OSHA Enforcement Update

Posted on September 2, 2009 by Brad Hammock

In a speech recently before the Small Business Administration’s safety and health forum in Washington, DC, Richard E. Fairfax, OSHA’s Director of Enforcement and Construction Programs, provided an update on the agency’s key enforcement initiatives. Of particular note, Mr. Fairfax stated:

  • OSHA will be issuing another update to its Field Operations Manual (FOM) in November 2009. The FOM guides OSHA’s compliance officers in the conduct of their inspections.

     
  • OSHA’s Enhanced Enforcement Program (EEP) is being revised to focus on fatalities, serious hazards and hazards identified in OSHA’s National Emphasis Programs, and to mandate follow-up inspections.

     
  • The following NEPs are now in the works: food flavorings; primary metals; hexavalent chromium; and recordkeeping.

OSHA also has issued two important new enforcement documents. The Site Specific Targeting Program (SST) for 2009, “is OSHA’s main programmed inspection plan for non-construction workplaces that have 40 or more employees.” To compile the SST, OSHA surveyed 80,000 large employers in historically high-rate industries, requiring them to report their injury and illness rates. Employers in manufacturing who reported a particularly high “Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred (DART) Rate” (over 8.0) or “Days Away from Work Injury and Illness (DAFWII) Case Rate” (over 6.0) should expect an SST inspection within the next year. Non-manufacturing employers who reported a DART Rate over 15.0 or DAFWII Rate over 13.0 also should expect an inspection under the SST. Nursing and personal care facilities are treated separately under the SST and will be subject to an inspection if they reported a DART Rate over 17.0 or a DAFWII Rate over 14.0.

OSHA also reissued its petroleum refinery NEP. This continues OSHA’s focus on enforcing its process safety management (PSM) standard in refineries. Employers in NAICS code 324110 should review their PSM programs in anticipation of an OSHA inspection of their facilities.

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OSHA Targeting Chemical Facilities in New National Emphasis Program

Posted on August 13, 2009 by Brad Hammock

OSHA has announced a new National Emphasis Program (NEP) to focus enforcement resources on process safety management (PSM) hazards in chemical facilities across the country. Chemical facilities with PSM-covered processes should review their programs now to ensure full compliance with OSHA standards.

The NEP, effective July 27, 2009, is billed as a “new approach for inspecting PSM covered facilities” and “allows for a greater number of inspections by better allocation of OSHA’s resources.” Chemical facilities in the Northeast (OSHA’s Region 1), the Plains States (OSHA’s Region VII), and the Northwest and Alaska (OSHA’s Region X) will be subject to programmed inspections under the NEP. The NEP will apply to unprogrammed inspections for PSM-covered processes OSHA-wide.

In its instructions to compliance officers regarding the scope of inspections, OSHA emphasizes implementation of the PSM standard over documentation:

Based on past inspection history at refineries and large chemical plants, OSHA has found that employers may have an extensive written process safety management program, but insufficient program implementation. Therefore, CSHOs should verify the implementation of PSM elements to ensure that the employer’s actual program is consistent with their written program.

Compliance officers also are instructed at the start of inspections to request numerous documents from employers, some of which are not required to be kept under the standard (e.g., a list of all PSM-covered process/units in the complex, a summary description of the facility’s PSM program, safe upper and lower operating limits for certain covered units). According to OSHA, however, they represent “documents typically compiled by employers with PSM-covered processes at their facilities.” Furthermore, OSHA will examine under the NEP all contractors – including construction contractors – working on or adjacent to PSM-covered units being inspected.

This is just the first of several key NEPs OSHA will be releasing. OSHA’s Recordkeeping NEP should be released within days, and other NEPs on Food Flavorings, Oil and Gas Well Drilling, Primary Metals, and Hexavalent Chromium are in the works.

We will continue to keep you apprised of all of OSHA’s enforcement initiatives.

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OSHA National Emphasis Programs Under Development

Posted on April 7, 2009 by Brad Hammock

Signaling its renewed focus on enforcement, OSHA has announced it is developing six new National Emphasis Programs (NEPs). NEPs focus OSHA’s resources on industries, hazards, and occupational injuries and illnesses that need additional targeted enforcement, in the Agency’s view.

OSHA’s Director of Enforcement Programs revealed the following industry-specific NEPs are in development:

 

  • Chemical plants – process safety management;
  • Primary metals;
  • Flavorings and diacetyl; and
  • Oil and gas well drilling.

Employers in these industries should expect additional inspections and take steps now to ensure their safety and health practices are fully compliant with OSHA requirements.

 

Even more employers, however, can anticipate increased scrutiny on account of OSHA’s recordkeeping initiative. As a result of questions raised by Congress and labor organizations that injuries and illnesses are underreported, OSHA announced it is developing a recordkeeping NEP. All employers who are required to keep OSHA injury and illness logs should review them now for accuracy, completeness, and appropriate certification.

 

Finally, OSHA is developing an NEP dealing with occupational asthma, a growing area of concern for OSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

 

In a recent speech, newly confirmed Secretary of Labor Solis committed OSHA to increased enforcement. These NEPs will drive much of that enforcement in coming months. 

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