Things you should know

Employers must pay for lineman PPE
In a May 1 letter of interpretation http://www.osha.gov/, OSHA noted that lineman belts and hooks provide protection to employees from falls while climbing and/or performing work. This equipment is PPE and employers must pay for it when the equipment is used to comply with an OSHA standard.

Brochure deals with job stress in health care workers
Health care workers have relatively high rates of substance abuse and suicide, as well as depression and anxiety related to job stress. NIOSH has published a brochure offering information about the sources of stress and practices to help control it.

Gloves can prevent injuries and reduce costs
According to an article on www.occupationalhazards.com, Keep the Gloves On, by Don Groce, "The cost of hand injuries in just one sector of the construction industry is six times what it would cost those employers to offer every employee appropriate hand protection." This preventive measure represents potential to reduce pain, reduce lost productivity, and save dollars. Groce points out that today’s protective gloves are comfortable and do not interfere with dexterity and are not cumbersome.
“The flat-dipped technology used to make many of the polymer-coated gloves provides a much cooler glove so that workers do not get so hot that they take off their gloves,” says Groce.

Full link to article referenced above:
http://www.occupationalhazards.com/Issue/Article/80923/Keep_the_Gloves_On.aspx

Contractors should begin collecting data for new VETS-100A report
In 2009, federal contractors with government contracts of $100,000 or more that were entered into or modified on or after December 1, 2003 will have to file the new VETS-100A report. Although the report is not due until September 30, 2009, contractors must begin now to collect and maintain data, since the report must include data on veterans’ employment for 12 months ending on a date in the report year between July 1 and August 31 that represents the end of a payroll period.

Truckers with history of drug use are able to “job hop”
A recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that 43 out of 600 commercial vehicle drivers tested positive for illicit drug use in the past two years. The GAO was able to obtain information on 37 of the 43 and found that 19 of the 37 were subsequently hired in spite of a positive drug test that should have disqualified them.

Transportation/warehousing most cited OSHA violation is powered industrial trucks
The most cited violation in the transportation and warehousing industrial classification in 2007 was the powered industrial trucks standard. This standard defines requirements relating to fire protection, design, maintenance and use of forklifts and other specialized industrial trucks. OSHA looks to ensure that modifications and additions to powered industrial trucks do not adversely affect capacity and safe operation. The second most cited violation was Hazard Communications that deals with how chemical risks are communicated to workers through Material Safety Data Sheets.

Night shift bosses more likely to get poor ratings
A nationwide survey of 1,000 workers conducted by Working America Institute, an affiliate of AFL-CIO, found that those working the night shift are more likely (38%) to say that bosses take credit for their work than day workers (21%), find it difficult to get time off approved (45%) and are most likely to rate their supervisors as bad bosses.