Federal OSHA’s Occupational Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting Requirements (effective January 1, 2015) require employers to report in-patient hospitalizations, amputations and loss of an eye within 24 hours. The Virginia Occupational Safety and Health (VOSH) regulation was intended to mirror the federal requirements but a legislative drafting error resulted in the reporting period for in-patient hospitalizations, amputations and loss of an eye being reduced to 8 hours. Recognizing its mistake, Virginia is suspending enforcement of the 8 hour reporting requirement until the statute is amended so long as incidents are reported within the 24 hour federal deadline.

OSHA announced this week a shift in how it will evaluate inspections, recognizing that inspections are not all equal and that more-complex inspections deserve more weight. The complexity of an inspection affects the amount of time, manpower and other resources required by OSHA and this new tiered inspection system will reflect this complexity. Under the new system, “Enforcement Units” will be assigned to an inspection; the simplest inspection will be one unit and the most complex inspection could be as many as nine units. Dr. Michaels believes that this will allow OSHA to focus on “more impactful inspections” rather than the number of inspection completed each year.

The practical implication for employers is that starting October 1, 2015, they can expect to see an increase in the number of complex inspections performed by OSHA.  Specifically, OSHA notes that it will perform more inspections involving musculoskeletal disorders, chemical exposures, workplace violence, and process safety management violations. With a greater focus on these complex safety and health inspections, NOW is the time to review your policies and procedures to ensure that they meet all OSHA requirements.

More details are available here .

OSHA’s new reporting requirements began on January 1, 2015. Under these requirements, employers in federal OSHA jurisdiction are required to report to OSHA any work-related fatality or any work-related injury resulting in an employee being formally admitted to the hospital or any work-related amputation or loss of an eye. Since the implementation of these new requirements, OSHA estimates that it is receiving 200 to 250 reported incidents each week.

According to OSHA, roughly 40 percent of those reported injury cases are resulting in an on-site inspection by the agency. In about 50 percent of the cases OSHA is instituting the “rapid response investigation” and sending the employer a letter requesting additional information about the incident and the employer’s corrective actions. In roughly 10 percent of the cases, no agency action is taken either because the event was not reportable under the new requirements or OSHA does not have jurisdiction.

To date not all state plans have adopted the new reporting requirements and some have, but have not adopted them verbatim. For example, Kentucky previously required employers to report amputations within 72 hours. However, Kentucky OSHA’s definition of amputation is limited to amputations including bone-loss. In revising its reporting requirements, Kentucky simply added the reporting of the loss of an eye. So Kentucky chose to keep the 72 hour requirement and not adopt federal OSHA’s 24-hour time period for amputations. Additionally, Kentucky OSHA did not revise its definition of amputation to include amputation of finger-tips without bone loss.

OSHA has compiled a table listing the status of each state’s adoption of the new requirements.

 

Many more franchisors are likely to be judged to have a joint employer relationship with franchisees, subjecting them to enforcement by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, under a draft policy reported to be circulating within the Department of Labor (DOL). To read the full article, written by Tressi Cordaro, click here.

In an interpretation letter dated June 1, 2015, OSHA answered the question “Under OSHA regulations 29 CFR 1926.95(a) who is responsible for the laundering of fire retarding clothing that is provided to employees?” The section states that protective equipment “shall be provided, used, and maintained in a sanitary and reliable condition” but does not elaborate on how this should be achieved.

The letter clarifies that the standard does not per se prohibit home laundering of FR and arc-rated clothing. However, the employer is responsible for making sure that laundering does not compromise the protective properties of the clothing. According to the letter, “If employers rely on home laundering of the clothing, they must train their employees in proper laundering procedures and techniques, and employers must inspect the clothing on a regular basis to ensure that it is not in need of repair or replacement. If an employer cannot meet these conditions, then the employer is responsible for laundering the FR and arc-rated clothing.” Practically speaking, home laundering is a risky proposition. If an employer is unwilling or unable to comply with the requirements for home laundering, then the employer is responsible for laundering the FR and arc-rated clothing.

Noting that the manufacturing sector experienced more than twice the rate of amputations as that of the entire private sector in 2013, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has updated its nine-year-old National Emphasis Program (NEP) on amputations. Click here to read the full article by Nickole Winnett, which was published in the August 31st issue of the Workplace Safety & Health Weekly Update.

In what the Occupational Safety and Health Administration described as a collaboration among government, industry, and organized labor, the safety agency has proposed a comprehensive rule to reduce exposure to beryllium among employees in general industry. Read more.

OSHA’s National Emphasis Program (“NEP”) on Amputations has been in effect since 2006 but on August 13th the Agency issued an updated NEP (CPL 03-00-019) that significantly expands the industries targeted for inspections.  The updated NEP applies to general industry workplaces in which any machinery or equipment likely to cause amputations is present.  According to the NEP, targeted inspections will include an evaluation of employee exposures during operations such as normal operations; clearing jams; making adjustments while machinery is running; cleaning, oiling or greasing machines or machine pans; and locking out machinery to prevent accidental start-up.

Under the NEP, amputation is defined as a “traumatic loss of limb or other external body part.” Amputations include a part, such as a limb or appendage that has been severed, cut off, amputated (either completely or partially); fingertip amputation with or without bone loss; medical amputations resulting from irreparable damage; amputations of body parts that have since been reattached.  Amputations do not include avulsions, enucleations, deglovings, scalping, severed ears, or broken or chipped teeth.

The NEP on Amputations focuses on industries which have a high number and a high rate of amputations or manufacturing plants where workers have suffered amputations in the past five years.  BLS data shows that in 2013, 2000 workers in the manufacturing industry suffered amputations – a figure two times higher than the amputations reported by all of private industry.  A total of 80 manufacturing industry groups are covered under the NEP and are now targeted for inspections; 49 NAICS groups were added to the list of industries that may be inspected under the NEP.  In setting parameters for its targeting methodology and industry scope, the updated NEP incorporates the most recent data available from OSHA’s Information System (“OIS”), OSHA’s Integrated Management and Information System (“OIS”), the Bureau of Labor Statistics (“BLS”), and the 2012 NAICS codes/titles.

The updated NEP also incorporates the recent changes to OSHA’s recording and reporting injury and illness requirements which went into effect on January 1, 2015 for states under federal OSHA jurisdiction.  Under this NEP on Amputations, if an amputation is reported by an employer whose business falls within one of the NAICS codes listed in the NEP, they will be subject to an inspection under the NEP.

According to the NEP, each Regional and Area Office is required to implement a 90-day outreach program that supports the purpose of the NEP and notifies industry groups and others of the changes, but there are no specifics on exactly how this will be accomplished.

One saving grace is new establishments added based on targeting methodology and the use of NAICS codes will be offered outreach prior to inspection.

To read more or find out if your industry is covered, click here.

For those of you with operations in California, you don’t want to miss Jackson Lewis’ upcoming complimentary webinar on avoiding Cal/OSHA’s most commonly violated standard and developing an effective Injury and Illness Prevention Program.  For details and to register, click here to see the posting on our California Workplace Law Blog.