The messages to OSHA from the Chamber of Commerce at this week’s House hearing were clear:
1. Don’t (miss)use the General Duty Clause as a substitute for issuing OSHA standards.
2. Don’t issue any OSHA standards.
On the heels of an announcement by the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) that that organization is fast-tracking an active shooter response standard comes word that the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) is also taking steps to address the issue.
The ASSE convened a working group of safety and health experts to provide insights into the development of an active shooter technical report, which could guide organizations toward safer work environments with fewer hostile events.
An equipment failure led to a Sept. 6, 2016 incident in the Houston Ship Channel that left two marine pilots with burns and discharged 88,000 gallons of low-sulfur marine gas oil – which subsequently caught on fire.
That’s the finding of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The agency’s investigation into the incident found that a momentary failure of a ship’s governor actuator system caused the tank vessel Aframax River to violently strike two mooring “dolphins” - man-made marine structures extending above the water level.
OSHA’s FY 2019 budget request reflects an emphasis on compliance assistance, an increase in enforcement and the elimination of a longstanding safety and health training grant program – a move sure to draw the hire of some in the occupational safety community.
The agency says its request for $549,033,000 for FY 2019 will allow it beef up its VPP initiative and restore 24 of the 33 compliance assistance positions that were lost in a five-year-long budget crunch.
Expectations drive both the leader and follower. Various forms of research suggest that when leaders have higher types of expectations for their followers, those followers often live up to the expectations.
The increasing use of smartphones and recreational marijuana may be contributing to a surge in the numbers of pedestrians killed in traffic crashes, according to a new analysis.
The report by the Governors Highway Safety Association estimates that pedestrian fatalities totaled about 6,000 in 2017, roughly the same as the year before, when the official count was 5,987.
Three school employees were among the 17 persons killed in the mass shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Scott Beigel, 35, a geography teacher, was killed as he tried to usher students back into his classroom when the shooting broke out. Aaron Feis, 37, an assistant football coach, was killed when he threw himself in front of students to protect them from oncoming bullets, according to football program spokeswoman Denis Lehtio.
A Florida Patio and Pool Enclosure Installer faces $40,096 in fines following the death of an employee who fell while installing patio screen enclosures.
OSHA has cited Naples-based L.I. Aluminum Design Inc. for four serious citations.
Forcing OSHA to choose between focusing on enforcement or compliance assistance is “a false choice,” according to Dr. David Michaels, former assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health and current professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at The George Washington University in Washington.
Although efforts to improve occupational safety often focus on industries like manufacturing, mining and agriculture, the arts can be dangerous, too.
Thus, OSHA, United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT), and International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, its Territories and Canada, AFL-CIO, CLC (IATSE) have just renewed their alliance to protect the safety and health of workers in the entertainment industry.
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