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The high cost of large-loss fires

Workplaces among the facilities affected
December 15, 2017
Major or “large-loss” fires in the U.S. in 2016 cost $1.2 billion in property losses and resulted in 14 deaths and dozens of injuries, according to the latest edition of the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) “Large-loss Fires in the United States” report. Large-loss fires are defined as events that result in property damage of at least $10 million.
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OSHA enforcement

Alabama auto dealership cited after fatal fire

December 14, 2017
OSHA has cited Carl Cannon Inc., an automobile dealership, for serious safety violations after three employees died and two were injured at its Jasper facility. OSHA initiated an investigation in response to a flash fire. Inspectors determined that the employees were using a flammable brake wash to scrub the service pit floor when the fire occurred. As a result, three employees were fatally injured, and a fourth was critically burned. A fifth employee was treated for smoke inhalation and released.
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restaurant kitchen

Can restaurant managers ask sick employees about their symptoms?

Under Food Code, to prevent spread of foodborne illness, yes
December 14, 2017
While health concerns are usually considered private matters, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) wants restaurant managers to talk to employees who are ill, to make sure they don’t spread foodborne illness to co-workers and customers. It’s a significant problem. Nearly half of restaurant-related outbreaks are caused by sick food workers. Managers may be hesitant to ask their employees about symptoms and diagnoses, especially since that conversation might lead to workers missing work and forgoing pay.
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A Confined Space blog post

Dispatches from the front lines of the battle for workplace safety and health: Short stuff

Jordan Barab
Jordan Barab
December 14, 2017
COSHCON17 — The Young and the Active — The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, the umbrella group of all the nation’s COSH groups held its annual conference last week and I was privileged to be able to chair a very moving panel on “Lessons from Workplace Fatalities” with some of my heroes: family activist Katherine Rodriguez, whose father, Ray Gonzales was killed in a fire at BP Texas City in 2004, Tonya Ford, director the United Support and Memorial for Workplace Fatalities, whose uncle Robert “Bobby” Fitch fell to his death at an Archer Daniel Midland plant in 2009, and Jonathan Karmel, author of Dying to Work: Death and Injury in the American Workplace.
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ocean

NTSB: Poor decisions, lax safety oversight led to sinking

December 14, 2017
The deadliest shipping disaster involving a U.S.-flagged vessel in more than 30 years was caused by a captain’s failure to avoid sailing into a hurricane despite numerous opportunities to route a course away from hazardous weather, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced during a public meeting Tuesday. The cargo vessel S.S. El Faro sank Oct. 1, 2015, in the Atlantic Ocean during Hurricane Joaquin, taking the lives of all 33 aboard.
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laser lights

Your holiday laser light display may endanger aircraft

FAA: Make sure they're aimed at your house, not the sky
December 13, 2017
Each holiday season for the past several years, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has received reports from pilots who said they were distracted or temporarily blinded by residential laser-light displays. The FAA's concerns about lasers – regardless of the source – is that they not be aimed at aircraft in a way that can threaten the safety of a flight by distracting or blinding the pilots.
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Emergency response

2016 U.S. firefighter injuries lowest in 36 years

December 13, 2017
The 62,085 injuries to U.S. firefighters in 2016 reflected an 8.8 percent decrease from 2015, making this the lowest rate of injury since 1981 – the year the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) began analyzing firefighter injury data. The latest data from the NFPA, released as part of the latest edition of its “U.S. Firefighter Injuries” report, show that the leading injury types in 2016 were: Strains, sprains and/or muscular pains (52.6 percent), and wounds, cuts, bleeding, and bruising (15.2 percent).
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mining industry

MSHA announces annual Winter Alert campaign

December 13, 2017
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has unveiled its annual Winter Alert campaign, reminding miners and mine operators of the increased hazards that colder weather creates at both surface and underground coal mines. The Winter Alert campaign, which runs each year through March, emphasizes increased vigilance and adherence to safety principles during the winter months, when cold temperatures increase hazards for miners.
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AssociationsNews.jpg

AIHA releases association priorities for 2018

December 12, 2017
The American Industrial Hygiene Association’s (AIHA) Board of Directors has approved a slate of public policy priorities for 2018 and also established a permanent government relations working group. New public policy priorities for 2018 fall under the following topics: hazards (such as beryllium, silica, and first responder exposure to opioids), assessments (including hazard banding, sensors, and teen workplace safety), and profession (IH Professional Pathways and title protection).
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arc flash

Arc flash victim avoids injury thanks to PPE

December 12, 2017
An arc flash at the Panda Power station in south Sherman, Texas, sent one employee to the hospital. Sherman Fire says It happened around 7:30 a.m. at 510 Progress Drive in Sherman. The Panda Sherman Power Project is a clean natural gas-fueled, 758-megawatt combined-cycle generating facility. The plant can supply the power needs of up to 750,000 homes.
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