New Resources for Spanish-Speaking ASSE Members & SH&E Professionals

ASSE offers information and resources to its growing membership in Latin America and Spain through its new website in Spanish. This website will better connect ASSE with diverse audiences and will expand the benefits for its Spanish-speaking members. With this new Spanish language platform, ASSE reaffirms its commitment to these audiences and aims to increase the interest in the SH&E profession.

In addition to the website, ASSE will be offering a full track of educational sessions in Spanish at Safety 2014. The general sessions will offer Spanish translation making the event more accessible to Spanish speakers and attractive to the growing Hispanic market.

ESFI Offers Power Line Safety Tips for Outdoor Workers

Overhead power lines can create a major safety hazard for anyone working outdoors with, or near, power lines. According to a study by the Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) at least 116 workers die each year from contact with overhead power lines, making it the most common cause of worker electrical fatalities. What’s worse is that high-voltage electricity can jump to anyone who gets too close, meaning direct contact is not entirely necessary to cause injury. ESFI recommends workers always stay at least 10 ft away from power lines and their connections, and always consider power lines to be energized and dangerous.

ESFI offers these safety tips for those working outdoors, near power lines:

• Look up before raising a ladder, pole, truck bed, crane or any other equipment to make sure that it is within a safe distance, which is usually 10 ft, from any power lines.
• If using a crane or derrick in construction maintain a clearance of 20 ft from power lines. Consult www.osha.gov for clearances for all voltages.
• Never trim trees that have high-voltage power lines going through them, or touch any tree limb that may fall into a power line.
• Only use nonmetal and non-conductive ladders made of fiberglass or wood when working near overhead power lines.
• Stay at least 10 ft away from a downed power line and any nearby objects, such as a fence or a tree limb.
• Never touch a person who is in contact with a downed power line, instead, call 911 immediately.
• Before beginning any digging project, contact your electric company to identify underground power lines.

Click here for more information on resources power line safety.

Cal/OSHA May Revise Meaning of 'Repeat Violation'

Cal/OSHA has scheduled a meeting March 13, 2014, to discuss the possibility of revising the definition of "repeat violation" pertaining to its Section 334(d) of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations. The agency reports possible changes are "intended to improve worker protection in California," and that the proposed revisions relate to the criteria for classifying a citation as "repeat." Occupational Health & Safety reports that one revision would extend the statute of limitations from 3 to 5 years; another would change the geographic limitation to statewide.

Any questions or concerns about the upcoming meeting can be directed to Chris Grossgart at (415) 557-0300.

Help Benchmark Ergonomics in the Workplace

Help benchmark methods for managing ergonomic conditions in the workplace by participating in Humantech's fifth benchmarking study. This study will focus on the resources (people, time, money) in which sites invest and the results achieved (injury reduction, productivity and quality improvements, employee retention, etc.). The goal of the study is to better quantify the return on investment (ROI) of site programs.

“We are looking for participants from [U.S.] sites with established ergonomics programs that are focused on manufacturing and production tasks. Participants should be interested in comparing their program with those in other industries,” says Humantech's Walt Rostykus. To maintain company confidentiality, participants are identified by industry type and size; their names are kept anonymous. Walt adds, “A maximum of 35 companies will be selected for the study, and all companies that volunteer to participate will receive a full copy of the summary report upon its completion.” If interested in participating in the latest study, contact Rostykus by March 31, 2014.

The group's most recent study, Elements of Successful Ergonomics Programs, was completed in 2011, and you can find summaries of previous benchmarking studies on Humantech's website.

Image ©iStockphoto.com/ricardoinfante

OSHA Administrator Urges: No More Falling Workers

More communication tower workers were killed in 2013 than in the previous 2 years combined, and four more tower-related deaths have already occurred in 2014. Speaking at the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) conference yesterday, Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSH David Michaels expressed OSHA’s concern about this disturbing trend, and said that actions must be taken to prevent more deaths.

“We are very concerned about this sharp rise,” Michaels said. “The fatality rate in this industry is extremely high and tower workers have a risk of fatal injury perhaps 25 to 30 times higher than the risk for the average American worker. This is clearly unacceptable.”

Michaels indicated that, in addition to increased enforcement, OSHA is taking steps to educate industry and workers, and helping small businesses by providing free consultations. According to Michaels, field staff conducting incident investigations are instructed to pay special attention to communication tower incidents, and to collect more complete data about these incidents to help the agency better understand and prevent them.

“Our inspectors will also be paying close attention to contracts and subcontracts to determine who is doing tower work and what their qualifications are,” Michaels said. “And we will be taking a hard look at the safety requirements that flow down through the contracts and how owners and contractors ensure that everyone involved meets those requirements.”

OSHA has posted Michaels’ full comments on its website.