On The Job Injuries
5/14/12
According to a Liberty Mutual Workplace report of workplace injuries, the top 5 serious but non-fatal injury causes accounted for 71.7% of workers' compensation expenses.
The top 5 injuries in 2009 were:
Overexertion - 25.4% at a cost of $12.75 billion
Falls on the same level - 15.8% at a cost of $7.94 billion
Falls to a lower level - 10.7% at a cost of $5.35 billion
Bodily reaction - 10.5% at a cost of $5.28 billion
Struck by object - 9.3% at a cost of $4.64 billion
Overexertion injuries are those caused by excessive lifting, pushing, pulling, holding, carrying or throwing. Bodily reaction injuries are those caused from bending, climbing, reaching, standing, sitting or slipping or tripping without falling. An example of a struck by object injury is when a tool falls on a worker from above.
The Safety Compliance Alert (SCA) suggests targeting these top 5 injuries to cut workers' compensation costs substantially. For example, to avoid overexertion injuries SCA recommends having employes strech or warm-up before strenuous activities, teaching the proper way to lift with bent legs and objects held close to the body and not twist when lifting, having employees ask a co-worker for help to lift large or heavy objects.
FYI - rounding out the top 10 injuries are:
Highway incident - 4.3% at a cost of $2.18 billion
Caught in/compressed by - 4.1% at a cost of $2.04 billion
Struck against object - 4% at a cost of $2.01 billion
Repetive motion - 3.9% at a cost of $3.9 billion
Assault/violent act - 1.2% at a cost of $0.59 billion
Strive to ensure safety for your employees and make sure that potential hazards are identified properly. ESR can help. Call us at 636-244-1850.
The Lockout/Tagout Standard
4/26/11
While looking through the timeline present on the OSHA website that celebrates their 40 years, I saw that the Lockout/Tagout Standard was introduced in September of 1989. As a result, I thought it would be a good time to refresh ourselves about this standard.
OSHA describes LOTO as "specific practices and procedures to safeguard employees from the unexpected energization or startup of machinery and equipment, or the release of hazardous energy during service or maintenance activities. This requires that a designated individual turns off and disconnects the machinery or equipment from its energy source(s) before performing service or maintenance and that the authorized employee(s) either lock or tag the energy-isolating device(s) to prevent the release of hazardous energy and take steps to verify that the energy has been isolated effectively."
To view the OSHA standard, click here.
Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) is accredited with preventing 120 deaths and 50,000 injuries annually. Strive to ensure safety for your employees and make sure that potential hazards are identified properly. ESR has experience identifying and setting up LOTO, let us help you. Call us at 636-244-1850.
Changes to stormwater runoff controls in the future
4/12/11
Stormwater runoff from new construction sites and redevelopment projects may soon be subject to tighter rules. The EPA plans to propose the use of numeric limits in discharge permits in the new stormwater rule. The limits will be imposed on chemical, nutrient and sediment pollutants in the runoff. This will create a new set of problems and costs. According to the ECA, this will affect groundbreaking activities at industrial and commercial sites, residential and commercial development sites and for highway projects.
For more information about the current and proposed rulings, click here.
Toxics Release Inventory
4/5/11
The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program was established to provide information to communities about the toxic chemical releases and waste management activities in their area in order to comply with the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). Under the act, companies are required to report annually to the EPA and state authorities the amounts of regulated chemicals that are released into the environment by their facilities, either via regular activities or accidental releases. This information is gathered into a national database managed by the EPA and made available to local communities and emergency planners and responders.
Manufacturers submit the information via Form A or R reports. Reports for calendar year 2010 must be filed by July 1st, 2011. For the State of Missouri, the Department of Natural Resources accepts the Form R report via paper or CD. Missouri does not participate in the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory CDX option. Here are the links to the current instruction manual, the Form R form and the Form A form.
Failure to submit your annual reports can lead to monetary penalties. One firm was accessed a $26,000 civil penalty for failure to report quantities of toxic lead that it manufactured, processed or otherwise used for 3 years. Currently, that company is now in full compliance with the regulatory requirements of EPCRA.
If you need help with your annual Toxics Release Inventory reports, please contact ESR at 636-244-1850.
Robert C. Byrd Mine and Workplace Safety and Health Act
3/29/11
This bill has been recently introduced with the goals of improving safety in mines and other workplaces after a similar bill was defeated in the House last year. The bill will provide more enforcement tools for OSHA and MSHA and increase criminal penalties. Other measures included are those that would:
- Strengthen protections for whistle blowers
- Ensure that miners don't lose pay for safety-related closures
- Allow miners to speak freely during investigations
- Provide independent investigations for serious accidents
- Require that inspections be comprehensive and well-targeted
- Give the Mine Safety and Health Administration additional authority to order training
The bill is named after a former West Virginia senator and co-sponsored by the two current West Virginia senators. The Upper Big Branch Mine, where 29 miners lost their lives in an explosion last year is located in West Virginia. Senator Jay Rockefeller stated in a news release "This tragedy and too many other workplace accidents around the country serve as stark reminders of the need to make sure that all workers can return home to their loved ones at the end of the day." We absolutely must fix the process for safety enforcement at mines with repeated violations, provide MSHA with strong safety tools and hold them more accountable, and protect our dedicated miners who speak up when they know safety measures aren't being handled correctly. We must do everything in our power to make sure that miners across West Virginia and across the nation have better protections as they work to power the nation."
Don't forget about safety training
3/22/11
Safety is of the utmost concern. An important part of safety is training.
According to OSHA, the most rewarding classes for students are the ones they can relate to because the trainer uses examples, pictures, and real-life scenarios from their work place, or one similar to it. Here at ESR we know our clients personally and we take the time to learn about their facilities and site specific practices in order to present the best training seminar possible. We have recently performed onsite training seminars in the areas of respirator equipment usage, confined space training, lockout/tagout procedures and hazard communication training. ESR has many other training programs available.
Don't let safety training lapse. ESR's personalized on-site training is usually less expensive than most clients think. Please call us at
636-244-1850 if you would like a quote for training at your site.
Financial ramifications ensue when dangerous chemicals are not reported properly
3/15/11
Information obtained from a facility's Tier II Chemical Inventory report are used regularly by emergency planners and first responders to properly plan for an emergency and avoid a more dangerous situation for them and the community around the facility.
Many companies have been fined by the EPA as a result of violating the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). Fines ranged from $11,115 for a facility that failed to file a chemical inventory form for one substance to local and state responders one year to $27,000 for a facility who did not file the proper chemical inventory forms over the course of 3 years.
Avoid the threat of possible fines. Let Environmental and Safety Resources (ESR) help you determine if you have reportable chemicals on your site in excess of the EPCRA thresholds and help you with filing your Tier II Chemical Inventory reports. Call us at 636-244-1850.
Stormwater permitting revisions
3/9/11
According to the Environmental Compliance alert (ECA), the EPA is looking to increase the accountability of states and permit holders when it comes to reducing pollutants that are in the stormwater runoff.
While the monitoring of the impacts of stormwater on water quality has become more technologically advanced, stormwater discharges remain a significant cause of water quality impairment in many places. Therefore, to reduce pollutants in the water, the EPA is updating four elements of the 2002 memorandum to better reflect current capabilities and practices. These updates are:
- Providing numeric water quality-based effluent limitations in NPDES permits for storm water discharges;
- Disaggregating storm water sources in a WLA;
- Using surrogates for pollutant parameters when establishing targets for TMDL loading capacity; and
- Designating additional stormwater sources to regulate and treating load allocations as waste load allocations for newly regulated storm water sources.
As a result, facilities will have to spend more time on measuring, tracking and reporting stormwater discharges.
For the full memorandum, click here.
OSHA withdraws proposed interpretation of occupational noise
3/1/11
On Jan. 19th, OSHA announced that it is withdrawing its proposed interpretation titled "Interpretation of OSHA's Provisions for Feasible Administrative or Engineering Controls of Occupational Noise" that was originally published on October 19, 2010. The goal of the interpretation was to clarify the term "feasible administrative or engineering controls" as used in OSHA's noise standard.
OSHA Assistant Secretary David Michaels stated "hearing loss caused by excessive noise levels remains a serious occupational health problem in this country. However, it is clear from the concerns raised about this proposal that addressing this problem requires much more public outreach and many more resources than we had originally anticipated. We are sensitive to the possible costs associated with improving worker protection and have decided to suspend work on this proposed modification while we study other approaches to abating workplace noise hazards."
Click here for the full news release.
Emission Inventory Questionnaire
2/23/11
The Missouri Emissions Inventory Questionnaire (EIQ) is due April 1st for paper submissions, May 1st for online submissions via MoEIS. The payment date and fee remains unchanged at June 1st and $40 per ton. If you have a Part 70 permit, a full report is required each year. For intermediate permits, the next full report will be required for the 2011 reporting year. Thus for this year everyone except those with a Part 70 permit are eligible for the reduced reporting EIQ unless their emissions changed by more than 5 tons from the last full report the facility submitted. The full rule, forms, FAQs and other information can be found here.
There has been a date change for emission inventory submittals in Kansas. The new due date is April 1st. The annual emission fee is $37.00 per ton. Click here for more information.
In Iowa, the Minor Source Emission Inventory (MSEI) is due May 15th. More information and forms for the MSEI are at this website.
Annual emission reports for the state of Illinois were due May 1st last year. The IEPA website has not been updated yet. Check back here for more information.
Also due at that time is the facility's Title V annual compliance certification or semi-annual monitoring report.
If you need assistance, we here at Environmental and Safety Resources can help. Call us at 636-244-1850.
Driving while drowsy is as dangerous as driving while drunk
2/17/11
The study by the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) mentioned in a Safety Compliance Alert (SCA) article, states that driving while sleepy leads to thousands of crashes each year. It identified 3 population groups at the highest risk as:
- Drivers ages 16-29, especially males
- Shift workers who work at night or long or irregular hours
- People with untreated sleep apnea or narcolepsy
The study shows that night shift workers generally get 1.5 hours less sleep a night, with the midnight to morning shift carrying the greater risk of sleep disruption. Rotating shifts, where the worker may work night shifts, plus some day or evening shifts in the same month, cause the greatest sleep disruptions of any work schedule.
To alleviate the danger, shift workers should plan a time and create an environment for uninterrupted, restorative sleep. Some find white noise machines and darkening shades helpful when sleeping during the day. Employers can help by managing work schedules to minimize disruption and help employees develop a consistent sleep schedule. Another effective approach is to allow and make a place so a worker can take a short nap before driving home. Also, caffeine (about two cups of coffee's worth) may help for a short period.
Click here for the full study.
Drinking water concerns
2/9/11
Last month, in response to an Environmental Working Group (EWG) study that found detectable levels of the carcinogenic hexavalent chromium in 31 of 35 tap water samples it did across the country, EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson vowed to address this issue. Last week, the agency issued guidance on how public water systems might enhance monitoring and sampling programs specifically for hexavalent chromium.
As a result, more attention will be placed on the sources of hexavalent chromium. Chromium-6 is an ingredient in stainless steel, textile dyes, wood preservatives and anti-corrosion coatings. Electroplating and textile industries release relatively large amounts of chromium in surface waters. Solid wastes from chromate-processing facilities, when disposed of improperly in landfills, can be sources of contamination for groundwater. While occupational exposure is generally from inhalation or skin contact, the general population ingests it as a result of soil or water contamination.
As more focus is put on the presence of hexavalent chromium in drinking water supplies, it will benefit facilities to be more diligent in ensuring the proper release of materials containing chromium-6 and correct reporting of chromium-6 in their Toxic Release Inventories.
To read more about the EWG's study, click here.
Tier II reports are due
2/3/11
Tier II Chemical Inventory reports for 2010 are due between January 1st and March 1st.
For the state of Missouri, the reports can be filed electronically or via paper to the Missouri Emergency Response Commission (MERC). A signed copy still needs to be submitted to MERC even if filed electronically.
For Illinois, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) requires all regulated facilities to submit Tier II information electronically via IEMA's Tier 2 on-line filing system, Tier2 Manager.
Facilities in Iowa can use either the Iowa online Tier2 Manager to submit electronically or submit a paper form to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
For Kansas, Tier II reports can be submitted via paper to the Kansas Department of Health & Environment Right-to-Know Section or electronically via their Tier2 online system.
Physical copies also need to be sent to the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) and the Fire Department/District for your jurisdiction.
For a list of the current LEPC offices in Missouri, click here; Illinois, click here; Kansas, click here.
For help in completing your Tier II reports, please contact Environmental and Safety Resources at 636-244-1850.
Don't let good intentions lead to fatalities
1/26/11
This can happen when untrained workers try to help another worker who is in trouble. They may have good intentions, but often they may end up making the situation worse. This is especially worrisome when the situation involves a confined space.
According to Safety Compliance Alert (SCA), 36% of the confined space fatalities were workers who are attempting to rescue another worker. Examples of this are when two workers were killed trying to rescue another worker who was overcome by gas while cleaning a dry well and when a worker was killed and second seriously injured as they attempted to rescue a fellow worker who fell into a grain bin. In these situations, the rescue was a spontaneous reaction to the emergency, not planned out.
NIOSH recommends that rescue procedures should be established before entering a confined space. An attendant should be assigned for each entry where warranted. That person should be equipped with rescue equipment including a safety line attached to the worker in the confined space, self-contained breathing apparatus, protective clothing, boots, etc. The attendant should use this attached safety line to help rescue the worker. A simulated rescue should take place at least once every 12 months to provide a level of proficiency that eliminates life-threatening rescue attempts and ensures an efficient and calm response to any emergency. A well planned and practiced rescue procedure will help decrease fatalities in these situations.
Also, in hopes of preventing the need to execute such rescue procedures, OSHA mandates that all companies that have employees entering a confined space must have a Confined Space Entry Program. This program would include a list of all facility confined spaces, hazards associated with each, procedures to follow before, during and after entry, and training.
EPA Region 7 sets record with $3 billion in injunctive relief
1/19/11
According to an EPA news release, Region 7 set a new record for environmental compliance and enforcement activities, securing more than $3 billion in secured injunctive relief. EPA Region 7 consists of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and 9 Tribal Nations. This accounted for 31% of the EPA's national total for the fiscal year that ended September 30th.
Injunctive relief consists of a court order, called an injunction, which requires a party to do or not do a specific action. It is
usually issued as an alternative to monetary damages. However that doesn't mean it doesn't cost money, as funds usually are necessary to meet the requirements of
the injunction.
As a result of the EPA's actions, the companies will have to invest more than $3 billion in pollution control and cleanup of the environment. This will eliminate more than 470 million pounds of pollutants and implement more than $3 million in supplemental environmental projects.
The best defense against enforcement actions such as injunctive relief and becoming part of the EPA's record setting trend is to be in compliance with EPA regulations. Please keep Environmental and Safety Resources in mind if you need help.
Click here for the full EPA news release.
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