December 2019 OSHA News

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