OSHA Compliance Posts

We see it just about every day; heck, we even see it with safety people… not properly rolling, lifting, inserting, and holding their hearing protection as they insert them.  But noise is a “chronic” hazard and thus far too many workplaces fail to respect it.  Unfortunately, in the vast majority of projects, we have completed…...

The Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama announced criminal charges today in a case involving willful violations of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards that led to a worker’s death. The charges involve an Aug. 16, 2017, incident at an Alabama plant in which a worker was…...

How many times have you paused before entering a high-noise area to put in your hearing protection, only to get strange looks like, “WTH is taking you so long?” Most workers and even a fair amount of safety professionals do not understand the “subtract 7” approach when performing the attenuation evaluation.  The “subtract 7” approach…...

At 4:45 p.m. on December 3, 2021, an employee was using a propane torch to loosen asphalt from the ejection chute of a silo while cleaning the chute. A flash fire occurred at the opening of the chute, striking the employee. The employee incurred 3rd-degree burns on 65% to 75% of his body, a broken…...

At 4:30 a.m. on December 31, 2021, two employees were walking in a Powered Industrial Truck (PIT) traffic area when an Electrical Tow Motor struck them. The employer established a PIT traffic only during dispatching hours between 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m., which is enforced by posting a supervisor to stop foot traffic. The facility…...

I have seen this very scenario play out at least a half dozen times in my career.  GRAVITY is an energy source and can be a fatal form of energy!  Here is what happened in this tragedy… At 4:15 p.m. on July 19, 2021, an employee, 38, was changing the hydraulic line on a forklift…....

OSHA answers five (5) questions regarding the relatively new standard, 1910.28 Duty to have fall protection and falling object protection.  And I have to admit I found a couple of their answers interesting. Question 1: 29 CFR § 1910.28(b)(9) requires fixed ladders (installed on or after November 19, 2018) that are more than 24 feet…...

Background: Company employees work with packaged consumer commodities (e.g., body wash, sunscreen, mouthwash, dish detergent, fabric softener) that are placed in finished store displays. The products are not used by employees and are shipped back to the original manufacturer for distribution, or to distribution centers for resale. SDSs are maintained for shipping and/or disposal of…...

On May 18, 2018, OSHA issued an Enforcement Memorandum for Regional Administrators, “OSHA’s use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Inspections,” to provide initial guidance on the use of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUAS) during compliance inspections and for other purposes. In light of recent improvements by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to help SUAS pilots…...

It seems there is a faction of safety professionals who want to claim that if OSHA’s blood-borne pathogens standard is “legal”, then so would the COVID ETS.  But these two standards are nothing alike.  For example, OSHA defined “occupational exposure” in 1910.1030 as: Occupational Exposure means reasonably anticipated skin, eye, mucous membrane, or parenteral contact…...

Here is a look at OSHA’s HAZWOPER compliance activity in 2021 (October 2020 – September 2021). As you can see, OSHA did 24 HAZWOPER inspections and issued 48 citations for a total of $156,418 in fines. This is the SETTLED amount and NOT the initial citations. Here is a quick breakdown of activity:… Membership Required You...