Sensible Safety Newsletter
2nd QTR 2014
In This Issue
Safety Q&A
Injury Prevention
Training
OSHA news
OSHA Citations
Sensible Safety Tip
Use our OSHA 300 log to identify injury trends.
  
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Greetings!
Ask a Safety Professional

 Is there a standard for developing an Injury Prevention Plan for my workplace?

 

Yes, The American National Standards Institute/American Industrial Hygiene Association has published the Z10 standard for developing and implementing an Occupational Health and Safety Management System. The standardized system consists of elements related to:

  1. Management Leadership
  2. Employee Participation
  3. Planning
  4. Evaluation and Corrective Action
  5. Management Review
 Email your safety question to: [email protected]
Prevention

Employers urged to prevent texting while driving

 

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death on the job, accounting for more than 2 out of every 5 fatal work injuries in 2012, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Department of launched a national campaign to stop texting while driving and other distracted driving hazards. To learn more, visit www.distraction.gov/.

Transportation has now

  

OSHA reminds employers that they have a responsibility to protect their workers by prohibiting texting while driving. It is a violation of the OSH Act if employers require workers to text while driving, create incentives that encourage or condone it, or structure work so that texting is a practical necessity for workers to carry out their job. For more information, including a Distracted Driving brochure, visit OSHA's Distracted Driving Web page. 

Prevention

"We Can Do This"

 

A video explains the value of Injury and Illness Prevention Programs

"We Can Do This!" is a new seven-minute video developed by OSHA that explains how injury and illness prevention programs enhance workplace safety and health. An injury and illness prevention program is a systematic process that employers can use to find and fix workplace hazards before workers get hurt. Instituting these programs helps transform workplace culture and can lead to higher productivity, reduced turnover, reduced costs and greater worker satisfaction. To learn about the basic elements of these programs and how they have been implemented by many employers with dramatic results, visit OSHA's Injury and Illness Prevention Program topics page and watch the video.

 

OSHA is developing a rule requiring employers to implement an Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP). It involves planning, implementing, evaluating, and improving processes and activities that protect employee safety and health. OSHA has substantial data on reductions in injuries and illnesses from employers who have implemented similar effective processes. The Agency currently has voluntary Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines (54 FR 3904 to 3916), published in 1989. An injury and illness prevention program rule would build on these guidelines as well as lessons learned from successful approaches and best practices under OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program, and similar industry and international initiatives such as American National Standards Institute/American Industrial Hygiene Association Z10 and Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series 18001. A notice of proposed rulemaking is expected by September 2014. An IIPP is currently mandatory in California.

 

OSHA Outreach Training

The OSHA Outreach Training Program for General Industry provides training for workers and employers on the recognition, avoidance, abatement, and prevention of safety and health hazards in general industry workplaces.  

 

This class is intended for entry to mid-level workers to help ensure that workers are more knowledgeable about workplace hazards and their rights, and contribute to your businesses overall productivity.

 

Next schedules sessions will be offered in February of 2014 at the NIU Campus in Hoffman Estates, IL. 

 

OSHA 10-Hour August 4-5 , 2014

 

Register now for $250

 

 

 

OSHA  Training

 

OSHA and Waubonsee Community College will be co-sponsoring an OSHA Safety Day training conference March 19, 2014 in Sugar Grove, Ill. An estimated 300 employees and managers are expected to attend the event, representing a broad range of industries in Illinois, including manufacturing, hospitals, retailers and universities. Eight tracks covering safety issues for transportation, machine safeguarding, safety programs, electrical and environmental will be offered. This year's conference also features a track dedicated to occupational safety and health issues in the green industry

The program will be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Waubonsee Community College's Sugar Grove Campus. Advance registration is required and space is limited. Please register online or contact Elizabeth Hurley at (630) 906-4152 or [email protected] for more information. 

 

OSHA News

OSHA and the National Oceanic and the Atmospheric Administration have joined forces for National Severe Weather Preparedness Week, March 2-8, to address the unique hazards that severe weather poses for workers and employers.

 

OSHA and NOAA encourage employers to stay aware of weather forecasts, train workers on workplace severe weather plans, and keep emergency supplies, including a battery-operated weather radio, on hand to be better prepared when severe weather strikes. Employers must also ensure that workers involved in response and recovery are protected from potential safety and health hazards.

 

OSHA provides resources on workplace preparedness and response for severe weather emergencies including tornadoes, floods, and winter weather, among others. Follow all of the week's activities on NOAA's Web page and visit OSHA's Tornado Preparedness and Response page for more information on protecting workers from severe weather events.

 

OSHA Citations
AT&T Suied by U.S. DOL

The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit against The Ohio Bell Telephone Company, which operates as AT&T, after 13 workers were suspended without pay for reporting workplace injuries. The workers were disciplined and given one- to three-day unpaid suspensions for reporting injuries that occurred on the job, which violates the whistleblower provisions of the OSH Act of 1970.

"It is against the law for employers to discipline or suspend employees for reporting injuries," said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. "AT&T must understand that by discouraging workers from reporting injuries, it increases the likelihood of more workers being injured in the future. And the Labor Department will do everything in its power to prevent this type of retaliation."

OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of 22 statutes protecting employees who report violations of various airline, commercial motor carrier, consumer product, environmental, financial reform, food safety, motor vehicle safety, health care reform, nuclear, pipeline, public transportation agency, railroad, maritime and securities laws. Read the news release for more information. 

OSHA Citations
Dukane Precast Inc., Illinois
OSHA has cited Dukane Precast Inc., a precast concrete products manufacturer, for eight safety violations after a 39-year-old Hispanic temporary worker was fatally crushed at the company's Aurora plant while working alone on July 20, 2013. The worker had entered a concrete mixer's discharge mud hopper to free a gate stuck in the open position. The gate, which had not been locked out to prevent unintentional operation during maintenance activity, closed and crushed the worker. Proposed fines total $303,900.
 

"It is unacceptable that Dukane Precast would allow a worker to enter a permit-required confined space to perform maintenance without ensuring that the space was isolated from hazards by following OSHA standards," said Kathy Webb, OSHA's area director in North Aurora. "Employers have a responsibility to protect all workers from known hazards at their facilities."

 

Included in the citations to the employer are four willful citations for failing to protect workers from confined space hazards, failing to inform workers about confined spaces, failing to establish lockout/tagout procedures for maintenance workers, and failing to lock and tag out hazardous equipment. Due to the willful violations, the company has been placed in OSHA's Severe Violator Enforcement Program, which mandates targeted follow-up inspections to ensure compliance with the law. For more information on the citations issued, read the press release.

  
Safety Program Solutions
Sensible Safety Source supports your health and safety program development.  We offer a variety of safety programs, training tools, checklists, and webinars designed for U.S. DOL OSHAs general industry regulations 29CFR 1910. 

 

Injury prevention takes commitment, planning, and preparedness.  SSS can help you with the planning preparedness.

Sensible solutions for small and mid-sized businesses.

 
Sincerely,
 

Brenda Allard 
MBA, CSP
Owner 
Sensible Safety Source LLC

Sensible Safety Source OSHA program management tools can be downloaded through a link that is provided once the checkout process is completed.   Sensible Safety Source LLC terms and conditions apply.

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