• The Next Step Program - comprehensive look at damage prevention techniques.
• Excavation Law - In Spanish and English
• Managing a Culturally Diverse Work Force
• Staking University's Locator Certification
• Wide Area Locates
• PHMSA Session
• White Lining Planned Excavation Sites
• APWA marking Standards for Facility Owners and Excavators
• Highway Traffic Control
• Web-based Damage Reporting Requirements
• Requiring New Underground Systems to be Traceable
• SWPP
• What to do if you hit a line
• Requiring Spotting of Service Lines
• DIMP/SHRIMP

 

 

 

Introduction of Sustainable Water Infrastructure Investment Act of 2010

 

April 27, 2010 Arlington, Va.-The National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA) applauds the introduction of the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Investment Act of 2010 (S. 3262). The legislation would provide great steps to put the underground utility construction industry back to work by lifting water and wastewater infrastructure project from under the state volume cap subject to private activity bonds (PABs). NUCA appreciates the efforts of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who introduced the bill today along with the bipartisan support of original cosponsors, Sens. Mike Crapo (R- Idaho), John Kerry (D-Mass.), and Christopher "Kit" Bond (R-Mo.).

"PABs provide tax-exempt financing for a government entity such as a municipality or state that wishes to partner with a private entity to meet a public need. However, because current law caps the amount of PABs each state can issue, water infrastructure projects are commonly overshadowed by more attractive infrastructure projects. NUCA Chairman of the Board Dan East of Reynolds, Inc. in Albuquerque, NM underscored the benefits of the legislation. "It is estimated that lifting the cap on PABs would cost the government a modest $214 million over 10 years but could result in as much as $6 billion annually in incremental private capital for water and sewer infrastructure projects," East said. "At a time when construction unemployment hovers around 25 percent, passage of this bill would be a great investment of government as well as private sector dollars."

Bill Hillman, NUCA CEO, agrees. "With America's water and wastewater infrastructure needs facing hundreds of billions of dollars in fiscal need while the federal investment remains stagnant, clearly there is a role for private sector participation," Hillman said. "This legislation would put our industry back to work, generate significant economic activity in local communities around the country, and help rebuild America's dilapidated environmental infrastructure." The House version of the bill (HR 537) as included as part of the Small Business and Infrastructure Jobs Tax Act (HR 4849), which passed the House on March 24th.

 

 

Reprinted with permission from the National Utility Contractors Association.  

OSHA makes major changes to enforcement

 

READ THE PRESS RELEASE on OSHA's Web Page Here

http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=17544  

OSHA recently announced two major changes with regard to enforcement. First, OSHA will be increasing civil penalty amounts by changing the penalty calculation system. Second, OSHA is implementing a new Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP).

 

The changes to the penalty system will be made over the next few months. The SVEP will become effective within the next 45 days.

Changes to penalty system

Based on an OSHA work group's findings and recommendations, the penalty calculation system is being changed, which will increase the overall dollar amount of all penalties while maintain OSHA's policy of reducing penalties for small employers and those acting in good faith.

OSHA is anticipating making the following changes to penalty calculations:

·         History reduction will expand from three to five years. An employer who has been inspected by OSHA within the previous five years and has no serious, willful, repeat, or failure-to-abate violations will receive a 10 percent reduction for history. Previously this was based on a three year period.

·         A new history increase will be established. Employers that have been cited by OSHA for any high gravity serious, willful, repeat, or failure-to-abate violation within the previous five years will receive a 10 percent increase in their penalty, up to the statutory maximum.

·         The time period for repeat violations will be increased from three to five years.

·         Area Director/Informal Conference reductions will be changed. Any changes over 30 percent penalty reduction will have to be approved by the Regional Administrator. In addition, OSHA will no longer allow penalty adjustments to an employer at an informal conference where the employer has an outstanding penalty balance owed to OSHA.

·         High gravity serious violations related to standards identified in SVEP will be citable as separate violations.

·         A gravity-based penalty determination will be adopted, providing for penalties between $3,000 and $7,000.

·         Size reductions will be lessened. Employers with 1-25 employees will be eligible only for a 40 percent penalty reduction, down from 60 percent. Employers with 26-100 employees will be eligible for a 30 percent reduction, down from 40 percent. Employers with 101-250 employees will be eligible for a 10 percent reduction, down from 20 percent.

·         The current good faith procedures will be retained.

·         Final penalties will be calculated serially, unlike the present practice in which all of the penalty reductions are added and then the total percentage is multiplied by the gravity-based penalty to arrive at the proposed penalty. For comparison, this change would result in an increase of approximately 50 percent to a moderate gravity penalty.

SVEP

The new SVEP, which will replace the Enhanced Enforcement Program, is intended to focus OSHA enforcement resources on employers who endanger workers by demonstrating indifference to their responsibilities under the law. Under the program there will be:

·         Increased OSHA inspections in these worksites,

·         Mandatory OSHA follow-up inspections, and

·         Inspections of other worksites of the same employer where similar hazards and deficiencies may be present.

Criteria for a Severe Violator Enforcement case

Any inspection that meets one or more of the following criteria at the time that the citations are issued, will be considered a severe violator enforcement case.

Fatality/catastrophe criterion -A fatality/catastrophe inspection in which OSHA finds one or more willful or repeated violations or failure-to-abate notices based on a serious violation related to a death of an employee or three or more hospitalizations.

Non-fatality/catastrophe criterion related to high-emphasis hazards - An inspection in which OSHA finds two or more willful or repeated violations or failure-to-abate notices (or any combination of these violations/notices), based on high gravity serious violations related to a high-emphasis hazard. (High-emphasis hazards are high gravity serious violations of specific standards related to falls, or to hazards addressed by the amputation, combustible dust, crystalline silica, lead, excavation, or shipbreaking National Emphasis Programs.)

Non-fatality/catastrophe criterion for hazards due to the potential release of a highly hazardous chemical (Process Safety Management) - An inspection in which OSHA finds three or more willful or repeated violations or failure-to-abate notices (or any combination of these violations/notices), based on high gravity serious violations related to hazards due to the potential release of a highly hazardous chemical, as defined in the PSM standard.

Egregious criterion - All egregious (e.g., per-instance citations) enforcement actions will be considered SVEP cases.

Copyright © 2010 J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.