OSHA has announced that it will hold an informal public hearing to receive testimony and documentary evidence on the proposed rule for Confined Spaces in Construction. The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. on July 22, 2008, at the Department of Labor’s Frances Perkins Building in Washington, D.C. If a second or third day is necessary, the hearing will begin at 9 a.m. on those days.

“The proposed rule is intended to address construction-specific issues as they relate to confined spaces and establish comprehensive procedures to protect employees,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Edwin G. Foulke, Jr. “This hearing will allow interested parties the opportunity to provide input on the proposed rule.”

OSHA published the proposed Confined Spaces in Construction Standard on November 28, 2007, (72 FR 67351) and the public was given until February 28, 2008, to submit comments. Those who intend to present testimony at the hearing must notify OSHA in writing of their intention to do so no later than May 21, 2008. Parties who request more than 10 minutes for their presentations at the hearing and those who will present documentary evidence must provide the agency with copies of their full testimony and all documentary evidence no later than June 20, 2008.

When was the last time you took a safety class?  There are a lot of different sources available, with both for-profit companies and the not-for-profit organizations.  Three not-for-profit associations, ASSE (American Society of Safety Engineers),  NSC (National Safety Council) and the Construction Safety Council offer a variety of classes.  But the two sources I want to describe are the OTI (OSHA Training Institute) and the National Safety Education Center.

OTI is OSHA’s own training center in Arlington Heights, IL.  The OTI provides training and education in occupational safety and health for federal and state compliance officers, state consultants, other federal agency personnel, and the private sector.

The OSHA Training Institute (OTI) Education Center program was initiated as an extension of the OSHA Training Institute, which is the primary training provider of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OTI targets Federal and State compliance officers and State consultation program staff, but also provides training for private sector personnel and Federal personnel from agencies other than OSHA on a space available basis. However, during the 1980s, the number of requests for training from private sector personnel and Federal personnel from agencies other than OSHA increased substantially and the demand eventually exceeded the capacity of the OSHA Training Institute. To date there are 18 training centers with at least one in each OSHA region. 

As an example, the National Safety Education Center in Region V, is a consortium comprised of: Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, Construction Safety Council, Hillside, IL and the National Safety Council, Itasca, IL.  The National Safety Education Center is authorized by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to deliver approved OSHA training courses. Upon completion of any program, your achievement is recognized through:

• Department of Labor Course Completion Certificates
• Outreach Trainer Cards for OSHA Courses 500, 501, 502 and 503
• Availability of Continuing Education Units (CEUs)
• Availability of American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH) Safety and Industrial Health
• Continuing Maintenance (CM) points.

Pick a class and increase your safety knowledge.

Am I passionate about training, YOU BET!  I recently read an article about developing and using on-line training for OSHA & HIPPA compliance.  It seems like more and more companies are looking at on-line training for their employees. On-line training is available for OSHA, DOT, HIPPA and more.  Push a few buttons and you are trained.  While it is economical and less time consuming, there are some drawbacks.

As a trainer:

• I can look at a trainee and see in their eyes if they are understanding the material.   
• I can evaluate if a student learns by seeing, hearing or doing and then work with that student using their best learning style. 
• I can adjust the material if I see it is not relevant to YOUR students. 
• I can have a student verbalize back to me how much they understand about the subject to detemine if they need more information.

Please tell me how the computer can make these deteminations except by continually quizing the student. 

Good safety trainers are good for business and payback their expense.  They help increase productivity and help keep worker’s compensation lower.  Both result in more profits going to the bottom line.  I have used this example before, but a average incident (according to OSHA) cost an employer about $25,000.  At 3% profit margin the company has to make an additional $833,000 to break even, and that’s if you have only 1 incident.

I am assistant scuba instructor and now there are some certifing agencies that have on-line classes for courses content.  Not the buddy I would want to be with at 80 feet under water, and to have to depend on saving my life if something went wrong.  How about the on-line First Aid/CPR class, want that person to work on you? 

On-line training for the refresher great, for the initial training, think about it and what it may really cost you.

OSHA recently fined a roofing company over $200,000 when an employee was killed when he fell 16 feet through a skylight. OSHA issued eight willful citations to the company for its failure to provide fall protection in hoisting areas and on low-sloped roofs; failing to cover skylight openings to prevent falls; and not training employees about fall hazards. Seven of the citations allege per-instance willful violations of three OSHA requirements. A willful violation is defined as one committed with an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and regulations.

Falls are the #1 cause of worker’s death in the construction industry.  The Compliance Resource Center reported on (ANSI)/ASSE Z359.2 fall protection in May of 2007.  Fall protection must be provided at four feet in general industry, five feet in maritime and six feet in construction. Here are some Fall Protection Tips from OSHA:

Fall Protection Tips
• Identify all potential tripping and fall hazards before work starts.
• Look for fall hazards such as unprotected floor openings/edges, shafts, skylights, stairwells, and roof openings/edges.
• Inspect fall protection equipment for defects before use.
• Select, wear, and use fall protection equipment appropriate for the task.
• Secure and stabilize all ladders before climbing them.
• Never stand on the top rung/step of a ladder.
• Use handrails when you go up or down stairs.
• Practice good housekeeping.  Keep cords, welding leads and air hoses out of walkways or adjacent work areas.

The US DOT Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is presenting a FREE 1-day Hazmat Workshop in Rockford on May 6.  Registration information is below.

Hazardous Materials Transportation One-Day Workshop
The HMR apply to each person who performs, or causes to be performed, functions related to the transportation of hazardous materials such as determination of, and compliance with, basic conditions for offering; filling packages; marking and labeling packages; preparing shipping papers; handling, loading, securing and segregating packages within a transport vehicle, freight container or cargo hold; and transporting hazardous materials.
This one-day workshop provides an overview of how to use the HMR and a summary of many of the requirements found in the HMR that can affect transportation safety to include:
Training Requirements, Packaging, Hazard Communications, and Security.
 

For information call: (202) 366-4900 Workshop Highlights
Anyone who offers or transports hazardous materials in commerce or has a desire to learn more about
USDOT’s Hazardous Materials Regulations.
ONE-DAY AGENDA
7:30 - 8:00AM REGISTRATION
8:00 - 8:15AM WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
8:15 - 9:15AM HOW TO USE THE HMR
Review how to locate specific HM information in the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR), e.g.,
Hazardous Materials Table, mode restrictions, proper shipping name, hazard class, division number, ID number, packing group, packaging, special provisions, labeling, marking, and placarding requirements.
9:30 - 10:30AM TRAINING REQUIREMENTS
Discuss the hazmat employer and employee training requirements in 49 CFR ®172.700.
10:45 - 11:45AM PACKAGE SELECTION, MARKING, AND LABELING
Learn how to select the proper package, properly mark the package, and label the package.
11:45 - 1:00PM LUNCH (on your own)
1:00 - 2:00PM SHIPPING PAPERS AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE INFORMATION
Learn how to properly describe a hazardous material on a shipping paper, including additional descriptions and emergency response information.
2:15 - 3:15PM PLACARDING REQUIREMENTS
Learn how to determine the required placarding when offering and/or transporting hazardous materials.
3:30 - 4:30PM SECURITY REQUIREMENTS
Provides an understanding of the security threat, an overview of the specific requirements of HM-232, and
suggestions and guidance on how to comply with the regulations.
4:30 - 4:45PM WRAP-UP QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Looking for more information on Hazardous Materials Please bring your 49 CFR to the workshop.
Transportation? Visit our website: http://hazmat.dot.gov/
Schedule
The Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) specify requirements for the safe and secure transportation of hazardous materials in commerce by rail car, aircraft, vessel, and motor vehicle. These comprehensive regulations govern transportation-related activities by offerors (e.g., shippers, brokers, forwarding agents, freight forwarders, and warehousers); carriers (e.g., common, contract, and private); packaging manufacturers, reconditioners, testers, and retesters; and independent inspection agencies.

May 6, 2008 - Rockford, IL

April 22 is Earth Day. 

 What are you doing for earth day and earth week?  Work or home, let us and other readers know.  As an added incentive, we will ramdomly select 1 reader’s comment and send that person a DVD Screensaver, Living Marine Aquarium filmed in HD widescreen.

So let’s hear from you.

DECO (Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and OSHA) are presenting a FREE webinar on Combustible Dust. 

Combustible Dust Webinar
May 14, 2008 10:00-11:00 AM
To register, send your email address to rita.mosley@illinois.gov

Mr. John Newquist, Region 5 Assistant Regional Administrator, will be
conducting training on the new National Emphasis Program (NEP) on
Combustible Dust.
The purpose of this NEP is to inspect facilities that create or handle
combustible dusts which can cause intense burning or other fire
hazards when suspended in air, and can lead to explosions.
Combustible dusts are finely ground organic or metal particles, fibers,
fines, chips, chunks, flakes, or small mixtures of these materials.
Types of dusts include, but are not limited to, metal (aluminum and
magnesium), wood, plastic, biosolids, organic (sugar, paper, soap and
dried blood), and dusts from certain textiles. Combustible dusts can
be found in the agricultural, chemical, textile, forest and furniture
products, wastewater treatment, metal processing, paper products,
pharmaceutical and recycling operations (metal, paper and plastic)
industries.
Please join us in the Webinar.
When: 05/14/2008 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Time Zone: (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US and Canada)
Location: At your computer, or join us at the training site in Rockford,
Illinois at the EiigerLab, 605 Fulton Avenue.

To Register for this no-cost seminar: send your email address to
rita.mosley@illinois.gov

Winter is officially over and our second season is starting.  No, not spring, CONSTRUCTION!  It is another season of road construction here in the Chicago area and throughout the US.  Traffic tie-ups, slow downs and the infamous flagger person telling you to “Slow down or STOP (for about 10 - 20 minutes).

I have been a flagger instructor for about 3 years.  I have also taught the flagger instructor class, but driving around the city, I must be the worst trainer ever.  I see people:

• Using the emergency vehicle flag to direct traffic
• Standing in the middle of the street with a Slow/Stop sign directing two-way traffic
• Road construction people using their hands
• Road construction people without safety vests
• Construction people walking out into traffic to stop oncoming traffic to let a vehicle into or out of the construction site
• Many other dumb things

Road construction injuries are up every year.  When I teach the flagger class I always like to start with the students telling about the scary incidents that have happended to them, and there are many.  Yet as I drive out on the road, I seldom see a flagger doing it right.  If they use the Stop/Slow sign they do not use hand signals, or they don’t use the sign correctly.   Having less road construction injuries means we have to be better drivers in these areas, but also the contruction people have to be better safety people.

I recently got a call from a small company whose UPS shipment was not acceptable because the company was not aware the shipment contained a hazardous material, and no one at the company had the correct hazmat training.   How could they get their products to their customers?  Everyone had to scramble to get them in compliance.  This is not an uncommon occurrence for companies and organizations.

Shipping hazardous materials by UPS and/or FEDEX must be done in accordance to US DOT federal regulations (49CFR part 100-185), ICAO (air), or IMDG (ocean).  Both UPS and FedEx will decline shipments if the business cannot show the carriers that their employees have been trained and follow all compliance concerns of US DOT & ICAO. 

First let me dispel a BIG misunderstanding.  IATA is NOT a regulatory agency.  IATA is the International Air Transportation ASSOCIATION.  They wrote a very good reference book with regards to air shipping, but are not a regulatory agency.  ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) and the US DOT (49 CFR part 175) are the regulatory agencies for shipping hazardous materials by AIR.

If you are not sure if the material you are shipping is hazardous first look at an MSDS sheet, 2nd check out 49CFR part 172.101.  This is the DOT’s hazardous material table.  If your material is listed here then you MUST follow DOT compliance.  The table will also tell you if the material(s) can be transported by air.

It you have a question, use the comment box below and The Compliance Resource Center will answer you question.