The July 29 incident killed three workers and injured a fourth when an
internal explosion in a storage tank they were welding above ripped
open the tank lid. CSB is performing microbiological and chemical
testing to determine what caused flammable gas to be present inside
the tank.
Cities with a population of 8,000 and greater will be eligible for inspection, and all active residential and commercial sites within a selected zip code will be inspected.
The agency said it has analyzed NIOSH data to determine which industries have elevated blood levels indicating a need for increased focus in evaluation of airborne lead exposures.
Proposed changes would require operators to be certified. The rules must be in effect by Jan. 1, 2010, according to a law passed last year.
OSHA's Region VI office in Dallas, Texas, has established a Regional Emphasis Program covering employees in the construction industry who perform crane operations. The program conducts safety inspections of workplaces in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and sites in New Mexico that are under federal OSHA jurisdiction.
Federal compliance officers will focus their unannounced enforcement
efforts on construction sites in the area that reaches from Daytona
Beach to Pensacola, Fla., sometime this month.
The funds will be used in part for projects that provide retraining services for those who cannot return to work and humanitarian assistance for disaster victims, including work on the homes of individuals eligible for the federally funded weatherization program.
Legislation signed last week establishes the crime of impairing the integrity of a government licensing examination and provides means to revoke a crane inspector's license due to various offenses, including accepting a bribe.
One aspect of this agreement requires participating employers to provide effective training on worksite safety and health issues to non-English speaking employees.
According to the task group, the standard will most benefit state
departments of transportation that require high-performance corrosion
protection of reinforcing steel bars in coastal environments, as well
as departments of transportation that use deicing salts on roads,
bridges, and decks.
The Maryland Occupational Safety and Health program's Advisory Board unanimously recommended them Wednesday. They now go to a legislative committee for approval.
"The sizable fines proposed here reflect the breadth of hazards found
during our inspections and the fact that the company had been cited
for similar conditions in the past," said Robert Kowalski, OSHA's area
director in Bridgeport, Conn.
Workplace safety professionals who want the ability to interact with each other more than just once a year at trade shows and conferences now have a new resource.
OSHA will focus on safety and health management systems during the 10th annual "Stateline Safety Workshop" slated for September 17 at the Holiday Inn Express, 3100 Wellington Place, Janesville, Wis.
The recalled devices can operate when the lock-off (safety) is in the
locked position, and when the trigger is not pulled and the contact
trip is depressed.
This year marks the 20th anniversary for the Chicagoland Safety & Health Conference, co-sponsored by the OSHA and slated for September 15-18 at Northern Illinois University, 1120 E. Diehl Road in Naperville.
While AEDs are increasingly being installed in public gathering places such as stadiums, shopping malls, hotels, airports, and bus terminals, their use in the workplace is just beginning to gain momentum, said Brian Trusky, vice president of loss prevention at Moss & Associates.
A public hearing is set for Aug. 28 in Salem to discuss elimination of the minimum $100 penalty for failing to create a committee and a change that lets these employers hold safety meetings with fewer paperwork requirements.
Since Friday, the agency has followed Subpart R of the steel erection standard for these issues. Construction deaths at the Las Vegas City Center project, shown here, spurred congressional pressure to beef up OSHA fall standards.
Major goals of the partnership are to keep the DART (cases with days away from work, restricted or transferred) rate below the national average for the commercial construction industry and to further reduce this level of recordable injuries by at least four percent annually.