US Department of Labor Leading the Way in Open Government Efforts

DOL has exceeded the early benchmarks set forth in the Obama Administration’s Open Government Directive — releasing twice the required number of newly available datasets on data.gov last Friday and launching its own open government information page (www.dol.gov/open) more than two weeks ahead of schedule. The datasets released last week include information from the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which will make it possible for anyone in the public to better track health and safety conditions in the American workplace. In addition to the information featured on data.gov, the Department also released additional data for the first time — including the Form 5500 annual report/returns for approximately 800,000 retirement, health and other employee benefit plans covering the plan years 1999 through 2008. The administration’s Open Government Directive established a new standard for government agencies, insisting that by specific dates they achieve key milestones in transparency, collaboration and participation.

• View DOL’s Data on Data.gov
• Visit DOL’s Open Government Page

Superior Super Warehouse to Pay for Child Labor Violations The Department’s Wage and Hour Division has ordered Super Center Concepts, doing business as Superior Super Warehouse, to pay $79,200 in penalties for violating child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. DOL investigators found a total of 40 hazardous occupational violations, including allowing minors to operate scrap paper balers, paper box compactors and power-driven hoisting apparatuses or forklifts.

• Read the News Release

MSHA Cracks Down on Kentucky Scofflaw Operators The Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration continues to crack down on mine operators that fail to pay their civil penalties. The most recent scofflaws sued by MSHA and the U.S. Attorney’s Office are three coal mines located in Knott County, Ky. These operators have wracked up nearly $665,000 in delinquent penalties. According to MSHA Assistant Secretary Joseph A. Main, “There is no excuse for mine operators to deliberately flout their obligations to pay civil penalties for safety and health violations. MSHA and the Department of Labor will not hesitate to hold scofflaw operators accountable.”

• Read the News Release

Cool Heads Under Fire Not all mining mishaps end on a tragic note. Take the fire that occurred at a Missouri lead-zinc mine last Thursday. Three miners working underground at Doe Run Co’s Vibernum #29 mine in Bunker were trapped when their escape route became blocked by a burning haulage truck. Cool heads prevailed, and the miners retreated to a designated refuge chamber stocked with water and compressed air. Meanwhile, mine rescue teams spent the next several hours attempting to locate the men. Ultimately, they were rescued and safely returned to the surface. “It was the type of outcome we all strive for in a mining emergency,” said Joseph A. Main, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health.

• Read the News Release

OSHA Proposes Rule Change to MSD DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposes to revise its Occupational Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting (recordkeeping) regulation by restoring a column on the OSHA Form 300 to better identify work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). The rule does not change existing requirements for when and under what circumstances employers must record musculoskeletal disorders on their injury and illness logs; it would require employers to place a check mark in a column for all MSDs they have recorded.

• Read the News Release

128 Violations = $683K in Proposed Fines for Mississippi Companies Three Mueller Industries Inc. subsidiaries in Fulton, Miss., were cited with 128 violations and fined $683,000 for exposing workers to a variety of safety and health hazards. In July 2009, the Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) began an investigation after a maintenance worker was killed, and two other workers were injured when naphtha, a flammable liquid of hydrocarbon mixtures, leaked from an electric pump and ignited.

• Read the News Release

• A special emphasis on oversight of construction projects funded by the recently enacted economic stimulus package, including safety issues involving fall protection, contractor liability and electrocution hazards. Stimulus-funded construction projects will be subject to random inspections, and OSHA inspectors would still have the authority to inspect construction sites if they observe any violations of OSHA rules.
• Regulation of new “green” technologies involving solar and wind power.
• A planned increase in the number of OSHA inspectors. Specifically, the fiscal year 2010 budget request was in part designed to fund the hiring of 130 new inspectors. OSHA intends to further supplement its inspectors with “partnerships with businesses and nongovernmental organizations.”
• Addressing ergonomics “in some way, shape, or form.”
• Reviewing OSHA’s penalty structure. Specifically, OSHA’s Acting Administrator, Jordan Barab, has remarked that “the average serious penalty is now below $1,000” and “that doesn’t provide much of a disincentive.”
• Increasing the speed of the standard-setting process, which has been described by Barab as “way too slow.”
• Significant revisions to the Voluntary Protection Program in light of a recent Government Accountability Office report that concluded that the agency failed to sufficiently oversee the program.
• Making unannounced inspections of up to 4,500 of the “most dangerous workplaces” in the country. The inspections will be conducted under OSHA’s 2009 site-specific targeting program, which includes sites that had injury and illness rates considerably higher than the national average.
• Continuing the enforcement of combustible dust standards. In June 2009, OSHA announced that it had issued a total of 667 citations against companies in several Southern states for alleged worker safety violations during inspections for unsafe hazardous dust conditions. The most frequently cited were for violations of housekeeping, hazard communication, personal protective equipment, and electrical standards, and the general duty clause. OSHA intends to begin regulatory action on combustible dust, with an advance notice of proposed rulemaking scheduled to be issued by August 2009.
• Monitoring and supporting legislation in furtherance of OSHA’s goals. Specifically, the proposed “Protecting America’s Workers Act” (H.R. 2067) would give the agency the authority to press criminal charges against negligent employers. Further, the proposed “Nurse and Health Care Worker Protection Act” (H.R. 2381) would require OSHA to promulgate a standard mandating the use of mechanical lifts by health care workers when moving patients. This legislation would require health care facilities to develop safe patient handling and injury prevention plans, establish data systems to track injury trends, establish systems for reporting instances in which patient handling equipment is not used, train nurses on safe patient handling, allow nurses to refuse work, and require the Secretary of Labor to conduct audits.

Source: article by Richard Hackman

For more details See …. www.osha.gov

Link to eTool:  http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/electric_power/index.html

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-30713.pdf

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Mike Hayslip, our own Executive Director at VPPAC.org, writes in the January issue of OHS – Occupational Health and Safety on  Buy-in as a critical element to a valued safety and health process.

In addition to the article, Mike will also be leading a panel discussion next month at the World of Concrete: BUY-IN: How to Create, Develop and Maintain It  (VPPAC.org panel discussion)

This is a big deal for our industry as we enter a new year and a new decade. Be part of the discussion and debate. Comment here. Join us at the World of Concrete. And be part of Synergy II – VPPAC.org’s safety, health and risk management conference Feb 4-5 in Las Vegas (coordinates with The World of Concrete…