Failure to train: a common violation
Citations span across industries & standards
Training requirement violations occur in nearly every standard included in OSHA’s top 10 violations list, including fall protection, respiratory protection, lockout-tagout, machine guarding and electrical safety.
The wide range of OSHA standards may make it difficult to find all the references to training. To help, OSHA has detailed some of its training-related requirements in a booklet titled, “Training Requirements in OSHA Standards.”1
In the booklet, OSHA says training and education are elements of a strong injury and illness prevention program that can help employers find and fix workplace hazards before workers get hurt.
According to OSHA, injury and illness prevention programs are systems that can substantially reduce the number and severity of workplace injuries and illnesses while reducing costs to employers. Thirty-four states have requirements or voluntary guidelines for workplace injury and illness prevention programs.
Recent training citations
OSHA cited American Design Builders LLC on March 10 for one serious and one other-than-serious safety violation after it completed an investigation into the Sept. 14, 2015, death of a 46-year-old worker when a tree inadvertently hit him during logging operations on a remote 100-acre Mississippi River levy site in Valmeyer, Illinois.
The agency found the Columbia-based company, failed to train workers in CPR or emergency first aid as required, or provide a written training certification record. OSHA has proposed penalties of $2,400.
“When a job site has limited access to medical facilities, employers must train workers in emergency first aid and make provisions for prompt emergency treatment if it’s needed,” said Aaron Priddy, OSHA’s area director in Fairview Heights. “Loggers deal with massive weights and the momentum of falling, rolling, and sliding trees and logs exposing them to dangerous hazards on a daily basis. Employers need to plan for all scenarios.”2
In Coshocton, Ohio, Three Rivers Energy LLC, an ethanol production facility, faces $149,800 in federal penalties after OSHA inspectors found multiple violations of chemical and grain-handling standards.3 On May 6, the OSHA issued 42 serious and four other-than serious safety and health violations following three separate inspections at the bio-refinery in November 2015.
The various violations included failure to train operators, failure to implement an emergency response plan for the plant and train workers in emergency response procedures, and failure to train workers on grain bin safety and rescue operations.
In Onondaga, New York, OSHA cited The Otis Elevator Company on May 6 in a mechanic’s May 26, 2015, death in an elevator shaft, saying he did not have proper training and the company did not follow safety procedures. Christopher J. Hamelinck was not trained with the understanding, knowledge and skills to evaluate and enter permit-required confined spaces, such as the elevator pit, OSHA said.4
On April 15, OSHA cited Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey, for safety and health violations that include failing to fit test temporary workers with the proper respirators or provide training on protocols related to exposures to blood and other potentially infectious materials.5
OSHA opened the inspection on Oct. 22, 2015. One of the serious violations OSHA cited was failure to provide employee training on the hazards of methylene chloride, a cancer-causing chemical.
1 www.osha.gov/Publications/osha2254.pdf
2 www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=30477
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