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OSHA Proposes Walking Working Surfaces and Fall Protection Rule
On May 24, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a 300-page notice of proposed rulemaking to revise its walking working surfaces and fall protection standards. OSHA is specifically requesting comments on whether additional regulations are needed to cover falls from commercial motor vehicles at heights greater than 4 feet. Due to the lack of information in this area, OSHA did not propose specific requirements applicable to rolling stock and commercial motor vehicles. Instead, the agency will wait to receive comments and then may issue a separate proposed rule on this subject. Comments on the proposal are due Aug. 23. Copies of the proposed rule are available here.
ATA Summary of Walking Working Surfaces and Personal Protective Equipment - *NEW*
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ATA asks OSHA to Withdraw Proposed Rule Revising Injury & Illness Recordkeeping Logs
On March 30, 2010, ATA filed comments with the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) requesting that the agency withdraw its proposed rule that would require employers to record “work-related” musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in a new separate column on the OSHA 300 injury and illness log. ATA told OSHA that the scientific and medical communities have not reached a consensus on what constitutes a MSD, the causes of MSDs, and the available means of preventing MSDs. ATA also noted that there is no scientific basis to distinguish work-related factors from non-work-related ones that cause or contribute to MSDs and that OSHA’s economic analysis significantly underestimates the costs of compliance. Collection of MSD data by OSHA could be used as a basis for the agency to establish some sort of ergonomics program or standard.
ATA MSD Comments - 30 March 2010
Summary of Comments Submitted by Employer Representatives on OSHA MSD Recordkeeping Proposal
Full Comments by Emplopyer Representative on OSHA MSD Recordkeeping Proposal
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Senate Confirms Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA
On Thursday, December 3, the Senate confirmed David Michaels to serve as the Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). ATA, along with the Chamber of Commerce, sent a letter to the Senate Health Education & Labor Committee asking that the committee hold a hearing to explore the many controversial views on science behind regulations held by Mr. Michaels. Regardless, the committee and the Senate voted to confirm Mr. Michaels without a hearing. OSHA’s regulatory agenda, published December 7, 2009, is stacked with regulatory actions, including proposed rules on walking working surfaces and personal fall protection systems as well as revising occupational injury and illness recording requirements to include a column on the OSHA 300 log to record work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Recording MSDs is likely the Administration’s first step in demonstrating the need or basis for an ergonomics standard.
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For "Protecting America's Workers Act" legistation click here.
On April 23, 2009 House Democrats introduced their version of OSHA reform: the "Protecting America's Workers Act" (PAW). The current version of the PAW Act amends the 1970 OSH Act and is slightly modified from last year's bill. However, its provisions are nonetheless controversial to the industry. The more egregious provisions of the bill:
- Raise civil penalties and indexes those penalties to inflation.
- Establish mandatory minimum penalties for violations involving worker deaths.
- Allow felony prosecutions against employers who commit willful violations that result in death or serious bodily injury, and extends such penalties to responsible corporate officers.
- Require OSHA to investigate all cases of death and serious injuries (i.e. incidents that result in the hospitalization of 2 or more employees).
- Clarify that employees cannot be discriminated against for reporting injuries, illnesses or unsafe conditions, and brings the procedures for investigating and adjudicating discrimination complaints into line with other safety and health and whistleblower laws.
- Provide workers and employee representatives the right to contest OSHA’s failure to issue citations, classification of its citations, and proposed penalties.
- Give injured workers, their families and families of workers who died in work-related incidents the right to meet with investigators, receive copies of citations, and to have an opportunity to make a statement before any settlement negotiations.
- Prohibit OSHA from designating a citation as an “unclassified citation” where an employer can avoid the potential consequences of a “willful” violation, the most serious violation.
- Allow any worker or their representative to object to a modification or withdrawal of a citation, and entitles them to a hearing before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
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As expected, OSHA enforcement activities are already front and center, with specific emphasis this year on recordkeeping of injuries and illnesses. As demonstrated at a congressional oversight hearings last year, Congress is concerned over the incidence of underreporting of illnesses and injuries by employers. Further, Senators Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Patty Murray (D-WA) have directed the Government Accounting Office (GAO) to examine the incidence of such under-reporting. That final report is expected shortly.
As a result of last year's congressional oversight on the issue, the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act directs OSHA to "launch a recordkeeping enforcement initiative on injury and illness reporting" to address what Congress has deemed an "apparent lack of completeness" of the OSHA recordkeeping documents. Congress appropriated $1 million of the agency's total FY09 budget expressly for a recordkeeping enforcement initiative on injury and illness reporting. OSHA has until June 19, 2009 to submit a new recordkeeping enforcement initiative to Congress. Subsequently, OSHA has informally announced that that it is developing a national emphasis program (NEP) focusing on the enforcement of the recordkeeping rule. The NEP will involve the examination of employer OSHA logs and records to verify accurate recording of of work-related injuries and illnesses. More details on the NEP are expected in June however, according to OSHA, the agency could begin the program within the next six months. With this in mind, committee members are advised to examine and/or re-examine their recordkeeping system and records to ensure that they comply with the OSHA recordkeeping rule and that they accurately reflect injury and illness incidence rates.
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