A West Virginia contractor found itself on the receiving end of an OSHA investigation after an agency inspector observed an employee working on scaffolding with no fall protection and in close proximity to an electrical power line – a combination that could have proved deadly.
When someone suffers an electrical shock, they actually are – at that moment – part of an electrical circuit. The severity of the injuries they sustain depends on three primary factors: the amount of current flowing through the body (measured in amperes); the path of the current through the body and the length of time the body is in the circuit.
A Passaic, New Jersey warehouse operator was cited earlier this month for two dozen safety violations, including failure to have a written hazard assessment and a hazard communication program (including material safety data sheets), a lack of training for employees required to handle hazardous chemicals, fall hazards, inadequate exit signage, lack of machine guarding, electrical hazards, and a failure to provide eyewash facilities.
Q: Is there a limit to the number of precautionary statements that appear on the label?
A: No. OSHA requires all of the appropriate precautionary statements to appear on the label to warn users of the hazards of the chemical in question.
The White House has designated this week as Extreme Heat Week. For federal agencies, it’s a time to double down on community preparedness for extreme heat events, with the help of community planners and public health officials.
How one manufacturing company “wins” at safety; a distracted train engineer causes a crash and the (extra) danger of “silent” heart attacks. These were among the top occupational and health stories featured on ISHN.com this week.
The June 1, 2016 deadline past; employers must be in compliance with OSHA’s GHS standard through the updating of alternative workplace labeling and hazard communication program (as necessary), and by providing additional employee training for newly identified physical or health hazards.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) must conduct an “after action review” of a May 5 arc flash incident in a train station and review with all operating personnel, supervisors and management procedures related to managing fire and smoke emergencies or risk losing federal funding, under a threat by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).
An arc flash explosion at the Idaho National Laboratory last year has earned a contractor a $60,000 fine from federal regulators. Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA) has also been ordered to make safety improvements.
RSS