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OSHA PROPOSES MORE THAN $61,000 IN FINES AGAINST WEYMOUTH, MA CONTRACTOR
May 26, 2010 – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Misdea Enterprises LLC, a Weymouth, Mass., masonry contractor, for alleged willful and serious violations of safety standards after an employee fell 30 feet while climbing a scaffold at a jobsite located on Summit Street in Brookline, Mass. The company faces a total of $61,600 in proposed fines.
OSHA's inspection found that the scaffold lacked a ladder or other safe means of accessing its upper levels and the workers were not supplied with fall protection while working on the scaffold. Employers must provide fall protection for each employee on a scaffold more than 10 feet above a lower level.
These conditions resulted in OSHA issuing two willful citations, with $56,000 in proposed fines, against the masonry company. OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health.
"Falls are the leading cause of death in construction work, and employers must take all required steps to prevent and minimize this potentially deadly hazard," said Brenda Gordon, OSHA's area director for Boston and southeastern Massachusetts. "Safe working conditions must not and can never be a matter of luck."
In addition, OSHA determined that the scaffold was not fully planked, which created an additional fall hazard. Furthermore, the agency found that workers were threatened by electrocution, since the scaffold was located less than 18 inches from uninsulated and energized power lines. These conditions resulted in two serious citations with $5,600 in fines. OSHA issues serious citations when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from hazards about which the employer knew or should have known.
Misdea Enterprises has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet with the OSHA area director or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. This inspection was conducted by OSHA's Braintree Area Office.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. Occupational Safety Specialists' role is to assure these conditions for America's working men and women by providing effective occupational safety training and compliance solutions, education and assistance.
OSHA PROPOSES MORE THAN $61,000 IN FINES AGAINST BRIGHTON, MA CONTRACTOR
May 11, 2010 – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited The Welch Corp., a Brighton, Mass., contractor, for alleged willful, serious and other-than-serious violations of safety standards at a Brighton worksite. The company faces a total of $61,650 in fines, chiefly for excavation hazards.
OSHA's inspection found company employees working in a trench more than 8-feet deep that lacked cave-in protection and a ladder or other safe means of exit, and also had excavated spoils piled at its edge, a condition that exposed workers in the trench to crushing or struck-by hazards.
"Given these conditions, the potential for a fatal or disabling accident was real and present," said Brenda Gordon, OSHA's area director for Boston and southeastern Massachusetts. "While it's fortunate that no collapse occurred, excavation safety cannot rely on good fortune. Required safeguards must be in place and in use at all times."
As a result of its inspection, OSHA issued the company one willful citation, with a proposed fine of $49,500, for storing materials at the trench's edge; two serious citations, with $8,550 in fines, for the lack of collapse protection and exit ladder; and four other-than-serious citations, with $3,600 in fines, for incomplete injury and illness records.
OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health. OSHA issues serious citations when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from hazards about which the employer knew or should have known.
"With the coming of warmer weather and the resumption of excavation work, I call upon the area's employers to review their excavation safety programs and make certain that their training, equipment, procedures and supervision are complete and effective," said Gordon. "The lives and well-being of their workers could depend on it."
OSHA standards require that all excavation 5 feet or deeper be protected against collapse. Detailed information on excavation hazards and safeguards is available online at http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/trenchingexcavation/index.html.
The Welch Corp. has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet with the OSHA area director or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. This inspection was conducted by OSHA's Braintree Area Office; telephone 617-565-6924. To report workplace accidents, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-6742.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. Occupational Safety Specialists' role is to assure these conditions for America's working men and women by providing effective occupational safety training and compliance solutions, education and assistance.
OSHA'S PENALTIES DEEMED INADEQUATE: INCREASED PENALTIES ON THE WAY
May 3, 2010 – Last year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) assembled a work group to evaluate the Agency’s policies. The general consensus of the work group was that the Agency’s penalties are too low to have an adequate deterrent effect on violators. Based on the group’s findings and recommendations, several administrative changes to the penalty calculation system outlined in the Field Operations Manual (FOM) are being made.
These administrative enhancements will become effective in the next several months, allowing adequate time for affected OSHA personnel to become familiar with the changes and receive training. Some changes will require advanced reprogramming of the IMIS and development for the new OSHA Information System (OIS) scheduled to launch in October of 2010. The anticipated changes are outlined below.
History Reduction
The timeframe for considering an employer’s history of violations will expand from three years 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.
History Increase
An employer that has 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. Employers who have not been inspected and employers who have received citations for serious violations that were not high gravity will receive neither a reduction nor an increase for history.
Repeat Violations
The time period for repeated violations will also be increase from three to five years. Area Directors may continue to apply a size reduction to the penalty, as appropriate, after considering the need for a deterrent effect.
Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP) Violations
Where circumstances warrant, at the discretion of the Area Director, high gravity serious violations related to standards identified in the SVEP will no longer need to be grouped or combined, but can be cited as separate violations, each with its own proposed penalty. Furthermore, for individual violations for hazards identified in the SVEP, Area Directors must consider the adequacy of the proposed penalty and may, as appropriate, limit adjustment for good faith, history, or size when necessary to achieve the appropriate deterrent effect. The rational for limited adjustments must be fully documented in the case file.
Gravity-Based Penalty (GBP)
OSHA will be adopting a gravity-based penalty determination that provides for a gravity-based penalty between $3,000 and $7,000 DEPENDING ON THE VIOLATION.
Size Reduction
The Agency will be adopting the new penalty reduction structure for size illustrated below, allowing for penalty reduction between 10 and 40 percent for employers with less than 250 employees. No size reduction will be applied for employers with 251 or more employees.
Good Faith
The current good faith procedures in the FOM will be retained. A penalty reduction is permitted in recognition of an employer’s effort to implement an effective workplace safety and health management system. Employers must have a safety and health program in place to get any good faith reduction; furthermore, good faith reductions are not allowed in the cases of high gravity serious, willful, repeat, or failure-to-abate violations.
The 15 percent Quick-Fix reduction, which is currently allowed as an abatement incentive program meant to encourage employers to immediately decrease hazards found during an inspection, will also be retained. However, the 10 percent reduction for employers with a strategic partnership agreement will be eliminated.
Increased Proposed Minimum Penalties
The minimum proposed penalty for a serious violation will increase to $500. When the proposed penalty for a serious violation would amount to less than $500, a $500 penalty will be proposed for that violation. The proposed minimum penalty for a posting violation will increase to $250 if the company was previously provided a poster by OSHA.
Additional Administrative Modifications to the Penalty Calculation Policy
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 (GBP) to arrive at the proposed penalty. The penalty adjustment factors will be applied serially as follows: History, Good Faith, Quick-Fix and Size.
For example, until now a fine of $5,000 could potentially receive penalty reductions for History(10%), Good Faith(15%), Quick-Fix(15) and Size(30%) which when summed equals a 70% penalty reduction resulting in a $1,500 fine. This rule change, however, applies the penalty reductions serially, meaning a each fine will receive the applicable reduction to the adjusted amount. For example, a $5,000 fine that receives a 10% reduction for History will be reduced to $4,500. This new amount will then be eligible for a 15% Good Faith reduction, which, if applicable, will reduce the fine to $3,825 and so on. All things remaining equal, the fine that would have been reduced to $1,500 by the old penalty calculation will now be $2,275.
Conclusion
These changes will serve to generally increase the overall dollar amount of all penalties. Furthermore, the average penalty for a serious violation will increase from approximately $1,000 to an average of $3,000 to $4,000. OSHA hopes that higher penalty amounts will provide a greater deterrent and further encourage employers to furnish safe and healthy workplaces for their employees.
To learn more about recent OSHA rule changes and how the employment of an outside safety and health consultant can reduce current violations against employers, and how a confidential Workplace Safety Review from Occupational Safety Specialists Corp. (OSS) can deter violations please contact John Griffith at 781-293-7846.
OSHA INCENTIVIZES HIRING AN OUTSIDE SAFETY AND HEALTH CONSULTANT: REDUCES PENALTIES AGAINST EMPLOYERS WITH A CONSULTANT
May 3, 2010 – When circumstances warrant, Area Directors will retain the authority to determine if a size or history reduction should be granted. If an Area Director believes that imposing the full gravity-based penalty is necessary to achieve the appropriate deterrent effect, he or she may do so after fully documenting the rationale for the case.
Area Directors will be authorized to offer up to a 30 percent penalty reduction to employers at an informal conference; any reduction over 30 percent will have to be approved by the Regional Administrator. Area Directors will also be authorized to offer an employer with 250 or fewer employees an additional 20 percent reduction if that employer agrees to retain an outside safety and health consultant such as Occupational Safety Specialists Corp. (OSS).
Furthermore, the Agency will no longer allow penalty adjustments to an employer at an informal conference where the employer has an outstanding penalty balance owed to OSHA for the establishment in question or any other location. However, if the employer is on a penalty payment plan and is making timely payments, this provision would not apply.
Area Offices utilizing expedited settlement agreements will generally be limited to offering a 30 percent reduction. If the employer commits to hiring an outside consultant, the Area Director may grant an additional 20 percent reduction.
The current good faith procedures in the FOM will be retained. A penalty reduction is permitted in recognition of an employer’s effort to implement an effective workplace safety and health management system. Employers must have a safety and health program in place to get any good faith reduction; furthermore, good faith reductions are not allowed in the cases of high gravity serious, willful, repeat, or failure-to-abate violations.
The 15 percent Quick-Fix reduction, which is currently allowed as an abatement incentive program meant to encourage employers to immediately decrease hazards found during an inspection, will also be retained. However, the 10 percent reduction for employers with a strategic partnership agreement will be eliminated.
To learn more about recent OSHA rule changes and how the employment of an outside safety and health consultant can reduce current violations against employers, and how a confidential Workplace Safety Review from Occupational Safety Specialists Corp. (OSS) can deter violations please contact John Griffith at 781-293-7846.
OSHA TAKES ACTION TO INCREASE PENALTIES WITH SEVERE VIOLATOR PROGRAM
April 23, 2010 – Every day, about 14 Americans fail to come home from work to their families. Tens of thousands die from workplace disease and more than 4.6 million workers are seriously injured on the job annually. The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), in an effort to address urgent safety and health problems facing Americans in the workplace, is implementing a new Severe Violator Enforcement Program and increasing civil penalty amounts.
"For many employers, investing in job safety happens only when they have adequate incentives to comply with OSHA's requirements," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Dr. David Dr. Michaels. "Higher penalties and more aggressive, targeted enforcement will provide a greater deterrent and further encourage these employers to furnish safe and healthy workplaces for their employees."
The new Severe Violator Enforcement Program is intended to focus OSHA enforcement resources on recalcitrant employers who endanger workers by demonstrating indifference to their responsibilities under the law. This supplemental enforcement tool includes increased OSHA inspections in these worksites, including mandatory OSHA follow-up inspections, and inspections of other worksites of the same employer where similar hazards and deficiencies may be present. SVEP will become effective within the next 45 days.
"SVEP will help OSHA concentrate its efforts on those repeatedly recalcitrant employers who fail to meet their obligations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. It will include a more intense examination of an employer's practices for systemic problems that would trigger additional mandatory inspections," said Michaels.
Last year, OSHA assembled a work group to evaluate its penalty policies and found currently assessed penalties are too low to have an adequate deterrent effect. Based on the group's findings and recommendations, several administrative changes to the penalty calculation system, outlined in the agency's Field Operations Manual, are being made. These administrative enhancements will become effective in the next several months. The penalty changes will increase the overall dollar amount of all penalties while maintaining OSHA's policy of reducing penalties for small employers and those acting in good faith.
The current maximum penalty for a serious violation, one capable of causing death or serious physical harm, is only $7,000 and the maximum penalty for a willful violation is $70,000. The average penalty for a serious violation will increase from about $1,000 to an average $3,000 to $4,000. Monetary penalties for violations of the OSH Act have been increased only once in 40 years despite inflation. The Protecting America's Workers Act would raise these penalties, for the first time since 1990, to 12,000 and $250,000, respectively. Future penalty increases would also be tied to inflation. In the meantime, OSHA will focus on outreach in preparation of implementing this new penalty policy.
"Although we are making significant adjustments in our penalty policy within the tight constraints of our law, this administrative effort is no substitute for the meaningful and substantial penalty changes included in PAWA," said Dr. Michaels. "OSHA enforcement and penalties are not just a reaction to workplace tragedies. They serve an important preventive function. OSHA inspections and penalties must be large enough to discourage employers from cutting corners or underfunding safety programs to save a few dollars."
OSS OFFERS GUIDANCE TO EMPLOYERS AND CONTRACTORS DURING RI FLOOD RECOVERY
April 14, 2010 – Occupational Safety Specialists Corp. is a leading provider of workplace safety training and OSHA compliance solutions. Occupational Safety Specialists experts are currently offering their guidance and expertise to employers, contractors, business owners and others performing cleanup and recovery activities resulting from the recent record-breaking flooding that has engulfed Rhode Island.
"In accordance with the Department of Labor, the safety and health of individuals performing this vital work is our primary concern," said Occupational Safety Specialists President John Griffith. "Our job is to ensure that each person involved in this effort is aware of the hazards associated with their activities and of how best to minimize and prevent those hazards."
Over the next 30 days, OSHA will be visiting cleanup sites throughout the Ocean State in an advisory capacity to observe activities, and offer employers and workers information and guidance on identifying and addressing cleanup hazards. The extensive work requires great resources and Occupational Safety Specialists are extending their professional services and expertise to businesses effected by the flood.
Occupational Safety Specialists offer Workplace Safety Reviews, in which a certified Health and Safety Workplace Expert will review your worksite and activity to reduce hazards and determine your level of compliance with OSHA safety standards and all government health and safety regulations. Those hazards can include contaminated water, mold, heat stress, exposure to the elements, carbon monoxide poisoning, drowning, toxic or oxygen-deficient confined spaces, falls, electrocution, crushing and struck-by hazards.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. Occupational Safety Specialists' role is to assure these conditions for America's working men and women by providing effective occupational safety training and compliance solutions, education and assistance.
OSHA PLANS TO INCREASE INSPECTIONS
April 12, 2010 – OSHA plans to conduct more than 3,500 additional inspections in fiscal year 2011 than it will in 2010, continuing its trend of tougher enforcement, according to OSHA Administrator David Michaels.
Michaels told a group of professional safety managers that OSHA's proposed higher budget would allow it to ramp both inspections and rule making. The budget includes a $14 million increase in spending, plus reallocation of funds from voluntary programs to enforcement and rule making.
Michaels laid out the details of the budget to the attendees at the meeting for ORC Worldwide Occupational Safety and Health Group. The budget request calls for OSHA to hire an additional 25 inspectors starting in October 2010 and move an additional 35 personnel from compliance assistance activities to enforcement.
"Specifically, by scaling back our spending on the Voluntary Protection Programs and Alliances, OSHA will redirect compliance safety and health officer time," Michaels said. The time will not be spent on inspections instead of assistance.
The budget also includes as additional $4 million that will help Osha develop new standards and speed up rules that are already in progress.
For more information regarding this announcement, visit
osha.gov.
NEW SAFETY REQUIREMENTS COMING FOR GAS PURGING
April 12, 2010 - After two deadly explosions from companies purging air out of gas lines, The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has proposed changes to its code.
The changes have come on the heels of the explosion at the Kleen Energy Plant in Middletown, CT on February 7, which killed six workers. It is also a response to the Slim Jim explosion in June of 2009 in Garner, NC, which killed three workers.
Both explosions occurred while air was being purged out of gas lines in confined quarters, leading The National Fuel Gas Code Committee to propose changes that require the discharge of gas purging to be directed outdoors and identifies specific requirements that must be met during the purging process.
Specific requirements include:
1. The point of discharge shall be controlled with a shutoff valve.
2. Discharge point shall be at least 10 feet from sources of ignition, located a minimum 10 feet from building openings and a minimum of 25 feet from mechanical air intake openings.
3. During discharge, the open discharge point shall be continuously attended and monitored.
4. Purging operations introducing fuel gas shall be stopped when 90% of the fuel gas by volume is detected in the pipe at the discharge point.
5. All persons not involved in the purging operations shall be evacuated from the area within 25 feet of the point of discharge.
The NFPA is an international nonprofit organization that provides consensus codes and standards on fire protection. The proposed code changes are based on urgent recommendations from the Chemical Safety Board, which investigated the explosions.
OSHA URGES NEW ENGLAND RECOVERY WORKERS AND PUBLIC
TO GUARD THEMSELVES AGAINST HAZARDS DURING FLOOD AND STORM CLEANUP
April 1, 2010 – As residents of New England recover from flooding and associated damage from the recent multi-day storms that swamped the region, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration urges workers and members of the public engaged in cleanup activities to be aware of the hazards they can encounter and the necessary steps they should take to protect themselves.
"Recovery work should not put you in the recovery room," said Marthe Kent, OSHA's regional administrator for New England. "Flood recovery work encompasses a wide range of safety and health hazards, which can be minimized by knowledge, safe work practices and personal protective equipment."
Cleanup work can involve restoring electricity, communications, water and sewer services; demolition work; removal of floodwater from structures; entry into flooded areas; cleaning up debris; tree-trimming; structural repair; roadway and bridge repair; use of cranes, aerial lifts and other heavy equipment; hazardous waste operations and emergency response activities; and repair of dams and levees.
Inherent hazards may include illness from exposure to contaminated water or food; exposure or heat stress; downed electrical wires; carbon monoxide and electrical hazards from portable generators; fall and struck-by hazards from tree-trimming or working at heights; being caught in unprotected excavations or confined spaces; burns; lacerations; musculoskeletal injuries; being struck by traffic or heavy equipment; and drowning from being caught in moving water or while removing water from flooded structures.
Protective measures should involve evaluating the work area for all hazards; task-specific hazard exposure monitoring; utilizing engineering or work practice controls to mitigate hazards; using personal protective equipment; assuming all power lines are live; following proper hygiene procedures; using portable generators, saws, ladders, vehicles and other equipment correctly; and utilizing traffic work zones.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. Occupational Safety Specialists' role is to assure these conditions for America's working men and women by providing effective occupational safety training and compliance solutions, education and assistance.
OSS RELEASES NEW WEBSITE
March 25, 2010 - Occupational Safety Specialists has announced the release of their new website, www.osscorp.com. The site will be used as a resource to businesses, universities, government entities and consultants looking to comply with OSHA regulations and meet workplace health and safety training requirements.
OSS President John Griffith said, "Our new website will be an important tool in enhancing the experience of our clients and prospects. It will help to fulfill our mission to provide effective and affordable occupational safety training and compliance solutions to our clients."
Headquartered in southeast Massachusetts, OSS Corp currently keeps hundreds of businesses in compliance. OSS services every industry and businesses of every size throughout New England and the United States.
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