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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 September, 2010

Top 10 mistakes companies make with OSHA recordkeeping

September 27th, 2010 posted by Jim Stanley

Jim Stanley

One of the most persistent sources of problems we see as safety consultants is confusion over how to handle OSHA recordkeeping requirements for accidents and illnesses.

Arthur Sapper, an attorney with McDermott Will & Emery and a leader in OSHA compliance law, has written an excellent and comprehensive article about the top mistakes he sees employers making on their OSHA 300 logs.

At the top of his list: The mistaken belief by employers that if an injured worker can still perform useful work, the injury need not be recorded as a work restriction.

Others:

• Believing that light duty is not a recordable work restriction.
• Failing to give proper weight to the account of an accident provide by the injured employee.
• Misunderstanding the recordability of a non-occupational injury that was aggravated on the job.
• Failing to keep track of days away from work for an injured employee who has stopped reporting for work because he or she is on long-term injury leave.

The full article is well worth reading.

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Posted in Enforcement, OSHA, Recordkeeping | No Comments »





Piling it on: A roundup of recent OSHA penalties that were north of $100,000

September 20th, 2010 posted by Jim Stanley

Jim Stanley

OSHA’s recent proposal of $16.6 million in penalties in a deadly explosion at a Kleen Energy Systems construction site in Connecticut drew a lot of attention. Less noticed, but in a way equally significant, were the day-in, day-out announcement of penalties in other cases that exceeded $100,000.

The Patton Boggs law firm rounded up recent $100,000-plus cases filed by OSHA and found 27. Those were in addition to a series of cases against U.S. Postal Service facilities around the country with penalties that totaled more than $3.7 million.

The size and number of these cases illustrate that OSHA is making good on its pledge to substantially increase enforcement.

The 27 cases totaled $11.2 million in fines. Here is the list:

• AAR Summa Technology (AL), $191,500
• American Seafoods International, LLC (MA), $279,000
• AmeriCold Logistics, LLC (ID), $189,000
• Bridon American Corp. (PA), $156,000
• Edac Technologies Corp. (CT), $130,000
• Enbridge G&P, LP (TX), $152,100
• E.N. Range (FL), $2.1 million
• Excelsior Brass Workers (PA), $550,400
• Goodman Manufacturing Co., LP (TX), $1.2 million
• Home Depot (NY), $112,000
• Jarden Home Brands (TX), $197,500
• Kenton Iron Products, LLC (OH), $214,500
• Kirkhill Manufacturing Co. (GA), $125,650
• Krestmark Industries, LP (TX), $129,500
• Matthews Manufacturing, Inc. (MO), $260,200
• Phenix Lumber Co. (AL), $439,400
• Pierce Industries (NY), $114,750
• Rexnord Industries, LLC (WI), $130,500
• Sally Sherman Foods (NY), $247,050
• Sturgis Tuckpointing (MO), $221,600
• Thermal Polymer Systems, LLC (TX), $161,600
• U.S. Minerals, LLC (IN), $158,200
• U.S. Salt (NY), $111,600
• Whitcraft, LLC (CT), $139,680
• Whitesell Corp. (AL), $3.1 million
• Wireglass Construction, Inc. (AL), $287,500
• Worthen Industries (NH), $225,400

This serves as yet another reminder that companies need to take proactive steps to insure that their safety performance will withstand OSHA scrutiny. For some tips on that kind of proactivity, see my article “How to meet the challenge of greatly increased OSHA enforcement.”

To keep up with the latest news about increased OSHA enforcement, subscribe to this blog and have it sent automatically to your Reader or email box.

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Scary photos show log truck hooked to 7.2 kv primary power line

September 14th, 2010 posted by Jim Stanley

Jim Stanley

Knowing safety procedures is one thing. Using them is another. Download and view this power point of some scary photos that show what happened when a logger who tried to throw a hook over a pile of logs on a truck ended up hooking a 7.2 kv electrical line instead.

(When the first slide opens, click the right arrow on your keyboard to see the pictures.)

Safety awareness training may have helped here.

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Posted in Accident Prevention, Training | No Comments »





Proposed UL sustainability standard for manufacturing leaves out safety

September 13th, 2010 posted by Mike Taubitz

Mike Taubitz

It would appear that the manufacturing industry is about to get a new sustainability standard, but once again safety has been left out of the equation.

UL, Underwriter Laboratories, is a recognized global resource for product safety certification and compliance solutions.  UL has partnered with GreenBiz.com (parent organization for Greener World media), a West Coast organization, to develop a standard for assessing corporate policies and procedures.  The standard has a very short comment period and some industry groups are scrambling to provide comment.

The standard is ULE 880: Standard for Sustainable Manufacturers and it will be the first, organization-wide sustainability standard used to assess corporate policies and practices. Greener World Media is the producer of GreenBiz.com, the leading source for news, best practices, research, events, and other services related to the greening of mainstream business.

ULE 880 defines core sustainability metrics for manufacturing businesses within the following five domains:

Sustainability Governance: how an organization leads and manages itself in relation to its stakeholders, including its employees, investors, regulatory authorities, customers, and the communities in which it operates.

Environment: an organization’s environmental footprint across its policies, operations, products and services, including its resource use and emissions.

Workforce: issues related to employee working conditions, organization culture, and effectiveness.

Customers and Suppliers: issues related to an organization’s policies and practices on product safety, quality, pricing, and marketing as well as its supply chain policies and practices.

Social and Community Engagement: an organization’s impacts on its community in the areas of social equity, ethical conduct, and human rights.

UL Environment is seeking participation from a broad cross-section of stakeholders, including manufacturers, assessment and standards organizations, regulators, policy makers, procurement officers, sustainability professionals, the socially responsible investing community, and non-profit and for-profit sustainability interest groups.

But once again we find the complete absence of “employee safety.”  When you read about sustainability, you will always read about environmental issues, but, rarely, about occupational safety.

It is up to safety professionals to build a bridge with those driving sustainable growth, or we will be left on the sidelines.  Who or what group will take the lead?

For an archive of articles about the relationship between safety and sustainability see the Safe, Lean, Sustainable section of this site.

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Numbers that will put you on OSHA’s inspection list

September 10th, 2010 posted by Jim Stanley

Jim Stanley

OSHA is giving very specific guidance as to which companies with high rates of workplace injuries can expect to see an OSHA inspector soon.

The 4,100 companies on the list were identified from a larger list of 15,000 employers who reported high injury rates to OSHA and who received a notification from the agency that they should “take immediate steps to protect their workers.”

The smaller list of 4,100 is called the Site-Specific Targeting primary inspection list. In an OSHA compliance directive, the agency spelled out what it took to get on the list:

• Manufacturing establishments with a Days Away, Restricted or Transferred (DART) rate at or above 7.0, or a Days Away from Work Injury and Illness (DAFWII) case rate at or above 5.0
• Nursing and personal care facilities (i.e., establishments in Standard Industrial Classification code 805) with either a DART rate at or above 16.0 or a DAFWII case rate at or above 13.0
• Other non-manufacturing establishments with a DART rate at or above 15.0 or a DAFWII case rate at or above 14.0

More details on this directive are available in an excellent article by Eric J. Conn and James A. Lastowka of the McDermott Will Emery law firm. Conn and Lastowka go on to say that a number of companies on the list have already been inspected and fined hundreds of thousands of dollars.

If you are concerned about the possible arrival of an OSHA inspector, read my article “How to meet the challenge of greatly increased OSHA enforcement.”

To keep up with the latest news about increased OSHA enforcement, subscribe to this blog and have it sent automatically to your Reader or email box.

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Posted in Enforcement, OSHA, Recordkeeping | 1 Comment »





$1.2 million proposed penalty shows OSHA still serious about recordkeeping

September 3rd, 2010 posted by Jim Stanley

Jim Stanley

OSHA’s reported decision to suspend a pilot program cracking down on alleged under-reporting of accidents and illnesses doesn’t mean that recordkeeping requirements aren’t being enforced, as a recent OSHA announcement illustrates.

OSHA is proposing $1.2 million in penalties against Goodman Manufacturing Co., alleging 83 willful violations for failing to record or improperly recording work related injuries and illnesses at a Houston plant.

“Goodman had either not recorded or failed to properly record the nature and/or duration of 72 percent of employee injuries and illnesses from January 2008 to March 15, 2010, on its log,” OSHA said.

OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for OSHA’s requirements or employee safety and health.

Last month Inside OSHA (subscription required to view) quoted unidentified sources as saying that “the agency has not found the number or degree of violations it had expected to uncover through the program.”

“A memorandum was issued on July 27 outlining the agency’s plan to halt programmed inspections under the OSHA recordkeeping National Emphasis Program (NEP), according to sources,” the newsletter reported.

Nonetheless, companies should continue to pay careful attention to accurately recording injuries and illnesses on their OSHA logs.

For more information on reporting, see my previous post “A recordable injury may not be what you think.”

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