OSHA Compliance Posts

A refinery was cited by OSHA for five repeat and three serious violations for continuing to expose workers to hot surfaces of refinery process equipment, falls from heights and other hazards at its crude oil refinery. Proposed penalties from this February 2014 follow-up inspection total $184,800. The five repeat citations, with a penalty of $170,500,…...

I have highlighted the major items in this appropriations report.  Major items are: 1) small farms with less than 10 employees continue to be exempt, unless they have a labor camp, 2) new language clarifying OSHA’s ability to inspect small establishments where there exists the potential for a catastrophic chemical incident, with clarifying language that exempts…...

On April 29, 2013, OSHA launched the Temporary Worker Initiative (TWI) in order to help prevent work-related injuries and illnesses among temporary workers.1 The purpose of this initiative is to increase OSHA’s focus on temporary workers in order to highlight employers’ responsibilities to ensure these workers are protected from workplace hazards.  As detailed in the…...

OSHA recognizes that in some situations, violations of certain standards which require the employer to have a written program to address a hazard, or to make a written certification (e.g., hazard communication, personal protective equipment, permit-required confined spaces, and others), are perceived to be “paperwork deficiencies” rather than critically important implementation problems. In other circumstances,…...

The purpose of this memorandum is to establish a temporary enforcement policy for: 29 CFR 1910.137(b) and 1910.269; and 29 CFR 1926.97(b) and Subpart V. On April 11, 2014, OSHA promulgated a final rule revising the general industry and construction standards for work on electric power generation, transmission and distribution installations and for electrical protective…...

  Occupational Safety and Health Administration – Prerule Stage Bloodborne Pathogens Combustible Dust Infectious Diseases Preventing Backover Injuries and Fatalities… Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in here...

Respondent contends that it was improperly cited pursuant to OSHA’s National Emphasis Program (NEP). Specifically, Respondent contends that the NEP, in effect, creates a substantive rule that requires employers to comply with the National Fire Protection Association’s “Standard for the Prevention of Fire and Dust Explosions from the Manufacturing, Processing, and Handling of Combustible Particulate…...

Good morning everyone, I am contacting you because we have heard from you in the past. If this story is not in your beat or specialty, please forward to your peers who would be interested in attending this telephone conference. This is advanced notice that Secretary Perez and Secretary Pritzker will hold a national press…...

The majority of OSHA’s Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs) were adopted in 1971, under section 6(a) of the OSH Act and only a few have been successfully updated since that time. There is widespread agreement among industry, labor, and professional occupational safety and health organizations that occupational safety and health organizations that OSHA’s PELs are outdated…...

In the past several years OSHA has renewed their efforts in trying to get their “Injury and Illness Prevention Plan” (I2P2) on the table for discussion/rule making. To many safety professionals this may be a “new movement”, but in reality this effort dates all the way back to 1995. Recently, OSHA has said they are…...

Last week I wrote about keeping safety simple by building upon the safety foundation that OSHA has provided and as I expected there were some that were insulted by my position on behavior based safety. Some thought I was some kind of “big government” person, which for those that know me are chuckling right now…....