OSHA Weekly: OSHA News DEc 2020

OSHA News for December 2020

Hello,

We made through one of the toughest years in recent memories. I appreciate all the support for safety and health by many of the people here.

Legal work is picking up more with two more depositions in December. The largest case settled and paid me. I hope to see some mention of the amounts on the Law Firm’s website in the next year.

Another victory. The injured employee was yelled at to move a tote of chickens (1000 pounds) and got a hernia. Hernia repair in Texas is $4000-8000. They were not a subscriber to worker comp in Texas. So the injured has to sue to get medical, salary lost, and pain and suffering.

I testified in court about using pallet jacks or have carts with wheels with less chickens. The judge awarded the injured $400,000+. It would have been much easier to pay for the surgery and the time off. The cost would be $15000 at most. The company legal fees were probably around $100-200K in addition. This was David vs. Goliath. They are a $3.4 billion-dollar company. It is good to see the worker win one.

I trained 2680 people in 2020 with 50% via online. I like Zoom the best of all the platforms.

The top five topics were:

1) Machine Guarding

2) The OSHA 511 class

3) Respirators

4) Fall Protection

5) Confined space.

This month’s powerpoint is Excavation Safety Refresher. I find most workers in the sector have had some training so this is covers the solutions and missed items for the workers and competent person.

Stay safe and walk like a penguin in all this ice.

John

OSHA News.

1) Follow up to an explosion. OSHA issued a general duty clause violation for $13K.

OSH ACT of 1970 Section (5)(a)(1): OSH ACT of 1970 SECTION (5)(a)(1): The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to struck by hazards: The employer is failing to protect employees from autoclave explosion hazards. This was most recently documented on or about December 27, 2019 at the Textron Aviation Inc., East Campus, Building 36, Plant 3 area located at 130 N. Webb Road, Wichita, Kansas. On December 27, 2019, the employer operated the liquid nitrogen pressurized vessel, referred to as Autoclave 8. As the pressure in the autoclave built, a catastrophic thermal fatigue failure occurred, which resulted in an explosion, which critically injured 2 employees, potentially exposing employees to broken bone, concussion, crushing, laceration, and struck-by hazards. Among other methods, feasible and acceptable means to correct this hazard includes but is not limited to the following: 1)Developing and implementing measures to effectively monitor, control, discover, maintain and repair pressure vessels, including autoclaves, by following: (a) American Petroleum Institute (API) 510: 3.1.19 Procedures for deferring inspections, 3.1.66 Conduct risk based inspection, 4.1.2 Owner responsible for QA inspection / repair system plan, 4.1.3 Management of change requirements, 5.1.2 Development of an inspection plan, 5.1.3 Minimum requirements of inspection plan, 5.5.6.1 Susceptible temperature range, 5.5.6.2 Susceptible locations, 5.5.7 Requirements for operator surveillance, 5.8.7 Brittle fracture Inspection, 6.6.2 QA Process, 7.1.2 Change in service, 7.2.1 Remaining Life Calculations. (b) American Petroleum Institute (API) 572: 4.2.9 Thermal Fatigue Inspection Practices, 4.2.9.3 Critical Factors, 4.2.9.7 Inspection Monitoring. (c) American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC) Section VIII 1-2019: UG-20 Design Temperature. (d) National Board Inspection Code (NBIC) Part 2: 1.5.2 Pre-Inspection Activities, 2.3.2 Service Conditions, 2.3.5.4 Records Review, 3.4.3 Temperature Affects, 4.4.4 Remaining Service Life Assessment Methodology, 4.4.6 Identification of Damage Mechanism, 4.4.7 Determine Inspection Intervals, 4.4.7.1 Method for Estimating Inspections Intervals for Pressure Retaining Items Subject to Erosion or Corrosion.

Security video captured by Orr Nissan of Wichita shows the moment a nitrogen tank at Textron Aviation exploded Friday morning. http://bit.ly/362kpLB #kwch12

2) There were 5,333 fatal work injuries recorded in the United States in 2019, a 2 percent increase from the 5,250 in 2018, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cfoi.nr0.htm?fbclid=IwAR0PawfmDai1sl3TVdDYFB8g0BBv8JLXhzrW28MNeboevofjFDh-NaDmOOk

3) I was interviewed for the OSHA top 10 violations.

https://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/20521-insights-into-oshas-top-10?fbclid=IwAR3pHZb1T9W8TDI9Z-npo7t-LHJ8Mudw-MywNTKrURWtulHDAgzquP1ZVZE

4) (Salem, OR) -- Dozens of demonstrators descended on the home of an Oregon workplace safety inspector over the weekend. They were protesting over a hefty fine issued to a Salem gym for violating COVID-19 orders. The Oregonian reports about 50 Patriot Prayer members gathered in Silverton yesterday at the home of an inspector with the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The agency issued a 90-thousand-dollar fine last week to Courthouse Club Fitness for keeping its four Salem locations open in defiance of Governor Kate Brown's two-week freeze.

5) Ship Captain indicted on manslaughter for boat fire that killed 34.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/01/us/conception-dive-boat-captain-indictment/index.html?fbclid=IwAR3rXBWnVekRQV6_CIOVZK8SImoPDU8-FBLXiSpedRBAv18ABkBCH6D9xh0

OSHA Weekly

Friday, January 1, 2021

OSHA News DEc 2020

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