If an OSHA Compliance Safety and Health Officer visits a workplace to conduct an inspection and the employer refuses to permit the inspection, what is the appropriate next step for the Compliance Safety and Health Officer?  

Consider these four response options:

(1) To leave the premises and return to complete the inspection within the next 30 to 60 days.  

(2) To terminate the inspection and stay near the premises to observe any actions by the employer, where possible, while contacting and awaiting further instruction from the Area Director.  

3) The Compliance Safety and Health Officer shall terminate the inspection OR confine the inspection to other areas, conditions, structures, etc. for which there is no objection by the employer.  The Compliance Safety and Health Officer shall attempt to ascertain the reason for the refusal and report the refusal to the Area Director.  The Area Director will then consult with the Regional Solicitor, who shall take appropriate action, including compulsory process, if necessary.

(4) To leave the premises and immediately seek the assistance of local police in obtaining access to the premises  

Safety Center Incorporated and Empire Safety & Supply have teamed up to offer you the best quality safety supplies and equipment for all industries.  Please enjoy a Safety Center Preferred Client Discount -- 10% off your entire order -- by using coupon code: SFTYCNTR12 when placing your order at empiresafety.com
or (916) 781-3003.

• Check out our End of Summer Special: 3 Students for the Price of 2! This is a limited time offer, so sign up today!  

• NEW class offering: 8-hour HazWOPER Refresher! 

• Too difficult to have your employees out for an entire week of training? To make things a little easier, we scheduled our Fed OSHA-30 for Construction course throughout the month of October.    

• Did you know you can renew your certification cards with our 4-hour Refresher Courses -- Excavation, Fall Protection, First Aid/CPR and Traffic Control?   

•  Coming Soon! Industrial General Permit (IGP) - The CA State Water Resource Control Board has issued revisions to the 2012 Third Draft NPDES Industrial General Permit (IGP). This class is designed to assist those interested in understanding how they are affected and the major changes proposed. Class dates will be posted soon. Check our website for the latest info.

 Click here, or call 800-825-7262 x219 for more information or to enroll in a class today.

Saturday, October 6, 2012 
12:00-4:00 PM 

Sacramento Regional Fire Districts will be competing for the best chili in the Sacramento area.

 
Kid-friendly activities include interactive learning stations, demonstrations, helicopter landing, car extrication, rappelling & more.

 
It's a great day of family fun with interactive demos, kid's activities & chili tasting. 

InterWest  Insurance Services, Inc. currently has an opening in its Sacramento office for a Risk Control Manager.  Click here for a description of the opening. 

Safety Center is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization founded in 1934 whose mission is to reduce injuries and save lives by providing safety education and training. We accomplish this mission by promoting lifelong safety and health through a variety of community and professional programs. 

By Jim Hughes

Vice President, Risk Control Services,
Wells Fargo Insurance Services

As the recent fire at the Chevron refinery in Richmond, California, demonstrated, the impact of accidents can be quite extensive.  Accidents, or "operational errors" as they are sometimes called, can have an adverse affect on employees, customers, the public (and neighboring community as seen in the Richmond case), an organization's reputation, and, of course, the organization's bottom line. 

Whether your organization is a private or publicly held company or a public entity, accidents have an effect on bottom line profits or operating budgets.  These costs are often categorized as "losses."  If an employee is injured, he or she is covered, under California law, by the organization's worker's compensation program.  The costs of medical care, lost wages, therapy, and retraining, are all captured under this program and are, essentially, losses to the organization.

Accidents are defined as unplanned events that may result, or have the potential to result, in personal injury, property damage or both.   They result from a combination of factors involving the environment, tools, equipment, materials, and people.  These factors are considered part of the overall management system. 

After an accident, the management team overseeing operations collects and analyzes information about the causes of the "operational error."  In assigning responsibility for conducting the accident investigation, it is important to recognize that, while supervisors may have the expertise, they may not want to take part in an exercise that ultimately points to him or her as being part of the problem.  This conflict of interest can be overcome by developing and implementing a policy that assigns team members from outside the area where an accident occurs to assist the supervisor in the investigation. 

The purpose of accident investigation is to determine the "causes" of accidents, eliminate or mitigate these causes, and thereby reduce, as significantly as possible, the probability of a similar accident occurring in the future.  This can be a very challenging task involving planning and the first step is to have policies and procedures in place that establish and assign responsibility for accident investigation.  This includes providing the necessary tools to conduct accident investigations and holding senior managers responsible for overseeing the accident investigation function to assure that it is carried out effectively.

The accident investigation process can be broken down into the following key activities:

• Collecting of data and information
• Interviewing those involved (including witnesses)
• Analyzing the data collected to identify causes
• Identifying solutions (corrective actions) for eliminating and mitigating those causes
• Assigning responsibility and establishing timelines for implementing corrective actions
• Following up to assure that the corrective actions are implemented

The accident investigation team will need the proper tools and these include the aforementioned policies and procedures, easy-to-use accident investigation forms, clipboards, caution tape, a camera, and, of course, proper training and instructional materials.

Investigating accidents, depending on the complexity of the event to be investigated, can be a challenging and formidable task.  It involves an organized, thoughtful approach to data gathering, the analysis of data to form conclusions, and the analysis of the actions or inactions of people.  

To summarize, here are some basic principles of accident investigation:

• Be prepared
• Get started right away
• Establish policies and procedures on accident investigation
• Train the people who will be assigned to do it
• Hold people accountable for the results

Of course, the best approach is not to have accidents.  This is accomplished with a strong organizational safety culture.  The accident that is prevented today doesn't need to be investigated.  The crisis is averted.

For further information on Accident Investigation training, please contact Quen or Kei at 916-366-7233. Want to sign up for a class, click here for more info.

OSHA Discontinues Online versions of OSHA 510 & OSHA 511 Standards Courses for Construction and General Industry

OSHA has recently changed its policy for online courses and made the decision to eliminate the online versions of the OSHA 510 Standards for Construction and OSHA 511 Standards for General Industry courses. 

The OSHA 510 and 511 courses serve as a foundation and prerequisite to the Outreach Trainer courses OSHA 500 and 501 which authorize participants to teach the OSHA 10-hour and 30-hour Outreach Training Programs.  Effective September 30, 2012, OSHA will require that online providers discontinue offering the 510 and 511 courses, leaving classroom courses as the sole remaining option.  

In order to facilitate students that have a need or desire to fast-track their Outreach Trainer status, the OSHA Training Center developed the 2013 schedule to have back-to-back 510/500 and 511/501 courses with our Sacramento, CA partner, the Safety Center. Students interested in obtaining the ability to teach the OSHA 10-hour and 30-hour programs are now able to complete the courses within two weeks.  The OSHA Training Center encourages you to plan ahead and review the 2012-2013 OSHA Training Center course schedule for applicable dates. 

OSHA has not completely taken away all online courses. Eligible OSHA Education Centers are allowed to submit proposals for online versions of many of their three and four day courses on subjects that include Industrial Hygiene, Respiratory Protection, Fall Protection and many one day seminars on subjects like Managing Excavation Hazards, Trainer Course in Construction Noise, and Writing Material Safety Data Sheets.  If you are interested in taking a four day online class in electrical standards or a one day online course in Safe Bolting principles and practices check our monthly emails for updates on when these classes may become available.