Of particular interest to the precision machining industry may be the Occupational Exposure to Beryllium rule, 1218-AB76 that is being finalized.
A proposed revised interpretation to the “persuader rule” lessening the scope of what constitutes “advice exempt from reporting under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA)” is also included.
No signs of what the proposed Beryllium regulation will look like yet.
And folks, don’t ask me why the cover to the Department of Labor’s Federal Register .pdf says ‘Department of Transportation’ on it. (See photo above)
The pdf says it is “Certified by Superintendent of Documents <vog.opg@troppusikp>,United States Government Printing Office, certificate issued by VeriSign CA for Adobe CDS.”
All I know is that if a small manufacturer had such a paperwork error, there’d be a big whoppin’ fine.
Not in my shop! The powered industrial trucks (PIT) standard (29 CFR 1910.178) is the most commonly cited standard throughout the material handling industries. Most fatalities occur when a worker is crushed by a forklift that has overturned or fallen from a loading dock. The Southeastern USA Regional OSHA is conducting a special emphasis program on Powered Industrial Trucks.
Even if your shop is not in the Southeast U.S. Region, here’s what you need to know:
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has announced a new emphasis program focused on reducing fatalities and serious injuries in Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Mississippi, related to powered industrial trucks.
The goal of the special emphasis program is to encourage employers to bring their facilities into compliance with OSHA standards in the maritime, construction and general industries. The regional emphasis program began on May 29 and will continue until Sept. 30, 2012, unless it is extended. PMPA staff urges all PMPA members with powered industrial trucks to take this opportunity to review their training, procedures and compliance programs. Here are 3 resources
File under “If you can’t get something through the legislative process, just create a new rule.”
In yet another instance of making an undated announcement on its website, DOL/OSHA (sometime, recently, yesterday, who knows?) announced its Safety and Health Practices Survey of private sector employers regarding their current safety and health practices.
According to OSHA “This survey will allow OSHA to better design future rules, compliance assistance, and outreach efforts.”
What the original Federal Register notice said was that this survey ” is to gain information… to support its rulemaking effort directed toward requiring employers to establish injury and illness prevention programs to monitor and more effectively implement practices to mitigate workplace hazards…” (Emphasis ours.) Link to Fed Reg 12 Aug 2010 Vol 75 no. 155, pps 48992-48994
The undated OSHA Announcement web page continues:
“The survey, which may contact as many as 19,000 employers nationwide, will ask questions about employers’ current practices with regard to safety and health management in their workplaces. For example, the survey will ask employers if they already have a safety management system, whether they perform annual inspections, who manages safety at their establishment, and what kinds of hazards they encounter at their facilities.” No mention of whether or not the survey comes with a copy of Miranda Rights warning for employers. But as we have shown in the original federal register posting, the intent is to justify their putsch for mandating Injury and Illness Prevention Plans. (I2P2) I2P2 is the OSHA plan to backdoor implement the ergonomics standardinto effect that was rejected under the Congressional Review act. It creates a means to hold employers accountable for hazards that even the authorities haven’t identified, and to the requirements of the rejected ergonomics standard. (Concerned? – read the coverage fromThe Hill on this issue.)
The survey will come via mail, and is being conducted by a contractor, ERG. The webpage mentions a website for the survey as well, but in the same fashion as not dating the OSHA web announcements, the address of the survey website seems to have been omitted. According to the OMB filing a sample of 400 establishments from “Group 6. Final Manufacturing” is anticipated. This group contains our industry’s 3 digit NAICS code 332.
If you are selected, they will follow up: “As noted above, reminder postcards will be sent to potential respondents two weeks after the mailing of the initial survey invitation letter. After four weeks, telephone contact with each nonrespondent will be attempted to encourage completion of the questionnaire either electronically or by mail. Callers will attempt up to six calls to reach the potential respondents. A final reminder postcard will be mailed after six weeks to the remaining nonrespondents. OSHA’s survey contractor will also implement a help line to answer both telephone and e-mail questions about the survey posed by respondents.”- Pdf OMB approval of survey Tool You Can Use
The undated OSHA web announcement plainly states: “Participation in the survey is voluntary.” Link to OSHA’s undated Safety and Health Practices Survey Announcement You’ve Got Mail
The Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP) directive became effective on June 18. "Do as I say, not as I do?" (You wouldn’t know it from the OSHA website, they didn’t provide either a date or directive number on their “directive.” But negligence on their part on paperwork isn’t the crime that it is when employers make a paperwork omission…)
According to the unnumbered, undatedDirective posted on the website,“This new directive establishes procedures and enforcement actions, including mandatory follow-up inspections and inspections of other worksites of the same company where similar hazards or deficiencies may be present. It replaces OSHA’s Enhanced Enforcement Program (EEP).”
“This Instruction establishes enforcement policies and procedures for OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP), which concentrates resources on inspecting employers who have demonstrated indifference to their OSH Act obligations by committing willful, repeated, or failure-to-abate violations. Enforcement actions for severe violator cases include mandatory follow-up inspections, increased company/corporate awareness of OSHA enforcement, corporate-wide agreements, where appropriate, enhanced settlement provisions, and federal court enforcement under Section 11(b) of the OSH Act.”
What can trigger SVEP Status?
Willful, repeated or failure-to-abate violations in one or more of the following circumstances:
• A fatality or catastrophe situation
• Industry operations or processes that expose workers to severe occupational hazards
• Workers exposed to hazards related to the potential releases of highly hazardous chemicals
• Egregious enforcement actions For our industry, Falls (General Industry) and Amputations appear to be the primary categories for awareness.
Here are the appropriate references for Fall Hazards, General Industry: 29 CFR §1910.23 – Guarding floor and wall openings and holes [Walking-Working Surfaces] 29 CFR §1910.28 – Safety requirements for scaffolding [Walking- Working Surfaces] 29 CFR §1910.29 – Manually propelled mobile ladder stands and scaffolds (towers) [Walking-Working Surfaces] 29 CFR §1910.66 – Powered platforms for building maintenance [Powered Platforms, Manlifts, and Vehicle-Mounted Work Platforms] 29 CFR §1910.67 – Vehicle-mounted elevating and rotating work platforms [Powered Platforms, Manlifts, and Vehicle-Mounted Work Platforms] 29 CFR §1910.68 – Manlifts [Powered Platforms, Manlifts, and Vehicle-Mounted Work Platforms]
For Amputations Information see this link: Amputations And don’t expect any slack for paperwork omissions, like say, omitting a directive control number or date on a record…
You can find the link here.
