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.