OSHA watch
COVID-19 NEP extended
Scheduled to expire July 7, the COVID-19 National Emphasis Program (NEP) that focuses its inspection targeting efforts on hospital and skilled nursing care facilities as well as other high-risk industries such as meat and poultry processing has been extended "until further notice" and the agency has doubled its inspection goals from five percent to ten percent. The announcement also signaled a commitment to fast-track a permanent COVID-19-related healthcare rule.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in February 2020, 1,200 coronavirus-related citations with penalties totaling $7.2 million have been issued. Also, over $5 million has been awarded to more than 400 employees who filed coronavirus retaliation claims against employers.
Heat illness prevention webpage revised
The updated webpage consolidates resources about employers' responsibilities and provides general information on protecting indoor and outdoor workers from heat illnesses.
Maritime safety
A new fact sheet provides information on keeping workers safe while lashing containers and other cargo aboard vessels.
Avian influenza
Updated avian influenza guidance reflects a recently reported case of human transmission.
Rulemaking process to revise standards for occupational exposure to lead underway
An Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to revise the standards for occupational exposure to lead was published June 28. Recent medical research on workplace lead exposure shows adverse health effects can occur in adults at lower blood lead levels than recognized previously in the medical removal levels specified in lead standards.
The ANPRM seeks public input by August 29 on modifying current OSHA lead standards for general industry and construction to reduce the triggers for medical removal protection and medical surveillance and prevent harmful health effects in workers exposed to lead more effectively.
Reach of HazWoper provisions limited
In U.S. Department of Labor v. Tampa Electric Co., the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued a decision limiting the reach of the emergency response provisions of the Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response Standard, known as the "HazWoper" standard. Tampa Electric Co.'s system to detect overpressure was designed to release excess anomia through a sump pump. A citation was issued alleging that Tampa Electric had violated the HazWoper provision that requires self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBAs) during emergency responses.
The company argued their system controlled the amount of ammonia released and, therefore, the response did not meet the definition of emergency response, which applied only to "uncontrolled" releases of hazardous chemicals. The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) agreed as did the Eleventh Circuit upon appeal.
According to the labor and employment law firm, Ogletree Deakins, "The upshot of the decision is not that employees responding to controlled releases may go unprotected but that employers have greater discretion in selecting protective measures than the rigid emergency response provisions of the HazWoper Standard would give them, and that they may want to do what Tampa Electric did - have an engineering system in place to deal with controlled releases."
Jury awards whistleblower $650,000
In Massachusetts, a federal jury has found that Tara Construction Inc. and its chief executive officer, Pedro Pirez retaliated against an employee who reported an on-the-job injury. The jury awarded $650,000 in damages, $600,000 in punitive damages, and $50,000 in compensatory damages. The lawsuit alleged that the defendants initiated a law enforcement investigation and facilitated the employee's detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after the employee reported a serious injury and triggered a rapid response investigation.
MSHA launches silica enforcement initiative
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) launched a new enforcement initiative to protect miners from health hazards resulting from repeated overexposure to respirable crystalline silica. The initiative includes spot inspections at coal and metal and nonmetal mines with a history of repeated silica overexposures, increased oversight and enforcement of known silica hazards at mines with previous citations, expanding silica sampling at mines, and reminding miners about their rights.
Cal/OSHA proposes permanent COVID-19 rule
While Cal/OSHA's Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) is scheduled to expire in December 2022, the agency released a proposed "permanent" rule on June 18 that proposes to impose COVID-19 requirements on workplaces through 2024. Most of the proposed new rules align with the existing requirements of the current ETS. Currently, no public hearing has been set for the proposed permanent COVID-19 Standard, so it is uncertain how soon the regulations may be implemented.
Cal/OSHA reminds employers to protect outdoor workers from heat illness
The announcement warns of excessive heat and the employer's obligations under the heat illness prevention standard.
Oregon OSHA offers resources on complying with wildfire smoke rule
To help employers comply with a new wildfire smoke rule, which went into effect July 1, the following free resources are available:
- Online course designed to satisfy certain training requirements in English and Spanish
- Fact sheet on key requirements of new rule in English and Spanish
Recent fines and awards
Florida
- Top Rank Construction, an Orlando framing contractor, failed to comply with building code requirements and a roof truss manufacturer's engineering specification causing the roof trusses to collapse and fatally injure a 67-year-old worker at an Orange City building site. The company faces penalties of $18,853. The worksite's general contractor, Fulcrum Construction Group LLC, was also cited with a serious violation for failing to protect workers from fall hazards with $10,151 in proposed penalties.
Georgia
- Inspected after a referral from the EPA, TAV Holdings Inc., an Atlanta recycling company, was cited for the third time for exposing workers to hazardous chemicals without warning them of the risks. It was also cited for multiple other violations related to fall protection, lockout/tagout, machine guarding, training, and noise levels and faces $311,934 in penalties. XL MachineWorks LLC, a metal fabrication contractor employed at TAV Holdings, faces $11,188 in penalties for training, machine guarding, and electrical violations.
- Swainsboro-based Place Vendome Holding Co. Inc., a pillow manufacturer, faces $190,758 in penalties for seven repeat violations, including exposing workers to amputation hazards, obstructing exit routes, stacking materials in unstable or unsecured tiers, and fire extinguisher-related violations.
Illinois
- MSHA has proposed nearly $1.2 million in civil penalties to M-Class Mining LLC, a Macedonia coal mine operator for continuing to operate the mine without evacuating miners after an underground fire broke out and failing to notify MSHA of the fire.
- Federal workplace safety inspectors investigating the fatal fall of a 50-year-old journeyman electrician at Caterpillar's Mapleton foundry have determined that the lead contractor, Illinois Crane Inc., and a nested Caterpillar electrical contractor, Tegco Inc. doing business as Schaefer Electric of Peoria, exposed workers to fall hazards. Illinois Crane faces $87,016 in fines and proposed penalties for Schaefer Electric are $10,151.
New Jersey
- Lakewood Resource and Referral Center Inc., operating as the Center for Education, Medicine, and Dentistry (CHEMED) in Lakewood, has reached a stipulated settlement with the OSHRC and agreed to pay the proposed penalties of $273,064 for two repeated violations, abate the cited hazards, develop and implement a safety and health management system, and continue to comply with the healthcare emergency temporary standard. The company had required temporary nurses to wear respirators while performing COVID testing without first medically evaluating their ability to use the respirators and performing fit testing.
- CJTMI Manufacturing America LLC, a Robbinsville-based frozen food manufacturer, faces $368,513 in proposed fines for 36 violations after a contractor using faulty equipment suffered fatal injuries from a fall.
New York
- McDowell and Walker Inc., a manufacturer and supplier of grains, feeds and other agricultural products, was cited for failing to adhere to legally required grain-handling safeguards. An untrained employee was told to enter a grain bin to clear a feed buildup and was partially engulfed at an Afton facility. While the employee escaped serious injury, the company was cited for two willful, nine serious and three other-than-serious violations of workplace safety standards and faces proposed penalties of $203,039.
- Bronx-based Everest Scaffolding Inc. has reached a stipulated settlement with the OSHRC and agreed to pay $169,000 in penalties for two willful and two serious violations and affirms it has corrected the cited violations. It has also agreed to enhance its internal safety processes.
Pennsylvania
- Corle Building Systems Inc., an Imler-based metal buildings manufacturer, was cited for willfully exposing employees to amputation hazards following a worker's serious injury. The company was cited for a willful violation of inadequate machine guarding and four serious violations related to lockout/tagout. Proposed penalties are $154,143.
- John Bylar Construction of Spartansburg paid $18,000 in penalties for two serious violations and one willful violation after a worker fell from a roof and scaffold at an indoor horse-riding facility in Mars.
- An inspection initiated by a complaint found Level Edge Construction LLC, a Strasburg framing contractor, exposed employees to fall hazards at the PennDOT salt storage stockpile. The company was cited for two willful and five serious violations related to protecting workers from falls, exposing workers to falling or flying objects, and not training workers on scaffold-related hazards. Proposed penalties are $247,269.
Wisconsin
- Dollar General in Baldwin faces four willful citations for blocking emergency routes, exits, fire extinguishers violations, and failing to leave adequate space around electrical panels with proposed penalties of $435,081. The inspection was a result of a referral from local fire officials who inspected the store 11 times in 2021 and ordered the facility closed six times due to hazardous conditions.