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Occupational Safety Blog

By Fred Rine, CEO of FDRsafety and former long-time Managing Director of Safety and Health at FedEx, Jim Stanley, President of FDRsafety and former No. 2 at OSHA headquarters and Mike Taubitz, Senior Advisor to FDRsafety and former Global Safety Director for General Motors.


Archive for July, 2009

New safety video: “Combustible Dust: An Insidious Hazard”

July 31st, 2009 posted by Jim Stanley

Jim Stanley

The U.S. CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD (CSB) has released a new safety video depicting how accumulations of combustible dust at worksites can provide the fuel for devastating explosions that kill and maim workers, shut down plants and harm local economies.

Entitled, “Combustible Dust: An Insidious Hazard,” the new video features all-new CSB computer animations which illustrate three major dust explosion accidents the CSB has investigated: West Pharmaceutical Services in Kinston, North Carolina; CTA Acoustics in Corbin, Kentucky; and Hayes Lemmerz International in Huntington, Indiana.

For each accident, the animations show how explosive dust accumulated over years on plant equipment, pipes, floors, ducts, dust collectors and other areas. The video shows how conditions develop, needing only an ignition source to set off a primary explosion. This lofts the accumulated dust, leading to deadlier secondary explosions.

The CSB is an independent federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents. The agency’s board members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. CSB investigations look into all aspects of chemical accidents, including physical causes such as equipment failure as well as inadequacies in regulations, industry standards and safety management systems.

The Board does not issue citations or fines but does make safety recommendations to plants, industry organizations, labor groups and regulatory agencies such as OSHA and EPA. The CSB website is www.csb.gov

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Posted in Accident Prevention | 3 Comments »





New OSHA program focuses on records of low-incidence employers in high-rate industries

July 29th, 2009 posted by Jim Stanley

Jim Stanley

OSHA is stepping up its on-site inspection of injury and illness records as part of a new National Emphasis Program focusing on employers with low incidence rates who operate in high-rate industries. The program also will include a sample of construction firms.

The program, called NEP for short, starts in August was developed in response to Congressional hearings last year on a perceived problem of underreporting. The initiative is in line with OSHA’s movement towards a more enforcement-oriented approach.

Inspections under the initial stage of the program will take place over 12 months with an expectation that the program will be expanded after data from those initial inspections are analyzed. While the program is limited to states under federal OSHA’s jurisdiction, state plan OSHA programs are encouraged to conduct their own recordkeeping enforcement initiatives.

Included in the inspections will be a review of medical files for both occupational and non-occupational cases for 2007 and 2008, including 301 forms, Workers’ Compensation forms, absentee reports, and audiograms, for a selected sample of employees. Interviews will also be conducted with managers and employees to determine whether there is an injury-reporting system in place and whether incentive programs discourage employees from reporting new cases. Recordkeepers will be questioned to determine their level of training and knowledge of the recordkeeping regulations. Healthcare providers will be asked whether the employer has tried to influence the treatments provided and the recordability of cases. A limited walk-around inspection of the employer’s facility also will be conducted to determine if the hazards in the facility are consistent with the injuries and illnesses on the 300 log. Citations may be issued for any observed violations.

Employers should get ready for these inspections by:

  • Reviewing 2007 and 2008 cases to gauge the accuracy of their OSHA 300 logs and make
    sure there is an OSHA 301 or its equivalent for every recordable case.
  • Ensuring that appropriate training has been provided to recordkeepers.
  • Reviewing the effectiveness of both the reporting system for illnesses and injuries and the process for routing medical information from internal and external healthcare providers to the recordkeeper.
  • Evaluating whether the safety incentive program, if there is one, improperly discourages the reporting of work-related injuries or illnesses.

If you have questions or concerns about this program or how to get ready for it, please

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Posted in Enforcement, Legislation | 3 Comments »





OSHA Region 3 Director: More focus on blood-borne pathogens, trenching and recordkeeping

July 21st, 2009 posted by Jim Stanley

Jim Stanley

The following item from ChamberLinks, a publication of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, provides insights into OSHA’s priorities in Region 3, which includes West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia:

The regional director for the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) attended a meeting last week of the W.Va. Chamber’s safety subcommittee on July 9 at the Chamber’s offices in Charleston. OSHA Area Director Jeff Funke met July 9 with close to 25 subcommittee members and discussed a number of priority efforts under his regional authority.

Funke started off by noting that the federal stimulus package (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) is providing his office with added Compliance, Safety and Health Officers (CSHO) who will help oversee the regional emphasis program for bridges, roads and other infrastructure projects.

Beyond the added ARRA program, Funke also talked about the fact that the OSHA regional emphasis program will be focusing more on blood-borne pathogens, trenching, and record-keeping. In particular, he said this will focus on “abnormally low safety statistics based on SIC” and OSHA will be conducting site-specific targeting.

He also emphasized that the voluntary participation program (VPP) is not going away and his administration and his office are very committed and supportive of this program.

Finally, Funke asked for the subcommittee’s commitment on the SGE (special government employees) program, and he expressed his appreciation for having been invited to this year’s W.Va. Chamber’s HR Summit & Governor’s Safety Conference, which is set for November 3-4.

“We were very pleased and honored to have hosted Director Funke’s first meeting with safety professionals in the area,” said Don Elswick, the Chamber’s safety subcommittee chair. Elswick is with Marathon Petroleum Company.

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Posted in Enforcement | No Comments »





OSHA re-evaluating Voluntary Protection Program

July 1st, 2009 posted by Jim Stanley

Jim Stanley

More evidence of OSHA’s new increased emphasis on enforcement, as opposed to voluntary programs, came recently when it announced that it would re-evaluate its Voluntary Protection Programs in light of a critical report by the General Accounting Office.

The agency said it would address problems in VPP identified by the GAO, which said that more oversight of the program was needed, along with additional controls. OSHA also said it would evaluate the VPP and Alliance programs ”to determine how the agency should best allocate its resources among cooperative programs, enforcement and the agency’s other activities.”

More information about the agency’s response to the VPP report can be found in an agency statement.

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Posted in Enforcement | 1 Comment »