OSHA Enforcement

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OSHA released an update to its Guidelines for Preventing Workplace Violence for Healthcare and Social Service Workers. The publication includes industry best practices and provides some insight on how to reduce the risk of violence in various healthcare and social service settings.  To protect against violence, OSHA recommends that healthcare providers develop an effective workplace violence prevention program that includes:  (1) Management commitment and employee participation; (2) Worksite analysis/Tracking and Trending; (3) Hazard prevention and control; (4) Safety and health training; and (5) Recordkeeping and program evaluation.  In the Guidelines, OSHA provides several detailed charts to assist employers in navigating and implementing these program elements.

In the Guidelines, OSHA indicates that healthcare and social service workers face a significant risk of job-related violence.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 27 out of the 100 fatalities in the healthcare and social service industries in 2013 were due to assaults and violent acts.  In addition, 70-74% of all workplace assaults occurred in the healthcare and social service industries and assaults comprised 10-11% of workplace injuries involving days away from work for healthcare workers.

Work-related assaults and other incident of workplace violence primarily result from violent behavior from patients, clients and residents in healthcare and social service settings.  Working directly with people who have a history of violence or who have abused drugs or alcohol increase the risk that an employee can be subject to workplace violence.  Working with the public or with relatives of patients and residents also increases the risk of violence.  Other factors that employers should consider in assessing whether their employees are at risk for workplace violence include:

  • Working with volatile, unstable people
  • Transporting patients, residents or clients
  • Working alone in a facility or in a patient’s home
  • Lack of emergency communication
  • Working late at night or early morning hours
  • Working in poor lit corridors, rooms, parking lots and other areas
  • Working in areas with high crime rates
  • Availability of firearms and weapons
  • Long waits for care and services
  • Overcrowded or uncomfortable waiting rooms

Hospitals, Residential Treatment, Non-residential Treatment, Community Care, and Field work settings may have a number of these risk factors that would warrant the need to create a written violence prevention program with the five program elements.Continue Reading OSHA Issues New Guidelines on Workplace Violence Prevention for Healthcare

On March 20, 2015, OSHA rescinded portions of its recent memorandum, “Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program: Updated Size”, after only four-months in response to employers’, state officials’, and Congressional members’ outcries.  As described by Tressi Cordaro in her February 3, 2015 OSHA Law Blog post, the November 24, 2014 memorandum redefined the size…

OSHA recently issued an internal memorandum outlining enforcement guidance for some of the 2012 Hazard Communication Standard’s (HCS) requirements effective on June 1, 2015—namely, the requirement that chemical manufacturers, importers and distributors must develop and use safety data sheets (SDSs) and labels for their chemical mixtures that align with the UN Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals.  The policy provided in the memorandum will not exceed two years.

This memorandum appears to be in response to concerns raised by several trade groups that they needed until June 2017 to comply with the SDS and labeling requirements because they had not received classification and SDS information from upstream suppliers of raw materials in enough time to meet the current deadline.  While it denied the trade groups’ petition to formally modify the compliance date, OSHA indicates in the February 9, 2015 memorandum that it will not issue a citation against manufacturers, importer or distributors if they have exercised “reasonable diligence” and “good faith” to classify and label their chemical mixtures in accordance with the 2012 HCS requirements and if the mixture’s material safety data sheets and labels comply with the 1994 HCS requirements.

Whether the manufacturer, importer, or distributor exercised reasonable diligence and good faith will be determined by the compliance officers and their supervisors, after considering a host of factors designed to ensure that they attempted to meet the June 1, 2015 effective date. 
Continue Reading OSHA Issues Enforcement Guidance for Hazard Communication Standard

OSHA first announced its proposed rule on Occupational Exposure to Crystalline Silica in August 2013 and concluded public hearings on the proposed rule in April 2014.  In spite of this ongoing intense rulemaking on occupational exposure to crystalline silica, OSHA and NIOSH published a Hazard Alert on Worker Exposure to Crystalline Silica during Countertop Manufacturing, Finishing and Installation last week.  This marks the first Hazard Alert on silica exposure since OSHA issued the alert for Worker Exposure to Silica during Hydraulic Fracturing in June 2012.
Continue Reading OSHA and NIOSH issue Hazard Alert on Worker Exposure to Crystalline Silica

California Governor Jerry Brown signed A.B. 1634  into law on September 20, 2014, a new bill that significantly changes an employer’s obligations to abate alleged workplace safety and health hazards in California and reduces the ability of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) to make modifications to civil penalties. 

When the new …

OSHA recently announced the preliminary Top 10 most frequently cited violations for fiscal year 2014. The Top 10 list remains virtually unchanged from years prior.  For FY 2015, employers should  spend some extra time reviewing their workplace safety programs under the Top 10 most frequently cited standards to ensure their compliance with the OSHA requirements.  …

On August 8, 2013, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a report in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (Vol. 63. No. 31) related to the causes of heat illness and death among workers in the United States.  The report is the result of a OSHA’s Heat…

The National Labor Relations Board issued  Memoradum OM 14-77 on August 8, 2014, informing all regional directors and resident officers that they should notify parties of their right to file a complaint with OSHA if they believe that an employer may have violated a health or safety standard or an anti-retaliation provision of the Occupational…

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) recently entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMCSA”).  The MOU is intended to facilitate coordination and cooperation between the two agencies when enforcing the anti-retaliation provision of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act (“STAA”), 49 U.S.C. § 31105, and the anti-coercion…

In the last installment of this LOTO series, we address the periodic inspections and training requirements.   

Are We Performing Periodic Inspections?

Employers are required to conduct periodic inspections of their energy control procedures at least annually to ensure that they are being effectively implemented and to correct any deviations or inadequacies. 29 C.F.R. § 1910.147(c)(6). The periodic inspection must be performed by an “authorized employee” other than the one(s) utilizing the procedures being inspected.

The periodic inspection shall include a review between the inspector and each authorized employee of that employee’s responsibilities under the energy control procedures and of the limitations of the tagout systems, if used, as provided for in 29 C.F.R. § 1910.147(c)(7)(ii).

The employer is required to certify that that the periodic inspections were performed. The certification shall identify (1) the machine or equipment on which the energy control procedure was being utilized; (2) the date of the inspection; (3) the employees included in the inspection; and (4)the person performing the inspection.Continue Reading Part 3: Will Your LOTO Program Stand Up to An OSHA Inspection?