Tips & Updates about OSHA & Hazwoper Training Courses | Safety Tips

OSHA has recently announced a nationwide photography contest called “Picture It Safe Workplaces for everyone!” This contest challenges photographers to capture images of workplace safety and health practices and share it with OSHA. The goal is for OSHA to interact with the general public and rely on the talent and creativity out there to kick start a nationwide effort to raise awareness of the importance of workplace health and safety. This contest is a part of OSHA’s year-long celebration for its 40th anniversary and is open to anyone aged 18 and above. The contest ends on August 12th. Amateur as well as professional photographers are welcome to enter this contest. Photographers are entitled to interpret a photo of workplace safety and health in any manner that they choose to and are not restricted to specific subject matters and themes. The First, Second and Third place prizes will be given for the best portrayal of Occupational Safety and Healthy with regards to artistic value and i...

Hilda L. Solis the Secretary of Labor announced that 15 new members will be appointed to the Maritime Advisory Committee for Occupational Safety and Health. An open meeting will be held on the 19th and 20th of April at the Department of Labor’s headquarters in Washington. In January, the MACOSH charter was re-established by Secretary Solis, and this will be the first meeting held by the committee. Experts in the issue of maritime safety and health, the members of the committee will all serve two year terms and will represent the best interests of labor, management and the occupational safety and health professions. The MACOSH committee in turn will act as advisors to OSHA as far as protecting the safety and health of workers in the maritime industry is concerned. The MACOSH meetings will provide the public with the chance to participate in the committee’s activities on various issues related to safety and health of the shipyard, long-shoring and maritime workers. The maritime industry ...

The United States Food and Drug Administration or FDA has recently been urged to work alongside with OSHA to help establish whether hair smoothening treatments give out unsafe levels of formaldehyde. Following the CIR’s findings on the safety of formaldehyde and methylene glycol in hair smoothening treatments, it has been announced that an understanding of these ingredients and the conditions of use is very important. The panel reached a conclusion that methylene glycol and formaldehyde are safe to be used in cosmetic products when used in the minimal effective concentrations and should not exceed 0.2 percent. This is why FDA is being urged to work with OSHA and other appropriate state as well as local organizations to determine whether salon hair smoothening products emit dangerous levels of formaldehyde gas that could be potentially unsafe for salon workers and customers.

It has been observed that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) seems to be abandoning the implementation of key workplace safety rules in an attempt to steer clear of budget cuts that the congressional Republicans are keen to bring about. The Republicans have been pretty upset about OSHA stringent enforcement of rules under the Obama Administration. They claim that such enforcement of safety rules can take away plenty of jobs. While on other hand, supporters of OSHAs stringent enforcement say that OSHA is only helping those with jobs by preventing them from getting killed. Congressional Republicans have demanded cutting at least $99 million from OSHAs budget this year, which is a drastic reduction. Such a drastic reduction would have a devastating effect on all of OSHA’s activities. The Republicans have been particularly upset by a set of ergonomic rules which was delayed or stopped by OSHA. These rules would have forced companies to take into account ergonomic inju...

A whole spate of violence, as well as a hostage crisis, has led to Cal-OSHA (California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health) to fine the much esteemed Children’s Hospital of Oakland. What was the violation found? Cal-OSHA fined the hospital for not protecting its employees adequately. The hospital has a long history of violence, which started in July when a 49 year old man swept into the building and held a ward clerk and nurse at gunpoint. Yes, the police did come before he could hurt anyone, but this episode has caused a lot of apprehension in the hospital, which is located in a rough neighborhood in the North Oakland. It is just a few blocks away from an apartment complex where a man was caught two weeks ago, shooting at police officers! Tensions mounted once again in October when nurses were called in to treat a gunshot victim who was mysteriously dropped off in front of the hospital. This event happened soon after the registered nurses ended a three day strike over issues...

In this year’s Illinois Occupational Safety & Health day, new topics will be featured at all the breakout sessions and workshops in the Illinois Occupational Safety and Health Administration Program. The topics range from construction safety to personal protective equipment and green building. This event is all set to be held on March 2nd at Peoria Civic Center. Sessions will be held on fall protection, lead abatements, confined space training and office safety, which have all been designed to help employers keep their offices and workers safe and healthy, while at the same increase productivity at the workplace. This particular event will also feature a unique mini-health fair with free screenings. The conference helps by offering safety professionals from Illinois the chance to learn more, gain more information, and learn about all valuable sources and ultimately networks with hundreds of other likeminded individuals. There will also be many exhibitors present to demonstrate vari...

McEntire's Roofing Inc., of Lincoln, Ill., has been issued six citations by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The company has been cited with violations for failing to provide proper fall protection systems for all the roofers employed for working on residential projects. The sum of the penalties faced by the company is $102,000. OSHA had carried out two investigations under its Local Emphasis Program on Fall Hazards in the month of July and September, last year. The proposed penalties are a result of this inspection that was carried out at jobsites located in Bloomington and Lincoln, Ill. The inspectors observed roofers being allowed to operate without fall protection at the two storey residential projects and issued two wilful citations with $56,000 in the proposed penalties. According to the OSHA's area director in Peoria, Ill., Thomas Bielema, “Falls are a leading cause of injury and death in the workplace. McEntire's Roofing repeatedly has been cited f...

Cal/OSHA, also known as the Department of Industrial Relations' Division of Occupational Safety and Health or DIR/DOSH, reminds all employers in California to post a summary of work related injuries and accidents that occurred in 2010. This log has to be presented at their place of business. The log is available on the official website of Department of Industrial Relations and gives a complete overview of the type and severity of injuries and illnesses that take place at the workplace. All the employers are expected to post the summary from 1st of February through 30th of April for employee review. All the employees, including the former ones, along with their representatives have complete right to review the Cal/OSHA Form 300A at any time. The 300A form requires the employers to fill in each and every detail and report the number of injuries every year. This should be done even if no work related injuries have occurred at the work place. The nature of the accident or illness has t...

On the 19th of January, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced that it is withdrawing its proposed interpretation titled “Interpretation of OSHA's Provisions for Feasible Administrative or Engineering Controls of Occupational Noise”. This proposed interpretation would have properly clarified the term “feasible administrative or engineering controls” that is described in the noise standard laid down by OSHA. “Hearing loss is caused by excessive noise levels and remains a serious occupational health problem in this county”, said Dr. David Michaels, who is the assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. “However, it is clear from the concerns raised about this proposal that addressing this problem requires much more public outreach and many more resources than we originally anticipated. We are sensitive to the possible costs associated with improving worker protection and have decided to suspend work on this prop...

The very idea of Democrats and Republicans coming together and enacting a legislation for the sole purpose of protecting American workers from on-the-job injuries and fatalities seems inconceivable. But this is exactly what happened almost 40 years ago. On the 29th of December, 1970, President Nixon signed the Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) Act into law. This act was a compromise that sought to assure that every man and woman in the nation safe and healthful working conditions and to preserve our human resources”. The OSHA Act has been successful in saving many thousands of lives. If the workers had the same risk of death as they had in 1933, the death rate would have gone up by 40,000 more workers per year. However, the OSHA Act has not been properly updated since the time it became law. OSHA has become hopelessly overmatched and struggles to look after 21st century workplaces with 20th century tools. Each year, nearly 5,000 American workers pay the price for this, with thei...

Bridgford Foods Processing Corp. facility in Chicago has been issued 10 safety citations by the U.S Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration for failing to provide proper training to workers on lockout and tagout procedures. Now, the meat processing plant is facing a heavy penalty of $212,000. “By failing to train employees and enforce lockout/tagout procedures, Bridgford Foods placed employees in danger of serious injury from equipment that was not properly de-energized”, said Gary Anderson, who is the area director of OSHA in Calumet City, Ill. “OSHA is committed to ensuring that workers are provided a safe and healthful workplace”, he added. The July 2010 OSHA inspection issued Bridgford Foods Processing one willful violation and a penalty of $70,000. The citation was issued for allowing employees to remove a shovel stuck in an auger screw conveyor without tagging or locking it out, thereby putting them in danger of the machine operating while they wor...

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued out $229,000 in fines to two companies in connection with a July 2010 explosion that killed two welders. Northeast Energy Management Inc. of Indiana, Pa. and Huntley and Huntley Inc. of Monroeville, Pa. are the two companies. The incident occurred at the Murry Heirs #6 well site owned by Huntley in Cheswick. The two men were workers from Northeast Energy. Huntley and Huntley had contracted Northeast Energy to repair a leaking barrel tank at the well site. The former was responsible for making sure that Northeast Energy had properly trained its workers on safe welding procedures. In a press release, OSHA said, “These companies did not ensure that proper welding procedures were followed resulting in this tragic loss of life”. Robert Szymanski, the director of OSHA's Pittsburgh area office, said, “OSHA remains committed to holding employers legally responsible when they fail to adhere to federal law and compromise the sa...

In order to improve work place safety, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration plans to roll out five new rules. However, a rule for curbing ergonomic injuries is not going to be one of them. OSHA has been handing out forms to employers for reporting safety ailments and job health. Interestingly, this form does not even have a separate column for ergonomic ailments. The five new rules covered by OSHA include general working conditions for shipyards, confined spaces at construction sites, hazard communications, electric power transmissions and standards improvement. The OSHA staffers said, “We also anticipate publishing finals for several whistle blower regulations. In addition, we estimate publishing a proposed rule for silica”. They did not, however, part with any details. OSHA announced a rule for curbing ergonomic injuries after a decade of work and delays due to business pressure. These injuries include sprains, repetitive motion injuries, thrown out backs due to heav...

The Department of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the United States, has recently fined the MillerCoors company with a hefty fine of $63,500 for an ammonia leak that sent two employees to the hospital. You will be shocked to know that nearly 2,000 pounds of toxic anhydrous ammonia leaked when an ammonia line had ruptured at the Coors Brewing plant on the 12th of July. The OSHA investigators had found that while two workers were busy working on the faulty ammonia system, an uncontrolled release occurred during the regular maintenance operations. Luckily, these employees escaped with serious injuries. They were then rushed to the Lutheran Hospital, where they were promptly treated. OSHA’s area office director in Englewood, Mr.John Healy, said that, "Employers must be diligent in ensuring that employees and the public are not unwittingly exposed to serious hazards caused by inadequate maintenance of systems controlling highly hazardous chemicals”. He f...

A man from Sussex County is in a critical condition after he was injured in a forklift accident. The incident took place at a Hackettstown construction site. Gregory Schimdt, aged 41, was working for the Blue Ridge Lumber Co. Detective Darren Tynan said that he was working at a senior citizen residential facility under construction on Route 57 at the time of the accident. Apparently, Schimdt was trying to place pieces of wood under a pallet of lumber for elevating it so that a forklift operator could take off the Blue Ridge delivery truck. The forklift driver was not present at that time. But, he had left the forklift in drive, according to the police. The victim was manually widening the forks for accommodating the pallet. This caused the forklift to roll forward, pinning Schimdt against the truck. Tynan said, “We don't know after the forklift driver got off the vehicle where he went to. All we know is he got off the forklift and left it in drive”. Schimdt was pinned against...

Last weekend, a four year old boy drowned in a manure pit. A local agency claimed on Tuesday night that the child's death could have been prevented. This incident adds to the list of several farming deaths that have occurred in the recent years. According to 'Safe Kids', an organization that works on the safety of children, these accidents prove that more efforts have to be put in to educate the public on farm safety. The manure pits are the hidden hazards on farms, as per Sue Lackmann of Safe Kids Lancaster County. “To somebody who doesn't know what they're looking for it looks like a hole in the ground and young children, being young children, they will take that opportunity to go and look at it and explore“, she added. Farm owners should fence the pit or cover it and lock it up. However, there are no official safety requirements issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The farm fatalities seem to have hiked in the year 2008 with a sum ...

The United States, Department of Labor's, OSHA or Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has recently cited the Pasadena Refining Services Inc. with 21 serious safety violations, for primarily exposing workers to multiple health and safety hazards at the organization's facility in Pasadena. The proposed penalties have mounted up to a total sum of $115,650. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's, Houston South Area Office in Texas began its investigation on the 30th of June, at the organization's facility, that is located on the Red Bluff Road, which was a part of the company's national emphasis training program on the safety management process of refineries. Some of the serious safety violations, that were committed by the company are listed below: 1.Failing to provide properly constructed scaffolds, 2.Failing to provide supports to hold piping, 3.Failing to provide controls to prevent valves from closing, 4.Failing to conduct annual confined s...

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited the U.S. Postal Service's Boggs Road distribution center with repeat and serious safety violations. The penalty proposed is over thousands of dollars. On Wednesday, $80,000 in penalties against the Duluth facility was announced by OSHA. These penalties detail seven distinct violations. The cited violations also include two grave ones that are issued only “when there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result” from the hazard. In a statement issued by OSHA's Atlanta area office, director Bill Fulcher said, “This inspection points to the need for employers to develop, implement and maintain programs that ensure hazards such as were noted here are connected, and that employee exposure to these hazards is eliminated”. OSHA has cited the Postal Agency with five repeat violations with a total of $75,000. These violations are issued when an employer has previously been cited for the same vio...

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration have withdrawn the interim fall protection guidelines pertaining to residential construction, issued in 1995, and have reverted to the previous guidelines. The interim guideline was implemented in 1995 as a temporary policy, which allows employers to use alternate measures for fall protection without providing a written, site-specific plan or proving the practicality of the conventional fall-protection systems for a particular project. Before 1995, builders were required to provide conventional fall protection for workers involved in residential construction working at 6 feet or more above a lower level. If workers felt the conventional fall-protection techniques were not feasible or could create greater risks, they would have to provide a written fall protection plan using alternative fall protection techniques. Now, OSHA has eliminated the interim guideline and has reverted back to the previous 1995 regulation. The new directive requ...

The makers of Brazilian Blowout are looking forward to fight the United States regulatory body, OSHA, in court. A few months ago, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, had strictly warned people that the wildly popular hair straightening treatment, was a reservoir of health hazards. The Post obtained the lawsuit that basically accuses the Oregon office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, for primarily misleading consumers, with several stringent warnings that the treatments contained dangerously high levels of the toxic chemical, formaldehyde. Mr. Mike Brady, the Brazilian Blowout CEO, had this to say about the OSHA citations: “Firstly, the formaldehyde content is many times below the minimum levels." He further went on to accuse the Oregon regulators, stating that, “they erroneously measured a different substance, methylene glycol, and improperly counted it as formaldehyde.” Regarding the product itself, he said that, "the data is there that sh...