Head/face protection should be near the top of your list because it affects almost every other safety program you have on site.
The best way to use the time while we await the new labeling regulation is to train users to fit protectors correctly and use fit testing to document the protection provided by a given protector.
"Allowing workers to come in contact with exposed and energized parts without appropriate personal protective equipment demonstrates a lack of concern for their safety," said George Yoksas, OSHA's area director in Milwaukee.
The agency described Kuehne Chemical Co. Inc. as a bleach manufacturer and chlorine and caustic soda reseller that employs 45 workers at its Delaware City, Del. facility, where the inspection took place.
The violation was cited after an investigation prompted by a complaint determined that employees working on mold machines and exposed to hot temperatures that could result in burns were provided with ineffective personal protective equipment.
A freight company, its managing director, and a contractor pleaded guilty in connection with a remodeling job that may exposed at least 20 people to asbestos fibers.
Methylene chloride vapor has been recognized as potentially fatal to furniture strippers and factory workers but has not been reported previously as a cause of death among bathtub refinishers.
Colgate-Palmolive, 3M’s Hutchinson Plant in Minnesota, and Bechtel National Inc. are the recipients of this year’s Hearing Loss Prevention Awards.
OSHA opened an inspection in September based on a complaint that a worker had suffered sprains, multiple lacerations, and contusions as a result of having clothing become caught in a conveyor belt.
OSHA issued six willful violations for failing to record injuries and illnesses on the OSHA 300 log for four years, evaluate the accuracy of the 300 logs before certifying them for three years, and develop and implement an effective hearing conservation program.
OSHA began its investigation on Aug. 23, 2011, at the company's worksite following a report that two employees had fingers amputated from coming into contact with a moving saw blade while cutting material to be used as blocking and padding in the construction of manufactured homes.
This fatality is the third at the barge manufacturing facility since May 2010, when two other workers were killed in separate incidents on different days.
Comments are due by March 16. Numerous comments already in the docket say there's no need to enact a new federal safety standard.
In effect for six more months, until Sept. 15, 2012, are measures giving compliance assistance requests top priority and reducing penalties up to 10 percent.
OSHA began an investigation Aug. 8 after an employee was struck in the head by the boom of a crane that was being used to unload fish on the Pacific Princess tuna fishing vessel.
The goals of the initiative are to increase enforcement efforts and provide resources, online materials, training, and consultation to prevent injuries and deaths in confined spaces.
"The sizable fines proposed here reflect not only the seriousness of these conditions but the fact that several of them are substantially similar to hazards identified at nine other Wal-Mart locations in New York and eight other states," said Arthur Dube, OSHA's area director in Buffalo.
It takes effect March 1. Recent compliance inspections found some workers lacked proper safety equipment and some operations didn't comply with manufacturers' guidelines for using scaffolds and lifelines.
The initiative will focus on 14 safety standards that were chosen because violations related to each have been cited as contributing to at least five mining accidents and at least five deaths during the 10-year period of Jan. 1, 2001, to Dec. 31, 2010.
Topics include OSHA's Respiratory Standard, respirator use, training, fit-testing, and detecting counterfeit respirators.