Minnesota OSHA FY2017 Safety Grants Topped $1M
The agency's latest newsletter says MNOSHA Workplace Safety Consultation's Safety Grants during the fiscal year totaled $1,021,436 to 155 applicants.
Minnesota OSHA's January 2018 Safety Lines newsletter summarizes its FY2017 activities, which included 1,858 visits to establishments by MNOSHA Compliance that identified 3,000 hazards. The newsletter says MNOSHA Workplace Safety Consultation's Safety Grants during the fiscal year totaled $1,021,436 to 155 applicants.
The grants provide as much as $10,000 to help qualifying employers reduce injury and illness risks to their workers. The FY2017 recipients included construction, health care, logging, manufacturing, public sector, and service employers, and the grants reimbursed them for buying equipment that addressed hazards such as:
- falls
- trenching/excavation cave-ins
- patient handling
- silica dust exposure
- ergonomic risks from material handling
- machine hazards
- logging hazards
- permit-required confined spaces
- road construction moving equipment
MNSHARP certified two establishments during the fiscal year, recertified nine sites, and granted Pre-SHARP status to two establishments. MNSHARP Construction -- projects lasting at least 18 months are eligible -- certified three work sites, recertified one, and granted Pre-SHARP stauts to six sites. The MNSTAR Program certified one establishment, recertifed 11, and granted Merit status to one site. Currently, the newsletter says, 37 establishments in the state maintain MNSTAR Program status.