Monthly Archives: June 2014

OSHA Proposes $160,280 in fines for American Made Tires

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The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited American Made Tires in July of 2013 for 12 hazards at their Elmira Heights, NY facility in response to an inspection earlier that year. In May, OSHA came back to do a follow up inspection and found that the company failed to correct these hazards. As a result of this inaction, OSHA has proposed an additional $160,280 in fines to the company.

“The company’s inaction exposed employees to ongoing hazards of fire, falls, chemicals and to being caught in or crushed by unguarded or unexpectedly activated machinery,” said Christopher Adams, OSHA’s area director in Syracuse. “The sizable penalties proposed reflect the severity of these conditions and the employer’s failure to follow through on its obligation and commitment to correct hazards that never should have existed.”

As you can see, OSHA does not go easy on repeat offenders. If your company has recently been through an OSHA audit, it is imperative that you correct the issues which OSHA uncovered, even if you do not agree with their assessment. Otherwise, when they come back, they will hit you with heavy fines and penalties. Instead, it is well worth consulting a third party occupational safety and health auditing firm that can perform a full third party review to help you determine the best strategy to correct the findings.

If you have any questions about OSHA follow up audits and how to prepare for them, please contact us and we can help you through the process. If you have anything to add about OSHA follow up audits or about this case, please leave a comment.

OSHA Proposes $217,000 in Fines for Dollar Tree

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The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed $217,000 in fines for Dollar Tree Stores, Inc., following an inspection performed at a location in Missoula in November of 2013. OSHA cited Dollar Tree with four violations, which were comprised of three willful and one repeat violation. These fines come on the heals of three other citations in April, which carried penalties of $143,000.

“This employer’s extensive history of ignoring basic safety standards establishes a clear pattern of intentional and complete disregard for employee safety,” said Jeff Funke, OSHA’s area director in Billings. “Employers have an obligation to keep their workers safe, and Dollar Tree keeps failing to do that.”

The history of citations for Dollar Tree comes from inspections held at different stores all across the country, showing that retailers need to be cognizant of conditions and standards at every location. If you have multiple locations, they can, and will, be inspected by OSHA, and if they are not all following proper procedures, your company can, and will, be heavily fined.

If you have recently been through an inspection at one of your retail locations, it is important that you have all of your facilities audited by a qualified third party, and that you review the entirety of your health and safety procedures, to ensure you will not be dinged in a follow up inspection.

 

If you have any questions about how retail inspections work, or if you need help updating your procedures, please contact us and we will help you. If you have anything to add about the importance of maintaining all retail stores under your company’s ownership, 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.

Permit Entry System for Confined Spaces

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Confined spaces are a necessary part of many facilities. These spaces, unfortunately, have the potential to cause serious harm to employees, and are made more dangerous with the presence of other common hazards. To help prevent employee injury, OSHA created Standard 1910.146, which governs confined spaces and establishes the parameters for permit entry systems.

Once a space has been declared a confined space, meaning it is a space large enough and so configured that it is possible for a person to bodily enter and perform work, has limited or restricted means for entry and exit, and is not designed for continuous employee occupancy, an employer needs to determine if it is a permit-required confined space.

Permit-required confined spaces are spaces which contain or have the potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere, contain a material that has the potential for engulfing an entrant, has an internal configuration such that an entrant could be trapped or asphyxiated by inwardly converging walls or by a floor which slopes downward and tapers to a smaller cross-section, or contains any other recognized serious safety hazard.If a confined space has any of these additional hazards, a system must be set up to protect the employees; this is done by either creating alternate entry procedures or creating a full permit entry system. Alternate entry procedures are allowed if the only hazard present is atmospheric in nature and if the employer can demonstrate that continuous forced air ventilation alone is sufficient to maintain that permit space safe for entry. If forced air will not rectify the situation, then a full permit entry system is required.

These systems document who may or may not enter the space, when these people may or may not enter the space, how these individuals will be monitored, who will be responsible for monitoring entry into the space, and what safety equipment is required before entry. The space must then be routinely audited to ensure no additional hazards have developed and to ensure that all safety equipment is working effectively.

So if you own a facility which has confined spaces and you have not recently reviewed your permit entry system, it might be time to do so. If you have any questions through the process, please contact us so we can help you through the process. And if you have anything to add about the importance of permit entry systems for confined spaces, please leave a comment.

Importance of a Third Party Safety Audit

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We field calls all the time from business owners who think they might need a third party safety audit, or who were advised to begin a safety auditing schedule, but are not sure why they would do this or what the real benefit is. And while there are some obvious times when a third party safety audit is required, there are also many times when a third party safety audit could help your company that you would never think of.

Some of the most common needs for a third party safety audit are for newly formed companies establishing a comprehensive safety and health management system, companies which have recently been cited during an OSHA audit, companies going through changes, and companies with new management. In all of these cases, the safety audit acts as a starting point for creating a completely new safety and health management system to ensure a safe work environment.

But for many companies, the third party safety audit is also important to obtain VPP Star/Merit status or other elite safety recognition. If you are planning to apply for a specific certification, outside auditing is usually a requirement.

And if your facility has never been audited by a third party, or if it has been several years, a third party safety audit allows a fresh set of eyes to review your safety program. As good as your safety team may be, there is always a chance they missed something; a small miss can create a big problem for a company.

So if you think you have a need for a third party safety audit, or if you simply want more information, please contact us. And if you have anything to add about the importance of a third party safety audit, please leave a comment.

OSHA Proposes $119,350 in Fines for Fairview Contractors

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The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed $119,350 in fines for Fairview Contractors as a result of seven health and safety violations. These violations were uncovered during an inspection which came as the result of a fatality on a worksite on November 14, 2013. The employee fell from a scaffold 17 feet to his death while performing roofing work.

“This was a needless and avoidable loss of a worker’s life. While guardrails and fall arrest systems were present at this work site, they were not used and were thus useless,” said Mary Hoye, OSHA’s area director for central and western Massachusetts. “Fatalities such as this will stop only when employers supply and ensure the use of effective and legally required fall protection safeguards on all job sites at all times.”

In this case, the employer did provide the correct equipment, however it was not properly made available to employees. And while this may sound absurd, it is actually quite common, especially in non-permanent worksites. For this reason, it is important for anyone who owns a business which is active in multiple worksites, to have a comprehensive safety and health management system in place which is properly disseminated to all relevant employees. A man’s life was lost, a company’s reputation tarnished, and a hefty fine was levied due to worksite carelessness, rather than a true misunderstanding of regulations.

If you have any questions about establishing a safety and health management system, please contact us so that we can help you protect your business. If you have anything to add about the importance of a health and safety management plan or about the case against Fairview Contractors, please leave a comment.

Creating New Lockout Tagout Procedures

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In the world of occupational health and safety, there is not much that is more difficult to understand and implement than lockout tagout procedures. OSHA created Standard 1910.147, which sets basic guidelines and rules relating to lockout tagout, which should act as a blueprint for any lockout tagout procedures created. This standard, however, is extremely complicated and leaves many first timers in a very confused place.

This confusion generally leads to one of three things: the employer either attempts to do it himself, leaving his employees potentially at risk for serious injury or death and the company at risk for sizable fines; the employer hires a qualified third party lockout tagout specialty firm to create the procedures, which creates sizable upfront costs to the company and takes control out of the hands of ownership; or the employer finds an online “cheat sheet” and hopes the material is accurate.

Thankfully, a new option has developed over the last few years which acts as a hybrid of all three; you can remain in control of your lockout tagout procedures, under the supervision of a true powerhouse in the lockout tagout arena, and use easy to understand documents to guide you. This is accomplished through our Factory Solutions Software, which is a fully customizable, fully scalable, and is available to you anywhere you have an internet connection. We ensure the program is up to date on all regulations, and we ensure your illustrations are accurate, but you can make changes as you need without the hassle of consulting a third party, delaying your business for days waiting for an approval.

If you would like more information about our Factory Solutions Software, please contact us. And if there is anything else you would like to add about creating new lockout tagout procedures, please leave a comment.

Software That Helps Maintain Lockout Tagout Procedures

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After you go through the headache of establishing lockout tagout procedures, it is important to have a procedure or plan of some kind in place to maintain those procedures. OSHA very heavily regulates lockout tagout procedures, and they can, and will, update their policies if needed to maintain the safest possible work environment.

OSHA regulates lockout tagout procedures with Standard 1910.147, which is often considered one of the most difficult standards to understand and comply with. It is no surprise, then, that even properly created lockout tagout procedures are often quickly out of compliance due to either regulatory changes or changes to a company’s structure. And the unfortunate truth is that most companies monitor and maintain their lockout tagout procedures in-house with a woefully understaffed and unprepared safety team.

To help employers maintain the safest possible workplace, while keeping a mindful eye to OSHA regulations, we at PF Safety have created software specifically designed to maintain your lockout tagout procedures. It is fully customizable, fully scalable, and will help you monitor both changes at your company and regulatory changes. You remain in control of your lockout tagout procedures, with the ability to update your machinery or personnel anywhere there is an internet connection, while still being provided the support of a premier lockout tagout auditing firm.

If you have any questions about our Factory Solutions Software and how it could streamline your lockout tagout procedures, please contact us. If you have anything to add about the importance of proper maintenance of your 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.

More than 1 Million Participated in National Fall Safety Stand-Down

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Last week, the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration partnered with over 25,000 businesses to bring awareness to measures which can prevent fall hazards in construction. These businesses provided fall safety information throughout the week to over 1 million employees in an effort to reduce the number of injuries and fatalities caused by falls. Falls are the most common cause of death in the construction industry, and OSHA is taking a hard stance against inadequate fall protection and ineffective training.

“This is an unprecedented event. Tens of thousands of employers and hundreds of thousands of workers across the country have joined our campaign to save lives and prevent fatal falls in the construction industry,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. “The economy is on the rebound, housing starts are on the rise and the summer construction season is getting underway. Now is the time to focus on this vital safety issue and make sure all construction workers come home at the end of every workday.”

The magnitude of this movement, coupled with the words of Perez show that fall safety is at the forefront of what OSHA will be focusing on. So if you are in the construction industry, it is imperative that you have iron-clad fall safety procedures and training in place. If you have not recently reviewed your plans, or if they are not firmly set in writing, it is time to review, update, and finalize them. If you are worried that your plans are not up to par, it is advisable you contact a qualified third party occupational safety and health auditing firm to help you update your plans.

If you should have any questions about your fall protection policies, or any other health and safety policies, please contact us and we will help you bring your company up to code. If you have anything to add about the National Fall Safety Stand-Down, please leave a comment.