workers keep dying

OSHA Inspection Priorities Penalties for 2021 as of 1/15/2021 Note this information may change at any time.   Determined by the Area Director listed in 29CFR1903. Inspections, Citations and Proposed Penalties.    ...... Violation Penalty Willful: Employers who show and intentional or careless disregard.    Possible criminal violations if there is a fatality. $9735 to $136,532 Repeated Violation: If it is the same violation within 3 years at any location. Up to $136,532 Serious Violation:  These violations impact safety and are perceived to pose a significant risk of death.........

Recently I attended the fall protection competent person class at Honeywell.  One of the questions from a student was “Can I use both clips of a double legged lanyard on the same anchorage”.  Some of these lanyards are also called “Y-lanyards” or “Twin-Leg Lanyards”.    Let’s review some fall protection basics   1.     OSHA requires free falls of less than 6 feet and a maximum arresting force of 1800 lbs. a.     1926.502(d)(16)(ii) limit maximum arresting force on an employee to 1,800 pounds (8 kN) when used with a body harness; b.     1926.502(d)(16)(iii) be rigged such that an ...

Pushback and Tactics Faced by Safety Professionals (and other people too!) By Jim Poesl ©2020 During safety training younger safety people or managers ask, “How do I manage a workforce that often is 100% against safety?” First of all, the workforce is not “100% against safety” the workforce wants to work safely.  The discussion should be how do we attain a safe workplace? Finding common ground, common goals, patience and understanding is a good starting point. If you don’t have these your job becomes much harder and jobsite less safe. My training classes include the classic Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky.  Alinsky wrote the book to teach progressives to implement ...

First Aid and CPR Requirements for Construction Sites by Jim Poesl, December 2019   Few topics raise more controversy in the “back office” of companies than First Aid and CPR requirements at construction jobs. After all of the training required by the state and OSHA this normally “falls through the cracks.”  Some companies feel that First Aid CPR training is all that is necessary and neglect everything else.  As a result, safety takes a back seat to emergency response.   So in response to some of the feedback we have received I will answer what OSHA requirements are for First Aid and CPR, through their Letters of Interpretation and Regulations.    Question 1:  .........

Beware of Mold Assessment Scamsters. by Jim Poesl I am basically out of the mold assessment and indoor air quality business but I still do it for friends and family members. One of the reasons is that it is rife with fraud and frankly I can't compete with fraudsters out there that give very compelling cases for thousands of dollars in "mold remediation". Recently a friend of the family asked me to look at one of his properties where there was a minor gutter leak that was fixed and all components that were impacted with water were removed, repaired, or replaced. The tenant hired a company that advertised on-line to do a "mold inspection". I was asked to evaluate the recommendations. Here are some of my comments: ...

Day 3 National Stand-Down for Fall Protection. Portable Ladder Safety. Day 1 and 2 dealt with the Hierarchy of Controls, Inspection, and the ABC’s of Fall Protection.  Day 3 is Ladder Safety.  Recently I did a ladder safety class for a client and brought my own ladders.  On the way home I picked up my daughter who was 3-years old at the time.  She asked why I had ladders in my truck.  I told her I was teaching people how to safely climb ladders.  She then said “People really don’t know how to use ladders?”  It surprised her but it also surprises many people that their employees do not know how to use ladders.   Some general rules on ladders:...

Day 2 National Fall Protection Stand-Down ABCs of Fall Protection and Equipment Inspection   Yesterday we wrote about the Fall Protection Hierarchy of Controls.  That is eliminate the hazard before you need to implement further controls.  For Day 2 we will assume that you determined you need to wear fall protection or a fall restraint system.  Both systems have the same inspection requirements.  For a review each system has:   ·     An anchorage connector.  What you use to connect to an anchorage point. o  Note: Anchorage points need to meet a 5000 lb. limit for fall protection and 3000 lb. limit for fall restraint; or double the...

May 6, 2019 Welcome to Day 1 of the “National Safety Stand-Down To prevent Falls in Construction”.  Every year the industry sets aside a week to raise awareness of fall hazards in the workplace in an effort to stop fall fatalities and injuries.  In 2017 (the last year data is available) 366 of 971 construction fatalities were falls.    An easy way to have a “Stand-Down” is to set aside your normal weekly safety meeting and dedicate it to preventing falls in your workplace.  If you don’t have a weekly safety meeting, do a lunch or coffee break meeting, or a meeting before work.  Watch a Youtube™ video like Miller’s Fall Protection Road Show. &...

Today is worker’s Memorial Day.  The day we mark the previous year’s workplace fatalities.  These workers leave behind friends and families that never recover emotionally and  financially from  fatalities.  According to the National Safety Council, workplace deaths that were not preventable were 733 out of 5147 fatalities.  This statistic completely destroys the assertion that workplace fatalities are just “accidents” and “it was there time to die” that most safety people hear when managing a fatality.   In one conversation I had during an accident investigation that was entirely preventable I asked the worker who didn’t see “the ...