Occhealth Bulletin
21 February 2011
What's new at OSHA - Feb 2011
Category: OSHA Updates
The OSHA website has a “What’s new” feature that is highly recommended. Items from the last 30 days can be found here: www.osha.gov/whatsnew.html. In addition, “OSHA Quick Takes” is a “twice-monthly e-news memo with information, updates, and results from OSHA about safety and health in America's workplaces.” To see the latest Quick Takes release, click here: www.osha.gov/as/opa/quicktakes/index.html
OSHA celebrates 40 years of promoting worker safety and health
To commemorate OSHA’s 40th birthday, the agency has developed a timeline highlighting the major milestones in occupational safety and health since the organization was established. You can view the timeline as an illustrated diagram, flip book with notes or a detailed list. Before the OSH Act came into force in December 1970 and the Agency began in 1971, it was estimated that in 1970 14,000 workers died on the job. Since then, OSHA together with employers, safety and health professionals, unions and advocates have dramatically reduced this figure to 4,340 (in 2009) even though US employment has almost doubled! Despite this good news, around 12 workers die every day at work and around 3.3 million continue to suffer a serious injury or illness. In his anniversary letter, Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, Dr David Michaels, states that OSHA “remains committed to protecting workers from toxic chemicals and deadly safety hazards at work; ensuring that vulnerable workers in high-risk jobs have access to critical information and education about job hazards; and providing employers with vigorous compliance assistance to promote best practices that can save lives”.
Healthcare workers benefit from OSHA’s respirator protection video
Respirators are designed to provide the wearer with protection from the inhalation of harmful dusts, particulate matter, gases, sprays or volatile chemicals. Healthcare workers are at risk of exposure to airborne infectious agents including tuberculosis, influenza and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Hospital laboratory staff often come into contact with harmful chemicals such glutaraldehyde and formaldehyde to preserve tissue samples for medical analysis. OSHA has released a 33-minute training video (downloadable from their website) to explain the proper use of respiratory protection, contents of a respiratory protection program (fit testing, medical evaluations, training and maintenance) and the differences between surgical masks and respirators. To read the trade release about this subject, click here. To access the video, click here (large file size).
OSHA withdraws proposed noise standard interpretation
In November, we reported that OSHA was proposing to interpret the term “feasible administrative or engineering controls” in the occupational noise exposure standards. In January, OSHA announced that it is withdrawing the proposal after concerns raised following the Federal Register publication. Although still committed to reducing the incidence of work-related hearing loss, Dr Michaels says “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”.
For further news from the world of occupational health, read our news review bulletins from the Examinetics, Inc. website (www.examinetics.com).