hunter douglas inc. march 19, 2015. anti-bullying laws – new information bls: injury, illness...

EHS/HR Best Practices Teleconference 1st

Quarter

Hunter Douglas Inc.March 19, 2015

Anti-Bullying Laws – New Information BLS: Injury, Illness Rate Drop Information OSHA Issues Enforcement Guidance for Hazard

Communication Standard OSHA Internal Memo Outlines Triage Process for

Reported Fatalities & Injuries State Plans Slowly Adopt New Federal OSHA Reporting

Requirements OSHA Requests Budget Increase for Fiscal Year 2016 Underreporting of injuries is occurring across the United

States according to the National Safety Council – result . . . Inaccurate BLS data

EHS/HR Best Practices Quarterly Teleconference

Agenda

Anti-Bullying Laws in California & Tennessee

Could Be the Start of a New Trend Currently, there are no federal laws that prevent

workplace bullying, however 26 states have introduced “Healthy Workplace” bills. Tennessee became the first state to pass the “Healthy Workplace Act” which is designed to create an anti-bullying policy . California passed a workplace anti-bullying law that became effective January 1. The new law requires when they provide their sexual harassment training they must include new training on preventing “abusive conduct” in the workplace to supervisors.


BLS: Injury, Illness Rate Drops Again Work-related injuries & illnesses in private industry declined in 2013 – the BLS annual Survey of Occupational Injuries & Illnesses show about 3 million workers were injured or became ill on the job – 3.3 injuries/illnesses per 100 full-time workers down from 3.4 in 2012. Additionally, since 2009, the rate of serious injuries/illnesses requiring days away from work, job transfer or restriction declined. The majority (75.5%) of the estimated 2.9 million injuries/illnesses in 2013 occurred in service-providing industries including trade, transportation, hospitality and health services.


OSHA ISSUES ENFORCEMENT GUIDANCE FOR

HAZARD COMMUNICATION STANDARD Chemical Manufacturers, importers and distributors were required to

develop and use safety data sheets (SDS’s) and labels for their chemical mixtures effective June 1, 2015. OSHA received concerns from several trade groups that they needed until June 2017 to comply. OSHA did deny the petition to formally modify the compliance date, however, the Feb. 9th memo indicated they will not issue a citation against manufacturers, et al if they have exercised “reasonable diligence” and “good faith” to comply.

The Feb. 9th memo also extend the time frame for when a manufacturer & importer must create 2012 compliant SDSs from 3 months to 6 months from the date it receives all the hazard information for the ingredients. Additionally, the memo extends the time for label creation from 6 months after learning of hazard information to 6 months from the date they develop the 2012 compliant SDSs.


OSHA ISSUES ENFORCEMENT GUIDANCE FOR

HAZARD COMMUNICATION STANDARD (Continued)

Note – The final compliance deadline is June 1, 2016. Employers’ workplace signage, label warnings & hazard communication programs must be updated. If any new physical or health hazard are identified for products that are being used, employers must train employees on those hazards by June 1, 2016.

Retraining – Your employees may not fully understand the labeling and SDS changes until they start seeing them. It might be a good idea to perform a retraining and test workers on their knowledge of both finding specific information on an SDS and associating pictograms with their meanings.


OSHA Internal Memo Outlines Triage Process for

Reported Fatalities & Injuries As of January 1st employers in states with Federal OSHA

jurisdiction must report to OSHA all work-related fatalities, all work related in patient hospitalizations, amputations, losses of an eye within 24 hours of the incident.

As discussed in an earlier Best Practice Teleconference the new reporting requires specific information be given at the time of the call to OSHA. It is likely a series of other questions will be asked will making the initial report such as: What was the injured employee doing just before the injury? What tools, equipment, or materials were being used? What directly caused the harm to the injured employee?


OSHA Internal Memo Outlines Triage Process for

Reported Fatalities & Injuries (Continued) Other questions expect to be asked will making the initial

report: Is the hazard that directly caused the harm to the injured

employee still in the workplace? Could it potentially harm other people in the workplace?

How many people? What steps have been taken to remove the hazard? Has something like this happened before in this workplace,

or almost happened?If presented with any of these questions, take caution in responding. Legally, under the requirements of the standard you are not obligated to provide such information.


More than likely, when you are making the report, you will not have

had the opportunity to have conducted a complete accident investigation. It is best to inform OSHA that the internal accident investigation is currently underway. For those of you who make the report using the Hotline or electronic submission (when available) area offices have been instructed to determine if follow-up calls are necessary – you may also receive the same questions.

Once OSHA receives the information required it will input the data into a database. It is anticipated that OSHA will use the database as a means to allow the public access to your information.

Triage – depending on the type of injury reported, three categories will be used to determine whether to open an inspection which will include an actual on-site visit or initiate a “Rapid Response Investigation.”


Triage (continued) – All reports classified as Category 1 will be

inspected: - All fatalities & reports of 2 or more in-patient hospitalizations - Any injury involving a worker under 18 - Known history of multiple injuries (same or similar events in previous 12 months) - Repeat offenders (history of egregious, willful, failure-to-abate, or repeated citations) - SVEP (Severe Violators Enforcement Program) - National Emphasis or Local Emphasis ProgramIf the reported injury does not fit within Category 1, the Area Director will determine whether to conduct an inspection based on their discretion and/or the employer’s response to any of the following questions (next slide):


Category 2 Questions - Are employees still being exposed to the factors underlying hazards that resulted in the injury/illness? - Was the employee exposed to a serious hazard (i.e., explosive materials, combustible dust, falls or heat)? - Were temporary workers or other vulnerable populations injured or made ill? - Has another government agency (federal, state, or local) made a referral? - Does the employer have prior OSHA inspection history? - Is there a whistleblower complaint/inspection pending? - Is the employer a VPP, OSHA Strategic partnership, SHARP or an active alliance member? - Did the incident involve health issues such as chemical exposures, heat stress.


Triage – Final notes If the answer to several of the questions is yes, Area Office personnel is encouraged to conduct an inspection. For all other reports OSHA will conduct a “Rapid Response Investigation” – similar to OSHA’s phone/fax procedures. If they feel an on-site inspection is not necessary, they will call to inform you a letter requesting information about your investigation is being sent asking for the following: * Conduct an incident investigation * Document findings & send corrective actions * Post a copy of the letter where employees can review it * Fax or email a copy of the signed Certificate of Posting


State Plans Slowly Adopt New Federal OSHA

Reporting Requirements – As an FYI those states that operate their own OSHA programs have until January 1, 2016 to implement the OSHA work related fatalities, in-patient hospitalizations, amputations & loss of eye reporting standard. To date, only four states have adopted and put the standard into effect: North Carolina – Jan 1, 2015, Iowa – Jan 14, 2015, Tennessee – Feb 24, 2015 & Indiana – March 1, 2015.

Several other state plans are currently in the proposed rulemaking process – Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Virginia, Washington & Arizona is waiting for a response from the Governor’s office.


OSHA Requests Budget Increase for Fiscal Year 2016 - the

request was for a 7% budget increase for a total budget of $592.1 million. Again their focus will be on increased enforcement.

Underreporting of Injuries Is Occurring Resulting in Inaccurate BLS Data - Several studies conducted over the past few years have concluded there has been an undercounting of workplace injuries and illnesses occurring throughout the country.

Inaccurate data is the result of a number of issues. BLS data comes from employers, who have to be aware of an injury before it can be recorded. Sometimes information is not reported to the person responsible for recordkeeping. Employees may choose not to report an injury. Employment stability is a factor – fewer workers have long- term secure jobs which causes them to worry that reporting an injury may threaten his/her employment.


Underreporting of Injuries Is Occurring Resulting in

Inaccurate BLS Data (Continued) - The hope is OSHA’s new recordkeeping rule might improve data accuracy. OSHA is currently working on “The Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries & Illnesses rule” no date for introduction as of yet.

Despite the issues, the BLS survey data has value – it can highlight the biggest worker safety issues, alerting safety professionals & researchers to the types of injuries occurring. The overall trend of declining injuries is likely to be accurate, too, as it mirrors declining fatality figures. The BLS data is what we rely on therefore we can only hope that those completing the surveys ever year and being truthful and reporting all injuries and illnesses accurately. As an aside there were approximately 300 manufacturing deaths in 2013.


Resources & Websites

OSHA video highlights changes to reporting requirements– Watch the video at: http://bit.ly/1wyZprq.

Safety Signs/Labels –Information can be found as follows: 29 CFR 1910.144 – Safety Color Code for Marking Physical Hazards 29 CFR 1910.145 – Specifications for Accident Prevention Signs & Tags ANSI Z535.1-2002 – Safety Color Code ANSI Z535.2-2002 – Environmental & Facility Safety Signs ANSI Z535.3-2002 – Criteria for Safety Symbols & Labels ANSI Z535.4-2002 - Product Safety Signs & Labels


http://bit.ly/1wyZprq

Resources & Websites

Table Saw- SawStop’s Jobsite Saw’s detection technology stops and drops the blade in less than 5 milliseconds when the blade detects contact with skin. Check it out at www.sawstop.com/jobsite

Fall Harness – Honeywell has introduced the Miller AirCore Wind Energy harness designed to provide fall protection that reduces fatigue for all day endurance. See it at www.millerfallprotection.com


http://www.sawstop.com/jobsite

http://www.millerfallprotection.com/

QUESTIONS?


The Corporate Safety Conference is scheduled for August 11, 12 & 13th – We look forward to seeing you all at the Welcome Reception & Dinner on Tuesday, August 11 – If

you have not already signed up, please let us know if you plan on attending.

Next EHS/HR Best Practices Quarterly Teleconference June 30, 2015 – 3:30 PM


hunter douglas inc. march 19, 2015. anti-bullying laws – new information bls: injury, illness...

Documents

hazard information

workplace bullying

health hazard

workplace antibullying

new law

new training

new trend

anti bullying policy