EHS Professional – January 26, 2023

OSHA to Follow White House’s Lead in 2023

The Biden administration will fight to advance federal agency agendas, despite Republican opposition.

Following the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in the last election, you are sure to hear loud challenges coming from that direction to the Biden administration’s regulatory game plan, but don’t expect federal agencies to back down from their energetic support for the Biden agenda.

Prominent House Republicans have been crystal clear about one thing: They are committed to opening a number of committee investigations into what they see as Democratic malfeasance and misfeasance, ranging from the administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic to a regulatory agenda explicitly crafted to promote the interests of the Democrats’ labor union and other special interest allies.

Read more by clicking here. 

New Jersey Contractor Cited Again After OSHA Finds Workers Exposed to Fall Hazards

A Trenton roofing contractor previously cited for exposing workers to fall hazards is facing additional citations for the same violation following an inspection at a different worksite.

According to a news release, OSHA found four workers without fall protection and at risk of falling 30 feet in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Guelsin Lima, doing business as Extreme Roofing and Siding LLC, was cited for nine willful and three serious violations and received proposed penalties of $584,333.

Just a few months prior to the most recent citation, Guelsin Lima received citations for four willful and two serious violations and proposed penalties of $247,309 after the agency found workers not using fall protection at other sites.

“Guelsin Lima has a significant OSHA history and is fully aware of what OSHA standards require. This latest inspection offers further proof that the operator of Extreme Roofing and Siding LLC simply refuses to comply with the law,” explained OSHA Area Director Lisa Levy in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, in the news release. “We will use our full authority to hold this employer, and others who continually put employees in danger, accountable.”

Original article > https://ohsonline.com/articles/2023/01/16/new-jersey-contractor-cited.aspx?admgarea=ht.ConstructionSafety

Deadly Gamble: Ohio Contractor With History of Violations Endangers Workers At 3 Trench Sites in a Week; Damaged Safety Gear Found at Site of Worker’s Death

An Ohio excavation contractor, cited six times since 2017 for ignoring federal trench-safety rules, allowed employees to work with damaged safety equipment on July 26, 2022, the day a 33-year-old worker in Columbus suffered fatal injuries, a federal workplace safety investigation has found.

The worker was pinned between the “spreader” bars of a trench box and the wall of a 7-foot-deep excavation. OSHA investigators found a sling hook came loose while the box was suspended in the trench.

Before the tragedy, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration observed Underground Utilities Inc. of Monroeville exposing crews to trenching hazards that same day at a Sandusky worksite and at another in Avon Lake five days earlier, on July 21, 2022. The crews were replacing municipal sewer and water lines at the time.

Read more > https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/osha/osha20230117

The Perfect Time to ‘Step Up’ Employee Training

American Ladder Institute aims to decrease the number of ladder-related injuries and fatalities, and increase the number of ladder safety training certificates issued.

Ahead of National Ladder Safety Month, which occurs in March, the American Ladder Institute outlined the four key themes that the organization will focus on:

Week One – Choosing Your Ladder
Week Two – Safety Before the First Step (Inspection and Set Up)
Week Three – Safety While Climbing
Week Four – Safety at the Top

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ladder deaths accounted for 161 on-the-job fatalities in 2020, the most recent year for which statistics are available.

That same year, there were 22,710 ladder-related workplace injuries, an injury stat that has remained relatively constant over the previous several years.

Read more by clicking here.

Keeping Workers Safe from Crane Hazards

Incidents involving cranes lead to over 400 nonfatal injuries in 2020.

Cranes are useful machinery essential in many projects. However, their use also brings hazards.

In 2020, there were 490 cases of non-fatal incidents involving cranes that caused workers to miss work, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). From 2011 to 2017, an average of 42 workers died from crane-related deaths each year, per the BLS. The most frequent incident involving cranes that led to worker death during this time period was struck by incidents. Falls to a lower level and transportation-related incidents accounted for fewer deaths, but still lead to workers losing their lives.

In November 2022, an incident led to a crane-related death in Guam, according to a news release. Following the incident, OSHA advised “employers in Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands to enhance safety measures to protect workers against crane hazards,” the news release said.

Read more > https://ohsonline.com/articles/2023/01/09/workers-safe-from-crane-hazards.aspx?admgarea=ht.ConstructionSafety

Resource offers model policies for protecting fire-based EMS workers from violence

Drexel University’s Center for Firefighter Injury Research & Safety Trends has created model organizational policies aimed at addressing stress and violence in fire-based emergency medical services workers.

NIOSH data shows that, in 2020, violence was the second leading cause of nonfatal injuries to EMS professionals, with a majority of injuries arising from encounters with patients or bystanders during patient care.

The resource is a companion to a checklist developed by FIRST’s Stress and Violence in Fire-Based EMS Responders (SAVER) program in 2019. Guidance for organizations and employers includes:

• Create procedures for assessing scene safety and communicating needs during unsafe conditions.
• Use common language when defining violence against workers.
• Establish collaboration and communication with EMS responders, dispatch and law enforcement to provide EMS with sufficient notice, knowledge and preparation for responding to calls.
• Involve EMS workers “in the design of the system in which they work and looking to them for feedback when the system fails.”
• Encourage workers to report all incidents of verbal and physical violence experienced during work.

“Fire and rescue departments are encouraged to incorporate the SAVER model policies into their current policy manuals and to develop their own standard operating procedures and guidelines to support each policy,” the U.S. Fire Administration says.

Original article > https://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/23499-resource-offers-model-policies-for-protecting-fire-based-ems-workers-from-violence

Happiness at Work, Cleaning up and Stepping it up: What We’re Reading This Week

Some health and well-being news to help you start the year off right.

I am finally getting used to 2023. It always takes me a few weeks to make sure I say or write the correct year.

Every time the calendar changes, I think “Has it really been that long since x happened? Geez, the years are going so fast!” This January, I’m making a conscious effort to pause and settle in this January. It helps that a friend gifted me a five-year journal that affords me the opportunity to carve out a little space and reflect on each day.

I’ve accepted the gloomy grey skies, made more bearable with daily use of my happy light each morning. I’ve made peace with the cold temperatures by making my favorite soups to warm up from the inside out.

It’s in this mindset that I read the news this week, so perhaps not surprisingly I was attracted to news about health and well-being. I hope you find them enlightening as well.

Also, as a reminder, OSHA’s annual adjustments to civil penalty amounts take effect Jan. 17. OSHA’s maximum penalties for serious and other-than-serious violations will increase from $14,502 per violation to $15,625 per violation. The maximum penalty for willful or repeated violations will increase from $145,027 per violation to $156,259 per violation. Perhaps it’s a good time to remind your company that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Read more by clicking here.

US Department of Labor announces annual adjustments to OSHA civil penalties for 2023

The U.S. Department of Labor announced changes to Occupational Safety and Health Administration civil penalty amounts based on cost-of-living adjustments for 2023.

In 2015, Congress passed the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act to advance the effectiveness of civil monetary penalties and to maintain their deterrent effect. Under the Act, agencies are required to publish “catch-up” rules that adjust the level of civil monetary penalties and make subsequent annual adjustments for inflation no later than January 15 of each year. This year, January 15 falls on a Sunday and January 16 is a federal holiday. Therefore, new OSHA penalty amounts will become effective Jan. 17, 2023.

OSHA’s maximum penalties for serious and other-than-serious violations will increase from $14,502 per violation to $15,625 per violation. The maximum penalty for willful or repeated violations will increase from $145,027 per violation to $156,259 per violation.

Visit the OSHA Penalties page and read the final rule for more information.

Original article > https://www.osha.gov/news/newsreleases/trade/01122023

Health and Safety Protection for Domestic Workers

California recently created occupational health and safety guidelines for domestic workers.

Domestic workers perform essential services in the most intimate realm of the home by providing clean, safe spaces for families to enjoy and by caring for children, seniors and those with illnesses or disabilities. Workers are often integrated into the daily rhythms and routines of households, enabling families to function and thrive since domestic work “is the work that makes all other work possible” [Poo, 2015].

In 2017, the University of California Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program (UCLA LOSH), in collaboration with the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) and the California Domestic Workers Coalition (CDWC) released a study, Hidden Work, Hidden Pain: Injury Experiences of Domestic Workers in California. The report offered insight into the various occupational injuries and illnesses experienced by the domestic workforce like housekeepers, childcare providers and caregivers. The report highlighted the need for all domestic workers to be included under California’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (CalOSHA) protection.

Read more > https://ohsonline.com/articles/2023/01/25/health-and-safety-protection-for-domestic-workers.aspx?m=1

Become a Better Safety Leader in 2023

An EHS Today-hosted webinar sponsored by AlertMedia

Originally broadcast on January 24, 2023. Now available On Demand.
Sponsor: AlertMedia

Register Today!
Already registered? Please click here to log in.

Safety leaders receive a myriad of technical training for their roles, but two crucial components of leadership—how to make confident decisions and how to lead people through a crisis—are often overlooked.

Eric McNulty, Associate Director and Program Faculty at the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI) at Harvard University, is a published business author, professor, speaker, and expert on how to lead more effectively and with greater confidence during crisis and change. Join Eric and AlertMedia’s Senior VP of Safety Solutions, Peter Steinfeld, in this masterclass on how to excel at safety leadership, no matter the situation.

Read more by clicking here.

OSHA and MSHA partner on poster and infographic on preventing heat illness

A new poster and infographic from OSHA and the Mine Safety and Health Administration offer best practices to help mine operators and workers prevent heat illness and heat-related hazards.

To start, the agencies recommend easing into work to build tolerance to heat. Almost 3 out of 4 fatalities related to heat illness occur during the first week of work, the poster states.

Other guidance:

• Provide workers with heat stress training.
• Implement mine planning, ventilation and air conditioning to reduce heat, when possible.
• Promote reasonably short work periods and provide frequent rest breaks in cool areas.
• Wear a hat and light-colored, loose-fitting, breathable clothing, when possible.
• Drink at least 1 cup of cool water every 20 minutes, even if you aren’t thirsty.

Signs of heat illness include headache, nausea, dizziness, heavy sweating and elevated body temperature. Workers experiencing these symptoms shouldn’t be left alone and should be provided with water in a cool rest area.

If a worker exhibits abnormal thinking or behavior, slurred speech, seizures, or loss of consciousness, call 911 right away and use water or ice to cool the worker immediately. Remain with the worker until help arrives.

The agencies encourage mine operators and workers to use and distribute the poster and infographic.

Original article > https://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/23497-osha-and-msha-partner-on-poster-and-infographic-on-preventing-heat-illness

Miner Safety and Health App Can Now Be Used in Spanish

The app is available to miners in both English and Spanish.

An app launched in 2022 for miners is now available in a second language, allowing more people to access important information and resources.

According to a news release, the Miner Safety and Health App, which launched in August 2022 in English, is available in Spanish, the Department of Labor announced in mid-January. To enable Spanish, change the language on your phone to Spanish.

“Spanish-speaking miners throughout the U.S. now have access to important mine safety and health information and their rights as miners in the palm of their hands,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health Chris Williamson in the news release.

Read more > https://ohsonline.com/articles/2023/01/24/miner-safety-and-health-app.aspx?admgarea=ht.HandProtection

US Department of Labor Resumes Regular Enforcement Activities in 18 Florida Counties Affected by Hurricane Ian

OSHA has resumed normal enforcement throughout Florida after suspending most programmed enforcement actions in the hurricane’s aftermath. With these actions on-hold, OSHA provided compliance assistance and outreach to employers and workers involved in the clean-up and recovery operations in 18 counties affected by the storm, namely Brevard, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Flagler, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Lake, Lee, Manatee, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Sarasota, Seminole and Volusia.

Read more > https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/osha/osha20230124-2

2023 IHMM Certificant Survey

This is our 2023 IHMM certificant survey. Your feedback allows us to gather broad based information about the needs and preferences of our certificants that leads to improving our services and credentials.

Please take a few minutes and answer the 19 questions posed in this survey and help us improve our services.

Take the short survey here.

IHMM Certified Pandemic Preparedness Specialist® [CPPS®] Credential

Dan Blankfeld, CSHM, CSMP, Chair of the Microcredential Task Force, is pleased to announce the release of the IHMM Certified Pandemic Preparedness Specialist [CPPS] credential blueprint. The Task Force received more than 200 suggestions for microcredentials that could be used in conjunction with existing IHMM credentials to add depth to specific knowledge and experience areas. Microcredentials are short, focused credentials designed to provide in-demand skills, know-how and experience.

A Certified Pandemic Preparedness Specialist® (CPPS®) Microcredential holder is first a CHMM or CSHM credentialed professional who has demonstrated, through education, experience, and examination, the ability to identify and assess the risks associated with pathogens and their effect on public health, commerce, industry, and/or government operation. The focus of the CPPS microcredential is to: assess and provide guidance concerning the preparedness levels of different entities, and develop and implement risk-reduction strategies.

The Task Force is making progress on the construction of the CPPS examination at this writing. We look forward to the completion of the examination and launch of the credential to the IHMM community and then begin working with federal officials from the CDC, NIH, and White House Pandemic Innovation Task Force on being better prepared for the next pandemic. Read the March, 2022 release from the White House here.

The new CPPS credential blueprint is found here.

In 2019 Mark Bruce from AHMP and Gene Guilford from IHMM worked on a project to get the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to recognize the CHMM and CDGT credentials. With Mark’s work on the ground in  Pennsylvania, we succeeded. The 45 in 5 Project is for ALL IHMM credentials. This summer we have worked on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers health and safety manual that recognizes the CSHM and CSMP credentials. We are working with a CSHM in New York on their Department of Labor recognizing the CSHM.

• We have already succeeded in 13 states – New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Indiana, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, Arkansas, Oklahoma. Ohio, North Dakota, and Georgia. [Red states in the map above]. These are states where IHMM credentials are cited or 40 CFR 312.10 is cited by reference.
• We have partially succeeded in another 16 states – Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Florida, Delaware, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine. [Orange/Black Stripe states in the map above] These are states where the requirements of an “environmental professional” or QEP are cited that coincide with an IHMM credential so that relatively little work would need to be done to clarify the desired outcome.
• We have 21 states where no reference to an IHMM credential is made in either statute or regulation, nor is there anything defined in the area of an environmental professional. These states will require legislation or regulatory work. [Yellow states in the map above].

In January 2021 Mark at AHMP and Gene at IHMM has launched 45 in 5, getting the other 45 states to recognize our credentials in 5 years. If we can find a volunteer like Mark in other states [see above] we can work with those volunteers on crafting the right message to the right agencies in state governments across the country. If we find enough volunteers we can get this done in less than 5 years.

In January 2022 Gene Guilford released the 40 CFR § 312.10 EPA regulation that states a private certification that meets or exceeds the requirements of the regulation is an Environmental Professional under the regulation. Here is the crosswalk between the 40 CFR § 312.10 EPA regulation and the Certified Hazardous Materials Manager [CHMM] blueprint. The CHMM meets or exceeds the requirements of an Environmental Professional. 

Here’s what we ask each volunteer to do:

• Watch legislative and regulatory developments in your state that provide an opportunity for us to create amendments or other interventions
• Be willing to speak with regulators and legislators in your area about the recognition efforts we craft together

Learn more about the AHMP-IHMM 45 in 5 Project here

OSHA’s FY 2023 Outreach Initiatives

IHMM  – 26 Fellows Are Mentors 

IHMM Fellows Committee Chair Atanu Das, CHMM, is leading the effort within the IHMM Collaboration networking platform to provide instruction to the more than 75 IHMM Fellows in becoming mentors.

Given the extraordinary experience Fellows have, this is a unique opportunity for IHMM Fellows to help guide more recent certificants in their professional development activities.

IHMM’s Collaboration platform contains a “Mentor Match” module [see below at right] that allows mentors to signup designating the hours, number of mentees, subject areas, and length of time they wish to mentor – as well as allowing mentees to signup requesting assistance in specified areas. The mentor match module does the rest by matching mentors and mentees.

Recert Video #1

Recert Video #2

IHMM Recertification Videos

IHMM is pleased to release two YouTube instructional videos about navigating the IHMM recertification process. These step-by-step videos easily enable IHMM certificants to start and complete a recertification application.

While the full recertification cycle is 5 years, IHMM encourages all certificants to start a recertification application and add certification maintenance points as they are earned to make the final submission quick and easy to accomplish.

• Every CSHM and CSMP should start a recertification application now.
• Even if your recertification is years away, starting an application now and adding your accumulated points enables you to see where you are all the time and it makes it very easy when you have to file your application

IHMM Scholarship Program

The Institute of Hazardous Materials Management is pleased to have created $32,000 in academic scholarships, divided equally between $16,000 for students enrolled in undergraduate or graduate education in approved schools and who are also Student CHMMs, and $16,000 for students enrolled in undergraduate or graduate education in approved schools and who are also Student ASHMs.

IHMM seeks to foster the growth and academic success of students whose courses of education, and participation in one of our Student certifications, will lead to those students becoming fully-certified IHMM credential holders later in their professional lives.  The first two IHMM Scholarships were awarded before Thanksgiving to Thomas Gerding, Student ASHM, and Ryan Bellacov, Student CHMM! Congratulations to Thomas and Ryan for being our first scholarship award winners.

Go to >  https://ihmm.org/scholarship/

IHMM is a member of ASSP and is pleased to bring this important information to all of its certificants.

ASSP News

• A WISE Mentoring Success Story: Michelle Arias

• What ASSP Leaders Think OSHA Needs to Do

• Q&A: What OSH Professionals Need to Know About DEI and Workplace Safety

• SafetyFOCUS Can Fulfill a New Year’s Resolution

• NIOSH Challenge Aims to Improve Respirator Fit Testing

• Episode 98: OSHA Recordkeeping: What Safety Professionals and Employers Need to Know

ASSP Webinars

RCM&D Professional Liability Insurance

HMS is proud to have partnered with RCM&D to be able to offer an outstanding comprehensive professional liability insurance program to IHMM certificants. Here, you will find information about this important program offering Environmental Consultants and Engineers Professional Liability coverage. This coverage is intended to add protection for loss stemming from actual or alleged negligent acts, errors and omissions in performing professional services.

For more information see > https://hazmatsociety.org/professional-liability-insurance/

There are 836 different conversations going on in the IHMM/HMS Collaboration platform this week.

A collaborative culture is important for every business but is especially important for our hazardous materials, dangerous goods, environment, health, and safety communities of practice. Do you have a problem you need to solve and want the opinions of your colleagues? This is where we come together to help each other.

IHMM credentialed professionals are at the top 1% of their professions and their reach is global. We are at the forefront of environmental protection, health, and safety and this is where collaborating with the best people in their fields, always willing to help one another, lessens the stress of our jobs, and where we strive as a team to make a difference of which we are proud.

We opened COLLABORATION to enable thousands of certificants and supporters to collaborate together. You can collaborate here.

Access to COLLABORATION is through the same username/password you use to access your MYIHMM account. Having a problem? Contact Jimmy Nguyen at [email protected]