OSHA
News for December 2019
It was warmer in
December than in November. The weather in Chicago got up to 62 degrees which
set a record last week. The flu peaks in
February so I hope many of you got a flu shot.
I trained 2180 people
last year. The top five classes were:
1) OSHA 511 OSHA
industry Standards
2) Machine
Guarding
3) Recordkeeping
4) Lockout – New
book written – “Big Book of OSHA Lockout”
5) OSHA 30 in
Construction
This month
powerpoint is OSHA most frequently cited construction standards for 2019. I
want to thank the OSHA people that helped me with the data. In Illinois, nearby
30% of the construction citations are falls from the roof. This is low hanging
fruit for OSHA. Everyone on a roof doing construction work must have some fall
protection. OSHA gets many cell phone photos of hazards.
I see some large
companies get caught on multi-employer issues in civil litigation with
million-dollar judgment. A subcontractor with a history of OSHA violations can
cost a general contractor millions in civil litigation if they get hurt or
killed on a construction site. Many company use the OSHA history among other
factors when deciding on a subcontractor.
I will send the
most cited industry standards in the next month. Stay safe and warm.
John
OSHA
News.
1) The US
Department of Labor/ OSHA has issued a notice stating that it no longer
recognizes crane operator test certifications issued by Florida based Crane
Institute Certification - CIC.
The statement
issued on Monday states: “OSHA will not accept CIC certification (including recertification)
issued on or after December 2, 2019, as evidence of compliance with OSHA’s
operator certification requirements in 29 CFR 1926.1427.”
https://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20191203/NEWS08/912331997/OSHA-will-no-longer-accept-CIC-certifications
2) After 20 years
of litigation, the US Department of Labor is celebrating victory in an epic
legal battle to make a construction company boss pay penalties for site safety
violations committed in 1998.
New Jersey-based
Altor Inc. and its president Vasilios Saites last week finally agreed to pay
the original fine of $412,000 plus another $30,000 in interest after a US Court
of Appeals in Philadelphia found in July that they were in contempt for failing
to pay the original penalties.
http://www.globalconstructionreview.com/news/company-president-made-pay-442k-safety-violations-/
3) Rare win in ID
for suing the employer for wrongful death.
https://idahonews.com/news/local/idaho-supreme-court-reverses-decision-in-crookham-seed-co-wrongful-death-suit?fbclid=IwAR0FRQFb_k3eqIEzzAjDjI1ouY9K9yZ_CxmvwmDArCEjh4q4ZDh-gadyZUk
4) Silica
emphasis program may start in 2020.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/12/21/790298648/a-new-safety-program-takes-on-silica-dust-amid-a-possible-crisis
5) OSHA get
budget increase to $581.8 million. Harwood grants cut to $4.5 million.
https://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20191217/NEWS08/912332218/OSHA-to-receive-small-increase-in-FY-2020-budget
6) OSHA will
target industries from osha amputations database.
https://ehsdailyadvisor.blr.com/2019/12/osha-revises-national-enforcement-program-for-amputations/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
7) Statistics
from Recent BLS 2018 fatality data.
5250 deaths up
from 5147
1863 55 and older
– down from 1930 (record)
1072
self-employed - down from 1078 (Truck drivers, construction)
1003 construction
– up from 965
961 Latino
Workers – up from 903
831 Truck drivers
down from 840
791 falls - down
from 887
615 Black Workers
– up from 517
615 Falls from
heights - down from 713
566 Struck by -
up from 503
488 Texas - down
from 534
453 Homicides –
down from 458
422 California –
up from 376
413 Women - up
from 386
343 Manufacturing
– up from 303
332 Florida - up
from 299
305 Unintentional
Overdoses at work - up from 272
271 New York –
down from 313
264 Farmers,
ranchers - up from 262
276 Local
government – up from 265
225 Ground
maintenance workers – up from 191
184 Illinois – up
from 163
173 Indiana – up
from 138
160 Electricity –
up from 136
154 Same level falls
- up from 151 RECORD
145 Missouri – up
from 125
137 Caught in -
up from 108
114 Wisconsin –
up from 106
108 Police up
from 93
77 Iowa – up from
72
20 states had
lower deaths.
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0cdu5u1gStubSN8qKiLNAB4uRA6o4ESNQhpyZZdtHX4qyS7uWkjKnSnEU
Other
Major News Stories.
1) 3 French
executives convicted for workplace harassment that lead to 35 suicides.
PARIS — The
former chief executive of one of France’s biggest companies and two
subordinates were convicted on Friday of “institutional moral harassment” in
the suicides of 35 employees in the mid-2000s, in a landmark ruling that
represents the first time a French company has been held responsible for such a
crime.
The chief
executive, Didier Lombard, who led France Télécom, the former national
telephone company that is now the telecommunications giant Orange, was
sentenced to four months in prison and fined $16,000, as were the company’s
second-in-command and its director of human resources at the time. Orange was
fined the maximum $83,000.
The criminal
court in Paris found that the three men were responsible for creating an
atmosphere of fear during a desperate company restructuring that led directly
to the suicides and attempted suicides of numerous employees.
Current and
former workers gave wrenching testimony in a three-month trial this spring and
summer about the severe anxiety that prevailed as the executives tackled a $50
billion debt by trying to get rid of 22,000 employees, out of a total of
120,000. Most of the employees were civil servants and thus could not be fired.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/20/world/europe/france-telecom-suicides.html?fbclid=IwAR2D2XE__gwLo1J57y6OSRYFTJCj0IcQpucPBnWy1TXzh0aOyhsNizizaNA
2) Tank cleaning
kills two in TX
https://abc13.com/2-workers-dead-after-incident-at-chemical-plant-in-pasadena-/5794094/?fbclid=IwAR0E3sGwGxXA9QmY20lZM8tAsX90GL_pCcRJWvsYuJXRp_pVM6_fK8duNuQ
3) Triple
fatality in MN silo.
https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/accidents/4839839-Family-prepares-to-say-goodbye-to-boy-hurt-in-Minnesota-farm-accident?fbclid=IwAR2snCaEakFqIp2QH1TH9ELFRJFB0ilubrW591B8QVE25N61SpgNL-niZ1w
Safety
Training at Non-Profits
OSHA 511 NIU
Naperville Jan
13-16
OSHA 7105 CSC
Emergency Planning Jan
9
OSHA 10 NIU
Naperville Jan
21-22
NIU is Northern
Illinois University OSHA Education Center http://www.nsec.niu.edu
CSC is the
Construction Safety Council in Hillside. Www.Buildsafe.org
TRMA is Three
Rivers Manufacturers Association
www.trma.org
NSC is National
Safety Council http://www.nsec.niu.edu/nsec/
I usually teach
only part of the 30 hour and the 500 series. I have been teaching many 10/30
hour class for private companies. I have
taught 2180 people this year. I teach evenings, weekends, early mornings too. I
teach in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana.
All presentations
are put on slideshare.net for free downloading. I put this presentation at this
link. https://www.slideshare.net/JohnNewquist/construction-most-cited-fy2019-osha
I use your
feedback to make changes to make corrections.
OSHA Citations
will be next month
