA added that employee input to their company’s safety and health program will help a great deal in preventing accidents in the workplace or jobsite.

In these two cases, it is evident that the companies concerned failed to address the hazards in their respective workplaces, leading to aggravated and pending safety and health issues. OSHA asserts that such hazardous work conditions should be promptly and effectively corrected by the management, before any accidents and/or untoward incidents can occur. In line with this, OSHA imposes big fines for failure to abate notice (or failure to correct hazards previously cited) after evidence of the violation is found in the follow-up inspections. Given these safety and health standards and requirements by OSHA, it is thus important that everyone work towards a safer and healthier workplace. This goal, after all, is for the welfare and benefit of everyone.

A worksite accident last July 15 left one casualty at Appleton Paper in West Carrollton, Ohio. The worker, William Wilson, got his legs trapped under a beam that fell from a forklift. The heavy beam, a spreader bar, had to be crane-lifted off of the victim by the emergency crew that responded to the accident. Though Wilson was rushed to the Miami Valley Hospital, he later died due to complications. He was 39 years old.

Initial reports had stated that the accident involved a fallen crane, but was later on clarified as a spreader bar that fell from a forklift being used on the plant. OSHA has yet to do further investigations, as well as has stated that it could take more than two weeks before investigations finish and the real cause of the accident is determined. Due to this incident and the obvious need to do equipment checks and maintenance on the plant site, Appleton Paper was shut down.

Such accidents and casualties in the workplace can be prevented, given the implementation and observance of safe work practices such as regular equipment maintenance, proper lockout/tag-out procedures, safe and skillful operation of powered industrial equipment, secure rigging, and sufficient hazard communication in the area. The management and owners should be the first to assert such safety on the jobsite, with the safety and welfare of their workers in mind. Notwithstanding, the workers have to strive alongside the management as well in making sure that their safety is looked out for in the workplace. Together, further unfortunate incidents such as this can be avoided.