Occhealth Bulletin
20 July 2010
What's new at OSHA - July 2010
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/qt07152010.html
OSHA continues to monitor Deepwater Horizon oil cleanup workers
Since the oil cleanup process began (almost three months ago) OSHA has made over 2,000 site visits to assess and monitor BP’s actions in protecting workers involved in the cleanup process in the Gulf region. The site visits cover beach cleanup, decontamination, distribution, staging areas and deployment sites. OSHA is also monitoring those involved in the Vessels of Opportunity program. This program involves local boat operators to help with response activities such as transporting supplies, assisting wildlife rescue and deploying containment and sorbent boom. The local operators undergo training and examinations (eg US Coastguard dockside examination) before they take part in these operations. The operators are required to undertake eight hours of training in understanding the health and safety hazards associated with cleanup operations. OSHA increased training from four hours to eight hours “as a result of its continuous reassessment of changing conditions in the Gulf”.
Over 145 OSHA professionals are involved in the cleanup monitoring process and over 1,000 exposure assessments have already been performed. Despite the good news that air sampling to date has not picked up hazardous chemical levels of concern, the greatest health risk to cleanup workers is heat stress – over 450 incidents have been reported with many of those described as serious.
OSHA continuously updates their designated oil spill response web pages. Browse the site to access information on training requirements (including factsheets), heat stress and other hazards, worker protection and links to additional Government sites.
New website provides easy access to whistleblower protection information
OSHA has recently launched a new website to provide workers with rapid access to whistleblower protection program information. The site is designed for employees who wish to report unlawful practices in relation to safety and health incidences at their workplace. A number of publications (PDF format) are available from the site including “Whistleblower protections – general” and “Whistleblower protections and the Environment”. There is information about worker rights and how a worker can issue a complaint (to OSHA) if they feel that their employer is discriminating against them since exercising their right to report unlawful practices. There are also links to regulations and associated statutes in relation to whistleblower protection.
For further news from the world of occupational health, read our news review bulletins from the Examinetics, Inc. website (www.examinetics.com).