OSHA Upgrades its Small Business Assistance Website With a New Look, Updated "Safety Pays" eTool, and a New Spanish Language Safety Link
     The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently unveiled an enhanced Office of Small Business Assistance (OSBA) website. The site includes an improved "Safety Pays" eTool and a new Spanish Language Safety link. The website has been redesigned to highlight categorical pages, or tabs, for easier navigation and data access. The new format showcases focal points, new products and links. The site provides a wide variety of safety and health tools, products, and information for small businesses.
     The OSBA website features an updated "Safety Pays" eTool to help employers estimate the costs of occupational injuries and illnesses and the estimated impact on a company's profitability. This web-based application allows businesses to identify the direct and indirect costs of injuries and calculate the sales needed to make up for these losses. Advantages of the "Safety Pays" tool include no downloading; access to updated loss-injury figures; automatic results after entering data in the appropriate fields; and the option to create and print additional forms online.
     A new addition to the site, the Spanish Language Safety link, contains useful Spanish-language compliance assistance resources and tools developed by OSHA's State Consultation programs. The page provides small businesses with access to Spanish-language safety cards, booklets, and posters. Visitors may access this link from the Small Business Assistance webpage.

Click here to visit the new Small Business Assistance Website.

     OSHA's "$afety Pays" program is an interactive expert system to assist employers in estimating the costs of occupational injuries and illnesses and the impact on a company's profitability. This system uses a company's profit margin, the AVERAGE costs of an injury or illness, and an indirect cost multiplier to project the amount of sales a company would need to generate in order to cover those costs. Businesses can use this information to predict the direct and indirect impact of injuries and illnesses and the estimated sales needed to compensate for these losses.
    
     The "$afety Pays" program will:

• Offer choices from a set of Lost Work Day injuries and illnesses
• Prompt users for information to do the analysis
• Allow users to input the actual loss figures or workers' compensation costs
• Generate a report of the costs and the sales needed to cover those costs

Click here for more information and to run the $afety Pays Program.

OSHA Seeking Nominations for National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health
     The Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that nominations are being accepted for persons to serve on the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health. The committee was established under section 7(a) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to advise the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Health and Human Services on matters relating to the administration of the Act.  Nominations will be accepted for five vacancies in the following categories: two public representatives, one management representative, one safety representative and one health representative. Members will serve a two-year term. Any interested person or organization may nominate one or more qualified persons for membership.

Click here for more information.

OSHA Announces New Education Centers
     OSHA recently announced new OSHA Training Institute (OTI) Education Centers. Current OTI Education Centers offer training courses on OSHA standards and occupational safety and health issues. Made up of nonprofit organizations, the additional OTI Education Centers will increase OSHA's reach throughout the nation to provide safety and health training. Created in 1992 to complement OTI in Illinois, the centers provide training to private sector and federal personnel from agencies outside OSHA. More than 27,000 people were trained in fiscal year 2007.

Click here for more information and the locations of the new centers.

Back to Basics - Safety and Health in the Workplace Overview
     Three U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) agencies have responsibility for the administration and enforcement of the laws enacted to protect the safety and health of workers in America.

• The Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act is administered by DOL's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Safety and health conditions in most private industries are regulated by OSHA or an OSHA-approved state plan.
• DOL's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has responsibility for administration and enforcement of the Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, which protects the safety and health of workers employed in the nation's mines.
• The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) contains rules concerning the employment of young workers, those under the age of 18, and is administered and enforced by the DOL's Employment Standards Administration's Wage and Hour Division.

The Department of Labor also has a public outreach initiative called Working Partners for an Alcohol- and Drug-Free Workplace that assists employers to develop drug-free workplace programs. Although not required under any DOL laws or regulations, such programs are natural compliments to other initiatives that help ensure safe and healthy workplaces and add value to America's businesses and communities.

Click here for more information.

NIOSH Focus on Preventing Worker Deaths and Injuries from Contacting Overhead Power Lines with Metal Ladders
     Workers risk electrocution when using metal ladders around energized, overhead power lines.  A NIOSH review of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) data from 1992–2005 identified at least 154 electrocution deaths that resulted from contacting overhead power lines with portable metal ladders (excluding truck-mounted and aerial ladders). Of these 154 deaths, 36 involved a person of Hispanic origin. Although Hispanic workers accounted for 23% of these electrocution deaths due to ladders contacting power lines, it is estimated that they made up only 11% of the workforce during this period.
     The NIOSH Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program is designed to identify, study, and prevent fatal occupational injuries. A review of NIOSH FACE cases between 1987 and 2007 identified 11 investigations involving the deaths of 12 workers that occurred while working around overhead power lines and using metal ladders. Ladder contacts with power lines usually occurred during erection, lowering, or relocation of the ladder. The surveillance data indicate a disproportionate rate of deaths among Hispanic workers involved in incidents related to metal ladders making contact with overhead power lines. Recent investigations of Hispanic worker deaths have also highlighted the need for worksite surveys and hazard controls and identified additional safety measures for workers whose primary language is not English. Two cases are described below.
     The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has developed recommendations to prevent injuries and deaths while working with metal ladders.

Click here for the full report.

Reminder to Employers: Posting Injury/Illness Summaries Begins February 1
     Beginning February 1, employers must post a summary of the total number of job-related injuries and illnesses that occurred last year. Employers are only required to post the Summary (OSHA Form 300A) -- not the OSHA 300 Log -- from Feb. 1 to April 30, 2008. Copies of OSHA Forms 300, 300A and 301 are available on the OSHA Recordkeeping Web page - click here to download the forms.

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News You Can Use

Survey: PPE Noncompliance Big Issue in Workplace
     For the second year in a row, a survey of safety professionals has found that noncompliance with personal protective equipment (PPE) protocols continues to be an issue in the workplace. Eighty-seven percent of respondents said they had observed workers failing to wear PPE when they should have been, according to a survey of attendees at the 2007 National Safety Council Congress, conducted by Kimberly-Clark Professional.
     The main "why" was "uncomfortable" PPE, according to 62 percent of respondents who had observed noncompliance in the workplace. This was followed by: workers thinking PPE was not necessary for the task, PPE was "too hot," PPE fits poorly, or was "unattractive looking." So it's not surprising that when asked "what" could be improved about the PPE they were currently purchasing, three quarters of survey respondents said they would make it "more comfortable." Safety professionals also gave the nod to more fashionable PPE. Eighty-four percent said that they would be more apt to purchase fashionable and attractive PPE if workers would be more likely to wear it and the price was comparable to what they were currently paying for similar products.

Click here for the full report and survey results.

Source: Modern Distribution Management
 

Plant Safety Tuneup
     Make the most out of your safety audits by following up on findings and using your audit results to tune up your plant safety process. Once upon a time, checking off a box on an inspection checklist may have been enough for companies to determine that their safety equipment and machinery – as well as their safety processes – were in order. That doesn’t cut it anymore. Over the years, safety and health audits have become more thorough, with employers using the results to rid the workplace of hazards before incidents occur. Audit activity accelerated after OSHA was established in 1971. Many employers determined that if they did not conduct inspections of the workplace, OSHA would do it for them, adding citations, fines and a big chunk of management time to the costs or the corrections.
     Employers gradually have realized that a well-conducted safety audit provides a host of tangible and intangible benefits, including identifying and eliminating safety hazards, reducing lost-time injury and illness rates and improving employee morale, just to name a few. As a result, they increasingly have taken an all-encompassing approach to their safety audits.

Click here for the full report.

Source: Occupational Hazards Magazine

The Cold Stress Equation

LOW TEMPERATURE + WIND SPEED + WETNESS = INJURIES & ILLNESS

How to Protect Workers

• Recognize the environmental and workplace conditions that lead to potential cold-induced illnesses and injuries.
• Learn the signs and symptoms of cold-induced illnesses/injuries and what to do to help the worker.
• Train the workforce about cold-induced illnesses and injuries.
• Select proper clothing for cold, wet, and windy conditions. Layer clothing to adjust to changing environmental temperatures. Wear a hat and gloves, in addition to underwear that will keep water away from the skin (polypropylene).
• Take frequent short breaks in warm dry shelters to allow the body to warm up.
• Perform work during the warmest part of the day.
• Avoid exhaustion or fatigue because energy is needed to keep muscles warm.
• Use the buddy system (work in pairs).
• Drink warm, sweet beverages (sugar water, sports-type drinks). Avoid drinks with caffeine (coffee, tea, or hot chocolate) or alcohol.
• Eat warm, high-calorie foods like hot pasta dishes.

Workers Are at Increased Risk When...

• They have predisposing health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension.
• They take certain medication (check with your doctor, nurse, or pharmacy and ask if any medicines you are taking affect you while working in cold environments).
• They are in poor physical condition, have a poor diet, or are older.

Click here for more information.

Home Heating Safety
     Heating equipment, especially portable and space heaters, fireplaces and wood stoves, require careful use and proper maintenance. Here are some tips to help families prevent fire- and burn-related injuries during the winter months.

• Purchase electric space heaters that bear the mark of an independent testing laboratory, such as UL, ETL, CSA, etc.
• Place space heaters at least three feet away from anything that can burn - including furniture, people, pets and window treatments.
• Burn only seasoned hardwood - not trash, cardboard boxes, or Christmas trees because these items burn unevenly, may contain toxins, and increase the risk of uncontrolled fires.
• Have a professional chimney sweep inspect chimneys annually for cracks, blockages and leaks and have them cleaned and repaired as needed.

Click here for more recommendations.

Source: Home Safety Council
 

Focus on Disaster Preparedness

All Readiness Is Local . . .

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other state and local government agencies are working hard to protect and prepare our nation for emergencies. Click here for a map to find resources and information on preparedness in your community.

Citizen Corps

Get Involved in Preparing your Community. Citizen Corps, Homeland Security's grassroots effort, localizes preparedness messages and provides opportunities for citizens to get emergency response training; participate in community exercises; and volunteer to support local first responders. To learn more and to get involved, contact your nearest Citizen Corps Council by visiting www.citizencorps.gov.  

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1. SIZE MATTERS - You know that footwear and protective clothing come in sizes.  Gloves, respirators, and ear plugs also come in sizes.  PPE that's too big provides inadequate protection.  PPE that's too small is uncomfortable and impacts productivity.
2. FIT THE MASK TO THE TASK - Air-purifying respirators are designed for specific chemical or particulate hazards.  Be sure you're using the right one for your application.
3. NOW HEAR THIS - Disposable earplugs are available in a variety of materials, sizes, and shapes.  Give your workers a choice of products and instructions on proper insertion and use.
4. CUT IT OUT - Cut-resistant synthetic fiber textile gloves provide no knife-point puncture protection - only metal mesh gloves can do that.
5. SIGN HERE - Inadequate safety signage is a frequent violation and easily correctable..

Want more information on any of this month's Saf-T-Tips?  E-mail us for a prompt reply.

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