Other than high voltage shock, an arc flash and blast event is one of the most horrific electrical accidents a person can experience. When an arc flash occurs, temperatures in arc plasma can reach up to 10,000˚F.
Last October, Melissa Stephens went to work on third shift at Autonium in Jeffersonville, Indiana. She never came home to her husband of 20 years or her four children. Stephens had apparently gone through the interlocked gate, to put a fiber pad over a broken seal. But a spinning belt and pully dragged her into a machine where she was crushed to death.
Serious injuries to two employees brought OSHA inspectors to a vinyl floor manufacturing facility in Fostoria, Ohio, where they found multiple safety violations. Nox US LLC, an Ohio manufacturer of luxury vinyl tile, now faces $514,236 in proposed penalties and has been placed in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program. Both injuries occurred in June 2017.
The Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout), 29 CFR 1910.147, standard was promulgated on September 1, 1989, at Federal Register, Volume 54, No. 169, and was effective January 2, 1990, as announced at Federal Register, Volume 54, No. 213, November 6, 1989.
OSHA and Marshall Pottery, Inc. in Marshall, Texas have reached a settlement agreement including a penalty of $545,160, after the death of an assistant plant manager.
On April 16, 2017, investigators determined that the manager was servicing a kiln and became trapped inside when it activated.
Unfortunately, as with many OSHA requirements, they inform you “what” to do, but not “how” do it, and leave this part up to the employer. The challenge for many employers is the lack of knowledge or experience to effectively implement the OSHA lockout guidelines.
After an audit at a small Pennsylvania manufacturer revealed some safety complacency cropping up in day-to-day operations, the company reached out to OSHA’s On-Site Consultation Program for assistance. The result: McGregor Industries Inc. has been free of recordable injuries since September 2015, is working to find new ways of reducing injuries and has been able to secure better insurance for individual jobsites.
Dunmore-based McGregor Industries Inc. fabricates, delivers, and installs light structural and metal products for buildings, artistic projects, and anything requiring the shaping and finishing of metal.
OSHA’s Control of Hazardous Energy standard -- the Lockout-Tagout rule -- addresses the safety of employees engaged in servicing and maintenance activities in general industry when exposure to the unexpected release of hazardous energy is possible.
On the heels of an incident in which a worker was injected with a flammable propellant gas, OSHA has reached agreements with three Massachusetts packaging companies to correct workplace hazards and enhance safety.
OSHA found that Dudley- based Shield Packaging Co. Inc. – which packages aerosol containers – failed to implement required procedures to lock out the machine's power sources or train the employee on how to recognize and avoid the hazard.
While OSHA’s Top 10 list of most frequently cited workplace safety violations is usually filled with familiar violations names, this year’s rundown contains a newcomer: Fall Protection – Training Requirements (1926.503).
