OSHA News for
March 2020
Hello,
One month changes
everything. I hope you are surviving the COVID19 virus. I started tracking it
since Feb 28. At this moment, the general population is short of respirators.
Testing is high and the USA leads with the most infected in the world.
Training in class
is shut down for the most part.
I did a webinar
using the ppt sent out two weeks ago. I was glad to have 270 people. There were
50 questions and respirators and recordkeeping were the hot topics.
This month ppt is
multiemployer. Many cases are winning against the general contractors and the
active construction manager. Also, the
industrial employer can lose cases if they hire temps and they get hurt.
Let’s hope the
testing gets the infectious isolated and treatment early. Maybe then we can get
the deaths under control.
John
OSHA News.
1) Amanda “Mandy”
Edens is the new deputy assistant, filling the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration’s most senior career-service post, an agency official confirmed
Thursday.
2) A supervisor
who oversaw an asbestos-removal project pleaded guilty in federal court to
lying to OSHA officials during an inspection.
Corey Allen
Barnett’s guilty plea potentially exposes him to a prison term of up to five
years and a $250,000 fine,
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/safety/construction-supervisor-pleads-guilty-lied-to-osha?fbclid=IwAR3yB2f5NEGEM6c8H9No9w1cQMwl1FFlUvDI2SagNiI9VgsxdlDqgiIDQ_Q
3) IL company
cited willful lockout and machine guarding for a serious injury.
https://foxillinois.com/news/local/arcola-company-cited-for-osha-violation-after-employee-injury?fbclid=IwAR3zPyYt7I8p21WT4i0Fx6weGu38nIVLQgxkuTFbnJJDak3aas0CCoN8C9k
4) D.C. Circuit
Holds Employer That Failed to Implement Its Own Safety Program Violated the
General Duty Clause
The United States
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently issued a
decision that should be of concern to every employer and safety professional.
The case involved an employer that had ambitious but unimplemented requirements
in its written safety procedures—a lack of implementation that in large part
caused the employer to be found guilty of a violation of the General Duty
Clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. That seems to be the lesson
of the D.C. Circuit’s decision in BHC Northwest Psychiatric Hospital, LLC v.
Secretary of Labor, No. 19 1089 (March 3, 2020).
https://ogletree.com/insights/no-good-deed-goes-unpunished-d-c-circuit-holds-employer-that-failed-to-implement-its-own-safety-program-violated-the-general-duty-clause/
5) Former OSHA
compliance officer sentenced for filing false inspection reports.
https://www.thestate.com/news/business/national-business/article240833801.html?fbclid=IwAR0q50PxMo9ulYmc-spWOqu9AFuqJDjaO78li8S92OBIKAPMJ3J2LxLTR
Other Major News
Stories.
1) COVID-19
deaths
Friday March 20,
2020 – 195 deaths, 13,676 infected
Friday March 13,
2020 - 40 deaths, 1,663 infected
Friday, March 6,
2020 - 12 deaths, 233 infected
Friday Feb 28,
2020 - 0 deaths, 55 cases
2) Two Ford works
die from coronavirus.
https://www.pressandguide.com/news/coronavirus/two-dearborn-ford-workers-die-from-covid/article_e6ee37c0-71ca-11ea-8d12-c37d21a34ef1.html?fbclid=IwAR00nmmkfugrm3umzV27APWDM8Wh33yYVWQENJOV4bH58OxUFXjtl5mPJPk
3) USMWF would
like to invite you all to join us on April 28, 2020 at 7pm cst. in the comfort
of your home to honor, remember and recognize our fallen workers by going to
https://www.facebook.com/USMWF as we will be hosting on Facebook LIVE, USMWF's
First National Workers' Memorial Day Ceremony
4) Batwoman Assistant Paralyzed.
https://deadline.com/2020/03/batwoman-production-assistant-paralyzed-on-set-accident-amanda-smith-warner-bros-tv-invesigation-1202884231/?fbclid=IwAR2sEH1MORz7KyzJ1f2nJ9LbYDpIIQs2168IBMqK7QpBFEgyi9fC4jXUWVQ
5) OSHA field
offices have the discretion to not cite an employer for violations of the
annual fit testing requirement as long as employers:
Make a good faith
effort to comply with the respiratory protection standard;
Use only
NIOSH-certified respirators;
Implement
strategies recommended by OSHA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
for optimizing and prioritizing N95 respirators;
Perform initial
fit tests for each healthcare employee with the same model, style, and size
respirator that the employee will be required to wear for protection from
coronavirus;
Tell employees
that the employer is temporarily suspending the annual fit testing of N95
respirators to preserve the supply for use in situations where they are
required to be worn;
Explain to
employees the importance of conducting a fit check after putting on the
respirator to make sure they are getting an adequate seal;
Conduct a fit
test if they observe visual changes in an employee’s physical condition that
could affect respirator fit; and
Remind employees
to notify management if the integrity or fit of their N95 respirator is
compromised.
https://www.osha.gov/news/newsreleases/national/03142020?fbclid=IwAR3eLQz2uAP6R6u7iKXff1f87cLs2otD0M452ksQLiav__cCazoBGh9ii_E
6) What gruesome
death in TX. A man died after falling into a concrete pulverizer in Rosenberg
early Thursday morning, police say.
The man was
working to repair a slipped belt on a machine that pulverizes concrete at
Williams Brothers construction along U.S. 59 near Daily Road, according to Fort
Bend County Sheriff’s Office Major Chad Norvell. At some point during the fix,
he slipped and fell in, authorities said.
https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/fortbend/news/article/Worker-killed-in-Rosenberg-after-falling-in-15107299.php?fbclid=IwAR0E7xfFDBNhj-khyaAPUHrGWmytQpqX_mtV6viGhpTJRSbBFjHVNpgLDd8\
Safety Training
at Non-Profits
None probable in
April.
NIU is Northern
Illinois University OSHA Education Center http://www.nsec.niu.edu
FREE machine
Guarding https://www.nsec.niu.edu/nsec/course-schedules/free-courses/free-machinery-courses/index.shtml
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 1760 people this year. I teach evenings, weekends, early mornings too. I
teach in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Indiana.
All presentations
are put on slideshare.net for free downloading. I put this presentation at this
link. https://www.slideshare.net/JohnNewquist/covid19-webinar-final
I use your
feedback to make changes to make corrections.
OSHA Citations
February – March
VI $90,217
Forkift fatality
FL $114,294 Fall
Protection Roofer.
WI $477.089 Exits Dollar Tree.
AL $106,029 Fall
Protection Dollar Tree.
NJ $77,184 Hand
injury Food Manufacturer
MA $523,745 Exits
Dollar Tree
PA $296,861 Exits Dollar Tree.
February
NE $228,592 Grain
bin death
MO $339,702 19
hazards cited. Charcoal Manufacturer
DE $371,276
Hazards cited at tank car cleaner.
AL $240,880 Falls
and ladders in Residential
GA $148,867
Lockout Mulch manufacturer
LA $221,257 Falls and forklift Cookie mfr.
GA $128,004
Fatality, conveyors and falls. Farm.
PA $280,874 Hex
Chrome. Hydraulic shop
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