Monthly Archives: June 2014

OSHA Proposes $145,200 in Fines for Buchman Lumber Co.

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Following an investigation in December of 2013, the United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Buchman Lumber Co. for 17 citations. These citations come with proposed penalties totaling $145,200. The investigation was initiated after a complaint was made relating to excessive noise and amputation hazards.

“OSHA’s inspection found multiple violations of procedures that protect workers from the serious hazards of exposure to excessive noise in the workplace and numerous amputation hazards. Employee exposure to excessive noise can lead to permanent, disabling injury,” said Mark Hysell, OSHA’s area director for Eau Claire. “In addition, injuries related to machinery and equipment often result in death or permanent disability. Employers have a responsibility to conduct hazard assessments of their workplaces, to implement proper procedures for equipment use, provide the necessary protective equipment and train workers in safe operation.”

The investigation uncovered 4 willful and 13 serious violations. The willful violations were for failing to administer a hearing conservation program; to provide eye and face protection to workers exposed to flying wood chips and boards; and to implement lockout/tagout procedures to prevent machines from turning on during maintenance and servicing.

As you can see, an injury is not always a precursor to an OSHA investigation. If your health and safety procedures are not properly updated and periodically reviewed, you are exposing yourself to a potential OSHA investigation. To help combat this, many business owners establish an auditing schedule with a qualified third party occupational safety and health auditing firm.

If you have any questions about how these findings can impact your business or how a third party audit could help protect your business, please contact us. And if you have anything to add about this investigation or the importance of a third party audit, please leave a comment.

Monitoring and Updating Lockout Tagout Procedures

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Monitoring and updating lockout tagout procedures can become a nightmare for even the most seasoned safety teams. These procedures are cumbersome to create, hard to maintain, and can be confusing when changes happen within a facility. OSHA attempted to make the job of creating lockout tagout procedures a little easier by created Standard 1910.147. Due to the complexity of lockout tagout, however, the procedure has become largely enigmatic to many readers.

So for this reason, most companies are left to either hope their original plan will suffice after changes are made, hope they can tweak their plans just enough to compensate for change, or hire a qualified third party lockout tagout specialty firm to assist in monitoring and updating the lockout tagout procedures as needed. Unfortunately, none of these options are usually particularly appealing to a company’s ownership. They are left to either “guess” and “hope,” which does not make most business owners comfortable, or they must leave their fate in the hands of a third party, and pay for the services, as well.

Fortunately, we have created a web based program which allows you to create your lockout tagout procedures for your facility within an environment which will guarantee the procedures are compliant with all applicable laws and standards. In addition, the software, called Factor Solutions, is fully scalable, fully customizable, monitors your lockout tagout procedures for changes in your facility or regulatory changes, and allows you to modify your procedures at any time. You get the backing of a leading lockout tagout specialty firm with the control to handle the changes in-house.If you have any questions about our Factory Solutions Software, or lockout tagout in general, please contact us. If you have anything else to add about monitoring and updating lockout tagout procedures, please leave a comment.

 

 

Lockout Tagout Policies and Procedures

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If you are looking to create new lockout tagout policies and procedures or to update your existing plan, it is important to first review OSHA Standard 1910.147. This standard, created by OSHA, sets the minimum guidelines for lockout tagout policies to ensure employee safety. Unfortunately, if you have never looked at this standard before, it can be quite complicated and has been known to give even seasoned safety and health professionals a difficult time.

Which leaves business owners with two options: hire a third party lockout tagout specialty firm to assist in the process, which will cost a lot of money and take ownership of the maintenance out of the hands of the business, or try to do it in-house and hope for the best. For most, neither option is very desirable.

Fortunately, we have released our Factory Solutions Software. This software assists you in creating and maintaining your lockout tagout procedures, while leaving you in control of them. The program is monitored and maintained by our professional lockout tagout specialists, and ensures your procedures are in accordance with Standard 1910.147, while also monitoring them for changes in the regulations. Additionally, should something at your facility change, you can simply update your procedures on the program and make sure your facility grows in a compliant manner.

If you have any questions about establishing lockout tagout policies and procedures or about our Factory Solutions Software, please contact us. If you have anything else to add about lockout tagout policies and procedures, please leave a comment.

OSHA Announces Summer ‘Construction Incident Prevention Initiative’

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If your business is in the construction industry, it is time to evaluate your occupational safety and health procedures. The United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has announced a “Construction Incident Prevention Initiative,” which will be focused around ensuring employer and employee knowledge around the four major causes of fatalities in the construction industry: falls, crushing events, electrocutions, and caught-in-between events.

“Construction is a high-hazard industry, and when employers do not employ an effective safety and health program, workers are left vulnerable to serious injury and possible death,” said MaryAnn Garrahan, OSHA’s regional administrator in Philadelphia. “The increased presence of our compliance officers and the immediate inspections conducted in response to unsafe scaffolds, fall risks, trenches and other construction hazards should help to prevent work site fatalities.”

OSHA investigators will be offering informational materials and focusing on any potentially unsafe work sites. This initiative is primarily focusing upon the areas covered by OSHA’s Wilmington, Delaware Area Office; this includes Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Should you own a construction company in that region, or anywhere nationally, and are unsure if your policies relating to these four high-hazard areas are up to code, it is important to bring a qualified third party occupational safety and health auditing firm in to evaluate. Doing this now can, and will, save you from having to do it after OSHA stops by.

If you have any questions about this initiative or about third party safety audits, please contact us. If you have anything to add about this initiative or the importance of a third party safety audit, please leave a comment.

Lockout Procedures

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Evaluating Your Lockout Tagout Procedures

It is critically important to constantly evaluate all of your occupational safety and health policies and procedures. At least annually, you want to audit your facility for new hazards and ensure your existing hazards are well documented and accounted for. Finally, you want to ensure nothing changed in the way of OSHA regulations and standards. But nowhere in your facility is this more important than your lockout tagout procedures.

Your lockout tagout procedures will save lives, will be scrutinized if you are ever audited by OSHA, and are difficult to properly maintain. Personnel changes, machine updates, system buildouts, changes in workflow or process, and regulatory changes are just a few of the potential issues which will arise year over year requiring tweaking, or complete rewriting, of your policies. Unfortunately, most companies hire third party lockout tagout specialty firms to handle the creation of their lockout tagout procedures, leaving them in a situation where they cannot self-evaluate the procedures.

And while we recommend a full third party audit of all things occupational safety and health, not just lockout tagout related, many companies do not have the resources or the desire for such a service. And even those which have a routine auditing schedule run the risk of issues arising between audits.

For this reason, we created our Factory Solutions Software. It is a service which allows you to craft your lockout tagout procedures with the backing of a leader in the lockout tagout arena while remaining in control of the crafting and monitoring of said procedures. It is fully customizable, fully scalable, monitors for system or regulatory updates, and is accessible from anywhere an internet connection is available. It gives you the power to evaluate and monitor your lockout tagout procedures in real time, ensuring you are always compliant.

If you have any questions about our Factory Solutions Software, please contact us and we will be happy to explain how it will benefit your company. If you have anything to add about the importance of routine lockout tagout procedure evaluation, please leave a comment.

OSHA Proposes $110,400 in Fines for Gershenson Construction

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The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Gershenson Construction company for 11 safety violations. These violations are comprised of 1 willful and 10 serious violations, and are from hazards relating to trench cave-in and a lack of protection for workers from struck-by injuries. These citations come with $110,400 in proposed penalties.

“Failing to protect workers from struck-by hazards and allowing employees to work in a trench without protective systems is inexcusable and will not be tolerated,” said Larry Davidson, OSHA’s acting area director in St. Louis. “Being struck-by vehicles and other objects is a leading cause of construction-related injuries and deaths. Gershenson Construction has a responsibility to protect workers from known hazards in the construction industry.”

The willful violation was issued for failing to ensure workers were protected from cave-in hazards while working in a trench that exceeded a depth of 5 feet. The ten serious violations were issued for exposing workers to the hazards of being struck-by a partially suspended load; lack of adequate and frequent inspections of the work site for hazards; inadequate training of employees; lack of head protection; use of damaged rigging equipment; lack of permanently affixed legible identification markings on rigging equipment; and allowing an excavator to operate within 10 feet of energized, overhead power lines.

If you are in the construction industry and are not sure your procedures relating to struck-by and cave-in hazards are up-to-code, it might be time to have your health and safety procedures properly audited by a qualified third party occupational safety and health auditing firm. It could mean the difference between a safe work environment for your employees and a potentially deadly one.

If you have any questions about third party safety audits, please contact us. If you have anything to add about this investigation or the need for third party safety audits, please leave a comment.

Fire Protection and Prevention

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A fire is one of the deadliest disasters that can befall a facility. Should a fire strike, it is important that a strong evacuation plan is in place to protect lives, but even a small error in judgment on the part of an employee in a fire situation can lead to death. In addition, fires can devastate a business, destroying the facility, equipment, and goods which support it. For this reason, it is important to have a solid plan in place relating to fire protection and prevention; it can save lives and allow for business continuity.

When developing a plan, it is important to refer to OSHA Standard 1910.155, which covers the basic requirements to help prevent and suppress fires. It discusses what basic prevention and detection devices and methods are available and how to properly use them in your facility. This includes everything from fire alarms and smoke detectors to fire extinguishers and sprinkler systems. The detection equipment is crucial to giving employees adequate time to evacuate, and the suppression equipment can keep evacuation routes clear.

This equipment will save lives, but it will also help maintain your business. Should an alarm properly notify a fire department or your internal fire brigade of a fire in the early stages, it is infinitely easier to suppress than if the fire has already taken hold of half of the facility. Similarly, sprinklers and fire extinguishers can help stop fires from growing, meaning the facility, and everything inside, is protected.

If your fire protection and prevention plans were not created with Standard 1910.155 in mind, or if you fear they are no longer adequate for your facility, please contact us and we will help you update your procedures. If you have anything to add about fire protection and prevention policies, please leave a comment.

Should I Outsource my Lockout Tagout Procedures?

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Many company owners handle lockout tagout procedures in house. They create their

plans themselves, monitor them, update them, and stay abreast of regulatory changes.

They assign this as an ancillary function of the safety or operations team, and expect that

it will be handled properly, without giving much thought to it. Unfortunately, lockout

tagout is not like the rest of the occupational safety and health industry; the regulations

governing it (Standard 1910.147) are extremely complicated, every facility needs

very specific procedures in place, and even just a change in personnel can require new

procedures be written.

Unfortunately, the other option is to hire an unnecessarily expensive third party to handle

the lockout tagout procedures, from creation to maintenance to updating. And you want

to try to take over the responsibilities at some point, it is usually almost impossible as the

procedures have become so complex and firm specific.

But now, there is another option. With our Factory Solutions Software, you get the

security of a professional lockout tagout auditing firm with the comfort of knowing that

you are in control of the procedure creation, maintenance, and monitoring. And since this

software is available anywhere an internet connection is available, it means that updating

lockout tagout procedures have never been more convenient. We help you create your

procedures, we monitor them for regulatory changes, and we help you amend your

procedures should something change at your facility. It is truly the best of both worlds.

If you have any questions about our Factory Solutions Software, please contact us for

more information. If you have anything to add about whether it is better to outsource or

maintain lockout tagout procedures in-house, please leave a comment.

Policies for Personal Protective Equipment

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It is not enough to simply make personal protective equipment available to your staff, you need to have very clear and concise policies surrounding this equipment to ensure it is in good, working order; is properly used; and is properly maintained. Without these policies and procedures in place, your personal protective equipment will potentially be less effective, meaning your employees are exposed to potential hazards, and your company will be exposed to OSHA violations in the event of an audit.

Personal protective equipment protects employees in the most crucial ways. It is the last line of defense for employees, should other safety equipment fail, and it is the only defense for employees in many situations. And since personal protective equipment is on your employees’ bodies, it means that the hazards pose a real and actual threat to your staff. Worn out gloves that have holes will allow employees to burn themselves; damaged masks can blur vision or allow hazards to permeate them. And in situations like these, there is nothing else to protect the employee.

But how do you know what to put in the policies? Well, you can start with OSHA Standard 1910.132. This standard regulates all things personal protective equipment. It regulates how to store, don, doff, and use equipment. It also explains in which situations the equipment is required and in which it is not. It even explains when the equipment is the responsibility of the employer to provide and when the equipment is the responsibility of the employee to purchase. With all of this in mind, you then need to consider your worksite and determine where personal protective equipment is required.

If you have any questions about establishing policies for personal protective equipment. please contact us and we can help you establish your policies. If you have anything to add about establishing policies for personal protective equipment, please leave a comment.

Auditing Lockout Tagout Procedures

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Creating lockout tagout procedures is never an easy task; it can be difficult to understand OSHA Standard 1910.147, confusing to maintain the procedures, and time consuming to update lockout tagout procedures. But something you can do to save some time and help protect your employees is to create an auditing schedule for your lockout tagout procedures. The auditing can be done in house or with the help of a qualified third party lockout tagout auditing firm, but it should always include certain, basic things.

For starters, the audit should review current OSHA policy to ensure nothing has changed since the last review. It is likely that you will be out of compliance is the regulations changed, and is the easiest way to find yourself facing a hefty fine from OSHA. The audit should also review what changes have happened within your company since the last audit. If any machinery or relevant personnel have changed, you will want to see what, if any, impact these changes have on your lockout tagout procedures. Finally, you want to inspect your placards and other associated visuals. If they are damaged, worn, or out of date, they need to be replaced.

But based upon your specific company needs, there can be many other things required during the audit, as well. For this reason, many companies hire a third party to maintain their lockout tagout procedures. And while this helps to ensure the company remains in compliance, it can also become quite expensive, and takes the company out of control of their own procedures.

For this reason, we created our Factory Solutions Software. It is an online program which tracks and monitors your lockout tagout procedures. It is fully customizable, fully scalable, and can be updated anywhere internet is available. It will notify you if there is a problem, and will help you in updating your procedures. So it keeps you in control, but gives you the peace of mind knowing your procedures are watched by a qualified third party lockout tagout auditing firm. It also serves as constant, real-time auditing, instead of moment-in-time auditing you get with a physical audit. When combined with physical, on-site third party safety audits, Factory Solutions Software helps to create the safest work environment possible for your employees.

If you have any questions about third party safety audits or our Factory Solutions Software, please contact us. And if you have anything to add about auditing lockout tagout procedures, please leave a comment.