OSHA Compliance

This is in response to your inquiry on behalf of the American Chemistry Council concerning how OSHA’s March 26, 2012, revisions to its Hazard Communication Standard (HCS 2012) apply to combustible dust. Below I summarize each of your questions and provide our response to it…. Membership Required You must be a member to access this...

The Wyoming Department of Workforce Services (DWS) is warning of a telephone scam by a company identifying itself as “U.S. Federal Labor Compliance.” Wyoming business owners have been the targets of the phone calls. The recipients of the fraudulent calls are told that they need to purchase an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) compliance…...

WARNING – Poster, Log 300 and Safety Program SCAM!  Maryland Occupational Safety & Health (MOSH) has received several inquiries from employers around the state concerning intimidating solicitations for: MOSH Poster about Safety and Health Rights,  Forms to complete the Log 300, and a required “canned” Safety and Health Program These solicitations pressure the employer into purchasing…...

This decision from the OSHRC will make you wonder if safety is more about “legal matters” or “common sense safety”.  The fact that a company can use a JLG brand lift to remove and replace 31′ beams weighing 325 pound comes down to the use of clamps vs. no clamps is just crazy.  I think…...

OSHA has identified and sent letters (letter13.html) to approximately 9,400 workplaces whose establishments are covered by Federal OSHA and reported to OSHA a 2011 “Days Away from work, Restricted work or job Transfer injury and illness” (DART) rate greater than the average rate for their industry.  The letter encourages employers to consider hiring an outside…...

Experienced safety professional will often admit it took them years before realizing that a “general industry” workplace can fall under construction standards (1926) and vice-versa.  I know I was well into my career before I came to understand this and once it was explained to me I could see how my maintenance team could fall…...

Cal/OSHA is reminding all employers to protect their outdoor workers from the risk of heat illness, as temperatures in the Central Valley and parts of Southern California are expected to reach the 80s today and into the weekend, with record highs expected in some areas. “While California’s heat illness standards are the toughest in the…...

OSHA revised its Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) to align with the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) and published it in the Federal Register in March 2012 (77 FR 17574). Two significant changes contained in the revised standard require the use of new labeling elements and a standardized format…...

The Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP), which became effective on June 18, 2010, is intended to focus enforcement efforts on recalcitrant employers who demonstrate indifference to the health and safety of their employees through willful, repeated, or failure-to-abate violations relating to significant hazards.  The SVEP replaced the Enhanced Enforcement Program (EEP), a program also intended…...

The Bill H.R. 632 was introduced in the House of Representatives this month (2/13/2013) is to authorize the Department of Labor’s voluntary protection program and to expand the program to include more small businesses.  The bill requires the Secretary of Labor to establish a program of entering into cooperative agreements with employers to encourage the…...

Cars, pickups, dump trucks, delivery vehicles, 18-wheelers as wells as fork trucks and heavy construction equipment all have something in common.  OSHA investigated eight worker deaths in New England in 2012 due to backovers and three more involved working on or near vehicles.  The count does not include several public sector workers not investigated by…...