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

It is fairly old news that OSHA has partnered with NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) and NETS (Network of Employers for Traffic Safety) to release new guidelines as far as the reduction of motor vehicle crashes involving employees are concerned. This document suggests the various actions that employers can take in order to ensure that vehicles in the workplace and other areas are safe for their employees. These guidelines however are not regulatory but merely advisory. However, OSHA requires employers to comply with the various hazard-specific safety and health standards, and employers can be cited for not taking the necessary preventive measures to avoid motor crashed involving their employees. But the document also concentrates on the significant costs of crashes to employers at the workplace, as well as to employee’s private lives. Motor vehicle crashes are estimated to cost an employer $60 billion per year. An average crash would cost an employer nearly $16,500...

Just recently, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had announced that it would be reversing the enforcement policy that it has been used since 1983. This policy, primarily allows almost every employer to adopt various types of PPE's and inculcate hearing conservation programs, instead of administrative and engineering controls. A “proposed interpretation” document has also been published in the Federal Register. Indeed! This is a great enforcement milestone for OSHA, because it has reversed a policy that has been used for 27 years in the construction and the general industry. From 1983, this regulatory agency has not penalized a single employer, for adopting PPE and hearing conservation programs instead of administrative and engineering controls, unless the noise generated was as high as 100dBA. Engineering and administrative controls are usually not adopted by employers, for they are almost always too expensive. Thus, citations for failure to use them were extremely ...